Laundry is usually a challenge on a cruising boat. I never know when I’ll be able to do my next load because we are always travelling to a new town whose facilities are unknown to me. Some marinas have laundry rooms but many times the machines there are not working. Some towns have laundry ladies near the marinas, some you have to carry your laundry a mile or more inland. Not in Barra. Here a lady and her brother paddle an old boat out to you to collect your dirties and the next day they bring you back a plastic bag full of fresh, clean, folded wonderfulness. All for the unbelievable price of about $2.50 per load (the last incredibly good deal left in Mexico). I tip her well.

2 weeks ago today I woke up grumpy. Later in the day I was taking the bus to town to do some grocery shopping with my friend Pam and started to feel icky. I thought it was just low blood sugar so I stopped for an ice cream cone before going in the store. I felt okay while shopping and we stopped for a sandwich afterwards. I couldn’t finish my sandwich (odd for me), we took a cab back to the marina, I loaded my bags onboard, put away the items that needed refrigeration and then needed to lie down. 5 days later, my groceries were still waiting to be put away and I still hadn’t eaten anything resembling a meal. Boy was I sick! We needed to move further south so when I thought I was up for it, we made an overnight passage to Barra de Navidad. Poor Ken had to do most of the work though because I didn’t have the strength to even stay awake on my watches. Once in Barra I went to the pharmacy and got myself on meds and felt better the next day. The whole ordeal took about 10 days to get over.

Ken woke up grumpy this morning. We spent the day at the pool where he complained of being cold. By the time we got back to the boat this afternoon, he had a fever of 101. We cancelled dinner plans with friends and today I plan to go into town to get him bananas, yoghurt and electrolyte because that is probably all he’ll be able to eat for several days. I hope that I can nurse him along well enough that he doesn’t suffer as much as I did.