The Last Boomer Rides On

The Last Boomer Rides On

by Sandifeet

Preface:

The start of this slightly crazy few weeks begins in Ecuador where I had been travelling for 6 months. In April 2014 I sailed off on a container ship bound for Bremerhaven, Germany, it took almost 3 weeks. My vague idea was to fly from there to the UK to visit my Dad and brother Tony.

The ship passed through the Panama Canal, a truly great experience and I have tried to describe the technicalities of this piece of engineering magnificence in as much detail possible. There are links to many photos included in the purchase of this book that should give readers a better perspective of the canal as well as the workings of a Panamax container ship.

On reaching Europe things went slightly array needing three days on public transport, an unexpected surprise!

When I finally got to Tony's I thought I'd write this book as I'd had such a different and fun experience with many contrasts.

It's written to give readers a laugh or at least a smile, an idea of how easy travel can be but then how ideas not well planned tend to fall apart. Also to be enjoyed by armchair travellers, others whom also have fun memories of earlier travels or those who are planning/thinking of escaping the rat race for a while.

An independent, solo, middle-aged, free-spirited woman I'm now 57, but in my head I am 26 and have been for over 26 years. Travelling alone takes a bit of guts but once you get going it is wonderful. Trust is an essential part, as is common sense; stupidity is to be avoided. Being over 50 I see how invisible one is to most people, a big advantage. Watching how young ladies travelling alone or in groups are harassed and bothered by guys at every stop no longer makes me long for my youth, (well maybe when the guys are just so tasty), instead I quietly sip my beer either chatting to other local, older men and women, or alone while enjoying people-watching, then occasionally being chatted up by a gallant older trier or even a keen younger man...

Often fear of the unknown stops people from venturing too far! I wonder if this short footloose trip of mine will inspire some to leave the comfort behind to experience the beauty of the world and her peoples.

© Sandifeet 2015

Part 1 - Ecuador

It was in Sua, a small fishing village in the province of Esmeraldas in Ecuador, that I found the ideal trip on a container ship! The small family-run hostel I was staying in was starting to run out of water and so was the whole area. The family were taking off every evening to bathe and wash in some fresh river water out of town, leaving me with a bucket of water, so it was a sign to move on.

I'd been thinking of heading to Europe and the UK to visit my Dad and brother again and as spring would be on the way bringing warmer weather to the UK I decided now was the time to think about going. I had also heard from Moira, a very great friend whom I'd met in Denmark and known for over thirty years; she'd emailed to say her breast cancer was getting worse. She was living in Wales and I really wanted to see her.

Ever since I had spent an hour or so discussing travelling on freighters whilst on the phone to a customer when working in a call centre I'd been wanting to try it. He'd told wonderful tales of trips he'd taken across the Pacific from Australia to Asia, which took my mind off the mundane number finding job and really made me think about a trip like that. When in Costa Rica I'd looked to see if it was possible to travel by freighter down the coast to Ecuador but only found routes along the Central American Western Pacific coast operated by shipping companies that don't take passengers, so I'd flown to Ecuador.

With the water situation worsening in Sua, I began looking online and found a company offering a possible trip on a container ship sailing from Guayaquil to Bremerhaven. I immediately sent off an email enquiry. The voyage was marketed by a German travel agent, who sent back the details and an offer at a price for the largest, most expensive cabin. They sent several attachments of different paperwork needed and a page with details of the ship, the CSAV Laraquete:

Flagged: Liberia Tonnage: 40,541 Length: 261.10m Width: 32.25m Built: 2010 (very new then!!) Crew: Polish, Ukrainian and Filipino Currency on board: $US Voltage: 220v Facilities: Air-con, fitness gym, elevator, deck chairs, officers’ recreation room, video/DVD player

Age limits: 5-79 years.

Another attachment gave details of the full round trip, which took about forty nine days, from Bremerhaven on to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Le Havre, Savannah, Port Everglades, Balboa, Guayaquil, Balboa, Cristobel, returning to Bremerhaven.

I requested a one way trip as I only wanted to do the last leg, Guayaquil to Bremerhaven, which would involve passing through the Panama Canal. I also didn't need a large expensive cabin, it all sounded very exciting as I hit the send button with my requests. I could soon be sailing, well motoring, through the Panama Canal!!

I headed out for breakfast next door before I was too late for an encebollado; I might be excited but I can always eat an encebollado for breakfast and this restaurant made a very good fresh one. Encebollado is almost a national dish that is eaten for breakfast in most of Ecuador from what I have seen. It is a sort of fish soup but is prepared in two parts: the fish stock/soup is made separately and is different from place to place but always tasty. In a bowl the meal is built as some chopped cooked yucca, lots of flakes of freshly cooked tuna or other strong dark fish meat, some finely sliced onions and chopped fresh coriander all go in to the bowl. The soup/liquor is added last so as not to cook the fish any more as it will dry and toughen up. On receiving the bowl the adding of your personal favourite condiments is almost like a ritual. The options are all laid out on the table: there is a bottle of oil, one of tomato sauce, another of mustard and a small one of chilli sauce, also fresh lime halves with a special squeezer tool, and often there is also some home-made chilli/spicy sauce in a small pot. Here on the coast a small bag of chiflies, plantain banana chips, is also part of the meal; inland it can be some form of either popped or roasted corn that is added to soak up the soup and make the meal more filling.

I added oil, lime, chilli and mustard to my soup and squashed the chips up small in their bag as everyone else does before sprinkling them into the bowl. Yummy. I ate thinking about this exciting trip; what a fun way to go, and my environmental footprint would be much less than flying! I wondered how many other passengers there would be and who they would be; probably old men I decided. I doubted there would be any children, too boring or dangerous for them!!

I stayed in a small room on the beach front my first night in Sua but that was $10 a night and the hotel was a lot larger with a few more guests so noisier. Being an older greying lady seems to have its advantages as not only does one escape most of the advances from keen young men eager to interact with a gringo but also I have found more opportunity to talk to older people and get a greater perspective of the country, so I do tend to wander the streets talking to old people about their towns.

That was how I found Rudy and Julio's hostel the next day in the street leading to the beach. Rudy showed me the room and said I could use her basic but clean kitchen and fridge; there was wireless internet and when she mentioned the price was only $5 a night I was convinced and moved there. My Spanish isn't too good but we managed to communicate OK.

Being as the hostel was comfortable and convenient to the bus route, I'd been planning to stay in Sua a little longer. I'd been there ten days but once a bucket filled with water had to do instead of a shower I began to think I'd leave a bit sooner. Rudy and Julio were very kind and helpful but they were obviously embarrassed by the no water situation. They owned the building, which was their family home; there were three rooms downstairs and the kitchen.

Upstairs was divided up with sheets of ply to make four rooms. The room I had was in the front with a view and a tiny thin balcony overlooking the street; it had a double bed, a single bed and a set of single bunk beds, and its own toilet and shower. Ecuadorians holiday in large family groups so one often sees rooms with lots of beds in. One of Rudy & Julio's daughters slept in the room next to me and the other two rooms were vacant.

The couple had another daughter with a small boy who came to visit at weekends and the two retired grandparents enjoyed seeing and playing with him. Rudy and Julio sat outside watching the world go by in the cool of the evening, selling a few homemade ice creams for 50c each; the coconut ones were especially good.

There is a six or seven hour time difference between Ecuador and Germany so it wasn't until the next morning I received another offer for a price on a smaller cabin. There were other attachments: the booking form, plus details of the other requirements, which were a passport valid for at least six months, health insurance and yellow fever vaccination certificate. Both those last two were going to be a bit of a problem but all the other conditions suited me so I accepted the offer on the cheaper smaller cabin, hoping I could overcome the two obstacles.

The ship was scheduled to leave Guayaquil on or around 10th April 2014; of course, being a large ship with many ports of call to load and unload containers, there needed to be some flexibility in the timing to allow for delays. It would take about twenty days to get to Bremerhaven. I had a few to get organised and travel to Guayaquil in time to board!! I was already getting excited about such a passage on such a big ship across the huge Atlantic Ocean and through the Panama Canal! However there were a lot of forms to be printed and uploaded first.

Sua, Atacames and Tonsupa are three linked beaches, each completely different: Atacames is the business centre for the three. On a very low tide it was possible to walk from Sua around the cliffs and exposed rocks to Atacames, and then if you are fit another two to three hour walk would take you to the end of Tonsupa beach. It's only 25c and much quicker and easier on the bus.

The local buses are smaller than the intercity ones; they are green or blue and some are very tatty but they all keep going and the locals all say Buenos dias. The conductors are usually handsome young men, but sometimes there's a toothless old fella collecting the money. There is a bus about every twenty minutes. Arriving in Sua the local bus drives along the beach front and turns around at the end, where most of the fishermen are, returning along the same route and back past the plaza with big shady poinciana trees before continuing on the highway back to Atacames. At the intersection you can also take the larger buses that travel routes between main coastal towns and into the rest of the country.

Long distance travel by bus usually involves a few changes to get to a specific destination. All buses have happy Latin music playing all the time, and the longer distance ones often show films to pass the hours. It's three kilometres to Atacames, which is a bustling town with many more facilities than tiny Sua. I caught the bus at the corner where the highway divides for the turn off