Monday 13th July 2020:
The morning net had an announcement from Bill, he thanked everyone for helping him find his missing cat, which had been gone for a few days. Social media had helped spread the message, however on facebook, the cat had become a dog and also had changed its name. I chuckled at how this kind of summed up the accuracy of facebook stories. I don’t know if we can blame the same source, but later a man called in with a panicky voice asking if it was true there had been a massive outbreak of covid in our marina with some deaths. The marina manager took to the radio to explain that he wasn’t aware of any problem, but to keep wearing the masks.
Tuesday:
Today I acquired a sheet of expanded polystyrene that was surplas to the needs of SV Jersey Girl and used it to make a surround for the aircon which is now above me on the coachroof.
This has worked well and the unit is delivering chilly air into the boat pretty much 24/7 now. I used a big knife to cut the foam sheet. Here’s a picture of the knife, you can probably guess the next bit.
It was quite funny really, The knife is new and very sharp, and I was thinking how I need to be super careful with it, I don’t want an accident and have to head off to covid city central for stitches, so after each use, I carefully put the knife safely out of reach so I wouldn’t step on it as I moved between the cockpit (Workshop) and the coach roof hatch. It was while I was carefully cutting through the foam, that the foam split, and suddenly there was only air between the tip of the blade and my knee, which the knife instantly decided to explore. It sunk about 10mm into the skin just above my kneecap and I was a little freaked and expected a torrent of blood as I legged it down into the cabin to treat the cut. Amazingly it turned out to be ‘a mere flesh wound‘ as the python sketch once had it, and healed within a few hours. I guess that’s the thing with accidents, they still happen despite your best efforts to avoid them.
Later on I call in on Arturo to swap Spanish books on my way to the supermarket. Sadly I get there too late to buy my beer, despite being alcohol free, it’s still subject to the 18:00 curfew on beer sales.
Wednesday:
Long day of spanish, I offer to buy dinner for Arturo later as he has been putting a lot of extra hours into the tuition lately, so we arrange to go to a place he has heard is good called Bismarkcito. The bismark comes from the famous WWII ship and I point out to Arturo that we don’t have a lot of Bismark themed restaurants in the UK. Probably in a similar way they don’t have many eateries themed around Mr Trump. Although I did see news that Mexicans have been stealing the razor wire from ‘The Wall’ and using it to enhance the security on their homes. There’s a joke that Mexicans are saying they stole parts of the wall so they could build a wall around their home, and Trump paid for it!
I’m thinking that the restaurants may be forced to close again soon given the way the covid numbers are rising here.
Thursday:
7 Hours of Spanish today, it’s a lot easier to stay inside with the aircon and study now. The lesson is mostly about the history of linguistics as that’s something Arturo is fascinated by, even if it isn’t helping me learn to speak the language, I’m getting a good understanding how the science/art of translation has developed over the last 3000 years. Later I rush to the Supermarket to build up stock of beer, I’m expecting it to disappear again soon.
I’m able to buy some cinnamon sticks there which I use with the Ginger to make the Jamaica (Hibiscus) drink. I boil up the flowers with the herbs and sugar to make a concentrate which goes in the fridge for a later date.
Friday:
Almost a week with the air conditioning and I’m realising why I hate it so much. I haven’t been out to the Magote to swim and snorkel with the fish this week, I haven’t walked around the marina trying to catch the breeze, I haven’t spent much time outdoors at all really. I could be anywhere when I’m inside the cabin. When it gets too cold in here, and I turn the aircon off, then within a few hours it’s unbearable. So I’m trying to use the time to study hard and as soon as the hot season ends it will have to go.
One thing I have been impressed by is how my macbook seems to have worked out I’m learning Spanish. It has silently gone from trying to correct my spanish spelling into the closest english word when I’m making notes in Spanish, to now only underlining the word when I have spelt it wrong in Spanish, as if the laptop has been configured to be Spanish.
I read today that the Covid infection rate here is rising quickly and the weekly provisional figures will mean we have to move back from Orange Alert State to Red if they are confirmed. Even if they are not confirmed now, they will be next week sometime. So I’m pretty sure full lockdown is on its way back here.
I’m planning to leave the marina in two weeks time and head north. There are places to moor on mooring balls in Puerto Escondido which is near Loreto, So I will spend a week or more heading there, a week or so there, then head back down here for the start of September. Puerto Escondido is a very safe hurricane hole I have been told, I could also haul out there if needed. Arturo is coming with me so he can get to swim with the dolphins/sharks, and I get full on Spanish lessons. All of the beautiful Islands and beaches we pass are closed, but we can probably spend the night at these as we are on transit to another major port, and that kind of passage is allowed.
Kathy will be flying out in the third week of September if all goes to plan and the only question I have at the moment is if I should try to fly back for a few weeks at the start of September and hope the boat is safe without me. September is peak hurricane season here, although they can occur anytime now up until December.
Saturday/Sunday.
Quite a dull weekend really, I had a headache for most of Saturday and Sunday, usually when I get persistent headaches it’s down to my eyes. If I lose my last pair of decent specs overboard and move to a earlier prescription lens which isn’t quite right I end up with headaches. This last week has been very disappointing for me as I have reached a milestone with the deterioration of my nearsite vision. I have had 61 years of being able to read without needing glasses, in the last few years I have used reading specs for some small print on labels, but this week there have been days when I couldn’t read from the computer screen, and I can’t read books at all now without glasses, the change happened quicker than I expected. So most days I have been straining to read stuff, I’m assuming that’s the cause of the headaches. Of course it could be something else, like a brain tumor and my eyesight might return to normal, just before my head explodes, who knows.
The heat outside most days (39 deg C, 102f today), has caused me to stay inside during the day enjoying the new Aircon. Once the sun is low in the sky I have been cycling along the Malecon,
I recently re-read Steinbeck’s book The Pearl which is set here in La Paz, I read it when I was at school, but can’t quite remember how old I was. It had a big affect on me at the time, and I think fueled my early cynicism about life in general. I’m not sure, but I’m guessing this sculpture on the Malecon is related to the book.
Clay and Brenda, who have been bashing their way north for the last few months left San Francisco on Saturday morning and made a dash north in the small break in the weather. That night, off the coast of Northern California they heard a mayday from a 40ft vessel and went to their aid. It was too foggy for the coastguard helicopter to assist and the boat was sinking faster than the coast guard cutter was going to take to get there, so the crew, an elderly and a younger couple transferred to Clay and Brenda’s yacht, and later transferred to the coastguard when it arrived. As I understand it the stricken boat is now lying on the seabed. Very sad, but at least everyone survived. The sea state wasn’t good so hats off to everyone involved in getting the crew off safely.
I had a look for the comet tonight, but visibility was poor. Still there’s always next time round 😉
Paul Collister.