Weaving

At 9:00 one morning we made muffins and went into shore for a weaving class.  We picked up a few people on the way in and we were a full boat when we got there.  The family had caught a fish that morning and they served it grilled for lunch.  For dessert everyone on the boats contributed, there were lots of different kinds of brownies, cherry coconut muffins, blueberry muffins, chocolate coconut cookies and hot chocolate.  After the kids had lunch we sat on the sand playing games and talking, mostly games that did not involve running around because I had a hurt foot and couldn’t run.

Soon the adults were done and the local family gathered us on the beach and started weaving.  One Sister cut palm fronds a certain length and skinned the ends, one sister showed us how to start by weaving the outside rim of the hat, and a third sister showed us how to weave the top and hardest  part of the hat.  I did all right with the rim but I had to hand it over to the woman to finish when I got to the top part, I watched her and when I understood I grabbed up another one and did it myself.  After I had made two hats I wandered around the beach an saw the mother of the family teaching a group of cruisers how to make little things like stars and cubes and plates and bags.  I sat in then taught my sisters and mom. 

After the class was done we drove home laden with christmas ornaments, hats , plates and bags all made from palm fronds.

My Birthday

A few days after my grandparents came we celebrated my Birthday. 

I had toasted baguettes with strawberry jam for breakfast, then I went back down and read.  At about 10:00 Nanna and Nonno came and we got ready for snorkeling.  We spent half an hour snorkeling and swimming then came back for lunch.  For lunch we had quiche, cabbage salad and bread, it was really good.  

Later Daddy and Nonno went scuba diving and my mom went for a spa treatment, so Nanna took me and my sisters to the pool.  When we got tired of the pool we went back to the room for showers and pedicures.  

We did each others toes and I got mine a gorgeous blue color that was kind of iridescent.

When everyone got back my mom produced a delicious Key Lime pie for a birthday cake, we stuck candles in it and sang the happy birthday song, then we ate it and it was soooo good!

My sisters then brought their presents and begged me to open them so I did, because i’m such a nice sister.  

Cleo and Jade both gave me bracelets and Nanna gave me clothes and jewelry, my mom got me a fancy headset that has its own 3 gig. storage, and even though Mimi and Pop weren’t here they had sent me presents.  

It was a good Birthday.

Shelter-Bay Marina

We arrived in Shelter-bay Marina about a week ago and have been working on various projects. My mom has been stocking the boat up on food for the pacific, my dad has been taking care of the boat and fixing it up for the canal and pacific, so far my sisters and I have been trying to keep up with school work and stay out of our parents way, mostly by spending a lot of time in the pool. My mom comes back from the city everyday tired when she realizes she's going to have to cook dinner in the mess the boat is in, she usually sends us up to the restaurant to eat. We did that for a couple of nights until we realized that the food at the restaurant was not so good and for the next few nights we just dealt with the mess and cooking dinner.

The people at this marina are really friendly and we've made a lot of new friends. When we arrived our old friends were here but the had to leave after only a day and we were left with just ourselves.  Unfortunately most of the friends we've made here have already left to go throughout the canal or back to the San Blas islands. Because it is a marina there is not much wildlife that you see everyday but tales follow us of crocodiles in the water and Jaguar sightings on the road to the city, and even just running on the path my dad saw 5 monkeys.

The Fortress

My grandparents, my aunt and my great uncle, came to visit for an early Christmas celebration and one day we decided to show them one of the great attractions of Cartegena, The Fort.  The Fortress looks like a man-made mountain, made entirely from stone and it slopes up continually until it reaches a flat-topped peak with artillery storing and sentry houses at the corners to watch for enemies.  Now you might be wondering why this massive,impatrenable fortres just to watch over one small town.  Well Cartegena was a major stopping place for the gold and precious jewels that circled through the continent, especially emeralds, one of the rarest stones in the world.  In all of the big churches and temples gold is more common than marble that would be but a fraction of the cost of a small amount of gold in other places, as a result one of the only places you will find a full marble floor is in the Popa, the biggest and oldest monostary in town.

                                          

The Fort had no inside except for a labyrinth of tunnels that acted as a last line of defense in the context of a battle.  Each tunnel had cubby holes on each side so that if enemies did venture down there it would be an easy matter to pick them off.  We explored the tunels to an extent but I have the feeling we didn't even get to see half of it.

The New Normal

In the town of Santa Marta we have developed a new normal.  Every morning We have breakfast (Desayuno in spanish) and do school.  We can decide what and where we do school and it only lasts till  noon.  after school we play with the other kids on the dock, mainly Darien from Byamee and Ronia from Priscalina.  With Darien we do all kinds of things, from ripsticking in the park to make overs at her boat, but with Ronia we can't do much since she's only 7 months old.

In the evening we go into town and positively gorge ourselves on the crazy good street food they have available.  Then we wander around until we're too tired to walk another step, then we head for home.  It's a crazy schedule, but one that works for the whole family and is easy to complete.

Casa Loma

For my moms birthday we went to Minca an stayed at an Eco Lodge called La Loma/Casa Loma.  Casa Loma had lots of pets, they had 5 pets and each one was very cute:

Baludal

 Tica

 Lola

Lucy

Narese Blanca

Every morning a Yoga instructor did classes on a porch in the forest.  One day after a Yoga class the instructor set up a stretchy piece of fabric and demonstrate  how to climb up it towards the tree branch and did cool tricks.  after he taught us how to do it he let us try:

Fishing

We left Curacao a few days ago and are just getting into Santa Marta.  Yesterday evening we were all still up and awake, when there was a tug on the fishing line!  So far we hadn't caught one fish in our sailing adventure, even though one passage we had trolled the line for 4 days! My dad reeled it in and for a while we could see it, skimming along the waves a few meters away.  My dad hoisted it onto our boat and we could see it was a black-fin tuna.  My dad butchered it and we put it away for another meal, wile we all settled down for the night.  

The next day my sisters and I were sitting around, my mom was sailing the boat, and my dad was taking a nap, when the fishing line suddenly gave a sharp jerk and an odd buzzing sound! my mom yelled for me and I yelled for y dad until everybody was in the cockpit and looking and the rod.  It was a deep sea fishing line and very hard to reel in, but what made it really difficult for my dad was not only the size of the fish,  although it was no skipjack, but the distraction that came at that moment.  My dad was in the midst of trying to reel in this huge fish when the other line let out a call!  My dad told me and my sister, Cleo to attend to that while he struggled on with the original fish.  Cleo and I wrestled the line back onto the spool, watching the beautiful fish jump through rainbows above the water, and finally succeeded in hauling a Mahi-Mahi (Dolphin fish) onto the boat.  

My dad left the fishing rod for the time being and helped us subdue the thrashing creature, calling my mom over to watch, but she was busy trying to clean up a coffee spill that was threatening to break the electronics that she had left on the helm-seat.  Through all this commotion the wind had sped up and the waves grown larger and larger until the boat was listing sickeningling to the starboard side.  I took pictures of the Mahi-Mahi and got my dads sailing gloves for him, ducking under the main-sheet every time I wanted to reach him.  In the end we lost the big fish but, thinking back on it, I don't think we could've eaten it anyway, what with the two other good-sized fish we had already caught on that passage.

Halloween

It doesn't feel like Halloween here, but I guess it never will.  I usually associate Halloween with the time when it's starting to go cold, but where I am it never does!  The weather changes have thrown me off and I only just remembered about it when another cruising friend invited me to their Halloween party, and now I'm rushing to catch up!

Halloween on a tropical island isn't very easy at all, especially if you're weeks behind, and the day before Halloween I'm still out and searching for gold paint!

I'm going to be Athena, one of the Olympian goddesses, which would've  a very easy costume to put together back in Philly, but not here!

Our Hammock

Recently we got a Hammock.  It's striped and made out of thick cloth, but we only have one, and at first we couldn't agree on  it.  

One day we all sat down and devised a system for using the Hammock.  Our system is similar to the used by libraries for sharing computers, where if someone is using the computer you can sign up as the next person to use it and the erson currently on it gets 15 more minutes on it then has to give it up.  ours is basically the same, but the person in the hammock gets 30 more minutes instead of 15.

The Second Waterfalls

Sometime after my friends left, my grandparents came to visit.  A few days into their trip we went to new waterfalls, a natural water-park.  

We hiked into the woods and came upon a large pool.  Leading into that pool was an amazing water slide!  My dad, my sisters and I couldn't wait to slide down it but at first my mom didn't let us.  We hiked a little bit farther up the hill and found a smaller water slide with a less exciting drop, my mom said we could practice on this waterside before actually going on the big one.  

The small water slide was fun but it could've been more fun.  After a few minutes of sweet-water swimming, we walked along, following the stream to a tremendous, thundering waterfall!  My dad, my sisters and I climbed up the slippery black rocks and stood, letting the water pound on our heads.

After a while we made our way back to the big water-slide, my dad, Cleo and I slid down, time after time after time after time, we slid down and climbed back up.  My dad was the only grown-up to try it and he had a butt-bruise for ages!