A Warm Welcome for Gloria

A large crowd of party-goers thronged the aft deck of the Buque Escuela ARC Gloria on Friday night to welcome the ship’s complement to San Francisco. Since May, the 257-ft barque, the official tall ship of Colombia, has been making a friendship tour of the Pacific, including Hawaii, Guam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

The ‘Escuela’ part of Gloria’s name refers to her role as a training ship for 100 or so cadets in the Colombian Navy. The cadets, who range in age from 18 to 24 and have a male-female ratio of about 80%-20%, sign on for a four-year tour, after which they can leave the service, move to other branches of the military, or stay in the Navy. We spoke to Cadete Juan Camilo Gandara, who said he will become a Lieutenant in the Navy once his training tour is complete. Some of the well-wishers at Friday night’s party spent the weekend hosting cadets for tours of the City and beyond, and helping with necessities such as provisioning.

Gloria is open this afternoon until 5 p.m. and tomorrow morning from 10 to noon, after which she’ll depart for San Diego around 3:15 in the afternoon. From there, she’ll visit Panama before returning home to Cartagena on December 6.