Fun with Fiberglass

Finally it is the end of the very intense work week, and I can really take a deep breath without fiberglass filling my lungs. Sorry I haven´t written all week. We cannot get the internet on the boat as of yet, and my mornings seem to be way too short. I could get up a little earlier instead of 6:30, when I naturally awaken, but I seem to wake up in the night so often, and we have been going to bed rather late this week. While David is interneting in the early morn, I find a niche where I can meditate before the loud noises begin, around 7;15. I don´t think I have ever been surrounded by so much noise for so many hours ever in my life. The resin/epoxy fiberglass cutting and painting are quite the zen activities when I can ignore the white noise, and I certainly am learning a shitload of techniques I truly hope I will never have to use again.

We have been sitting on old buckets, alongside Alfredo, working from 7:30 til 1:15 or so, making lunch on the boat (I have been making lunch), and working again from 2:15 until 5:00 or so. The body craves a shower each day to free itself from the little itchy fibers which cling everywhere, and then we have been trying to play ping pong, swim, or workout after that, just to give ourselves some fun time and stretch out the aching back and feet. This week we went out to dinner in Salinas twice with our next door boat neighbors and Finnish friends, Lauri and Aninna, who just left on their boat for Peru, and two other couples, Josie and Steve from England and Jerrald and Anns from the Netherlands, joined us the second night. They are all very interesting people and are great ping pong players, making the game wonderfully competitive. We laugh and sweat, and the exercise feels great. I think I made dinner once this week, and it seemed so tedious after working all day, and I didn`t have a chance to sit until it was served around 9 P.M. Hopefully I can figure out some meals to prepare ahead of time, so we don´t have to go out so much.  

Today was an especially beautiful day, and the water was even pretty for the first time. I had a chance to have a sunset swim, take a warm shower, and watch the full orange moon rise here this evening; it has been quite mellow with just David and me. The moon is shimmering on the water right now and I am looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow, even though we have to make a trip to the SuperMax store to pick up food and staples. We have had no rain so far, and that is good for our circumstances. I know that Peru and other parts of Ecuador are experiencing some heavy rains, and we do hope that all of that will subside when we have the time to take off and do more traveling. Right now the Machu Picchu train tracks are being repaired after the last mudslides at the beginning of the week. It looks like we will continue working on Sidewinder all next week: after Monday, when we will finally finish the fiberglassing, she will be sanded and ready for the next step, the anti-fouling paint on the bottom. I think that will be easy compared to this week!

Alfredo has been a wonderful worker and has tried to teach me all the words needed to communicate effectively about the work we are doing. Phew! At least it has given me a chance to speak the language, but I still don´t understand much. Thank goodness I am able to be understood most often. Daniela is here for four days, and Alex has a giant smile on his face; we will try to find some time to be with them. What social butterflies we are!!!