Day 35 - The Boat

The boat was definitely a unique experience. It started out with a bang. On our drive out to the port, I ended up in the jungle. We were riding a really fun curvy road through hilly countryside. Some of the steepest paved road hills I’ve ever seen! However, I did what Bruce tells me not to do. He says, “Hit the pothole rather than go to the edge of the pavement.” Well, I went to the edge of the pavement to avoid potholes and instead I hit a hidden pothole that threw me off the pavement and into the jungle. The jungle underbrush is very soft I’ve learned! No harm to the bike or me and thankfully I wasn’t going too fast. Bruce to the rescue to drive my bike out for me. I’m learning the drill

though whenever my bike goes down. 1. Hit the kill switch. 2. Turn the key off. 3. Get off the bike and take pics.

It’s amazing what you get for $400 per night per person. A salty sea captain with a holey, sweat stained t-shirt who could hardly walk because of gout. Dish washing duty. Open bunk bed quarters below deck with a bunch of other smelly bikers with a thousand fans going to try to circulate the air. A rope swing from the main mast that required you to let go before you swung back and hit the side of the boat. One night accommodations at the El Provender hotel on a island so small that the edge of the island had to be built up and extended in order to fit the drug running, jet accommodating airstrip. We are sure someone from the slums of Calcutta would find El Provender resort hotel quite accommodating. On the other hand, there were the beautiful white sand beach, palm treed San Blas islands in the blue Caribbean waters. We started our journey with the magical raising of two big sails in the moonlight with a soft Caribbean breeze. We ended our journey with a lovely steak dinner on deck overlooking the nighttime city lights of Cartagena. It was gorgeous! There was the added benefit that we and our bikes safely arrived in Columbia….with only minor blemishes for us and our bikes. (ie. Sea sickness, messed up side mirrors and highway pegs)

There were about 20 bikers and one non-biker dude on the boat. We made lots of friends and got invites to stay in Colombia, Argentina and Brazil. Although we are all now traveling through south America independently, we are staying in touch and probably hooking up in various countries and its comforting to feel a part of a loosely connected group.

MB and Bruce

Picture we took from climbing up the mast of the boat