Making plans for the next few months    Monday 22/08/2022

Apologies for not posting last week… I was trying to sort out a number of things and didn’t want to tempt fate by assuming that I would be successful. It’s not easy arranging things here – people think nothing of taking a full week to reply to an email, and if that’s the only means of contact you have, you just have to wait. Fortunately I think I’ve got used to the fact of how things are! Colombia is an interesting blend of first and third world – some things here work surprisingly well; others are just atrocious.

I have intended to study Spanish, and have finally organised that. I will be going to Bogotá in early September to do an intensive Spanish course. Why Bogotá? Which indeed is cold and far inland! Well, the Spanish spoken in Colombia varies a lot. That spoken on the Caribbean coast is very particular: very fast and they tend to swallow the ends of words. The problem is that this means that they are pretty incomprehensible to Spanish speakers in other countries. Whereas Bogotá Spanish is considered to be the most correct – people speak in a more moderate way and fully pronounce their words. It is often claimed to be the best Spanish in the Americas, and would certainly be understood everywhere. I considered Medellin, where the Spanish is fine although singsong, but Bogotá just clearly came out above the rest. And because I actually liked Bogotá when I was there for three days in July, I was happy to commit to the city. 

In addition, there was a Spanish language course which I thought stood out above others. There are loads of private language schools, where I think that the quality of what you get is likely to be a bit hit and miss. Additionally, they are typically aimed at the backpacker brigade, people in their twenties and thirties. That in itself is not a problem – I am happy to be the oldest person in the room. But they tend to emphasise “fun”, including things like three hours of salsa dancing lessons a week. Now anybody who knows me will not be surprised if I say that I could not imagine anything more appalling than three hours of salsa a week. (Instead, I’d probably opt to stoke the fires of hell!). So I have signed up for a specialist intensive course at the Universidad del Rosario, which is Colombia’s oldest university, founded in 1653 and the place where 28 of the country’s presidents were educated. I think that means that it will be pretty serious – I doubt that it will try to be “fun”. But then I don’t really need fun. If I am going to devote money and at least 20 hours a week to lessons, I want results. 

I have rented a modern studio apartment on AirBnB. It’s only 600 metres from the university campus, which is in the heart of La Candelaria, Bogotá’s old town. 

As for Manuka, she needs a bit of work, which means taking her out of the water. I have made arrangements with a boatyard about 10 kilometres from here – they have a huge boat lift, capacity 300 tonnes and 12 metre width. They pick up small ships, so Manuka will be nothing – she only weighs 7,800kg and is 3.9 metres wide. Out of the water, the hull can be properly cleaned. The propellor shaft can be inspected – I think there’s still a bit of rope caught around it from when the propellor got fouled off the coast of Aruba. A few chips in the gel coat on the bow can be repaired – they were caused by the anchor swinging as it was raised or lowered a couple of times when the sea was a bit rough. (I did have a sort of thick rubber protector that covered the upper part of the bow and was tied in place, but that disappeared during a rough trip, I can’t remember which). One advantage of Manuka being on the hard in a boatyard is cost – it’s cheaper than being in the marina. A lot of people take their boats out of the water every year; Manuka has been constantly in the water for just short of two years. 

So, the next two months are going to be very different for me. I will be in a cool climate – which will be a relief because it really is hot in Cartagena. In the last few days it typically reached 33, feeling like 41 with the humidity – seriously hot. At night it has fallen to 27, feeling like 32 or so. I will have the challenge of using my brain – and I suspect that 20 hours of Spanish lessons a week is going to be pretty tough! Hopefully though I should learn a reasonable amount in 160 hours over 8 weeks. That will be helpful moving on to other Spanish-speaking destinations.

Oh, and in the beginning of November I am going to the UK for almost three weeks. The main reason is to see both Anna and Louisa – it’s strange to think that I haven’t seen either of them since early February last year – it’ll have been 21 months. If there’s one downside to my travels, it is that. The modern world certainly helps – thanks to WhatsApp in particular I haven’t felt so cut off (imagine what it would have been like 30 years ago – an occasional short, extortionately expensive, telephone call). But it’s not the same as actually seeing someone in the flesh. There’s also my aunt, on her farm in the Brecon Beacons, who I want to see. I might get the chance to see a few of you who are around – but I make no promises, haha!

So, I’ve made a pretty clear plan for the next three months, and then an outline plan for the following few months. Probably early December we will be heading north, possibly stopping in Jamaica for a few days given that it’s en route to Santiago de Cuba on Cuba’s south-east coast. Then westwards along the Cuban coast and up to the Yucatan coast of Mexico. Then from there down the western Caribbean towards Panama, stopping at several of the islands on the way. One problem is that the mainlands and the coastal waters of places like Honduras and Nicaragua are apparently unsafe – there have been instances of piracy as well as various armed attacks ashore. So some careful research will be needed. 

Well, for now that’s the plan anyway!