Sunday. The day after the two Passover Seders for which I’d come to Playa del Carmen. Per my recent non-plan revisions, it was my day to leave town and continue south. But the night before, while I was using someone’s Mac, he’d been interested in possibly joining the boat. That, plus I heard there was a woman in Playa that may be my cousin and I wanted to meet her.
The boat I was heading to.
A funny thing happened today. The rabbi’s brother, an amazingly exuberant man full of song and laughter, an enjoyable leader, asked my next steps. I told him I was heading to Honduras to meet a sailing boat but sadly, it meant rushing down the coast to be in Placencia, Belize, by Friday at 9:30am, to catch a ferry. He said don’t rush, take my time and enjoy Playa and all the places down the coast.
I said, you think so, but what about the boat, that this was a dream opportunity for me, that I had been wishing for a boat to sail exactly this course and allow me to join the crew. No, take it slow, there will be another boat, God will provide, he said. I said something about maybe not getting to Panama and then to Colombia if I don’t have this opportunity again — and suddenly something changed, clicked. Sailing, the San Blass Islands!?, he exclaimed. Yes, I replied. “GO!” he replied. “Get out of here, get down this coast, get to that boat!” Boy that was a 360′ we all thought. What happened? We all asked. I’ve been there, he replied, “The San Blass Islands are the most beautiful in the world. You have to go. This will always be here, you can easily fly to Cancun and sell this place, but those islands… Don’t miss those.”
And so I knew. I am not missing this boat, this family, this opportunity, for sure.
The Passover lunch was very nice. I loved the walk to the rabbi’s home. The guests were great, the food, of course, was great, and I liked doing more Jewish.
Back at the hostel, Jesse suggested coffee. I wrote to Skipper-man and family to tell them of Jesse, then we walked to 5th to have coffee. That, along with the brilliant conversation, turned into dinner. Jesse suggested he head down with me. I stayed one more night in my same bed with plans to depart in the morning.