The first look in the morning is out on the water – the sea is still choppy… Then we have breakfast and get going, driving from the mooring to the petrol station. And I notice, only now, that the Swiss flag is missing under the radar. Broken off!
When did that happen? I have no idea. Probably yesterday… And then Martina notices: The pipes that support the roof are cracked at the weld seams! – Oops, that doesn’t look good. If they break, the roof will blow up in our faces. In addition, all the cables for the technical equipment on the roof (radio, satellite connection, GPS, light) run through these pipes…
In Aguilas, an immediate repair is probably not possible, at least the harbour employees don’t know who to call in to weld the aluminium. Aguilas is simply too small. But in Cartagena, we are assured, there are certainly specialised companies that could repair it. – So, off to Cartagena we go.
In the meantime, Marko is allowed to ask his metal worker what might have happened and how he would repair the damage. The photos are quickly taken and sent. In the meantime, we drive across; in a little more than an hour we should be in Cartagena.
Cartagena is a place steeped in history (I’ll come to that in a moment) and also the most important military base of the Spanish Navy. There are shipyards here that also build and repair mega-yachts. There’s a lot going on. – I drive into the harbour and see a group of men lowering a yacht into the water. I go there, introduce myself, directly mention my problem and ask for help, or at least advice. And I’m lucky: one of the men turns out to be a mechanic; he sees the point, and since – extra luck – he’s also the harbour master of one of the marinas here, he asks me to drive over to ‘his’ harbour… There he finds us a free place, and the extra extra luck lets us moor just at the pier where a metal construction company owner also has his yacht. Additional extra extra luck: this businessman is on his boat at the moment, and the harbour master asks him to join us… He looks at the damage, phones his chief mechanic, who soon arrives, and together they devise a plan to help me. Then he asks how we want to pay.
Martina and I go for a walk around town (and I take my folding bike – which has also suffered – to the Carrefour for repair; this is also a warranty case), and when we return, three men are already measuring the tubes and welding a frame out of chrome steel (!) that supports the entire roof construction and connects it to the hull of the ArgoFram with screws.
Marko, too, thinks this is a great idea, as the cracked supports will be relieved, and he transfers the money from Tallinn to Cartagena. Everyone is happy. – The three craftsmen work until dark, they want to or have to finish today, because tomorrow Friday is a holiday and thus the beginning of an extended weekend. We have bought well and feed them heavily; they manage the feat: super extra extra luck!
We could go on tomorrow, but what kind of ‘holiday’ is that? What is being celebrated here, and how? Are they celebrating at all, when Corona officially restricts everything? – Let’s put it this way: tomorrow the annual commemoration of the time when Carthage maintained the most important fortification on the Iberian Peninsula here some 2,200 years ago, and controlled the silver mines of the region, begins. Hannibal’s father was a kind of governor of this strategically and economically important region – and the young Hannibal himself marched from here against Rome in the Second Punic War!
What an undertaking: At only 26 years of age, he formed an army of some 50,000 soldiers, 9,000 horsemen and more than 30 elephants with which he marched across the Alps. His goal: to subjugate Rome. Here he grabbed a few tons of silver (which he carried with him on his march and could be sure that the soldiers guarded him like the apple of their eye), with which he could pay the wages and the costs of this entire undertaking on an ongoing basis. The entire convoy with craftsmen, animal keepers, cooks and of course the accompanying families (women and children!) probably had a length of more than 60 km – imagine the logistics, the food, the communication…, mobile phones and reconnaissance satellites did not yet exist, as we know.
Well, the Romans kept getting in the way at first, but lost any direct confrontation. Hannibal was a clever strategist and always dared to do unusual things, which enabled him to defeat much larger armies. But the Romans were smart and insightful, preferring to stay out of his way over time and then attack the Carthaginians where Hannibal couldn’t be and couldn’t direct the battle. For example, in Cartagena.
Well, we know the course of history (otherwise read up!) – here in Cartagena, the constant attacks of the Romans and the intermingling with Celtic tribes have left their mark, until today, where the events are replayed year after year with great pomp. There are groups representing Romans, or Carthaginians, or wild Celts, who parade through the streets playing music and celebrating a kind of carnival. As luck would have it, it is exactly now and exactly here that the time has come again, and we can follow the preparations for the big events and theatre spectacles – and as darkness falls, the hustle and bustle in the old town… Corona, it soon becomes clear, will be left out for the next 72 hours.
The next day we take a break, clean the boat, bathe in the sun, enjoy local specialities – and in the evening we go back into the old town and the hustle and bustle. The streets are full; lots of people in the alleys, in the bars and restaurants, on the squares, most of them dressed up. Distance rules are abolished. Masks are banned.
Martina towers over everyone here with her height, and is probably also approached again and again because of her figure and blonde hair… She dances with wild Celts, flirts with Roman legionaries and poses with Carthaginian noble ladies. Everywhere we are greeted in a friendly manner and immediately welcomed – she opens doors and allows me to swim in her ‘backwater’ everywhere and participate in this pulsating life without being asked.
It is incredible to be immersed in the middle of this heart-stopping and almost exuberant folk festival.