Landlubbers in S. America

It is Saturday at the Puerto Lucia Yacht Club, and, although Alex said that weekends bring many people who want to workout, it is still very quiet; it could be because of the June-gloom type of weather. Yesterday's venture to the mercado with Alex was wonderful, and I regret not having my camera with me, although once I bought every possible exotic fruit and vegetable available, it would have been difficult to put everything down to take pictures. Alex is so gracious and helpful; it is such fun speaking the language with him because he knows what I am trying to say and fills in the words I do not know. I am bound and determined to become more fluent in Spanish during this cruise, and this is my opportunity to practice.

Last evening we had cocktails, munchies, and dinner on board Bill and Johanna's 57 ft. state of the art custom cutter-rigged sailboat, Visions of Johanna, and we all had a fabulous time. Luckily I was able to bring special home-made salsa, hummus and veggies, french bread and clam dip, TJ's brown rice medley, and Tequila so we were able to enjoy sharing as well. The family is from Maine. Bill is an orthopedic surgeon who reminds me of Tom with lots of stories and vitality, and Johanna is an energetic Berkeley graduate who reminds us of Cindy O. Her oldest son, Graham and their son, Zack, are also cruising with them this year. Graham is a naval architect who can answer any of our questions as well as teach us so much just through conversation. They are off to Guayaquil this weekend, sending Bill back to work for his last 2 wks. before he takes a year sabbatical; the rest of the family will be back after the weekend, and I look forward to getting to know them better.

This morning we met with George, who runs the boatyard, to assess the needs of Sidewinder. It looks like she needs a complete bottom strip, blister holes filled, barrier coat, and new bottom paint; this is a full-on redo of the bottom, and we will also finish by raising the water-line because we have so much shit aboard. Good thing we have found such an outstanding situation here, and we will benefit by leaving her on the hard for the two months we come home, giving her a chance to dry out. We hope and pray that El Nino does not kick in down here.  We are also very fortunate that we did not completely lose the strut that supports the propellor shaft after it exits the boat; upon scrutiny it is cracked almost all the way through. We are grateful that it did not break, given the intensity of our journey. So, here we are, with work already being done on Sidewinder, and it appears that we cannot do much to help with the process, except to clean her every evening after the dust settles. We have other stuff we need to do, but we are also contemplating some travel time, maybe even to Peru, before coming home. We do know that we will leave at least a week early to venture inland through Ecuador, which is supposed to be awesome as well. 

The pictures show Sidewinder being taken out of the water, work being done on her, the cracked strut, and our new friend, Alex, the head chef at Puerto Lucia Yacht Club, a talented composer and guitarist who seems to enjoy showing us his Ecuador. In the faces of the Ecuadorian women here I see our wonderful friend Jessica Puma, Jim Mamer's wife. We are on a new land adventure. Love to all.