Granny, Tim's Mom, was 89 years old and died peacefully in her sleep during the early hours of Friday November 9th. Tim left for Texas on Sunday.
The family held a Memorial Service at Carriage Inn, where Granny had lived for the past several years. There was standing room only. She is going to be greatly missed by many. Tim was overwhelmed by all of the people who took time out of their day to come and pay their respect.
It was sad to not be able to attend. But due to the two fur-babies we have on board with us, there just was no way I could go home also.

In order to get flights out of Bocas Del Toro to Panama City and onto Houston, I had to get Elizabeth in the marina office to call the travel agency for me. Normally this can be done on-line but since we wanted Tim to get the first available flight out, I thought it would be better to have someone fluent in Spanish make the arrangements. It worked out that he could leave out on Sunday, so we had Saturday to get things in order.
Saturday, we went to town and walked from the dinghy dock to the bank to get cash from the ATM. You have to pray on the way, that the ATM is actually working since it is the only ATM/bank in Bocas. Then we walk to the local airport to purchase his flight from Bocas to Panama City. On the way back to the dinghy we got to laughing about how easy all of this would have been to do in the States. Nothing down here is easy!

It has done nothing but rain since Tim left. Me & the pups have caught up on our rest, Words with Friends, reading, and some interior cleaning. I don't want to do it all or else I won't have anything to do for the next two weeks.

Tuesday, I went to town just to get:

diet pepsi/coke (depends on which bodega is open. Normally the pepsi one)
paper towels
big ziplock bags
aspirin (you buy by the single tablet. They look at me like I'm crazy when I ask for 40)
track down the dog food that didn't show up with the Marina's order

Now, this doesn't look like much of a list and I am hoping to take one water taxi to town and catch the next one to the marina in an hour. So, I am off~~~~~~~

For the dog food, I have to place an order with Toby who lives in David, because it has to be lamb/rice due to Spike's allergies. Prior to placing the order, I have to go to town, walk from the dinghy dock/water taxi area to the bank. Go inside the bank to deposit the money into Toby's account. Then take the receipt to one of the internet shops, have them scan the bank receipt & e-mail it to Toby. Then go back to the boat and e-mail or call her to place the order. Once she gets my order and the copy of the bank deposit receipt she goes to the Veterinarian's office and buys the food. She then puts the food on her delivery truck which is loaded with things for many people and businesses in Bocas twice a week. The delivery truck is loaded onto a water ferry which travels between David & Bocas. Once the truck is off loaded from the ferry in Bocas, they start making delivery rounds.

Since I don't live in Bocas, I have to ask for the food to be delivered with the marina's stuff, so we can pick it up from the marina.

The marina staff were not given the dog food, so the next delivery day I have to go to town and look for the truck. I find it and they give me my two 15 pound bags of dog food. Now, I am by myself and still need to get my other items. So, I carry the bags about 4 blocks down the street to the Reef (Pepsi bodega) They are kind and let me leave the food there while I go get my other things. After going to one store and then to the pharmacy, because you can only by aspirin at the pharmacy, I go back to the Reef for a case of diet pepsi. Now it is pouring down rain and I don't want to get the dog food wet on the boat ride back to the marina, so I run across the street and ask for 2 trash bags. Get the bags and run back to the Reef's dock to see the water taxi pulling away with my stuff on it. One of the pepsi workers yelled at the water taxi and they pull back up to the dock for me. Now, I get to put the trash bags over the already wet bags of food. Once back to the marina, I get everything to the boat and find out that the bags were just damp and no water found its way inside. :)

Today, I am vacuum sealing the food for future use. These dogs have NO idea what a pain they are...

Thursday is Thanksgiving and the marina is putting on a Thanksgiving Feast for 50 people. Should be fun, but won't be anything like being home with family and friends...