Ratios
Our internet friends and fellow cruisers, Livia and Carol, on occasion write in their blog about the Fun to Suck ratio. It is important, in both their eyes and ours, that the fun parts of cruising far outweigh the sucky parts. As they’re part way across the Pacific ocean right now, in the middle of the biggest passage of their cruising careers, they probably can’t do much about altering their ratio. It is what it is for them at this time. As for us, we have a bit more leeway.
Yesterday we had a very productive work day on ZTC. In addition to scrubbing the waterline, and some general cleaning inside the boat, we replaced our bent stanchion, spliced some new lifelines and replaced the seals in a bilge pump. The main Yamaha engines were also serviced, each of them receiving fresh oil, spark plugs and fuel filters. Yes, it was a busy day. Productive but not super entertaining.
Today we added to the Fun side of the equation by taking a hike to not one but two separate waterfalls, each with a fresh-water pool to swim in. This particular hike is not in the guidebooks but the details for it were shared by some friends. Have we mentioned lately how nice it is to have friends?
The hike was a typical ZTC-type adventure in that we had to work a bit to get ourselves to the trailhead. Not speaking French was again a bit of an issue but we ultimately found the bus that we were looking for and made our way to our objective.
The trail to the first 6m high waterfall was well-developed and easy. Getting to the second 25m high waterfall took a bit more work. As you might imagine, the more difficult the route, the less people are willing to attempt it. Although we saw numerous hikers on the trails, we had each spot to ourselves for a good period of time, something we both appreciated.
We found the entire hike very enjoyable as there was quite a bit of variety. At one point we were even required to walk through a long, dark tunnel, balancing on aqueduct pipes (we were warned by our friends to bring a flashlight with us). Yes, the trip through the tunnel was a bit eerie, made even more so by the bat flying around our heads on our return through it!
Once past the “guardian of the tunnel,” the remainder of the hike back to the trailhead was easy. When we arrived at the bus stop, because we were both unsure of the schedule and how we were to pay for our ticket, we decided to give hitchhiking a whirl. We were pleasantly surprised to be picked up by the very first vehicle that went by us and the kind female driver took us right to the dock. Trying to explain that we were on a boat to our non-English-speaking driver was amusing but we ultimately got the message across.
Now with our Fun to Suck ratio back in balance, we’re ready to move forward. What will tomorrow bring us?
Note: As you can probably imagine, we took a ton a cool pics on this hike. When we acquire some internet that doesn’t require us sitting in McDonald’s (where we are at this moment) or KFC, I’ll be happy to share them.