Chapter 22 - Far and away

Gammelnok is extremely worried about the whereabouts of his Haversack. 

The Donkeyman arrives covered in soot and grease from the engine room.

After a few failed attempts at understanding each other, the Haversack is located. It is undamaged and it feels good to have it back. He looks inside, finding the wood carving and shows it to the assembled crowd. 'Andalusia' he says as if that would be enough of an explanation. 'Santander' says the Donkeyman pointing to himself and the crowd. Gammelnok understands that as 'Santa and deer' and shakes his head, not knowing what they mean.

This goes on for hours interrupted only when the Donkeyman has to be on duty.

The ship is now underway for a week and heading South West. Further and further from the pond in the garden in England. Gammelnok is depressed. Communication is still difficult although he is picking up words and phrases on a daily basis. He feels out of control, trapped on a ship without means of escape. The crew is treating him well, and he is allowed to join them at meal times and for singsong afterwards. The ship's carpenter has made an extra high chair for him. 

One evening, Gammelnok decides to contribute to the festivities and attempt to Yoik them with a Sami song. This falls quite flat because as we know from a previous chapter, he never really got the hang of it. What does happen though is that one of the crew members starts to sing a flamenco tune he has picked up from southern Spain. The two styles are quite different but do have in common the overtone technique known in Spanish as Cante Jondo or Deep Song.

The room falls silent with just a slow clapping of hands and with a few ¡Olé! thrown in to show appreciation. Then it is time for two of the female crewmembers to dance the flamenco accompanied with handclapping, foot stomping, and shouts of encouragement. They finish off with the Sevillana, a classic dance which demands quiet appreciation of its strict gracious routines.

The weather gets warmer as the ship gets closer to the Caribbean. Gammelnok is allowed on deck at night only, as he is technically a stowaway and must not be seen by the officers. The Spanish crew is not aware of his Chameleon Cloth and he is in no hurry to let them or anyone else know of its existence.

From snippets of conversation between the Spanish crew, he has understood that they will be away from England for at least a year. Place names have been mentioned which means nothing to him, such as Panama, The Equator, Valparaiso, New Zealand, Yokohama, Hong Kong, Singapore, Suez Canal, Cádiz and Portsmouth. What they amount to though is a complete circumnavigation of the world.

The ship pulls into Cristóbal, the port at the entrance to the Panama Canal. They have to take on fresh provisions for the long trip to Valparaiso in Chile, the southernmost country on the Pacific coast. 

The Donkeyman is firing up his Donkey engine, a diesel powered machine used to lift and lower a crane over the ships side to move pallets of provision from the quay side onto the deck.

Gammelnok is watching all this from a shady corner partially covered in his Chameleon Cloth. It is far too hot to be completely covered but he is keeping an eye out for officers just in case. Fascinated with all the new things he is seeing, he has almost forgotten about his garden pond and is quite content to let life take its course for now. He has after all not got to worry about food or shelter as long as the Spaniards are looking after him. He is getting good at conversing with them in a halting Spanglish and they in turn pick up some GammelDansk.

Having taken on provisions they must now travel the Panama Canal, through enormous locks and crossing large lakes before reaching the Pacific Ocean.

Their ship is dwarfed by some of the enormous ocean going container ships that passes through in both directions. The vegetation is jungle in places and colourful birds are flying overhead making quite a racket.

The ship is pulled into locks by trains running on tracks along the lock quay sides. Two trains pull and two trains hold back to ensure the lock gates are not damaged. The whole process runs smoothly and nearly automatic. Water is pumped into the lock chamber raising the ship by several meters in each lock. On the Pacific side, they sail into full locks and are then lowered down to the next level by letting water out. 

It takes around 10 hours to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Once through, the ship's captain orders full speed ahead and a course southwards to Valparaiso in Chile.

But first they have to cross the Equator.