We disembarked on a floating pontoon with stairs. What a challenge. After many days at sea one walks in a zigzag, with no booze - the famous seaman walk. We all fell down the stairs.
I stayed for a full month at Paul's father - Dr. Scher's - in Claremont.
Saw Mandela being released from prison after so long, and how people respected him. Apartheid revealed seats with signs for whites and blacks, different charges on the buses, and an incredibly compelling look on the "colored" people's faces. So submissive. And also huge miserable slums.
A gentle Indian girl became my friend . She sold clothes at the local market. She taught me how to make samoosas and gave me the passage out of that place - which was really important, for I only had 500 dollars on me. Paul planned to fly to France to do the grape picking in Champagne.
That was how I got aboard a merchant ship with Burmese crew. It was bound for Lisbon. An old Scottish couple, a German man, a young South-African couple and I all joined in exchange for work. We did all sorts of tasks, such as peeling lots of potatoes, painting the hull, cleaning, etc. That exchange went on for many years until some idiot decided to smuggle ivory.
Almost all of those Burmese men were Buddhists, really peaceful creatures who wore a type of sarong, the longyi, which is tied with a sort of knot for men, and another knot for women. I received a checkered green one. Wore it for many years. I was really well treated by all of them, except for a brief action from the cook - a Muslim who tried to grab me while I searched for samoosa pastry inside the freezer. The tragicomic siege didn't last long: he promptly begged me not to tell anything to the Captain.
Except for this episode it was a very smooth 12-day sail until we got to Portugal.
When we arrived in Lisbon, just next to the mouth of Tejo river, I looked at that piece of land and couldn't handle the emotion... while I tried to hold that stubborn tear the longshoreman helped to moor the ship. He threw the fine line with a monkeys fist at the end...
...and of course it hit me on the head. I fell back and the crew rushed to my rescue.
I burst in laughter and thought: "Welcome to Europe".
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