A week of planning, boat jobs and new experiences. I have been very busy planning our first outing from Colombia for the end of this month. We will be going to Ecuador! I have only been to mainland Ecuador for one day while making my trip to the Galapagos Islands back in 2017 and Bill has never been to Ecuador. I spent most of the week fighting with the Latam airlines website booking flights. I would try to book a flight and then the price would suddenly increase as I was booking so we had to play the clear cookies and cache game and use phones and two computers in order to get the flights booked. After much ado, we are ready to fly to Quito and Cuenca for a 10 day adventure in a couple of weeks with much cooler weather. A much needed break from the heat! Before we could leave Colombia, we had to meet with our immigration broker to make sure we were following all the Colombian rules for non-citizens who arrive via boat. We took a taxi over the port and then attempted to find her office. We stopped by the security office where several officers were standing. I asked one of the officers, in perfect Spanish I might add, “Hola, donde es Largamar?” The officer stared at me blankly and responded, “I don’t speak English.” Bill and I burst into laughter since I was not speaking English…evidently I was not speaking any form of intelligible Spanish either! In spite of our communication difficulties, we located the broker’s office and were given the green light to travel at any time as long as we be sure that Galt is re-registered by next July.
Following the broker escapades, we headed to the grocery store. I am not sure what was going on at the grocery store but evidently it was “push certain products” day because there were sales girls everywhere yapping at us in Spanish and pointing to certain items. One woman approached us trying to sell us vegetarian “hamburgers”. Bill said, “No hamburgesa! Vegetables. No carne, no hamburgesa!” The woman looked confused and stared at the box, certain she was showing him a box of hamburgers. She pointed and responded, “Si, hamburgesa!” Bill pointed to the word vegetarian, then to the picture of the burger and restated, “No carne. No hamburgesa!” Finally getting the joke, the woman laughed and shook her head. I am not sure the Colombians quite know what to do with Bill but he certainly seems to entertain them. Our week ended with a trip to the central market and the mall. We needed to buy some shoes and pants for our trip to Ecuador and everyone told us the central market was the best place to find items “cheap”. Cheap in Colombian terms means CHEAP because the prices here are already crazy cheap on American terms. It was Saturday and the market was already packed at ten in the morning. We made our way through the first section which was prepared foods. As we walked along, there were open fires with pots of soup, rice, fish and lobster. Women stopped us and shoved spoons of food in our mouths gesturing for us to come sit at their booth. We had quite a time trying to explain that while their food was delicious, it was a little early for lunch and we were not hungry. I apologize that I did not take any pictures of the market but making us stand out as tourists more than we already were did not seem like a wise choice at the time. The next area was the unprepared food and there were live chickens, rabbits, meat counters with every part of the animal displayed, fish, fruits and vegetables. The watermelons were the largest I have ever seen and were about the side of a microwave oven. The further we walked into the labyrinth, the grittier it became. Bill stated that the market was as if a Moroccan souk had married Bourbon Street after a rough Saturday night. As we came into the clothing section, thousands of shoes greeted us and Bill began his search for hiking boots. He stepped into one shop to try on a pair of boots while I remained in the alleyway. The alleyway was about 4 feet wide and somehow, people moved about easily dodging grocery carts that had been adapted to run on the broken concrete, hordes of people and puddles of I don’t want to know what at every turn. The shop across from me had a large stereo system with music blasting throughout the market. As one song started, everyone in the market froze. Standing silently, awash with anticipation. It took me a minute to realize they were waiting for the song to begin. As the singer began to sing, the entire marketplace began to sing at the top of their lungs. I felt as if I were in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical or a bad episode of Glee! I came to the conclusion that the song must have been the Colombian equivalent of I Will Survive or American Pie because the crowd sang it with such gusto and passion. Sadly, Bill missed the show but he did find a pair of boots that fit! After battling our way through several more blocks of the market, we emerged on the other side alive and well. We headed to the mall to pick up our new stovetop and sink for the galley remodel. The mall in Cartagena reminded me of the malls in America back in the eighties. All the stores were open, restaurants were busy and people were everywhere. The main thing the mall had was air conditioning so as long as the AC lasts, the people will come. Continuing our boat projects, the kitchen floor is coming along nicely and the carpenter will begin working on new cabinets next week. The deck work has been completed (except for the painting which will be done at a later time) and the bow pulpit where the anchors hang will be completed in about a week. Galt is loving all the attention but we are a little weary with the dust and constant flow of people on the boat. Monday is yet another holiday in Colombia so we are looking forward to a small break as well! In the meantime, I will wish you a “Bonita dia” in my awful Spanish! *Found some pics of the market on Google images for you!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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