Sunday, February 29, 2004

Corpus Christi

We drove to Corpus to celebrate the 100th birthday of Partner's grandmother, spending time with family from near and far.

It was a grand celebration, and there was not much time for exploring, but we did walk a few times on the seawall. The Spanish replica of the Nina, one of Columbus' ships, was tied up on one of the t-heads in the harbor, without sign or explanation. Someone told me that a hurricane had damaged the Pinta and the Santa Maria, and they were in drydock, hostage to a lack of funds to repair them.

The Nina is very small, and it is hard to imagine sailing in it across the Atlantic Ocean. Spain made these wooden vessels back in the 1990s, and gave them to Corpus. We got a lot of grief when I worked in the governor's office to help Corpus get these boats. I hope that they can raise the money to restore the two, and then interpret these boats, how they were built, what they carried, their routes, the political and social dimensions.

Much of Corpus downtown and around the bayfront looks quiet this time of year. At the First United Methodist Church where we spent much of Saturday, there was a long glass wall open to the beach across the street, and it was hard to not stare out at the gray waters, their white waves rolling into the shore.

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