July 8, 2023
It’s been raining all day today and Sofia is a sick, a respiratory infection. A couple hours ago she saw hotel/resort’s nurse who gave her some medication and I think she is doing better. We arrived to Rayavadee on Monday and the first five days were beautiful. Sofia was enjoying herself. She gets up very early in the morning, we go for a run, then to the gym, and after showering and changing we go to have breakfast — an impressive buffet from which we don’t consume much. I’ve had to work a couple of hours each day and usually have virtual meetings at night but, like with Marina, we’ve managed to enjoy the beach and dinners at night. We also rented a small motorboat yesterday to visit some of the islands nearby and snorkel. We met Nemo, the fish from the movie. It’s probably the first time we both encounter a clownfish, also called anemonefish. And he was, there, indeed living in an anemone. I read that “the sea anemone protects the anemonefish from predators, as well as providing food through the scraps left from the anemone’s meals and occasional dead anemone tentacles, and functions as a safe nest site. In return, the anemonefish defends the anemone from its predators and parasites.” He seemed nervous with our presence.
One my way here I finished one of the worst non-fiction books I’ve read in years: The Earth Transformed: An Untold Story by Peter Frankoplan. It is a story of how climate change has shaped the evolution of humankind and civilization. Natalia, who bought the book in Kinddle (we share our libraries) but who has not read it, tells me it is a bestseller. I would bet that very few people who bought the book actually read it. I did it because I don’t like starting and not finishing a book (Ulysses might be the only one). But the book is not fun to read. The writer obviously worked har in producing the book. It is composed of an endless sequence of facts that have been patched together in chronological chapters, some about the weather and climate, some about human history, some interesting, some less so. References to the literature make half the book. Unfortunately, there is no story and a book that doesn’t tell a story is not a good book. So, it was with great relieve that I started reading another book, this one fiction, recommended by Carla and Alaric. Pour les Trois Couleurs by Fabien Clauw. It is the first of a series of books about the adventures of captain Gilles Belmonte in the years after the French revolution. It is a page turner that I am enjoying and will certainly get the other books. I also like the fact that the author lives in his sailing boat where he does his writing. He is based somewhere in la Rochelle. The perfect life: making a living as a writer while sailing and living in your boat.
Tomorrow, Sunday, we are going back to Bangkok where Natalia and Woland are waiting. Monday we all drive to Huahin where we rented a house for the week. Next weekend Sofia goes back to DC and I travel to Morocco. What comes next is not clear. At some point I need to go to Ecuador and Cartagena, but it won’t happen before BEHEMOOT is ready. That day seems to be approaching though, as yesterday I received the bill for the repairs…
Sailing to the Pacific 