The last time I wrote it was election day. Well, I am sure it is no surprise that I was ecstatic about the outcome. What a historic day for Americans. We proved that we "judge a man not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character". As I have said before people around the world (or at least in Venezuela) were closely watching and thrilled about the out come. I do wish the market had gotten that post election bump but I think they are too far gone for that.
The night of the elections O manned the home front while Roberto and I went in to watch some returns. The place we all normally go was closed for inventory so we had to go to a cruiser bar that is in serious need of repair and disinfectant. When we first arrived some English cruisers were watching soccer (football). I was a little disheartened because asking an Englishman to change the channel from soccer is similar to a declaration of war. So we waited and chatted with them and some other cruisers until the conversation made it's way to the elections. After listening to a rather colorful description of how the American electoral system is all "shaite and bollucks" they started flipping to the returns during the commercials, and then slowly but surely we had the returns all the time. By then more people had trickled in, surprisingly most Americans were Republicans. I think Roberto and I were the only Democrats and Roberto is Italian so he didn't really care. It was a fun evening full of off hand commentary, far flung opinions and lots of laughs. The English never let up throughout the evening in their criticism of our system but it was all in good fun and very funny. After the writing was pretty much on the wall, O called to say the computer signal was strong enough to live stream CNN. I went back to watch, enjoy and celebrate with O. What fun.
The next day we got the boat ready, provisioned and that night around 9:00 set off for the Tortuga islands. About forty minutes out our autopilot packed it up. O ran down to see what the problem was, but it's a little tricky to fix while underway because the hydraulics for the rudder are next to the autopilot. When I turn the wheel he has to move out of the way or his head will get crushed. After talking it over we decided it best to return to Margarita so we could look at it under the calm of an anchorage, we could call RayMarine or if need be, order a part. It was depressing turning around and heading back to Margarita. I could not get the lyrics to Hotel California out of my head: "You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave."
O was up until 2:30 that night diagnosing the problem. It was getting power in but not out etc. So he called RayMarine bright and early the next morning and they told him he needed a new 'brain' for the system. This meant either we buy a newly repaired one or send ours in to be fixed. We called an expat that lives on a boat who is an electrician. He came and identified the problem, and brought it someplace to look for resistors(I have no idea what it means, so I will not take you down that road). He fixed one of the problems but it had created a different one. Long story short, we could not get it fixed in Margarita and we did not want to wait there for the new one. So, we decided to hand steer these next couple of legs and have a rebuilt brain sent to Bonaire. Once in Bonaire we will send ours back to be fixed so if this happens again we will have a back up. This has been a big wake up call about the Pacific. I would hate to have to hand steer Indy through the Pacific...I know that O would hate to have to listen to me complain about hand steering through the Pacific too. Yes, lots of boats don't have an autopilot and I admire them, but I like the creature comforts.
However, all was not lost. The day Wayne took the autopilot, O and I took the kids to the waterpark on the island which was LOADS OF FUN. The park was HUGE, something you would find in the States or Disney World (without the price). The best part was that there was nobody there! I 'd be singing a different tune if I had to deal with throngs of kids knocking us down to get to the top. There were maybe sixty people in the entire park which meant we never waited in line. O could even take Sam with him down some of the slides which was cool. Ben was a crazy man up/down the slides all day. Initially I thought the adult section was closed because there was never anyone there! The little kid section had tiny slides, climbing ropes, fountains and all the bells and whistles you would expect. The little girls were quite taken with Sam. The boys blond hair draws lots of attention from kids and parents. All three boys fell asleep in the cab back which is a sure sign of a great day.
On a side note, the Venezuelan women are refreshingly immodest when it comes to their bodies. I was the only person at the park in a one piece swimsuit. The bikini is the only thing worn here regardless of body shape, size or age. The women are proud of their bodies and walk around totally unselfconscious. The fashion here seems to be the tighter the clothes the better, the higher the shoes the better. The women dress sexy, yet tastefully (most times). A woman could be lugging three kids around a mall and nine times out of ten they are wearing jeans with high heels. It made me long to wear heels and not my 'board flat' same ol' flip flops. You never see women in sweatpants, shorts or with shirts untucked etc. They really take pride in their appearance and their femininity. I bet things like bulimia or other eating disorders are rare here. From what I have seen it is rare to find a stick straight figure. The women embrace and are proud of their curves, they are curvaceous but I have seen very little obesity.
The Venezuelans work hard but play hard too. They are quick with a smile and seem very family orientated. They are wonderful people to be around.

Anyway, Saturday we ONCE AGAIN, did the last provision and that night left the Hotel California. We had a windless but starry twelve hour trip to the Tortugas. Hand steering is a pain because you can't go make a cup of tea or step away for a minute without being way off course. I saw more shooting stars on that trip than I have ever seen in my life. The sky was a planetarium. We even managed to catch three fish around sunrise! We caught two tuna and one barracuda. We threw the barracuda back because we had so much tuna and I am a little sketchy on eating barracuda.
It is always exciting to hear the zing of the reel "fish on" is what we all yell. The kids come bounding out, I slow down the boat and O reels it in. While he is bringing it in I get the cheap rum and gaff while Ben gets the fish book so he can look up whatever we catch. It is very exciting.
Ben is starting to get a little freaked that we kill and eat the fish. Sunday morning he sat me down for a 'talk' about putting "the fish back". He is very concerned about fish becoming extinct. He explained in great detail the plight of the whales and how there used to even be pink whales but people killed them all. I explained that yes, I understood and am proud of his stance, but we were going to eat the tuna so it would not be wasted. He was quick to reply that the whales wete used for oil and meat but they are almost gone so essentially fishing is still wrong. I was astonished by his reasoning and compassion. Like his mother, some issues are only black and white. We still kept both tunas, but I made sure we utilized every single bit of them. We did not fish any more that day to prove to him we only fish for food. After killing the first fish, O put it on the tramp until he could clean it. Sam marched into the main salon, grabbed his cereal and announced that the fish was hungry and he was going to feed it.
FYI: Sam loves sashimi and sushi!!!!! Ben only sees flipper....
We had Los Tortugas in sight around 8:00am. We discovered that our electronic charts were WAY OFF!!!. At one point they had us moving over land! It is a little unnerving to see this happen especially when the island is surrounded by reef as these are. Fortunately we had the sun above us so it was easy to weave our way in. Salt and Light were there along with Alegria and Fruco.
That night we all went to Alegria for happy hour. While there the talk turned to Thanksgiving, where we would be, what we would have etc. None of us have a turkey (god knows, my freezer would not keep one cold even if I did have one!) and Sophia on Fruco said "we will just have to get ourselves a pelican" which I thought was hilarious. It would be a nice shape...and they do eat fish..and I know O would take the fish bite..just keeping options open.
The next morning we heard some tragic news. Saturday night two American boats on their way from Puerto La Crz to Los Tortugas had stopped at Cayo Borocho (about 35 miles from us) for the night. They were attacked by pirates while at anchor around 5:30 that evening. One of the Americans was killed and another seriously wounded and two of the three attackers were shot. That is all we know about the attack but I will write more as I hear it. My heart went out to all their families. What awful news. Especially scary considering it happened less than fifty miles from where we were! My god, how life can change in a single instant. Venezuela is a wonderful country but the government must step up to ensure the safety of cruisers foreign and domestic. If this had happened while we were in Grenada I am unsure whether we would have stopped anywhere in Venezuela.
Last night we upped anchor and made our way to Los Roques which was another twelve hour, hand steered trip but this time we were with four other boats. Initially we had great wind and were humming right along passing everyone making great time. Then I came on watch...the wind died and the rain came..and came and came. It poured almost the entire five hour watch. I was soaking wet and for the very first time since I can remember I was freezing!!! Naturally, once I turned the reins over to O nary a drop fell from the sky!
And in saving the best for last, I am proud and somewhat sad to report that Ben lost his first tooth!!! It was his front, bottom left tooth. It had been loose for a while but when he bit into an apple on Sunday that pretty much sealed the deal. He took this very seriously. He informed us that he had to be on a yogurt diet because anything else would force the tooth out before it was ready.....of course. While we were in Tortuga the captain of a yacht told us he had one of those bananas that you tow behind the boat, and offered to take the kids for a ride on it. All the other kids were ecstatic at the offer but Ben declined because he did not want his tooth to come out while he was swimming. That night he wanted to sleep with a bowl under his chin in case it fell out while sleeping. Much to everyones relief, the tooth made it until 5:30 in the morning when it finally came out. He was sooo proud. I wanted to cry. He is becoming such a little man that it breaks my heart. I hope the tooth fairy can find us...I wonder what currency she uses??

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The kids before trick or treating.

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It seems like we are taking up permanent residence in Margarita! I swear we are leaving this week. Funny, we had heard so many horrendous stories about Margarita, but we actually really like it. I understand why people stay here for so long. It is cheap, the people are friendly, there is a lot to do, it has great seafood(dozen oysters for two dollars), 25Ct beers....need I say more??? Otis and I are sad to be leaving. I wish we had come here instead of three quarters of the places we went in the Caribbean.
Oh well, live and learn. It just goes to show you that unless you know and respect the cruiser do not listen to the 'grapevine'. I have found that a good many cruisers like to give advice about places they know nothing about and are too intimidated to learn. I always enjoy taking advise from a 'cruiser' that has been living on their boat for years without ever moving....they got themselves to a spot five years ago, have never left but are experts at everything.
Anyway, the last time I wrote we were trying to clear out to leave but the port captain was on vacation. Anyway, we were all set to leave last Monday when we received an email from our friends on Salt and Light saying that they were coming to Margarita arriving Wed. We were rushing up to the Roques to see them so we decided to stay here and wait. Our friend Roberto couldn't leave either because his girlfriend that was visiting could not extend her tickets..so it was set..we were waiting. It was a great decision. The kids and adults had a fun reunion and we all spent Halloween together.
Lately we(Roberto, Alex, Maria and Xoya) have been going to a local restaurant that has INCREDIBLE seafood soup. There is just about every form of seafood in the soup from whole crabs, clams, mussels, snails, fish..it's got it all. I squeeze lime into the rich saffron broth which gives it a little kick. I could see how this soup could quickly become a habit. The boys usually have a chachapa which is a sweet corn pancake filled with a fresh cheese(seems like a mix between ricotta and moz folded inside and grilled....ymmm. The soup is 15B(3.50 US) and the cachappa is 10B(2US). We top it all off with a fresh juice made from honey..We discovered this gem of a local restaurant from Alex and Roberto who accompany have a full blown seafood soup addiction. Alex has a car so we all pile in with arms and legs sticking out of windows not to mention the fact that the hood of the car flew up while he was driving which shattered(spiderwebbed) the windshield. It is quite a site. We went yesterday and had a huge meal for 60B(15 US). Again, I could see how this place grows on you.
One thing we did not get a chance to do was go to a baseball game. I am a little bummed because it would have been fun. Baseball is the number one sport in the country and the stadium is not far but time slips by...
Halloween was fun. A few days before the big day I was announcing on the net that we had kids and would like to take them trick or treating around the harbor. Ben wanted to be Batman(again) and Sam was Dash from The Incredibles. It was really funny seeing Sam in his superhero outfit because he kept trying to karate kick people. There were eight kids in all, we hit about thirteen boats and the kids had quite a bit of candy. Some of the people were really creative and gave things like flipflops!!! After trick or treating all the kids went back to Alegria to eat candy and watch a scary scooby doo and the adults came back to Indy and had cold Polars. Michaela who is 14 kept an eye on Sam on Alegria. It was the first time since March someone has watched the kids for us! Apparently while the kids were watching the show Sam kept trying to take their bags of candy..they all learned very quickly to keep the bags close because when it comes to Sam and candy all is fair. Now whenever a dinghy approaches the boat sam yells "trick or treat"!
Initially I was a little concerned about tracking down pumpkins, but Alex helped us track down whole squash that we carved into spooky creatures of the night. The only problem was that we couldn't carve them too far ahead because of the heat they would have wilted before their time.
FYI: My freezer is not running very well. I have a feeling we will have to buy a new unit in Bonaire or Panama. It is no longer a full freezer and we have to run it all the time which uses a lot of power. I am pretty disappointed because we spent a lot of money paying to have it fixed. Oh well, I have to let it go and move forward.
Ben has developed a terrible cough so we are taking him to the dr today before leaving for the out islands. I am sure it is fine but want to have it looked at while I have an opportunity. I would kill myself if something came of it and did not have it checked. Poor Ben seeing him sick kills me!
Did I mention that Ben finished Kindergarten!!! WOOHOOO!!!! We took him to McDonalds in celebration. First grade was suppose to start on Monday but because he has been sick it has been delayed. I must say 1st grade seems hard!!! I have to get my game on for this one. Ben and I went through all the books and he is very excited. I must say I never thought I would homeschool my kids. I like ti because I know his strengths and weaknesses but I also think I am more impatient with him than a professional.
Today is Election day!!! While I am sure that all of you in the States are probably sick of election news we outside of the States are riveted. I am already a bundle of nerves because you just never know. I have always said 'never underestimate the stupidity of the American public' please do not let that be the case again this time. Let's hope people have finally woken up and have had enough....I guess you could say I am cautiously optimistic.

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