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Diane's DiaryJanuary 24 Saturday I have a very heavy cold and a bad migraine headache so I took it easy today. I did wash some canvas but wasn't feeling well enough to do more. Larry got the boat ready as we are going to have Elias start varnishing out teak again. We had him work for us for about 2 months last year but we aren't even coming close to getting the varnish done. Elias estimated it would take him 2 months to finish the rest. We wanted to rent the same apt Tom and Steph had as it was only $200USD per month but it isn't available at that price. Since the marina is super crowded, the prices have gone up considerably. Also, the storage unit we rented the last time isn't available either so this varnish job will be a lot harder to do with us living on the boat and with all our stuff here. The only saving grace is that this is dry season now with no rain at all so we can put the stuff out on deck. We were able to get the weekend paper and it was nice to read a newspaper again. The Daily Journal is the only English paper available here in VE and costs 2500 B compared to 500B for the Spanish paper so it's a lot more expensive. January 25 Sunday At 9:30am this morning we had a cruisers meeting by the pool to discuss the new marina fees. We agreed to form a committee and I volunteered to be on it. We will speak with Carlos the marina manager to see if they'll do anything about the fees. Anyway, after the meeting, we left via dinghy to go to Maremares for Sunday brunch along with our friends on Plenum. The brunch was $20USD (including the champagne we had) for the two of us so was very pricey by local standards. It was very nice but at that price I don't think we will come very often. They used to give unlimited champagne with the brunch but now you have to buy it separately and it was $2USD for 2 very small glasses. The champagne was not good quality and was not worth it. However, the waitresses gave us more than 2 glasses so we gave her a better tip. Anyway, we got back around 3:30pm totally full and just took a nap and watched some videos the rest of the day. It was nice to have such a quiet relaxing day. January 26 Monday Elias started working on the varnish this morning so now the boat is a complete mess again. Oh, well it's going to be this way for a long time also. Elias does an excellent job on the varnish. Destiny was really looking worn, as she is now 20 years old. The varnish makes the boat look like new again. We know someday we will resell her and this will greatly increase her resale value. Plus, she really looks terrific again. Anyway, the committee and I went to speak with the marina office about the fees. After that, I went to the mall by myself. I got the film developed from our underwater cameras. I got back around 3:30pm, put the food away, took a quick shower, and we were off to the potluck around 6pm. Andrea and Gaby said they were going to come too but they didn't come until 7pm and by that time we had all eaten. We stayed talking with them until 9pm. Arnoldo, the dock master said he had a slip on the floating dock if we wanted to move to it but Larry said he is happy here on the seawall and doesn't want to move. We definitely have more space between boats here but I wish we had the cable TV like the floating docks have. Arnoldo said the cable TV should be here shortly but I have heard that before. They told us we should have had it last year also and we never got it so I'll believe it when I see it. January 27 Tuesday Larry went off with Andrea to see if we can get the windlass fixed. I waited for Elias to come as I had a meeting with the other committee members at 9:30am. When Elias didn't come by 9:30am I just left for the meeting. We spoke with Carlos the marina manager and they have agreed to keep the marina price the same for the cruisers already here IF they prepay the amounts. Sounds good but it is often very difficult to determine how long cruisers will stay in one place. Anyway, we have decided to stay until the end of May to give us a chance to go home and to go up to Merida. After I came back from the meeting I cleaned the stove and put out some more roach traps- boric acid and powdered sugar as we are having a roach problem. I can't seem to get rid of them. I also put away the laundry and the rest of the food I bought yesterday. Did I mention one load of laundry washed, dried and folded is only 1USD per load? I don't know exactly how much it would be in the US but I'm sure it's at least $10USD per load or a lot higher. Elias brought us some videos to watch- the cost is about .34each for first run movies so it's really very cheap. January 28 Wednesday I cleaned some more boat canvas today. It's amazing how filthy it got from all that dust out in the islands. We went to the Wednesday night Maremares cocktail party and had a great time. We enjoy going to a party where there's free food and booze. Plus, we get to mingle with the other cruisers so we all have a good time. January 29 Thursday At 9am, I brought our propane tank in to get refilled and to make a few phone calls. We want to go home so I called AA to find out about the prices and flights. Larry has enough mileage for one frequent flyer ticket so he is going to go see his brother. Since we don't have enough for two tickets, I'll just go to NY and see my friends before he arrives. After lunch, we went to Makro the wholesale club. Elias stayed for a few drinks after work as we invited him to stay. We went to the restaurant for dinner and to see the Thursday night movie- Lord of the Rings part 3. The movie was OK but at over 3 hours was way to long. Plus, it's hard to hear in the restaurant since some people are just dining and are talking. January 30 Friday Elias said he would buy us arepas for breakfast and bring it to us. We waited until 11am and he still didn't show up so we went ahead and ate. Of course he came shortly after we ate. He didn't bring the arepas with him as he had gone to Cumana overnight. I did some emails this morning. I also made some phone calls until I ran out of phone cars and they didn't have any in the mini-mart to buy. It's really very hot out with little breeze until the afternoon and very humid out. Since we don't have cable TV, we just read at night. January 31 Saturday Well we decided to take it easy and not do any boat work today. Elias didn't come until 10am this morning so hope he's being late does not become a habit. He is doing excellent work and we are very pleased with the way Destiny is looking. It's too bad the varnish just takes so darn long to do. Anyway, we went downtown to PLC to look at the dive shops and see how much it would cost to go diving around here. The price was around $20Usd for a two-tank dive including lunch. Compared to dive trips in the rest of the Caribbean it's a bargain but $20USD is a lot of money here in VE. Anyway, we went to Pizza hut for lunch and went walking around PLC. When we got back to the marina we went to go take a shower, saw Marnel 4 and Gonzo 2 near the bar and they invited us to have a few drinks with them so we did. We finally left, I made tacos for dinner and we had a whole bunch of dive magazines to read the dive shop gave to us. It's nice to have some more reading material. If there is one thing we've done out here, it's a lot of reading. Anyway, the head is broken and can't be used. It's a good thing we have the marina bathroom here! Another thing for Larry to fix! February 1 Sunday I'm having a hard time falling asleep at night and think it's definitely the caffeine that's keeping me awake. No more caffeine for me after 4pm! I updated our financial statements that keep track of all the money we have spent. It's definitely a lot more than we expected to spend! But I guess cruising budgets are always that way - there are always unanticipated boat expenses. Anyway, Larry worked on the head this morning. He thinks the rubber valves broke so hopefully it will be fixed. I don't like using the bucket at night! He worked on the head the entire day. I played dominoes but played terribly. I also worked on my logs, as it's very easy to fall behind. At night we both read some dive magazines. February 2 Monday I made some scones for breakfast and some extra ones for the potluck. I made a bunch of phone calls in the AM as we are going to Caracas next week to have Larry's eyes checked again. I got back to the boat around 12:30 and we went to the mall, had lunch and did some shopping. We went to McDonalds for lunch for about $6 for both of us including 2 meals and super-sized; know we can't get it for that price in the US! By the time we got back, we weren't hungry and but went to the potluck anyway. Don't know how many more potlucks we will go to though as we are both getting fed up with it. I really enjoy grilling my food but many people bring really cheap food and not enough for everyone. Plus, if you are late grilling your food, there isn't any potluck food to share as everyone just grabs it. So, we may not come until the crowd that's here now leaves the marina. February 3 Tuesday I went to talk with Carlos, the marina manager again. We went over some additional points about the letter the marina will be sending out but they are being very reasonable for guest already here and not raising the rates. Plus, the off season rates with supposedly discounts for repeat customers will start April 1 so we'll see what rates we can get than. We hope to stay not much longer than May 31 in the marina but we may haul out the boat also. I exchanged a bunch of USD today at 2950 and it took me a long time to count the B's as they were all in small denominations. We first got 2800 when we came back in January. However, even though the USD has been increasing in value, the prices in the stores have risen accordingly. We really feel bad for the locals, as their salaries have not risen to keep up with this inflation. Anyway, I made a late dinner of teriyaki lomito and vegetables that came out very good. We read again at night. Actually, not having TV is sometimes good otherwise we just watch the boob tube and don't read as much. I really enjoy watching TV but when we don't have it, I really don't miss it. It's amazing how you can get sucked into watching it though. |