It took me a little longer to get this year’s “Muchas Gracias List”, an annual thanksgiving tradition here on the Andiamo blog, together. It’s mostly because Andiamo’s been crazy busy lately. Nonetheless, I want to get this year’s list up now while I had a chance to give a special thanks and recognition to the people who’ve been exceptionally helpful and supportive to me and Andiamo this past year.
So without further adieu…
Chris Pozzo – Chris is my best friend. We’ve known each other since I was 13 and he was 12 when we were a couple of catholic school punk-asses. We go back a long way, and have experienced dark chapters in our lives almost at the same time. Namely, losing both of our parents in the same two year period among others.
We are vastly different people. He being more of a homebody and not having much of a knack for adventure. And I being a polar opposite of that. Nonetheless, the friendship continues to thrive well into its third decade.
He has been incredibly helpful on so many logistical fronts, I’m almost ashamed to not have mentioned him sooner. He takes care of so many of my US-based chores that I would literally not be able to do this whole Andiamo thing were it not for him.
Not to mention that he has opened his home to me, and literally given me a bedroom at his house. So for all this and more, I thank my best friend Chris. Now if I can just get his ass on Andiamo for a spell (I’m working on it)!
Elvis Castro – Elvis is the ONLY diesel mechanic worth hiring in Cartagena. When Andiamo’s engine literally drowned in seawater last summer, I was lucky enough to get him to handle the rebuild. Yeah, it took eight weeks instead of the two he promised, and we did have to do another partial rebuild after the oil pump that he didn’t think needed replacing died on me. But he did follow through, and he got Andiamo back in the water, at a fair price, and he stuck to his guarantee. So thanks Elvis!
Ceci Barsallo – I met Ceci last year in Bocas del Toro when she was vacationing with her teenage daughter. She was gracious enough to give me her contact info in Panama City. Since then, our few meet-ups and her time and effort to get me familiar with Panama city have been both incredibly generous and invaluable to me. She’s a great friend to have in Panama City. Many thanks Ceci!
Sandy and Sherry from “Namaste'” – A couple of Texan cruisers that I’ve known since my Rio Dulce days. Since then, we’ve met up in Bocas and Cartagena. They’ve been incredibly helpful with needed parts for Andiamo, among many other favors. A huge gracias to the both of them.
Benjamin and Roberto from the Hostal Holiday in Cartagena – These two guys were instrumental in helping us put together our first few trips out of Cartagena for Andiamo. They continue to support us however and whenever they can. We can’t thank them enough.
Dino in San Blas – Dino is our main Kuna guy in Carti’,San Blas. He will literally take care of anything we need for Andiamo. He does everything from coordinating our passengers’ transportation within and to/from San Blas, to helping clean and maintain Andiamo during our downtimes. Meeting him has been instrumental in our building what we consider a very special relationship with the rather insulated Kuna people. He’s also instrumental in enabling us to cruise and keep Andiamo in San Blas like few other boats can. He has never let us down, which is a HUGE thing in these parts. He has gone out of his way to get us out of self-inflicted jams even when the odds were against him. We cannot express our appreciation for his friendship and dedication enough.
And finally…
My lovely dearest Karen – Here’s someone who didn’t even particularly like boats (or cats) when we started hanging out last spring. Yet, in a short period of time, she became a key player in getting Andiamo sailing again, and in organizing her trips. She is now Andiamo’s key logistics person and keeps the boat more organized than I ever did or could. There is absolutely NO WAY I could have done all that we have in the past few months without her. She’s a most welcome (and beautiful) ray of sunshine in my life. I can only thank my lucky stars for staying persistent enough with her to even give me the time of day (it wasn’t easy I’ll tell ya). I can only hope I can return the favor to her in a way that will give the same value to her life. So a big muchas gracias Karen, y muchos besos tambien.
That’s it for this year! I hope I got everybody!