March 25th, 2024 I don’t have a religion but follow certain traditions from Catholic culture.  One is eating fanesca during holy week.  Fanesca was originally a fish soup, made with potatoes and salted-dry codfish. Over time it evolved to include a variety of grains, corn, peanuts, squash, and pumpkin.  It is served with a slice of a hard-boil egg, a quarter of an avocado, and some green onions and cilantro on top.  The soup is only prepared in Ecuador and only during holy week, when family and friends get together. Yesterday, the soup was prepared in Bangkok, courtesy of N ..read more

March 13, 2024 I’m late with this update, couldn’t get to writing it down.  And not because something bad happened in Cartagena.  On the contrary, overall, things went well.   I was finally able to sail BEHEMOTH, and what a wonderful sailboat she is.  It happened on Tuesday, February 27th.  Three crew came along: Hector, BEHEMOTH’s handler, and Luis and Camilo the engineers who have been working on the blue monster.  From Marina Club de Pesca we motored past the statue of the virgin Mary that marks a shallow in the middle of the bay and set sails against a li ..read more

February 16, 2024 Again, a short visit, but I did have a great time in the company of my daughter Sofia.  Yesterday we went for a long walk that took us to Montmartre.  There, at the Maison Rose we sat to have a drink (in her case non-alcoholic) and I discovered L’Entropie, a French gin.  An intense flavor of juniper unadulterated by other botanicals.   I took a picture of the bottle because I plan to buy a couple on my way back to Bangkok.  Although my consumption of the spirit has been reduced, I still plan to enjoy some; the doctor never told me to stop drinkin ..read more

January 16, 2024 The room has a view over the Nile but in the three days I haven’t been here I didn’t see much.  Up at 4:30am to prepare for the day, I was out before sunrise and back after sunset.  I used to come here several times a year between 2005 and 2010; before the Arab Spring.  Last time, in 2018, I flew from Beirut in the morning and left at night.  Cairo hasn’t changed much, only noise, pollution and entropy levels are up.  I did venture out of the hotel to see the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).  None of the exhibits are open to the public yet, but seeing ..read more

February 9, 2023 I am writing from Suvarnabhumi international airport while waiting for my flight to Paris; it’s delayed.  Almost one month has elapsed since I came back from Ecuador and, other than a short trip to Hua Hin (see last post), I’ve stayed put in Bangkok. My mobility has been even more limited; I haven’t left the confines of the neighborhood where we live. This was good for work, Woland, and our routine. Get up between 6 and 6:30, walk Woland (we alternate days with Natalia), prepare a French press, drink coffee while talking on the phone with parents and/or children, feed Woland ..read more

January 16, 2024 Updates about my stay in Cartagena and BEHEMOTH’s preparations were interrupted abruptly.  The main reason, there wasn’t much to report, only my frustration with the whole situation.  The boatyard had almost a year to complete a series or jobs, the most important fixing BEHEMOTH engine.  Before I took the plane to Cartagena they had confirmed things were ready and yet they weren’t. My plan was to stay at the boatyard for just a few days, then move BEHEMOTH to a marina and get her ready to sail to Panama while waiting for my daughter Marina.  Instead, I spen ..read more

December 8, 2024 Still at the boat yard under a scorching sun; it’s 90 degrees (32 C) outside.  Not sure what is the temperature inside the cabin, but it remains manageable thanks to the Vornado.  I may be the only one left here. Today is Little Candles Day or Immaculate Conception Eve, an observed religious holiday in Colombia that marks the start of the Christmas season.  Few people came to work at the yard and those who did left after lunch. And so it happens that the engine will not be ready today either.  It finally started two days ago, but then the mechanics realized ..read more

December 6, 2023 Slow progress, the engine didn’t start yesterday.  It seems that the fuel pump needs to be replaced.  They ordered a new one yesterday that is coming from Barranquilla and it is supposed to arrive today. From my side, I spent the day checking things around, adding items to the to-do list, and then sorting out halyards, sheets, and reefing lines.  I started with the equivalent of the mainsheet for the self-taking stay sail, which I figured had to run to the cockpit.  Among the sheets I found in a bag, I located one that was attached to a fiddle block that sh ..read more

December 5, 2023 I made it here yesterday afternoon after a long journey from Paris, bringing wit me a computer bag, a carry-on, a 100L duffel bag with presents for BEHEMOTH, and a 40-pounds box carrying the Starlink.  My flight from Paris on the 3rd was to Bogota where I spent the night in a hotel near the airport.  The lowest end of the Hiltons, as the manager explained, specialized in people who miss flight connections.  The bar was still open when I got there at 11:30pm and I had a gin and a couple of glass of wine.  My original reservation was in another low-end hotel ..read more

June 16 Natalia, Sofia, Woland and I drove to Hua Hin on Monday and came back yesterday.  This Sunday morning I’m traveling to Morocco via Paris and, at night, Sofia goes back to DC via Doha.  Natalia travels to Latvia next Wednesday and Woland stays behind with a dog sitter.   In Hua Hin we rented a house not far from Sai Noi beach, a small cove also known as Sandy beach, and walking distance (15 minutes) from Eureka beach.  We had a great time in a more tranquil part of Hua Hin.  Every morning we would go for a walk along Eureka beach and bac ..read more