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Diane's DiaryJune 28 Saturday I had a migraine headache the whole day today. We went over to CMO to pick up our laundry but got caught in a terrible rainstorm so had to stay for a few hours while it blew over. Fortunately, the laundry did not get wet even though we had put it in the dinghy as the heavy-duty plastic garbage bags kept it dry. I took a nap from 2-5 since I wasn't feeling well. I was starving when I woke up so we had an early dinner and than stayed home and watched a movie. June 29 Sunday At 9am we went with Mima to the breakfast buffet at Maremares. Although it was OK, the brunch is a much better deal for just a few dollars more. The brunch also has unlimited champagne. We stopped at Mima for a drink after the brunch and got back to the boat around 3. I still had my migraine headache so I lay down for a while. Steph came back later in the afternoon to use the pool and Larry drove her back in the dinghy since theirs isn't in the water. We didn't want her walking back at night alone since it's not safe. June 30 Monday I developed tourista very badly today and wasn't feeling well so I stayed close to the bathroom the entire day and mostly just rested. We did go to the weekly Monday potluck tonight as I started to feel a little better. July 1 Tuesday I was starting to feel a little better today although there is definitely a virus going around as many other cruisers are also sick. At least I know it's not just me! Elias came over to look at the floor. He will varnish the floor and whatever else he can do while we are away in Caracas. We can't live on the boat while the varnish is being done, as the floor needs to dry 24 hours in between coats. I made some phone calls this morning. After lunch, I finished waxing the stainless steel. It was cloudy and overcast all day and we finally had a very heavy rain in the afternoon. July 2 Wednesday I spent the morning rewashing the entire floor with Clorox and detergent in anticipation of Elias cleaning the floor. What a lot of very tiring work on my hands and knees. It took me the whole day. It's very important to get all the detergent and Clorox off the floor so it requires lots of fresh water to remove it. Larry went over to Armando the stainless steel worker and to visit Mima. I started the floor around 9:30 and finally finished around 4pm although I took lots of breaks and had lunch also. We had a huge thunderstorm in the afternoon with lots of rain. Fortunately, it cleared up in time for us to go to the weekly Maremares cocktail party. I always enjoy going to it but Larry rarely does. It was good but there wasn't nearly the amount or variety of food and drinks as last year. I guess with the economy this bad, even Maremares is hurting for money. July 3 Thursday I made my marble brownies this morning to bring to Guilio's house in Caracas. It's a good thing I made them in the morning as Elias came by after I finished them to sand the floor some more. He sanded it by hand and than by machine. It caused lots of dust, which got everywhere- yuck! It took him the entire day and really made a big mess. I went with Steph to Plaza Mayor after lunch and we got back around 3:30. We took the dinghy out of the water as we are going to Caracas tomorrow. July 4 Friday Happy Birthday America! It just didn't feel like July 4 today. I really do miss seeing all the fireworks and celebrating the day so I definitely missed being back in the US today. Anyway, Elias came at 9am today and started sanding some more. We packed, had breakfast, made a lunch and left for the bus station around 10:30am. We had an uneventful bus trip into Caracas and Giulio picked us up from the bus station around 6pm. The bus was late due to traffic in Caracas. Giulio's friends Chicho and Tati were in the apartment so we just walked to McDonald's and at least got to have a good American meal on our holiday. No fireworks this year though! When we came back after dinner, they had friends visiting so we stayed to talk with them for a while and finally went to bed around 10pm. Chicho and Tati will be leaving tomorrow for a few days so we will have the apt for ourselves for a few days. That will be good as it will be difficult to share an apt when Larry is recuperating from the eye surgery. He is scheduled to have the surgery done next Tuesday. July 5 Saturday We woke up late at 8:30 and walked to the bakery and market. We came back to the apt and Larry read while I did the finances for a while. Than I took a short nap as I knew it was going to be a long night. Giulio came around 3 and walked us around the beautiful grounds of the University where he worked and where GianCarla still teaches. The grounds were just beautiful. Afterwards, we drove downtown and went to the science museum. It was small but very nice although the museum in NY is far larger. Plus, they were doing renovations. They had a fantastic nature photography pictures exhibit that was outstanding. We picked up Chinese take out food and headed back to Giulio's house where we all had a good time. We got back to the apt around 11 just exhausted- we are used to going to bed around 9! July 6 Sunday Giulio and his family were busy today so we spent a day by ourselves. We slept late- until 9am. We read, had breakfast, relaxed and around 1pm walked to El Hatillo- about a 20-minute uphill walk. We went to lunch at the restaurant where Giulio took us last year and it was very good. We walked around the town looking in all the stores again. We had some wonderful strawberries and cream- I'm getting addicted to this! We left around 4pm for the nice downhill walk back to the apartment. We stopped at McDonalds' as they have a free Internet service so we could access our email. They only give you 30 minutes free but this does help as we don't have email in the apt and this is the closet place to use it. We had drinks, read and relaxed. I made some sandwiches around 8pm and we spent a quiet night reading. July 7 Monday Giulio picked us up around 7:30 am as Larry had an 8am appointment to see if he is a candidate for the lasik eye surgery. I also decided to get an eye checkup as my eyes are definitely getting worse and I am sure I need reading glasses. Sure enough, I need reading glasses! Also, Larry is a candidate for the lasik surgery so he will have this done tomorrow. We also made appointments to have physicals done. We both haven't had a good physical since we left the US 3 years ago and these we very reasonably priced. Mine was about $190US and included 4 doctors plus the following: EKG, chest x-ray, mammogram, sonogram, blood, urine, sidmoidoscopy (sp!), and Pap smear. Anyway, we took the bus back to the apt and got back around 2pm. I was tired, as we are not used to getting up at 6am. July 8 Tuesday The big day for Larry- he will have the lasik surgery at 2pm. I did some computer work in the morning. We wanted to leave before 12 as we had to be at the clinic at 1pm and we had to take the bus- a few minutes walk from the apt. Since we didn't know the bus schedule, we just had to wait until it came. It was raining, and a dark and dreary day out. Larry's surgery only took about 15 minutes so we were out of the clinic before 3pm. We got a taxi that was dropping someone off and were lucky to get that one as the taxis that the hospital calls wanted double the price. Anyway, his surgery seemed to go well but he has patches over his eyes that have holes in them so he can sort of see through. But the doctor told him the best thing he could do would be just to go home and relax so that is exactly what we did. They recommended just lying with your eyes closed for as long as possible. I walked over to the grocery to pick up some things so I could make dinner, as we didn't want to go out. Giulio and GianCarla called later that night to see how he was doing which was very nice. But basically, he just took it easy, kept his eyes closed, laid on the couch and I worked on the computer. It was a nice quiet night. Tomorrow we will go back to the clinic so they can take off the patch and see how he's doing. July 9 Wednesday We left the apt at 6:30am this morning as we had a 7:30 appointment to remove the patch and see how the eyes are. We didn't know how long it would take us with the bus so we left very early. Anyway, the bus came right away and we were at the hospital by 6:45am. By the time I left for my physical at 7:45 they still hadn't taken Larry so I had to leave. He joined me later and said he could see well through 1 eye but the other had blurred double vision. This is not good! However, the doctor said not to worry, as the eye needs time to readjust and heal so he has to give it some time. I hope this problem heals, as this is not what he wanted! But, we'll just have to give it some time like he said. I went for my physical and it took all day since I had so many tests and got to see 4 doctors also. They did find some cysts and fibroids again so I may have to go see a GYN. We'll have to see. Larry finished his tests around noon since he didn't have as many as I did. Also, since he just had the eye surgery, they did not want him to have the EKG stress test. I did fine on everything else on my physical except for the fibroids and cysts. Larry showed he had some high blood pressure but this could be from the anxiety of having the surgery so we weren't too worried. However, his prostate was enlarged and his PSA was a little high so he may need to see a specialist. Well, we didn't leave the hospital until after 4pm and by this time I was starving. We had only had a light lunch in the hospital. We decided to go to El Hatillo for dinner as we saw they had a Houlihan's restaurant and thought this was affiliated with the chain in the US only to find out it wasn't. They advertised baby back ribs but when they arrived, they were horrible so I got a burger instead. The meal was not very good at all and clearly was not up to American standards. We were very disappointed with the restaurant and would never go back. Since it was still light out when we finished, we walked back to the apt to get some exercise. Larry seems to be doing OK with his eye but the doctor wants him to avoid the sun, don't rub the eyes or go swimming for at least a month. So, I guess this means we won't leave for the out islands until the middle of August. Anyway, I am not feeling well, I have a sore throat and it's hard to breathe- hope I am not coming down with something. Chicho and Tati returned to the apt at 8. We got used to having the whole apt to ourselves so it was awkward having someone else around. Plus, we are both not feeling well so it's hard having other people around. But they are very nice people and we have enjoyed their company. They showed us some good places to go to in Los Roques as they used to run a day charter operation there. July 10 Thursday It was raining off and on the entire day. Larry's eyes are no different- he still has double vision in 1 eye. I hope this clears up soon as he can't live this way. I am not feeling well at all - it's difficult to breathe and this has never happened to me. So, we both just took it easy. We did go to the supermarket and pharmacy to get Larry his eye drops but basically we just took it easy and rested. We didn't get to see Giulio and family, as Lucas is sick. Larry has to be careful with is eyes as he cannot get an infection so needs to stay away from anyone who is sick. So, even though we would really like to see them again, we'll have to see them at a later date. I had a cooked chicken I bought for me for dinner and Larry walked to McDonalds and brought his back. I just wasn't feeling well enough to walk over there. Anyway, we'll leave tomorrow for PLC with Chicho and Tati on the same bus. July 11 Friday Chicho wanted to leave for the bus at 7:30am so we did even though we knew this was way to early, as the bus doesn't leave until 10:30. We had taken this bus before and left at 8:30 and had no problems with catching it. Anyway, we arrived at the bus station at 8:20- 2 hours before departure so it was really early. We had to just sit and wait. The bus was late leaving for some reason - they never explain why and the locals don't seem to ask. They are used to waiting in lines but as we all know Americans would definitely want to know why the bus was late! We hit terrible weather with severe rain and thunderstorms during the trip, which slowed the bus down considerably. Not that I could blame him for driving slow - the rain was coming down so hard, visibility was severely restricted. Anyway, the bus arrived about an hour late due to the rain and flooding. Every time it rains hard here everything seems to flood, as they don't seem to have an adequate drainage system. At least if they do have one it doesn't seem to work at all when it rains hard as everything seems to flood. I am still not feeling well. Larry still has no improvement in the 1 eye. July 12 Saturday Elias varnished the floor while we were gone with 6 coats of varnish and it really looks fantastic! What a huge improvement over what it had been. We could not believe the difference as it really made the boat look great. After 3 years living aboard Destiny she really needed a facelift. We think the whole boat was varnished with a rubbed effect varnish when the boat was new but it was apparent no other work had been done to it in all these years. We had so many other things to do on the boat; we never got around to doing the interior cosmetics. I tried oiling it and cleaning it on a regular basis but the sun is just so strong here that it would only look good for a short while. Anyway, we now really need to get the rest of the boat done as the floor looks so good and the rest of the boat looks so worn. I am still not feeling well, don't know what's wrong with me but I seem to have no energy at all. We are having problems with electricity in the marina - the circuit breaker has been tripping all day. Since it may be a problem with our circuit breaker Larry ran to the store before they close for the weekday to get another one. Why do these things always seem to break on a weekend? Anyway, I didn't want to be without AC if I wasn't feeling well! We get almost no wind here in the marina- especially as we are not even facing into the wind so for us AC is critical. Also, since we have been having so much rain, mosquitoes are a real problem. Dengue fever and malaria are just 2 of the diseases that breed down here so we definitely don't want to catch that! So, we try to avoid early evening and morning, as these are the times when those mosquitoes are most common. |