Kathy has left the building

She hasn’t as of yet, but by the time I finish and publish this blog she will be on a flight to London praying that in those 12 hours of flight, Mexico is not added to the red list of countries that will require her to be put in kennels for a couple of weeks quarantine. Of course we don’t want Mexico to be on the red list, but it seems crazy to ban the countries that have already sent the worrying viruses to the UK where it is established and spreading, and to let people bring in the new as yet undiscovered variants from countries we didn’t even know had the new variants. I think if you want to stop new variants getting into the uk, then quarantine everyone arriving. I won’t be surprised if the killer strain from worrystan ends up defeating the AZ vaccine and we end up having to start all over again. Hope not 🙂

We continue to dine out on sundays with Arturo. We used to cook a meal for him on board, but with the current high levels of the virus here, and the fact Arturo works with visitors from the USA and Mexico city, we only meet up outdoors , keep a distance and dine in outdoor restaurants now.

Dirk and Silvia are another couple who take the situation very seriously, we meet up with them every week or so for a coffee. Below you can see us on a rooftop bar with a great view out across the bay.

Arturo and I do a walking Spanish lesson once or twice a week, when he is not working we walk around town, often with a chandlers or bakery as the target destination. As we walk, Arturo tests me on my Spanish, I must say, I’m pretty good now on Pavement, Lamppost and Car. (Banqueta, Poste de luz y Carro).

After a very hot walk, we might stop for a Raspado, Arturo likes to have Chile on his Mango, not quite sure how that works.

On a bike ride with Kathy we stopped to photograph a pandemonium of parrots, finally had an excuse to use that collective noun.

We also saw a volt of vultures, obviously I had to look these up.

Last saturday, an announcement went out for a travelling musical family, who were struggling for funds, as their usual restaurant audiences had dried up. They offered to perform at the local basketball court for anyone who was interested at sunset. We went along not sure what to expect and were pleased to see dozens of fellow cruisers who had turned up. quite a crowd, initially well separated and all masked up, that changed a little as time went one and more arrived and mingled. We sat away in the corner.
They hadn’t expected anyone to turn up and had gone off to the other side of town, leaving one of the family looking after their trailer, who had to quickly try and get them all back as we amassed. A little later and they started performing.

The musicians are one family, Father/Mother, 2 sons and three daughters. They all live in one car with a trailer for all of their instruments.

They are incredibly talented, the girls had amazing voices, and the whole family seemed quite overwhelmed with the turnout. One of the cruisers put a cap out in front of the band, and after another cruiser gave one of the cruising kids a few hundred pesos to put in the hat, the cruiser kids started excitedly running around the cruisers collecting money and filling the hat. I’m thinking they made enough money to support themselves for a good while.

A few days ago this giant of a sailboat arrived, she must be 35, maybe 40m long. I was intrigued as to where they kept the anchor as the sleek prow showed no signs of one.

I was in luck as the next day they dropped anchor in the marina, and I saw the anchor rise out of the deck on a huge arm that swung it up in the air then over the bow ready to be lowered. Of course the reason they were doing it in the marinas was because this slightly complicated system was broken. The arm that did the work was sticking. I watched as they went up and down with it, I’m not sure they fixed it as the anchor was left hanging over the bow.

Kathy and I took a trip over to the Mogote again and had a long beach walk, we went right around the island to the development called Paraiso del mar, This is a luxury block of apartments looking out over the sea. It’s a great spot, whale sharks frequent these waters. and you have the area to yourself as it’s not easy to get to by land. I have mentioned before that I heard the development was declared ilegal before it was completed, and recently I have heard they have problems with the water supply.

Yesterday I made Guacamole to have as dinner as we sat in the cockpit watching the sunset. I’ve become quite good at taking a bunch of Cilantro (coriander) and dicing it up into very small pieces. This time the mix didn’t taste as good as normal, and it was upon closer inspection I noticed that I hadn’t completley diced up the elastic band that came with the cilantro, a few little bits were obvious. It all got tipped into the bin. What an idiot.

We also went to a local clinic to get Kathy Covid tested for her trip home. They didn’t speak English, but we muddled through and Kathy had a most un-enjoyable experience getting swabbed for the PCR test.

Kathy spent the weekend packing and fretting over all the paperwork and procedures needed for international travel these days. I organised a car rental for the the airport trip, primarily to avoid having to use a taxi for covid reasons, but secondly, I could do some shopping and exploring later. A few days ago we heard from one of the cruisers here on the radio net that he had Covid and was isolating on his boat. Two days later we heard he had been taken to the hospital, today we heard he had succumbed to the virus. Very sad.

Kathy was most relieved late on Sunday when her test results came through as ‘Negativo’, we also got the last confirmation that her covid test pack was on its way to Liverpool and we had completed the Passenger locator successfully.

So off we went for our Sunday dinner out with Arturo. We were surprised to find the restaurants staying open late, and quite busy, when it dawned on us that it was Valentines day, not something we go mad about normally.

However tonight the local rose seller, who has been trying for the best part of a year to get me to buy Kathy a rose succeeded. I felt sorry for the guy, I thought if he can’t sell me a rose on Valentines day, there’s not a lot of hope for him, or perhaps me!

We had a lovely meal in our favorite Italian restaurant, I especially like the hot bread with dipping oils, it reminds me of our sailing days in Greece.

Monday the 15th Feb
Time for Kathy to start her mammoth trek home. I head of at 9 to collect the hire car, while Kathy does the last bit of flapping, then we are off to the airport. Of course we forget there’s an extra airport health form to fill in on the web when you get there before you can check in, but I manage that just in time and Kathy’s bags are whisked away. I say goodbye, not sure just how many months it will be before we are back together.
I take the car into town, do some shopping at the big Home Depot store then pickup Arturo, we decide to do some exploring of the remoter parts of La Paz.
At the far end of the bay we find some lovely beaches, one with a bit of a shipwreck of a ferro-cement boat. I would love to know the history of this grounding.

After the boat we take a dirt track out to the Magote, it’s a very tough ride for our little car, and not much to see, other than two giant cruise ships anchored off, waiting for a better time.

We leave southern La Paz and head north through the town to a popular beach at tecalote, this place is rammed in the summer, but has strict restrictions these days, but on a cool monday afternoon, we have the place to ourselves, so decide on some food at a beach restaurant. The variety and quality on offer is fantastic, Arturo orders clams, I have Fish Tacos and Guacamole.

Back at the boat, it’s a quiet affair, and the boat seems a tad empty without Kathy. I shall have to get to work and keep myself busy now.

I track Kathy’s flights and wake up sometime in the night to see she has just landed in Heathrow and is taxiing. I get a text later to say she has cleared through and is waiting her flight to Manchester. Later today we chat once she has settled into her flat. Job done.

Paul Collister.