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Diane's DiaryFebruary 13 Friday Well, we slept until 8:30 again. Since we are usually up early on board Destiny, this was very late for us. It must be from sleeping in a normal bed again as we are definitely used to sleeping on the boat and it's nice to have a normal bed to stretch out in. We took showers and went in to the mall for breakfast. We went back to the room before 11am. We than took a taxi to the bus station to pick up our bus tickets for tomorrow as we wanted to be sure the bus wasn't filled. The bus station is only a few blocks walk to the Sambil mall so we went over there for a few hours and naturally had lunch in Chili's restaurant. There are lots of other fast food outlets in the store. We are getting spoiled with all this American food. We got back to the hotel around 2:30 and just relaxed and watched TV. At 6:30pm, we went to the Outback steakhouse for dinner. We had a few drinks in the room so only ordered sodas in the restaurant. Having drinks really adds to the cost of the dinner so we normally don't have many drinks while eating out. We had an appetizer of their famous blooming onion though it was a little different, as they can't get Vidalia onions here in VE. With all that food and tax and tip, the dinner came to $23 for both of us. That exact meal would be at least double that in the US. The food was very good and we were glad we came and spent another day just relaxing around. Since we don't get off the boat too often, it was a real treat for us. February 14 Friday, Happy Valentine's Day Today just didn't seem like Valentine's Day, as they really don't make a big deal out of this day- at least not like the US does. Anyway, we were up at 7am, showered and left the room by 8am so we could have breakfast. Weekends are cheaper in the hotel and include a buffet breakfast-not as good as the Marriott buffet but certainly adequate. Anyway, we had breakfast and left the hotel by 9am. Even though we had tickets we wanted to get to the bus station early, as there is a big demonstration in Caracas today. There is still no decision on whether there will be a referendum on Chavez's Presidency or not. So, the Opposition is marching today to protest the fact the government is stalling. Anyway, lots of streets are closed and we wanted to be at the bus station early. We saw lots of demonstrators even though the march was not scheduled until noon. The bus left just about on time but did have to use lots of side streets. We had no problems at all. As a matter of fact, traffic was lighter than usual since I guess many people just stayed home today. The bus ride was uneventful and we arrived back in PLC earlier than usual. We got back to the boat around 4pm.We ate dinner in the restaurant since we didn't have anything prepared for dinner. It was good to be back at the boat again. February 15 Sunday Elias completed the aft cabin while we were gone and it really looks terrific. It is an amazing difference and the boat is starting to look great again. Anyway, we had to move the stuff all around the boat, as Elias will start to varnish the starboard side of the settee. I made bacon and eggs for breakfast and went to play dominoes from 1-4pm. I made chicken Italiano for dinner tonight with a recipe similar to the one I usually use but not quite the same. Anyway, we both didn't like it very much and I'll go back to my old recipe from now on. February 16 Monday I phoned the Doctor this morning to make an appointment for the Doctor Larry needs to see here in PLC. Than I had to go back to the boat and get the cruising permit and bring it into the office. The new Port Captain is being a real asshole and is checking everyone's papers. Some cruisers were fined for not having the VE flag displayed. Thank goodness we had all our proper flags up. The head is still not working correctly so Larry spent this afternoon working on it. He has rebuilt it twice but it's still not working and he doesn't know why. We haven't had a head for 1.5 weeks now and it's a real pain to use the bucket! Anyway, I took the dinghy by myself to Plaza Mayor and dropped the laundry off at CMO on my way over there. I left the boat at 1:30 and didn't get back until 5pm. I didn't even have time to take a shower as we were expecting Orient Canvas to come by with all the repairs they were doing for us. However, as it usual with them, they never showed up. We went to the potluck and sat with Plenum and Sunrise and had a really nice time with them. We stayed until almost 9pm just sitting around talking. February 17 Tuesday We left the boat at 8:15am to go to the Doctor for Larry. We both really liked the Doctor a lot. He did speak some English although it wasn't fantastic it was definitely enough for us to communicate with. The Doctor said Larry is definitely has some problems and may require surgery! He wants him to take some medication and come back within the next month to see how he's doing. Well, this certainly changes our plans completely! Now we can't go anywhere for the next month until we find out what is happening with him. His health is more important than going up to Merida. So, guess we'll just have to stay at BR for the next month until we comeback here. Oh, the prescription drugs he has to take cost over $60USD for a one-month's supply. That is considered a lot of money down here so I can only imagine how much the medicine would be in the US. Anyway, after we went to the Doctor we walked around Lecheria for a while and than went to Plaza Mayor for lunch. We got back to the boat around 2pm. Our old friends on S/V Jacobite came into the marina today. It was nice to see them again as it's been a long time since we've seen them. I made a sour cram banana cake from 3:30- until 5pm by the time I got all the ingredients together. It came out superb! Definitely one of my favorite cakes! I got the recipe from my favorite cookbook. Almost every recipe I have gotten from it has been terrific. Don't know what I would do without this cookbook! February 18 Wednesday We both didn't get a good night's sleep and were up during the night. So, we slept in this morning- almost until 7:45 when the net starts. I went to the office to pay our marina bill until the end of May- ouch! Actually, with the new exchange rate, we are paying $5.32 per day, which includes water, electric and the slip. This is only marginally higher than we paid last year. We could not even come close to paying this small amount anywhere in the Caribbean or the US. So, it really is pretty cheap to live here. Anyway, I made beef burgundy in the afternoon. We went to the Maremares cocktail party this afternoon and I wanted to have dinner all prepared so I would just have to reheat it when we come back. S/V Plenium had their dinghy out of the water so we took them with us to the cocktail party. Jacobite and their company also followed us. As usual, we had a good time at the cocktail party. Maremares had a nice Mexican buffet set up afterwards and at $10 per person was not a bad price except I had dinner already prepared and we weren't that hungry so we didn't go. Actually, the restaurant was reducing the price of the meal as we went to look at it as no one was there. Plenium went and reported the next day the food wasn't bad at all. February 19 Thursday I did a few emails in the morning. At 10:30 am, I went to a cooking demonstration class here in the marina by the restaurant owner's wife. She demonstrated pabellon crillo- the national Venezuelan dish that consists of shredded beef, black beans and rice. I really like the dish and love the taste of the beef. I continued with emails in the pm until 2:15pm when I went shopping with Marnel 4 to CM supermarket. They got some shirts and hats embroidered so I wanted to see where they got it done and how they looked. I was very pleased with the way they came out so I think we'll get some done also. February 20 Friday We left the boat at 9:30am to go to Plaza Mayor by dinghy. Larry went to the Internet and I got a manicure. We stopped for our famous batido drink and went to McDonald's for lunch. We also stopped by the supermarket. We got back to the boat around 1:30pm. We stopped to get our laundry back but she was closed so we had to go by later. I made an excellent spaghetti carbonara for dinner and we watched videos at night. February 21 Saturday This is Carnival weekend so PLC is like a zoo with tons of people just pouring into town. So, we've decided not to go out of the marina. Security issues definitely increase with large holidays. Today we wanted to call Dad for his birthday- we had to call twice before we finally found him at home. He is going to have some more surgery on March 8 on his leg. Anyway, I made a nice beef bourguignon in the pressure cooker for dinner and we watched the video "Mystic River" at night. I did not care for the movie at all. This is one of several movies Elias rented for us to watch. February 22 Sunday We slept in this morning- till 8:10am- we woke just in time to hear the Safety and Security net at 8:15am. I made bacon and cheese omelets for breakfast. We spent all day moving things out from the forward cabin as Elias is going to start varnishing this area next. We ordered Domino's Pizza for dinner but don't think we will be getting it much anymore - their prices have really gone up and the value is not there anymore. You used to get 2 larges pies and pay for only 1- now you get a large and medium. Also, the price has increased to $12 for both so it's not as cheap as it once was. We watched another movie Elias rented for us called "Runaway Jury" and it was excellent. It was a John Grisham book that I really liked. We both enjoyed the movie. February 23 Monday We made a big mistake and went to Plaza Mayor by dinghy today. With all the Venezuelans on vacation there was lots of boats in the canal. We were under the impression that Carnival was over but guess it was not. A boat wake that left my clothes soaked with the filthy canal salt water swamped us. Anyway, many of the stores were closed. I wanted to get a manicure or pedicure but all the stores except one were closed. Larry did get on the Internet for 2 hours though. I just walked around the mall as many of the stores were closed. I had made rice pudding for the potluck before we left for the mall but unfortunately, it didn't set so I had to quickly make some scones to bring. We had a good time at the potluck though. |