Underway at last

At last, I feel like I am finally underway on this ‘adventure.’  Moving out of my house, moving onto the boat, managing all of the last-minute issues that cropped up as my departure date got closer, has left me little time to think about the ‘next stage.’  But, finally, I am sitting at the ‘bus station’ in the little town of Loreto in Baja, with a ticket to La Paz. 

Sonrisa all buttoned up

Sonrisa (my boat) is buttoned up for the winter and will be sitting in her slip waiting for my return   The regular bills are all on auto-pay, my car insurance is cancelled, and I am anticipating walking off all of the good-bye breakfasts and lunches that filled my last few days in Olympia.

I finally left Olympia on October 27 and flew to Loreto to see the boat that will be picking me up in La Paz in a few weeks.  The owner of the boat had left it ‘on the hard’ in Puerto Escondido for the summer and was in the process of opening it up, putting the sails back on and running the halyards back through the sheaves so it could be put back in the water.   The boat is a well-found Crealock 34 and the layout inside is very much like my own boat – so I should have little trouble finding my way around once I learn where he keeps everything.   It has a number of pieces of equipment I have never used (solar panels, water maker, single sideband radio), so I expect to learn a lot about them as well.

Rocksan on the hard

But that’s for three weeks from now…now I am headed for La Paz to study Spanish in a three-week immersion program.  I’m feeling fairly well prepared and have been practicing my Spanish for the last few days here…I think I must be improving because people respond to my attempts in Spanish now, instead of immediately shifting into English – so I must be SOMEWHAT intelligible and they must think that there is SOME hope of their being understood by me. 

Sunset outside Loreto

And I continue to look for any opportunity to learn.  I stayed at a hotel near Puerto Escondido on Thursday night and found a copy of La Ensenanza de Buda (The Teachings of Buda) on the bedtable.  The left hand page was in English and the right in Spanish, written at a level that seemed manageable for me.  So I asked the hotel if I could buy a copy to study from (a refresher in Buddhist precepts being a serendipitous side-effect) and they made me a ‘presento’ of the book.  So that will keep me busy on the bus!  

The view from the bus windshield - a reason to focus on the book!

I will be able to discuss the Eight-Fold Path and the Four Noble Truths in Spanish to anyone who will listen!