Beautiful Cholon

It was great to sit in the calm and safe anchorage of Cholon again waking up to the different bird sounds including the special one from the “Whatthefuckbirds”, they still keep us in stitches. 

October and November definitely is the worst of the rainy season in Colombia and Panama and this year is no exception we did get a LOT of rain to the point that the drive way up to Roberto’s house is slipperier than snot on a glass door knob and very carefully we climb that 40% climb and going down is even more challenging.

On October 13^th we celebrated Sid’s birthday at “Crow’s Nest” with a tasty Fondue Bourguignon and luckily the weather cooperated so we were able to walk instead of slide down hill. 

Happy Birthday Sidley

Carmelita and Roberto

A few days after that Roberto’s kid’s Lori and Paul flew in from LA, including his brother Tom from Medellin, it was a happy family reunion and we were honored to be included. Tommy is a retired Costa Mesa officer and both of Roberto’s kids are still active police officers. Sid had a lot of fun talking to Lori as she works with some of his ex partners. We had a blast and not one moment to relax. Roberto was so impressed with the Fondue dinner on Sid’s BD so we had one for his family. It was a hit, everybody enjoyed it and we ate and ate for at least two hours.  The eating and drinking didn’t stop there it went on for days. 

We had many potlucks on Manatee:

Tommy and Roberto

Lori

Paul "Pablo"

Their last evening in Cholon Roberto organized a potluck on Manatee. Food as always was wonderful and when Carmen changed the music to some hot Latin stuff Tommy took over and taught us all to dance Salsa, man can he wiggle his butt. Even Sid ended up wiggling his little behind like a Latino. It really was a fun evening. 

Is it Halloween yet??!!!

Actually this photo was staged

Tommy the Salsa Teacher

Next day we all went to Cartagena, Roberto had rented a cute house in Getsemani with 4 bedrooms and invited us to stay with them. Getsemani is one of the most charming neighborhoods in Cartagena. The nightlife is definitely happening here especially with all the hookers and numerous bars, most famous Club Habana. If you don’t remember the Getsemani name just tell the taxi driver you want to go to Club Habana.

Lori, Tommy and Paul we sure had a wonderful time thanks again for all, especially to Lori for bringing us our mail and all kind of goodies.

We had another fun week in Cholon but do to our visa running out it was time to say goodbye. The weather was still iffy as a Low pressure system just above Panama was threatening to turn into a tropical depression. Until that one was gone we were stuck in beautiful Cholon. We will miss Roberto and Carmen terribly, they are both such wonderful friends and who knows if the “check in” drama straightens out we may return. 

Manatee on the way to Cartagena

Definitely sat too long around the hook! What a mess!!!

 

Pot of Gold?