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Miscellaneous:
Date of Last Update: January 21, 2009 |
From Venezuela: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Also, Happy Winter Solstice!
It took us quite a while to find the perfect spot to hang our Christmas logo. But in 92 degree heat, we climbed a hill in Laguna Grande, a remote and isolated lagoon on the coast of Venezuela, and found it! Singing songs starting with “dashing through the snow” in the tropics requires great imagination! We hope you and yours are well and safe after enjoying this holiday season. Early in 2006, our good friends and fabulous house-sitters, Rich and Deirdre Arnold, informed us that they would like a six-month hiatus. As the six months coincided with the 2006 hurricane season, great choice guys, we readily agreed to return to our house in North Carolina from July through November. As an additional benefit, Emily, Chris’s daughter, began the UNC Postgraduate Nursing program in May, 2006. The six months at home afforded us time to reflect on the joys of living two different life styles. The ease of living in a house, compared with a boat. The “joy “of yard, rather than engine, work. The fun of meeting friends for lunches and our neighbors for the annual neighborhood potluck instead of cruiser BBQs and sundowner sessions. The need to exercise daily on a 2 mile walk with the neighborhood walkers instead of snorkeling and swimming off the boat. Milestones were met: Jackie turned 60 and Chris re-entered the medical community as a corporate consultant. Jackie continues to work on her two pet projects: explaining “how bad can it possibly be?” when analyzing the current status of the American economy (www.meridians.us/upclose) and supporting a group of Zimbabwe women in their efforts to feed their AIDS orphans (www.meridians.us/orphans). Fast forward: at the end of December we are afloat in South America. We enjoyed a very pleasant international Christmas here in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, with the other cruisers. Lots of sun, temperatures in the 90’s and palm trees everywhere …”wish you were here” as they say. Venezuela has been a pleasant surprise: a great natural habitat with good folks, and once you learn the ropes, you can find everything you might want or need. Despite some local security problems, the country has much to offer, but it is time for us to move on. After leaving our boat on dry land in Venezuela for the hurricane season, we splashed her back into the water for a three day shake-down cruise to a nearby village, Cumana, just to make certain everything on the boat worked. And as usual, we discovered several “oops” which Chris quickly repaired. In Cumana, we loaded 220 gallons of diesel fuel for SHBIUMI and 20 gallons of gasoline for the dinghy. Total invoice: $16. This is not a typo. Ho-Ho-Ho! In early January, we will “land cruise” via a 20 hour bus ride to the Andes town of Merida. We are scheduled to stay with locals in a posada and travel via donkey, mule and jeep, and cable car in the high Andes for a week. Chris worked as a research assistant in the Andes in the early 70’s so he is looking forward to revisiting the area. Now, if only we had not taken all our cold weather clothes home last May! From Venezuela, we plan to travel west to the islands of Tortuga, Bonaire, Curacao, and Aruba (the latter three are also knows as the “ABC” islands) and later to Colombian islands of San Andreas and Isla de Providencia approximately 120 miles east of Nicaragua. Yes, nowhere near the mainland of Colombia. Then we will head toward the Panamanian San Blas Islands, probably by early April. We are scheduled to return to North Carolina in late May for at least three months. Once again we learn that people the world over are generous, kind, and open to Americans, even in the wake of Iraq. And as our Christmas message this year, we wish to confirm that the Christmas spirit of “peace on earth, good will to men” is alive and well not only here in Venezuela, but in all the parts of the Caribbean that we sailed in 2006. Visit our web site at www.meridians.us for more information. Please send us an email and let us know what you have been doing recently! Best regards to all, Chris and Jackie Lambertsen aboard s/v SHIBUMI |
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