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Larry's LogSaturday, finally, we didn't do much but apply some waterproofing to the canvas we had already cleaned (from before we went to Aqua Vi) and I tightened the backstay and put the cotter rings back in their proper places (I had to loosen everything yesterday to get the forestay back on). Diane brought back the clean laundry and we just did some thing on the computer. I downloaded a new program and Diane wrote up some of her logs. I'll need to update the web site before we leave here. I didn't think I would be doing much on Sunday but it didn't work out that way. There were still several projects that needed to be finished before we left PLC and I wanted to try to finish them soon so in the morning, I went to the storage room and picked up some more of the stuff we left in there and then I swapped out the old line on the engine lift, whipped the ends on that line and a mooring line that needed to have a bad end cut off, and installed a new lead block on the lifting line so that it wouldn't chafe against the bimini when it was used. All that took most of the morning. Diane went off the play dominoes in the afternoon and I decided to try to change the heating element in the hot water heater. It had stopped working and I had gotten the replacement from the States with our last shipment. I got everything I thought I would need together and then proceeded to get at the heater, which is located underneath the navigation seat. I removed all the wiring (it works on both a/c and by hot water circulated from the engine) and then removed the wiring harness so that I could get a wrench or pliers in on the old element. I then emptied the tank as much as possible so water wouldn't just spill out after I took out the old element - al that took about an hour. It then took over an hour of twisting and contorting to get some leverage but I finally managed to get the old element untwisted from the tank by using a large locking pliers to grip the sides and then a large screwdriver put through the jaws as a lever to provide the twisting force. But, once the element was turned out of the hole and away rom the threaded portion of the tank, the inside portion (the element itself) wouldn't fit through the hole. It was as if they had welded the tank together once the element was inside. Of course, I know that's not how they assembled it but now I had to figure out how to remove the now too-large element. I didn't want to just try pulling it harder since I was worried about damaging the threads going into the tank. The only solution I saw was to try to cut the old element into pieces using a Dremel tool. It would have to be done carefully since a slip would also damage the threads. After spending all afternoon on this, I decided to email the US distributor and see if they had any other suggestions. I put everything away just as Diane came back from dominoes. I spent the evening working on the computer some more and downloading updates to the various programs I have. My shoulder started hurting again after using it to try to get the heating element to turn. (It had started bothering me while working on the bottom, using a grinder and sander.) Monday, I mostly did some things on the PC although I started putting things away (from the haulout) as well. Since the rest of the boat looked so nice, I also started to sand the small pieces of stainless that made up the mounts for the boarding ladder. I had never sanded them or had them polished and they still had the rough surface from when they were made. We also started to make plans to go to Merida and we thought we would leave either Thursday or Friday. I was pretty busy the next day doing downloads and updating my friend Joe's web site in the morning and I worked on the water heater again in the afternoon. Diane went shopping while I started working on water heater so I had the boat to myself. I had gotten a message back from the US distributor about the problem removing the heating element. He suggested simply rocking the element up and down to work it out of the tank. Well, I got out my tools and tried that to no avail. The elements shape was that of a doubled "U" with the second "U" inside the first and facing the other direction. What I had to do eventually was use a large screwdriver to force the inside part out of alignment and bend it backwards into the tank. What this did was allow me to squeeze the outer legs together with some pliers. This let me finally get the element to come out halfway. Of course, when I reached the area where the second "U" was bent backwards, I used some pliers again to compress that section enough to pass through the tank opening. Once it was out, I could see what the problem had been; the element was composed of a small, tightly coiled wire with a whitish substance surrounding it and that was covered by a thin copper jacket. The inner portion has expanded, forcing the outer jacket to expand. In some areas, the outer jacket had expanded enough to crack open, exposing the inner core. That made the overall diameter larger and precluded a simple removal. Once the old element was removed, I cleaned the tank threads and they seemed to be intact. I then installed the new element using some high temperature thread compound and then re-attached the water hoses. I filled the tank to check for any leaks and there were none so I put the electrical connections back on and tested the heater. It worked fine. Diane came back from shopping a little after I finished so I put my tools away and just watched some TV. Wednesday morning Diane made some phone calls to make our reservations for the Merida trip and then we went to my doctor. I was supposed to go for just a checkup and everything seemed to be OK. We both liked him and trusted his judgement. After the doctor, we went to lunch at Plaza Mayor, had some very good ice cream at our favorite place and then went to see the new Star Wars movie. It had just opened and was the last of the series, that is, it was Episode 3, the one that comes just before the original movie. We could have bought it on DVD but those movies need to be seen on the big screen. After the movie, we thought about eating dinner at the mall as well but we decided to go back to the boat. It was a relaxing evening. The next day was busy getting ready to leave. Besides finding all the stuff for Elias to continue with the varnishing, I put lots of stuff away that I didn't need to use right now, like the metal primer, boot stripe paint, angle grinder, buffer, etc. Somehow, I managed to get most of it into the locker under the v berth, although not everything would fit. I also got out the varnish, thinner, brushes, sandpaper, etc. that Elias needed to do the varnishing that we wanted him to do. He was going to put some more coats on the cabin sole to complete that finally, and also some maintenance coats on areas that were high wear, like the navigation table, the galley trim and others. I also went back to the storage locker and got out some things, like some extra varnish and thinner, as well as the warm clothing we would need in Merida. Some of the places we planned to see were over 12,000 feet and it would be cold. Also in preparation, I took apart the cockpit table for Elias to varnish some more and got out the flagpole, that he would need to strip (it had gotten pretty bad). I took off a locker door that had been slightly damaged and finally got out the bags so we could pack. Diane actually did get to pack but I was too busy with other things. Fortunately, our bus wasn't leaving until 1pm so I had time in the morning to get my stuff together. Saturday I had a lot to do before we left - pack, put the stuff from the v berth into the aft cabin, etc., and it was a busy morning. I also had to remove the table leaf and v-berth doors so Elias could varnish the table and the sole near the v berth. I then packed - basically taking all the underwear, socks and warm clothes I had, along with some nice shirts in case I needed them. Ralph, from Black Cat, came over and I showed him the boat and where things were if anything went wrong. We had arranged for Arnaldo to pick us up at 12:30 and he was there early. We went to the bus terminal - a different one than the one we usually take - but when we got there, Diane found out (before Arnaldo left luckily) that the bus had been cancelled. The company had gotten us reserved seats on a different bus line leaving at 2pm from a different terminal, the one in downtown PLC, not such a nice spot. Our original reservation was for a 'buscama', sleeper bus, but this one was just a normal bus and we didn't relish the idea of 18 to 20 hours in a regular bus seat. Diane wanted to wait until the next day when the original line were supposed to have another 'buscama' going to Merida, but I thought they could cancel that one as well so I said we should just go on the different line. Arnaldo drove us to the PLC terminal and walked inside with us to make sure everything was OK. It seemed fine so he left and we waited. The bus, from Expresos Merida, came about on time and, as expected, wasn't nearly as nice as the one we had wanted to take. After we left, 30 minutes late, the drivers kept making unscheduled stops at various places to pick up more passengers. We all knew this was not normal and one Venezuelan woman got so upset that she started yelling and kicking at the drivers' compartment (she was directly in front of us in the first row). After some shouting back and forth, the drivers stopped at a Guardia National station and 2 uniformed guys with automatic rifles came on and made sure that all the passengers were 'tranquilo' (calm). Obviously, the drivers could do what they wanted but we felt that it was a security problem, picking up anyone without any check on what they were bringing on board. We also felt that they were just pocketing the money from the non-scheduled stops so there wasn't much we could do about it. We did finally get to Merida after more than 22 hours. Once there, we got a taxi easily and found the small posada (guesthouse) we wanted to check out. Some friends had recommended it and it was very nice, almost brand new. We had no reservation but had no problem getting a room (small but with a double bed, in-room safe, fan, cable TV and private bath). After dropping off the bags, we went to a local McDonalds' type fast food place to eat. Back at the room, we just rested until we needed to find a place for dinner. The posada was in the central part of town, unfortunately a little distance from most of the restaurants we had heard about. Fortunately, we found an excellent pizza place nearby. Sunday morning I got up early and found a place where I could get some coffee. When I got back to the room, Diane was up and we went out for breakfast. We walked around and found and place to get arepas (like thick tortillas and used instead of bread in many places in Venezuela) near the city cathedral. We then walked around some more. Merida is a little higher than Denver so the altitude affected us somewhat but we saw some nice things around town and then found ourselves in some kind of "Corpus Christi" procession, which was interesting. We then walked down to the teleferico station. The cable car system, the longest and highest in the world was closed, which we knew going there, but we could still wander around the area and see the machinery. We also spoke to a recommended tour operator nearby about seeing Los Llanos, an area known for its wildlife and birds, but I think we'll wait to go there until the dry season. After lunch, we just went back to the posada and relaxed for a while. Later, we went back to the pizza place for dinner (it was probably the best pizza we had since leaving the States). The next morning, we found the breakfast place someone else had recommended and discovered the food was really good and very cheap - I think we'll eat there fairly often. We then walked back to the room to get my camera and back to the teleferico so I could take some pictures - the morning is usually best before the clouds come in and block the views of the mountain tops. While in that area, we stopped at another recommended tour operator and saw their video of Los Llanos - it looked really good but we will wait. We then got the local bus to the Andes Tropicales office which was about a mile away. Several cruisers had told us about this organization; it's a program with several projects but the one we were interested in brings tourists to see local families living in the Andes (and now other places) and take excursions, either walking or on horseback, through the mountains to see the various ecosystems and also to see how the local people live. With the program's assistance, the farmers have established their homes as 'mucuposadas', small guest houses. After some difficulty finding the office, we spoke to the operations person, in English (mostly), and got lots of information. We now had to decide which trip (or trips) we wanted to take. We walked to the central market that was nearby, had lunch there and then walked around the market. I bought a wide brimmed hat and Diane got a small leather bag for all the little pieces of paper she winds up with stuffed in her pockets, we then got the bus back to the downtown area (centro) and went back to the posada to rest. We went out later to look for hiking boots for me - I had some but they were in the States and the sneakers I had brought wouldn't be good enough for some of the hiking in the mountains we planned to take. Also, if one pair got wet (a good possibility) I would need something else to use. We found some stores that had my size (although they were all marked differently) but didn't buy anything yet. Diane felt we should look some more tomorrow. We then ate dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant and enjoyed it very much. |