Bicentennial Latin American Independence Voyage
Tall ships from a dozen nations celebrated two hundred years of Latin American independence with an epic voyage. Chile and Argentina were the major organizers of the regatta, called 'Velas Sud America 2010' to complement bicentennial independence celebrations in their nations as well as in many other nations of the old Spanish colonial empire.
A dozen of the largest sailing ships in the world, and crewed by more than a thousand sailors, the regatta left from Rio de Janeiro in February 2010. They sailed down around the southernmost point of South America, rounded Cape Horn, then sailed up the Pacific coast of South America. They then sailed through the Panama Canal on the way to Cartagena, Colombia. The 136-day voyage that included stops in fourteen ports ended at the port of Veracruz, Mexico last month.
The organizers of this epic event believed that a voyage of sailing ships was appropriate to the historic occasion of so many bicentennial celebrations from Mexico to Argentina, especially considering the historic role sailing ships played in the Portuguese and Spanish age of discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries .
Interestingly the regatta included the United States Coast Guard ship, 'The Eagle'.
Words To Live By.
This classic comes from my dear friend, Suanny Morales, "Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."
During a conversational lull, the stranger at the end of the bar says, "A giraffe walks in the bar and says, 'The highballs are on me.' " Predictably, people laugh, but not because it is funny. Because they feel sorry for the guy. Often it is better to be quiet than to tell a stupid joke - and possibly be thought of as stupid.
You Have Been Here Too Long When .....
Even some supposedly simple concepts take a little getting use to in Latin America. Multi-story buildings is one of those cultural differences. My hotel has the lobby at the street level and rooms above on two stories. Simple emough, right?
Well, you walk in the lobby, get your key from the front desk and step on the elevator to go to your room. My room is on the 2nd floor, so I punched the elevator button marked "1". One? Yes, Spanish-speakers refer to what we call the 2nd floor, the primero (1st) floor, and similarly, what we call the 3rd floor is to them is the segundo (2nd) floor. This all makes sense when you realize that what we call the 1st floor, they refer to as the baja (bottom) or terrestre (ground) floor.
After you have been here just a short time this difference should not be a big thing. really. The only time it rears its head is if someone joins you on the elevator and says to you (who are standing next to the controls), "Segundo, por favor." For a long time this request triggered a short 'deer-in-headlights' reaction on my part as my brain sorted out what the real floor requested was. Then it dawned on me. Go with the buttons! He said segundo, push '2' and go back to sleep. Duh!
Till Next Time. Pura Vida.
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