|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Diane's DiaryJune 6 Friday We had a very busy day. We hired a worker for $10US for the entire day to clean all the stainless steel. Can't remember when we could get someone to work in the US for that price. However, Arnoldo, the dockmaster we knew from last year, told us to watch the guy as if we didn't he would stop working. Also, he wanted 25000 B for the day but than Arnoldo said that was too much and the price should only be 20000 so we only paid him that. He was an OK worker but we had to tell him what to do and he kept leaving the cotton from the Nevr Dull all around the boat and didn't keep the can covered so the cotton was getting dry. He was obviously inexperienced but he also wasn't a great worker and came late and wanted to leave early. Oh well, it sure beats us doing it in all that heat ourselves. I cleaned some canvas in the morning while Larry worked on some other projects like taking everything off the rails to clean them. After lunch, I took the dinghy to bring my wash to the laundry. It is only about $1.50USD to get one load of laundry washed, dried and folded. There are no automatic laundries here in PLC and I couldn't do it for that price anyway. If I hand washed all the clothes it would take me an entire day to do so it's more productive of my time to just get it done. I also stopped by the customs agent to pay the $46USD we owed her for check in. I also drove to Maremares to see about their rates but they are full so we can't get in. Also, their rate is almost $5USD per day more expensive than BR so it really isn't worth it. I can join the gym there for $20USD for a month so I may just do it that way. I also looked at the new marina Isla Paraiso- they are even cheaper than BR with a really fantastic swimming pool. However, there are no cruiser amenities like restaurant, small store, Internet etc. so it's not worth it. Also, there are only a few cruisers there so I think it would be very lonely. We had Tom over for dinner since Steph was gone. I made some lomito for us all. June 7 Saturday We hired the same worker to complete the job of cleaning the stainless today. It probably was a 1.5 day project and I wasn't too pleased with him but it sure beats us doing it for that price in the hot sun all day long. Now I just need to wax them all but that is definitely the easy part. I took the dinghy to pick up the laundry from CMO. I also washed all the rugs. It was amazing how dirty they all were and I just did them in Trinidad. We like BR but I wish they had a gym here. We heard we are getting cable TV at the end of the month. That would really be terrific but I will believe it when I see it! June 8 Sunday We have decided to take off every Sunday and don't do any boat projects. We were going to go to the Sunday brunch at Maremares but were very lazy and decided not to go. We just took it easy. I bought the Sunday paper as it has the NY Times week in Review section so it's very good. Larry read his book and I took a nap. I also went to the pool and swam. June 9 Monday Back to boat work today! I soaked some more clothes in Oxiclean. At 1pm Janice, me and Judy, from Gonzo 2, took a cab to the 2 supermarkets-Fiorica and Exito. Both were very disappointing compared to last year as the stock was way down. Foreign products are very expensive- for example a simple box of chocolate chip cookies from the US is now $9USD- ridiculous! This is all due to Pres. Chavez foreign currency controls. Cheddar cheese was $15lb! Don't think we will be buying those things now! Also, flour, eggs and some other staples are difficult to find and you really need to hunt around for them. Many of the shelves were bare and it was painful to see. We went to the usual Monday night BR bar-b-queue here at BR. The weather has been very rainy as it was this night so no cruisers from the other marinas came. June 10 Tuesday We did more boat work today- the battle seems never ending. I washed some slipcovers as they we absolutely filthy with lots of stains. I also started waxing the stanchions so they won't get rusty so soon again. June 11 Wednesday No cocktail party at MM except for those cruisers staying in their marina. They never did this last year and always invited all the cruisers from different anchorages but I guess this year things are much different. Anyway, I went with S/V Plenum to La Cava meat market, as I had never been there. It was OK but I don't know if I would go there again. I didn't get a great impression and would rather just get meat in Unicasa. We had Tom over for dinner and I made turkey enchiladas. We had a good time seeing him but I definitely miss Steph. June 12 Thursday More boat work in the Am. In the PM, I went over to Maremares to S/V Kimba where another cruiser coming back from Merida gave us a talk. Apparently, it's raining up there so much that it washed the main road out and a few people were killed. Also, the teleferico is out. So, I think we are going to postpone our trip and go when we return to PLC in November. June 13 Friday We got a side to slip and were able to move this morning. This is fantastic as it really makes a big difference. It's definitely more difficult to do a med mooring and most everyone in the US doesn't even know what they are as they would not like them. Anyway, we know we will probably be here until the end of July so this is very nice. Also, we weren't able to put up our forward awning due to the med mooring so it always got hotter in the forward cabin. Now we can put it up so I know it will stay a lot cooler. The only problem with our new slip was that we had to go stern to so we have less privacy since everyone walking by can see into the cockpit but we don't sit in the cockpit too much anyway. As soon as we waterproof all the canvas, we will put the bimini and side curtains up so this will give us a little more privacy. Anyway, it took a few hours to move and get all the lines set up in our new spot. In the afternoon, I went for my belated birthday treat- a massage. It was $14 for a 1 hour massage so it was pretty cheap. The massage was OK but I definitely have had better. I still enjoyed it and it was definitely a nice treat. It was pouring rain after I finished the massage but I decided to leave in the rain anyway since I had my bathing suit on. June 14 Saturday We put up the forward awning this morning so I imagine our cabin will stay cooler now. The boat is definitely a lot cooler with the awning up. I defrosted the refrigerator and cleaned the interior of the oven. I don't have an automatic clean cycle for the oven here so I have to clean it the old fashioned way with the oven cleaner. What a mess and smell! I sure miss my automatic oven cleaner I had at home! I made an apple cobbler that came out pretty good. We took the jib down so we could clean this sail also. I went with Elias to the seamstress after he finished work today so I could see her work and get her to make the slipcovers for me. She will do one slipcover so I can see how it comes out before we bring her the rest of the cushions. I have the material so I just needed the labor. We could do it ourselves but last time we did it in Trinidad it took us weeks to do. The seamstress wants $25USD to do all 10 cushions, which is a bargain. It would probably cost hundreds to do this in the US. She is also going to make a dress for me for $3USD - in Trinidad the same labor was $10! So, as you can see, things are certainly much cheaper here in VE. We know we are definitely spoiled though as prices are so much higher in the US I know we will have culture shock when we go back. Anyway, I got back to the boat around 7pm and made dinner. June 15 Sunday- Father's Day Happy Father's Day Dad- sorry we can't be with you to celebrate but hope you are having a great day. The sky looked extremely threatening this morning- we knew it was going to rain at any moment. We had planned to go to the Sunday brunch at Maremares marina/hotel but didn't know if we would be able to go with the bad weather approaching. Well, it finally rained and really poured for around an hour but finally cleared up so we went to the brunch. It was a wonderful Sunday brunch- just as good as we remembered from last year. They had a special brunch for Father's Day with raffles and music- however, they later charged us for this music at $1USD per person so we weren't too happy with that. Especially since we purposely confirmed the price before we went in. They also charged a $1USD extra for the special brunch. Even so, it still only cost us less than $18USD for the both of us including tax tip and unlimited champagne. The food was very good however they only have lunch items on the menu - no breakfast items like eggs at all like we have at home. We had pasta, salad, bread, and dessert bar, and about 6 chafing dishes of hot food. We went with our friends on S/V Plenum and all had a good time. They even raffled some nice prizes but none of the cruisers won anything. We all thought the food was very good and definitely felt we got our money's worth. We stopped at S/V Kimba after the brunch and borrowed some videos from them. When we came back we just sat around and relaxed. I read the Sunday paper, which is very good. It's more expensive than the rest of the week but gives all the events of the week, comics, and best of all the Sunday week in review from the NY Times so it's nice getting some news of home. June 16 Monday It rained on and off for several hours this morning. I made some sour cream corn muffins. I have made this before but it didn't come out the same this time and I don't know why. Anyway, I started washing the bimini- it is absolutely filthy. We can't remember when we did this the last time so it really needed to get done. However, the sky opened up and it really started to pour so I had to wait till later to finish it. In the meantime, I worked on the boat finances and wrote a few emails. I also put the slipcovers back on that I had just finished washing. We went to the potluck tonight in the marina and I grilled some lomito wrapped in bacon that came out very good. I made a corn soufflé to bring with us. We ran a good time talking with everyone. June 17 Tuesday This morning I went over to CMO to drop off the laundry and get some gas for the dinghy. I paid about .13USD per gallon for gas! Boy, I have NEVER seen that price in the US! So, it's certainly very cheap to use the dinghy here. It cost about $2.50USD roundtrip to Plaza Major by taxi but it's a lot cheaper to go by dinghy. Plaza Major has a big supermarket and lots of other mall type stores including a pharmacy and great bakery. The only problem going by dinghy is you can't fit a lot of groceries into the dinghy so need to make several trips if you are doing a big provisioning. It's about a 10-15 minute dinghy ride even in our fast dinghy so it's a long trip. However, you go via the canals so it's entirely protected. Anyway, Larry and I decided to go use the Internet down there (it's a lot cheaper than the marina- half the price- of course the marina is only $2USD per hour!), have lunch, Larry got a haircut and I got a pedicure and manicure. A pedicure and manicure was only $5USD so it was very reasonably priced. I usually pay $5USD for a manicure alone. I usually paid $15 for both at the cheapest place on special in Wall St. but that was several years ago so I know prices have risen since then. Larry got his beard trimmed and a haircut for less than $3USD! If we had the money, we would stay here forever, as we really like VE of all the places we have been to in the Caribbean. Yes, the cheap prices certainly help but it is much more than that, the attitude of the Venezuelans has truly been amazing as they are so friendly. In much of the rest of the Caribbean many of the natives have a bad attitude problem so it's a welcome change of place to see the truly helpful Venezuelans. We really like most of the Venezuelans very much but there is definitely a bad crime problem here and the political situation is not good. We really hope peace and prosperity can be achieved but I think Chavez needs to go in order for that to happen. June 18 Wednesday We are going to get the floor done while we are gone so I cleaned it this morning with bleach and detergent. The floor is truly bad and desperately needs help - I don't think anything has been done to it since the boat was commissioned. Whatever was on the floor originally, which was not varnish, has definitely worn off. Anything we do to it now will be a big improvement, as it has really looked very bad. We have decided to get it varnished and I think it will make the boat look 1000 times better. We need to stay off the floor for 24 hours each time a coat is applied and we need at least 6 coats with light sanding in between coats so that's probably a minimum of 1 week where we can't be on the boat. Since we are going to Caracas to see Giulio we have decided to get it done now. You need to be very careful using bleach on the floor, as it will bleach the color of the teak if you are not careful. I leave the bleach and detergent mixture on for a maximum 10 minutes then use lots of water to make sure it's all removed. You definitely need to wash in the direction of the wood AND across the grain also to remove all the dirt. Anyway, I worked on the floor between 9-1 when we left to go downtown to see how the cushions were doing. The seamstress made some errors but is doing an OK job- certainly for the price it's worth it but it is not as good as we did. We spent a lot of time working on the covers also and after all, they are only slipcovers! Anyway, we had lunch at the Arab place, walked for ice cream and then walked to Xanadu Marine- the good but very expensive marine store. We got back to the boat around 4 and Elias came over at 5pm when he finished work to see the floor. He will be working on it while we are gone and we wanted to tell him where all the supplies are. Since everything must be off the floor, the boat is a mess. There is hardly anywhere to sit down. I can see why everyone complains about doing varnish work while trying to live on the boat - it is really very disruptive to your routine and nothing is stored in it's correct place. |