Friday, March 7, 2008

Everyone comes to Panama

This is the most international place we’ve ever been. At Shelter Bay we’ve met cruisers from the UK, Germany, The Netherlands, Australia, and, of course, Canada and the US. I’ve noticed people speaking French too, but we haven’t talked. In the last couple of days I’ve spoken Dutch, German, Spanish, and English. It was a delight to speak Dutch and German. After stumbling around in Spanish, I almost felt fluent in my two old foreign languages. Amazingly, yesterday afternoon the local workers were bringing English-speaking people to me to help them communicate. Really, my Spanish isn’t that good, but we have a copy of the Spanish for Cruisers book, and it really comes in handy.

Work on the boat is proceeding nicely. Cross your fingers: we may finish up earlier than anticipated. The skeg wasn’t in as bad a shape as we had feared, and John has been successful in lining up parts, materials, and labor. If we do finish early, we can move back aboard the boat, return the rental car, and save a little money while we await a weather window to head north.

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