Sorry for the delayed blogs for this cruise guys!  Please know that we’re stockpiling stories as we speak, I promise they’re coming   Sixthman team member Sonia took a shot at blogging for the very first time, and I think she passed the test with flying colors.  Take it away Sonia!

I love language.

I love to savor words and swirl them around just to hear the sounds of revelation they make when together they create something unexpected.  Or sometimes just a word in and of itself can make me happy. Like foibles, for instance. What a great word, foibles. It’s fun to say, a little odd to look at and almost always makes me pause and think about my own. But most of the time it’s the meaning behind a word that inspires my affection. Especially if it’s a made-up word that wouldn’t really have any meaning unless you’d been there.  Kind of like Whodat.  Or Cayamo.

Cayamo wouldn’t be found in any dictionary (yet), but it is a name and a place, a thing, an idea and a community. It’s a floating festival of music celebrating singer-songwriters that turns into an on board celebration of music lovers, be they old or young, musicians or fans. You can feel the enthusiasm, the deep down appreciation and palpable passion for song.

Yesterday we embarked on the third Cayamo, which is my second one.  I’ve been on quite a few Sixthman cruises at this point, but Cayamo is definitely my favorite. Anywhere you walk on the ship, you can tell that not only does everyone on board love a good song, but that those songs have played an integral role in their lives, including right now. I can relate, and it feels pretty special to help put something together that weaves its way into the fabric of memory and the sinews of connection that become community. And it does. Cayamo is five days of incredible music that, once experienced, becomes the people you meet, the stories you tell, the passion you share; the meaning behind a little made-up word that you will remember forever.

-Sonia