For four weeks I have been sharing the small place of nine meters with Aldo on his sailboat Still Free. Aldo is from Uruguay and has been living for a long time in Miami. Now, at the age of 67, he fulfilled his dream to sail the Caribbean Sea. He saw my leaflet in the marina and wrote me an email. Since he wanted to go all the way to Panama, he was looking for a crew member to help him n this long journey. We were anchoring for a long time in Port Antonio to wait for a good weather window.
The 18 year old Christoph offers me a lift on his small sailboat to Jamaica. It is a 22 feet Hurley from 1978. He already sailed it all the way to Guadeloupe from Hamburg, Germany. But at first we need to do some repair work: the hinges of the hatch are broken, someone hit its bow just recently and the rigging needs to be treated against rust, so the mast has to be brought down. It takes us a few days in the marina to finish everything.
It took me eleven days to hitch from Normandy to the Pyrenees. But this time I didn't want to plan anything, no routes, no accommodation, just being on the road again. After all, I had to take advantage of the brilliant weather. And this is how it happened:
After three weeks in the very north of Scotland, Hanna and I decide to go on traveling individually. She booked a flight from Glasgow to Canada and I will make my way to Spain.
It's astonishing how many things you are going to experience as travelers. We've been traveling for only a short time yet. We are sleeping at family's and friend's places. But still, we always get to know so many nice people.
For example, Willi who has got a machete from Castro in Cuba; Oli and James from England who are funding their journey only by busking; Erik who has been traveling since he was 15 years old. We could stay in a house for journeymen and put our tent next to a farmhouse. Shops are opening only for us and folks are eagerly refilling our bottles (even with ice cubes!). Hitchhiking is also going very easy, we never had to wait more than 30 minutes.
Itzhoe, 36° celcius, stuffy air. A few hours ago a more comfortable breeze got around us in Denmark. Denmark – we've been there for about one month and the country left a great sensation.
Even if it wasn't that simple to pass the border. Never before we had to put out our thumbs that long. But finally Volker and his truck take us straight to the center of Aarhus (a place to return). We notice a strange undergrounding kindness and helpfulness („strange“ because being German always means to be a bit suspicious of such openness).
"If you let go a little you a will have a little peace; if you let go a lot you will have a lot of peace; if you let go completely you will have complete peace." (Ajahn Chah)
