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A Warm Welcome for Gloria

Gloria steamed under the Golden Gate Bridge on Friday morning, her yards lined with cadets.

© Alison Healy

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 ship’s officers and Madama Consula Ilse Bechara Castilla formed a receiving line to greet the party guests. Spike heels on the varnished deck? No problema!

latitude/Chris
©2013 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

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.

Locals like Master Mariners Junior Staff Commodore Ariane Paul and her friend Ricardo Padilla mingled with the ship’s crew, such as Cadete Juan Camilo Gandara.

latitude/Chris
©2013 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Los Tambores de Colombia played music on top of the pilothouse and got the crowd dancing.

latitude/Chris
©2013 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Folk dancers performed as well.

latitude/Chris
©2013 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

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.

Gloria, making quite an impresseion displaying her ‘friendly’ lights, is docked at Pier 17 on San Francisco’s Embarcadero right next to the Exploratorium.

latitude/Chris
©2013 Latitude 38 Media, LLC

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