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Diane's Diary4/25 Thursday Well, the AC guy came about 10:30 this morning with a new AC. Thank goodness because I couldn't take the heat any longer & since it was so hot, wasn't getting any work done on the boat. We went over in the dinghy to Alpha Canvas- he gave us a price on a new mattress. It's around $300 USD, which is a lot, but what can we do? We need to replace the mattress & want both mattresses covered with the same blue stripe material we already have on the boat. We went over to Echo Marine by dinghy. We want to buy another dinghy. They showed us what they have & will take us next week for a test drive. However, we checked with someone who bought a dinghy in Venezuela last year- the price for the same model was $350 less than the Trinidad price! So, if we go to Venezuela & Puerto LA Cruz, we will definitely buy the dinghy there. I hope we can go with the political situation. Several weeks ago, there was an aborted coup attempt in Venezuela. Their President Chavez is very unpopular with the local people. So far there have been no any problems & all boaters are reporting everything is OK so far. We are keeping our eye on the situation & will not go if anything bad shows up. Our big problem is we need to go home with the house in July & if we go home from Venezuela it would be via Caracas & this is where all the problems have occurred. Also, we wanted to go up to Merida but since this is a student town it may not be good. We will have to wait & see. We got back to the boat around 4pm, & went to the pool & took showers. At 6pm we went to the weekly potluck here in CI. We are not allowed to grill on our boat for obvious reasons, so this is the only chance we get to bar-b-que. We try to go every week. 4/26 Friday We took the free shuttle to the Tru Value supermarket so Larry could go get a medical test done. The medical lab was near the supermarket but is not on the maxi bus route so it is difficult to get to by public bus. The easiest thing for us to do was take the free shopping bus & walk from there so that's what we did. Fortunately, it was only a blood test, which took 5 minutes, & we were off back to the shopping mall. Larry wanted me to come with him as he had never been to Tru Value & wasn't sure where the bus left from to go back to the marina. I went to the supermarket for a few things, & went shopping in the mall to get Larry a birthday card. We got back to the boat around 11am. At 1pm, I went for a manicure & pedicure. Last year they had an excellent girl but the girl they have now is new & it wasn't very good. However, for $15USD for both that is the same price I pay in the US plus a tip. When I got back, I did some emails. Larry is still working on the chain plates. I went to the pool & swam & took a shower. Then it was back to the boat for dinner & some TV. 4/27 Saturday- Larry's birthday I bought 2 books for Larry when we were in Bequia that I knew he wanted to read. I went to the market this morning at 6:30. I bought 10lbs of shrimp at $6USD/pound for jumbo shrimp. In the US, they would probably cost over $12USD/pound & maybe more. I bought tuna at $2USD/pound, small watermelon for $1USD, bunch of anthurium flowers for 1.50USD, grapefruit, oranges, carrots etc. It's nice to have good fruit & vegetables again. I'm going to try & eat more of these & less carbohydrates. Up island, fruits & vegetables were so expensive I didn't buy them as often as down here. In Martinique, one of the cruisers bought tuna & paid $10USD for about the same size as I got here & paid $2USD. So, the cost of living is much lower here in Trinidad. However, since we have to pay for a marina slip here, it probably balanced out. I got back to the boat around 10am. I started cleaning the shrimp- it took about 2.5 hours to clean it all! I tied to take a nap in the pm since I was tired from getting up early- I had actually been up since 5am. But again Larry was banging around on the boat so I couldn't sleep. I walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes, took a quick swim & shower. We had our last good bottle of really good wine & shrimp cocktail for an appetizer. The shrimp were excellent. We went to CI for dinner at 7:30- the food was just ok & service was not that good. I think we would have had a better meal at Joe's Pizza but since it was Larry's birthday he got to decide where we go. We rarely eat at CI & this will probably be our last. I hope Larry had a good birthday though. 4/28 Sunday S/V Autumn Wind gave Larry a really nice bottle of wine for his birthday this morning. That was very nice of them. Last week was their 40th wedding anniversary so we had given them a bottle of French wine we know they like so much. I made bacon & eggs for breakfast. I wrote some emails. Larry is still working on the chain plates- hopefully, he will be done on them all today. In the afternoon, I came into the reading room at CI to catch up on my logs. That's where I am right now, still typing after about 3 hours. It's pouring rain out right now so I can't get back to the boat right now anyway since I don't want the PC to get wet. It was actually nice to come in here & type while Larry was busy working on the boat. I usually go to the gym & pool everyday but we will have to see with all this rain. We are having some of the shrimp I bought for dinner tonight- I froze all the rest including the tuna. We have enough food to last us for a few weeks so Other than minor things, I won't have to go shopping for a while. Oh, I arranged a tour for Angostura Bitters. Since I booked the tour myself, I was able to get the local Trini rate at around $3USD per person instead of the tourist rate at $10USD. I have learned to ask for the local Trini rate & book everything myself since it's cheaper that way. We need 10 people for the tour & so far we have 7. I announced it once on the net & will do so again. I booked the transport with Jesse - we like him & he certainly has helped the cruisers a lot but he has raised his prices since last year so we may just do the turtle watching, Asa Wright & Caroni Swamp ourselves. The only problem is Larry will be driving with an expired drivers license. Even though it is being renewed, we don't have it on us. I hope this won't be a problem. I certainly do not want to drive here since they drive on the left. 4/29 Monday Well, I was making lots of phone calls this morning for doctor's appointments & such. Most doctors' visits are around $30USD for a visit so it's pretty inexpensive to go to the doctor here. As long as you can afford to pay, there are plenty of good doctor's. There is even a free hospital but we have heard the care is not very good. After 11pm at night, there are no nurses on duty at the free hospital so most cruisers do not go there. The good hospitals are very cheap so lots of cruisers arrange to get doctor care here. Venezuela is excellent for laser eye surgery- cheap & excellent care. We know of many cruisers who have gone & have been happy with the results. Larry is thinking of getting it done also so we shall see. Anyway, I also arranged the Angostura Bitters tour for next Monday. For around $20USD per person, we will go to the pan yard factory (where they make the pan instruments), roundtrip transportation, lunch & tour of the factory. We have 12 people for the tour. My local Trini friend Rex Stollmeyer stopped by - it was nice to see him again. He gave us lots of fish the last time we were here. We dinghied over to Alpha Canvas to get the exact amounts of material needed so I could go buy the material for making our new mattresses. I took the bus into Port of Spain by myself. There has been a big increase in the amount of crime all over Trinidad with lots of muggings, but I felt safe going by myself. We do not wear any jewelry here at all for safety sake - including wedding rings. In Port of Spain, they will cut your finger off to get the ring so most cruisers don't wear any jewelry. I put my money in a change purse & clipped it to the inside of my bra as a precaution. I had about $200USD with me & didn't want to lose it. I kept a small amount of money in my pockets so if I was mugged they could have that. But, I didn't have any problem whatsoever & was never even approached. After working in NYC for many years, I like to think I am street smart but don't know about that. I just try & watch out. Anyway, I bought the material myself, as it is more expensive if we buy it from Alpha Canvas. I had to walk around a bit & was really tired by the time I got back to the boat at 3pm. At 5:30pm, we went to the manager's cocktail party that Crews Inn gives once a month for its guests with free food & drinks. It's very nice & we never pass up a free meal - we just make this dinner. We got back to the boat around 8pm & just watched TV. 4/30 Tuesday I got a migraine headache this morning. I don't get them as often as I did when we were at home but I get very sick when I do. I just noticed I am almost out of Imitrex so I will have to get more. Even though I was not feeling well, I took the dodger & all the windows to the laundry room & washed them in the big utility sink. But after lunch, I had to lie down for a while because I was nauseous & didn't feel good. Also, we had agreed to go out to dinner with S/V Autumn Wind so I didn't want to disappoint them. As it turns out, Vivian from Autumn Wind didn't go as she hurt her foot. We also went with 2 other couples- S/V Halliday Girl & Skyus. We went to a Chinese restaurant in the Long Circular mall but at $38 per couple for dinner, it was expensive, the portions small & the food not that great. Larry had a coke & I had water so it's not like we had a lot of drinks or anything. We all said we would never go back. Other than Joe's Pizza, we haven't found any reasonably priced good food here in Trinidad. So, since tuna & shrimp are relatively cheap, I just cook a lot. |