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Diane's Diary5/12 Monday Today I went into Port of Spain again to get some more fabric while Larry worked on the engine cooling system. In the afternoon when I got back, I worked on making slipcovers for all the settees. We have beautiful ultra suede that is just gorgeous but unfortunately "out here" it gets too dirty with all our sweating, suntan lotion & bug spray so it's better to keep the cushions covered. I had been using towels on them but it looked terrible. Fabric is so cheap here & now that I have a sewing machine I have decided to do them myself. I bought beautiful scotch guard fabric for $3USD per yard that is light blue with a beautiful sailboat pattern- we needed about 15 yards so even though it was $45USD we could never buy it this cheap in the US. I went to the gym late in the afternoon & made a wonderful shrimp with feta cheese dish for dinner. 5/13 Tuesday I worked on the slipcovers the whole day. By the end of the day I was so sick of being on the boat that we decided to go to Joe's Pizza for dinner. For about $14USD for the two of us, we had eggplant & chicken cutlet Parmesan, salad, garlic bread, and spaghetti. Not bad & the food is pretty good though it's not the best. We still go there anyway as it's the cheapest place around & the food is still pretty good. This was the first time we had ever been there when we didn't any other cruisers in the restaurant. Also, we ate by ourselves for only the second time - usually we go with lots of other cruisers. 5/14 Wednesday I went to Price Smart in the morning with the free shuttle bus. Alpha Canvas stopped by in the afternoon & showed me how to do the corners much quicker & easier. It has made the whole process much easier. Larry started to help me & it actually is much easier with 2 people. Part of the problem is I don't have a big enough workspace to spread out in like at home. We finished one cushion & started on another. Since we worked till almost 5:30, I didn't have time to go to the gym or swim. 5/15 Thursday We went for a test drive in a Caribe dinghy this morning. We both like the double floor dinghy better as it was a more secure ride. We will probably buy another dinghy in Venezuela because it's cheaper there. The same dinghy is almost $350USD cheaper in Venezuela. Larry went shopping over to Budget Marine. Two other boaters came over to the boat to see the slipcovers today. I didn't have any time to do any more slipcovers. I went to the gym at 4:30 & we went to the weekly potluck at 6pm. We got an email from our tenants saying they want to break the lease & leave the house 10 days early without paying the extra fees. I will call our attorney at home tomorrow. 5/16 Friday I called our attorney this morning & faxed all our correspondence to him. Then, Larry & I took a bus to go shopping at Peake's downtown as we thought the prices were cheaper there than here in Chaguaramas. The prices weren't any cheaper- some of them were much higher than even Price Smart- so we didn't buy too much. We then went to West Mall for lunch since we were right there. We got back to the boat around 3pm. 5/17 Saturday I did one more slipcover this morning so I am finally at the halfway point. I finished an article I was writing for Latitudes & Attitudes magazine so we went to the Internet store & emailed it along with some pictures we had taken. Hope they publish the article! Larry worked on fixing the staysail chain plate. I went to the gym around 3:30. S/V Autumn Wind came over for a drink around 5:30pm & we went to Jenny's restaurant in downtown Port of Spain. It's a beautiful Chinese restaurant that we have been to before. Beautiful décor & the food was a lot better than the other one. 5/18 Sunday I finished one more slipcover this morning. Then, Ken from GWW invited us to a party at the apartment he & Vesta are renting for a while since they have sold the boat. Ken picked us up around 1 & we got back around 5pm. We had a nice time & got to meet some other cruisers but the food was only OK. I went swimming & at night we watched some TV, worked on my Excel spreadsheet & worked on my logs. 5/19 Monday I made some phone calls in the morning & then S/V Ariyl stopped by. We are going to try & go to Venezuela together if all works out. I did some boat cleaning & then made some kugle. Larry's Grandma used to make it & some cruiser gave me the recipe. Unfortunately, it didn't come out nearly as good as she made it. We also worked on another slipcover but didn't finish it. I walked on the treadmill for about an hour. Larry took the dinghy over to Power Boats to buy some more boat stuff. We have a saying in Trinidad - you can go broke trying to save money here! 5/20 Tuesday We worked on a cushion until 10am when I had to go call our attorney. At 10:30, I left to go to the GYN. The doctor's visit was $25USD & a pap smear about $12USD - far less than it would be in the US. I walked to Price Smart for lunch to have some of their wonderful US style pizza. I was waiting for a bus when a local Trini came by & offered me a ride. Usually I don't take rides unless it's someone I know however, this guy was old (he later told me he was 79) & I knew he was harmless. He insisted on driving me right to the fabric store- what a nice guy! That was a good example of Trini hospitality- the Trini's are the nicest natives we have met in all of the Caribbean. Anyway, I went to the fabric store to buy some more slipcover material. Larry went shopping for boat parts again! We are spending more money here than we when we were up island all winter. 5/21 Wednesday We had to go into POS early this morning so Larry could have another blood test. We will get the results tomorrow when we go to the doctor. Just hope it is good news! Anyway, we got back to the boat around 11am. I did laundry after lunch & was trying to get the sewing machine to work- the bobbin keeps getting stuck. I don't even have the manual so I'm not sure how it's supposed to go. I made some turkey enchiladas because we were having my local Trini friend & his wife over for dinner. Rex & Marilyn Stollmeyer came over around 7pm & we had a wonderful time with them. We wanted to have them over because Rex has been so kind to us- he is always bringing us fresh fish & won't accept any payment for it. We really enjoyed their company & learning more about Trinidad. 5/22 Thursday We left the boat right after the net was over at 8:30 as Larry had a doctor's appointment at 9:15. Turns out he had an infection but thank God it was not cancer. That was the best possible news & we were both thrilled. Afterwards we went to breakfast. After that we went to the local Trini museum since we were in downtown POS anyway. The museum was free & very enjoyable. It had sections on the history, geography, plants, & flowers of Trinidad. It also had a section with Carnival costumes that was very interesting. It had a special exhibit of pictures from China that was outstanding. We went to TGIF for lunch since we were celebrating Larry's good health. We got back to the boat around 2:30pm. There was no AC or cable in the gym so I only worked out for about a half hour since it was so hot in there. It rained on & off all day today. I guess rainy season is upon us already. Last year during rainy season it didn't rain that much but we understand that was very unusual. Since we got back in April, it has been very cloudy most days. We actually like it like that because when the sun is out it's a lot hotter out. Anyway, we went to the potluck at 6pm & had a good time as usual. We enjoy cooking out since we can't do it at the dock. 5/23 Friday We rented a car for the next 3 days. Unfortunately, the car was not ready when it was supposed to be. Michelle at the rental office actually didn't have any cars but was nice enough to rent us her bosses' car. She knew we had a doctor's appointment that took me 2 weeks to get. I would have been very angry if a car was not available since we had waited so long for the doctor's appointment. Anyway, because we got the car so late we missed our appointment but I called & they said they would fit us in. In Trinidad, no one is on time for anything. Anyway, Larry had a cyst on his leg & a wart on his hand he wanted removed. He was in the office around 45minutes when the doctor finally called me in. Larry felt dizzy, was as white as a ghost, had blurred vision; I thought he was going to faint. The doctor told him to go sit in the waiting room for a little while & to give him soda to get his sugar level up. I went to the car & got him a soda I had in the cooler bag, however, it was diet soda. I brought his specimen to the lab so they could do a biopsy. Unfortunately, I haven't driven on the left here so I was reluctant to drive. I was glad we had rented a car as if we had gone with the free shopping van we would have missed the return trip since we were in the doctor's office so long. Fortunately, he was feeling better after he sat awhile so we just drove to the Pizza Hut for lunch several blocks away. He sat there & I got him the buffet & went to the pharmacy. He started to feel better after lunch but didn't feel up to shopping. I had made reservations to take the boat tour to Caroni Swamp so since you just sit in the boat the entire time, he said he felt up to going. We arrived at the swamp at 3pm when the boat didn't leave until 4pm so we just waited around. We both enjoyed the tour but since the scarlet ibis' were nesting, they didn't bring the boats to close to them. We both still enjoyed the trip anyway & thought it was worth it. We got back to the boat around 7:30 & just decided to eat at Joe's Pizza since it was so late already. We were both worried Larry wouldn't feel well enough to go up to Asa Wright in the morning. But since we were going to be in Trinidad for at least several more weeks I told him to cancel the trip if he wasn't feeling well. |