It's the journey, not the destination

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I'm struggling to even find the words to discribe the last five days of my life, there were so many moments of pure clarity but also minutes of confusion and pain, but as I was constantly stimulated these passed pretty quickly.

Put 22 people on a 35 foot yaucht for five days and watch as relationships are created, alliances formed, minds opened, hearts spilled.

It may be easier to set the scene by introducing the characters first...
The only natural start here would be the all accommodating captain Yuyu, he immediately gained trust with his gentle demeanour and confident knowledge. As he introduced us to the rest of the crew, Marie the most flexible chef ever! Jolanda her quiet assistant and Orson a local Colombian who was Yuyu's second in command.
Then came the guests, an awesome newly engaged Irish couple with a funny older brother, a beautiful Canadian, two lovely young couples from London, interesting brothers from America, a lone motorcycle riding younger American, a very animated Australian guy, a lovely couple from Eastern Europe and of course, Duck, Rosie and I. All together we made up quite a jumble of people who sort of mashed together very well.

As we departed the hell hole that was Porta bello, which I can't even describe because it angers me still.
The eager excitement amongst the group was apparent, introductions were made and we all had a fabulous dinner as soon as we set sail the captain asked us to go below deck so he could switch off the lights and navigate though the night. The mood changed immediately as we deceded below deck, the cheery excitement turned to sick stricken fear, I'm not sure who was the first to throw up but people started dropping like flies, unaware how to find their sea legs. Soon the only people left were Jordan (one of the brothers) and I, we were allowed upstairs to stand in the captains cabin and look out onto the sea. As the biolumineses twinkled in the motion of the waves caused by the boat, Jordan and I spoke of relationships, travel, work and the journey ahead, it was a fantastic first night, before sliding into bed and rocking around in my coffin shaped pod.

The next morning after a delicious breakfast on the deck with a view of the first few San Blas Islands we went to visit an island with a population in the hundreds and even with solar electricity ! It was very interesting to be walked around and learn about the Kuna culture but it felt quite forced which was unfortunate but I guess tourist always want the original experience but once a few tourist have been the culture of the tour changes, locals begin charging for photos and others becoming hassled and upset, I'd hate to be minding my own business washing up and have someone point a massive camera at my face, such a hard balance between offending and appreciating.
Back on the boat we sailed for around half an hour to a completely unpopulated island and spent the afternoon drinking rum, dancing and chatting in the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean Ocean, it was the perfect end to a beautiful day.

Strange relationships are formed in close spaces and as soon as Josh (the other brother) got on the boat the chemistry was instant, he began to tease and banter. The banter was free flowing and friendly, I think the personality clash was dissolved by our chemistry i can only explain it as chemists, pure chemics. Though out the voyage our relationship developed into a close friendship, we bonded over books and as he read to me from his book 'Love does' we began discussions about life, love and God.

Those afternoons and evenings drinking rum and playing cards under the stars are some of the best days of my life. I always knew when booking my flight to Mexico that my aim was to reach Colombia and what better way to arrive then on a 5 day boat trip though the open sea. It's pretty hard to describe the feeling of wandering around a deck at 6am with a coffee in hand and looking out to the deep blue ocean and pale blue sky, surrounded completely by blue without a boat in sight the only break from blue was the soft grey of the pod of dolphins that accompanied us for a while and played in our waves.

Although the weather was sometimes stormy and grey it kind of added to the journey for me, I love nothing more than to dance in the rain and to do this at the tip of the boat with only the sound of the storm surrounding you in unexplainably beautiful.

Every morning as I woke I would look out of the port hole next to my bed, each day I was greeted with a different view, on the 6th morning it was a sunrise over a wonderful city, I slowly made my way above deck, so excited to have finally made it, it's the journey and the destination sometimes, especially today, Colombia I thought... I'm home.

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