She wants to lead the Glamorous Life

One of the many sculptures in Cartagena--Fernando Botero

The other day we were shopping for toilet paper because it might be hard to find in the South Pacific. We usually get Scott single-ply tissue because it is safe to flush in our hyper-delicate marine toilets. The store didn't have our normal brand and none of the toilet paper was labeled "safe for RVs" or anything similar. We found one brand that looked like it might fit the bill but couldn't be sure. So I put a piece on my tongue to see if it would dissolve quickly, which it did. So something for you to consider--that I ate toilet paper--the next time you're imagining that boat life is constantly drinking cocktails and watching the sun go down in paradise. There's plenty of that too, but then there are those moments which are pretty far from idyllic..

'Balloons' made of pastel-colored plastic grocery bags for
the Day of The Immaculate Conception

In a similar vein of non-idyllic moments, we recently discovered weevils in our pasta. If you don't know what those are, consider yourself lucky and probably skip reading about them altogether, especially if you're eating today. They exist in the U.S. but are not as common as some other places and they seem to thrive in the tropics. We have been stocking up, so we had a huge supply of pasta. Which was then transformed into a huge supply of weevils. Some of the pasta was okay and has now been encased in airtight weevil-proof plastic (note: Tupperware isn't cheap in Colombia!) but a lot was thrown away. Some cruisers just boil the pasta, critters and all, but we're not quite ready to do that. Pasta is still cheap and plentiful where we are.

 

Leaving Cartagena, we will be making our way west to the San Blas islands of Panama. We're looking forward to clean and clear water. Of course, now that we're ready to move, the wind has decided the disappear.