I picked up my son Mark and Danielle at Casa Verde, we had wonderful burritos at Gringos then headed off to the hardware store. I picked up some fittings to work on my propane, but there were no torches, flux or solder. A guy I had never met before told me to swing by his house on Carenero and he would set me up. A bit later we headed off with hundreds of pounds of luggage (most of it in tools from part of my collection Mark brought with him, that's another story he will blog separately, quite the adventure) picked up the plumbing equipment and headed to the house after filling a five gallon tank of gas for the generator. I can't keep up with electrical demands when there is no sun.
Bliss, sweet bliss, my son and sockets and wrenches and screwdrivers, top end wire strippers and crimpers, special wrenches for stripped nuts, a black vanadium metric and english socket set, files, nut drivers, a lot of stuff. Not enough, but this will get me started.
I fixed the stove, ok, it's a cludge I just moved a tank an regulator into the kitchen, cut off a section of hose and verified that my run was too long or the pipes are clogged between the bodega and the kitchen.
An Indian, who had stopped by yesterday to help me with my boat returned at five o'clock as I requested. Although he hadn't asked for any money, it seemed the appropriate thing to do. He called out my name from the dock and for the twelfth time or so I descended the steps. He sat in a little cayuca, laden with a substantial generator and what were obviously Christmas gifts. I offered to take him home. His little boat had but a few inches of freeboard, the height of the gunwhales above the water line. He accepted, we transferred everything onto my boat and tried to pull the cayuco, on the side of the boat and behind the boat but it wouldn't track and took on water. We hoisted crosswise across the bow of my boat and headed to his house. A guy saw us and came down, there was no dock so the stuff had to be carried through the water. Then girl after girl came down, very pleasant, extremely well fed Ngobe offspring, calling out to me in English. To them this would be like hooking up with royalty. The Indian told me that he was a carpenter and that he could build me a boat house in three weeks. This could be good. Although I could do it myself legally I need a local builder. Besides, you always need to have a helper and he already has all the wood working tools.
We headed out and had a wonderful dinner at El Ultimo Refugio, I had pork tenderloin with mango sauce, veggies and rice. The kids had chorizo stuffed chicken, veggies and the best mashed potatoes on the island. Find our way home in complete darkness was an adventure. Glad I left the porch light on.
Bliss, sweet bliss, my son and sockets and wrenches and screwdrivers, top end wire strippers and crimpers, special wrenches for stripped nuts, a black vanadium metric and english socket set, files, nut drivers, a lot of stuff. Not enough, but this will get me started.
I fixed the stove, ok, it's a cludge I just moved a tank an regulator into the kitchen, cut off a section of hose and verified that my run was too long or the pipes are clogged between the bodega and the kitchen.
An Indian, who had stopped by yesterday to help me with my boat returned at five o'clock as I requested. Although he hadn't asked for any money, it seemed the appropriate thing to do. He called out my name from the dock and for the twelfth time or so I descended the steps. He sat in a little cayuca, laden with a substantial generator and what were obviously Christmas gifts. I offered to take him home. His little boat had but a few inches of freeboard, the height of the gunwhales above the water line. He accepted, we transferred everything onto my boat and tried to pull the cayuco, on the side of the boat and behind the boat but it wouldn't track and took on water. We hoisted crosswise across the bow of my boat and headed to his house. A guy saw us and came down, there was no dock so the stuff had to be carried through the water. Then girl after girl came down, very pleasant, extremely well fed Ngobe offspring, calling out to me in English. To them this would be like hooking up with royalty. The Indian told me that he was a carpenter and that he could build me a boat house in three weeks. This could be good. Although I could do it myself legally I need a local builder. Besides, you always need to have a helper and he already has all the wood working tools.
We headed out and had a wonderful dinner at El Ultimo Refugio, I had pork tenderloin with mango sauce, veggies and rice. The kids had chorizo stuffed chicken, veggies and the best mashed potatoes on the island. Find our way home in complete darkness was an adventure. Glad I left the porch light on.
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