Pocketful of mangoes

Dec 29

My pockets bulge oddly, stuffed with small, flavorful native mangoes, as I strut the final quarter mile of my walk. I’m enjoying the more civilized existence here at the Asuncion Yacht and Golf Club and Hotel. Granted, the water here, downstream of the capital city of four-million, is filthy (although not so bad as to discourage the wee crock who paddles in the basin humming his crocodile-love-song at night, in hopes of finding a mate). But there is a huge pool where at 9:00 in the morning I’m the only one swimming; and the adjacent golf course, where I can walk – alternately dodging or dissecting the sprinklers, depending on the time of day and associated heat – as well as a gated community, where I thieve fruit from trees dripping with mangoes (as if anyone would care).

So here it is December 29. Still in Paraguay, not sailing to Antarctica, hoping to voyage to Punta del Este and up to Brazil, before a little stopover in the San Blas islands, on my way to Puerto Vallarta, to deliver a sailboat back to LA.

2009 ends then, much as it began: waiting for a boat.

In January, it was the hopeful launch of Yippee Kai Yay. Patiently we waited … until July, for her launch (abandoning the Cabo Race, Ensenada Race, and ultimately -- last-minute -- Transpac); in September I arrived in Uruguay to find Xplore still on the hard, and instead of cruising down the coast and throughout Tierra del Fuego – spent a month-and-a-half laboring to get her ready.

Then I arrived here, in Paraguay, to find Domino, practically champing at the bit to get in the water, which happened a month after my arrival -- although we are at present, still anticipating clearance from Customs and the Prefectura before we can actually go anywhere …

Let me point out: I have stayed the course. I have hung in there – with some sweat equity and a lot of ‘RAH RAH SIS BOOM BAH’ support -- ‘til each boat got in the water. But I never got to sail on Yippee Kai Yay … got only a 10-day delivery on Xplore … and hence, I will be damned if I leave Domino before I get to ride down the rio to Punta de Este and the sea!

I’m not sure if there’s a lesson in this ‘year of waiting’: patience is a virtue; happiness is the voyage, not the destination; all things come to those who wait; blah blah blah … There are all sorts of clichés, but the fact is: I have surely spent 2009 ‘waiting for my ship to come in – or more accurately – to go out!

PHOTOS top to bottom: YIppee Kai Yay gets launched! Xplore on the hard in Piriapolis. Domino's first voyage, with James' harmonica serenade.