My Kind of People.
The other day in Bahía de Los Ángeles, we were sitting around with a bunch of cruisers under Guillermo’s palapa when a landlubber from Texas joined our group. He was a young Armenian immigrant to the US close to getting his Green Card and on his way to Cabo San Lucas at the Southern tip of Baja by motorcycle.
We talked about the comradery amongst cruisers and how we help each other. He couldn’t believe that people help each other without an angle, without wanting things in return. We explained that there are only a few of us and sailing can be brutal. Pitt from Australia said ‘We know what the other person feels like.’ Pitt has spent the last twenty-three years traveling forty-four countries and many of them by sailboat. ‘We give them what they need to be safe, if we have it.’
Helping others creates a safety net and makes cruising not only more enjoyable even possible. The environment at sea is harsh and it’s essential to know that others are out there, next to the Coast Guard, Navy and commercial ocean traffic. The young cyclist was stunned.
Radu got diesel for our boat that same day and an American expat gave him a ride to a couple gas stations to find some diesel. ‘Sure. No problem.’ I asked the kid if he had not seen hardship in his native country and how people stick together in challenging times. He hadn’t because he is from privileged background and had everything handed to him so far. He was looking for an angle in everything, because that’s what he knows, people wanting things from him in return.
Thirty-year-olds can be stubborn in their worldviews and for good reason. They need to believe that they will overcome all challenges and that the lives of older folks won’t be theirs. For this kid, the US was the land of opportunity, of fast success and easy money. Naturally he didn’t want to hear that this is mostly propaganda and most Americans work very hard for a very long time without much vacation to make a living, let alone achieve success. Who knows a thirty year old who would want to listen to advice from a bunch of middle-aged cruisers? Radu and I were the only Americans there, but Radu is originally from Romania and I am from Germany. The rest were two Canadians, one New Zealander, one Australian. All of us had scathing views of world politics and had seen a lot. We all had made the decision to give up careers and land life values for traveling in a trailer on water. Our views had to clash with his.
I am so glad to have left behind ‘the angle’ in my life and to have entered finally into a community. A community of dreamers, of independent travelers, always ready to experience new things, ready to help others and to face themselves and the sea. I have found my people and I fit right in.
Featured Photo: Marie-France Cantin & Mike Knapp on their SV Déjàlà we interviewed for ‘Project: Cruiser’s Life’ click her for the interview
A friendly cruiser who took our lines upon arrival in Ensenada.