Daily Meanderings

Sitting in the Salinas anchorage for a few days has really made us lazy. We typically struggle out of bed around 7:30 and dawdle over a leisurely breakfast, catching up on the happenings on email and Facebook, and occasionally checking on what is happening in the world, although the last is a stretch for us these days. Must make a better effort but to be honest once you're isolated from the constant barrage of news networks, the radio and "water cooler" chit-chat you realize just how little it really matters that you are up to date on the latest happenings, especially when they don't directly affect you and your family.

That said, Henry tackled the chart-plotter and made great headway in gaining a better understanding of how the whole rat's nest of wiring behind the helm station is connected. The access is through a panel above our galley sink and although he looks like he is having a footbath, I can assure you we did not mix water and electricity on this task.

I was able to advance my dinghy chaps project to the stage of first "dress fitting". I'm pretty darned pleased with the outcome and just have the final attachment points, inside finish and convenience pockets to finish off on this project. She's looking pretty sweet, and the chaps will help to protect the hypalon from sun damage.

After a day on the boat yesterday, today we headed into Salinas to stretch our legs and see where our feet would take us.

Not much of excitement to report in this little town, but here's a little taste of what we found along the way.

This laden mango tree was dropping its fruit all over the roadside, so we helped ourselves to a couple of low hanging fruit.

In Puerto Rico, cockfighting is legal and supposedly many backyards have crates with roosters. These were conveniently stationed in view of the roadside.

Here's a little change from Medalla. I really liked the Coqui lager and Henry enjoyed the Santo Viejo pilsner.

We stopped in at a little ferreteria (hardware store) and at this point I realized how completely my life has changed. We were so excited by the price of marine adhesive that we bought their entire stock of three tubes. We got home and our two best "purchases" of the day are proudly displayed below.

At $10.95 a tube we couldn't resist. In St. Martin the going price was supposedly cheap at $18.

And of course fresh off the tree beats all. Looking forward to green mango salsa tomorrow.

And last but not least - a very happy birthday to Jamie back home. Hope this next decade is a good one!