Saturday, October 2, 2010

Boat Dwellers

All the guys who live on their boats have an ex-wife. I wonder if that's why they chose this life, which is, in a manner, dropping out of society.
A couple of them love women, but I sense some latent misogyny in a couple of them, too.
Here are my favorites -

Polito is somewhat iconic on the island. He is a rope-maker and a skirt-chaser. He performs a lot of marine maintenance on the boats at the marina.
Polito likes to dance and, apparently, is really good at it. I didn't get to see it, but he likes to dance without toppling a can of beer he balances on his head (must be a Puerto Rican thing . . .).
He wore the hat in my honor.

Boris is Russian, with all the brawn and swagger of Yeltsin. This Boris worked as a nuclear engineer and was at Cherynobl during its meltdown. His doctor says he shouldn't be alive today.
Boris sits outside the restaurant, regardless of the heat, smoking and drinking. "I no like air-condition. I like breeze!"
When I passed on a drink because I would be driving later, he said, "Is no problem in Caribe."
Boris left Russia when the Soviet Union split. The breakdown really angered him. "You create shit, you live in it. I go live my dream in islands of Caribe."
He sailed to the Caribbean and taught at a university in Puerto Rico for a while. Now he's retired and loves the security and solitude of Isleta Marina. He told me, "I die here."

1 comment:

  1. Rock On Sister! Good For You! But I have to admit I got pukey just reading this. I get SOOOOO seasick. Hope you are loving almost every second of this trip!

    ReplyDelete