We had an interesting end to our stay at Casilda. Our friends on Kokopelli got an uninvited guest on their boat. They had left some bananas outside in the cockpit the day before and when they woke up the morning, a rodent had been chewing on them and then inside the cabin they found more evidence. They think its a rat. They do not have a trap, so they have been trying to make their own, but have not had success. We also had some evidence of a rodent in the cockpit, but so far have not found any problems inside. We also were woke up early in the morning and got up to find our door had been opened. Nothing was missing on the boat, as far as we could tell, but we were a little alarmed at the situation.

We sailed 40 miles to Cienfuegos yesterday and reasonable winds, but they were directly behind us. So we used the whisker pole again and managed to make pretty good time. There are a lot of boats here and no slips available at the marina, so we have to anchor in front of the marina and still have to pay for that privilege! I complained to the dock master and anybody else I could find, but they all said the same thing - I don't make the rules.

There are two canadian boats here and the french and swiss boats we met in Santiago. We were chatting with Piere yesterday and he has obtained some Cuban Pesos. He received 24 pesos for 1 cuc and things are MUCH cheaper to buy with the peso. He got a haircut for 3 pesos - that works out to be about 15 cents in canadian money. We are probably going to stay here until we get the right winds to sail south. But we are still not sure of the route. Most of the Europeans are heading to Jamaica first before setting off for Panama