I tried to check my email first thing in the morning but it wasn't working. Off to town. What the hell? There was no power in town. They were replacing a generator with a larger unit and it was scheduled to be up by noon.
I tried to borrow money from a friend until I could get an ATM card down here, but with no power the bank was closed and most of the restaurants as without power there was no running water.
On one of my many trips in and out of Casa Verde I ran across a girl who was looking at a poster for a Chocolate Tour. I gave her an unsolicited thumbs up on the tour, then went into the restaurant to talk with a builder about the price of building a 40' x 40' rancho over the water in front of my house. This lasted many an hour. We discussed the cost of buying a tree, cutting it down, slicing it into boards, transporting out of the jungle, transport to town, getting it planed, transporting to house. Similar deal on concrete filled PVC posts. I started to build a bill of materials. This seems to be a lot cheaper than I had anticipated. After looking at the bill Kilo created I noted that beams and joists had been omitted, a not insignificant cost. In order to provide water to the rancho I must add water collection, which can readily achieved by building a steel roofed boat house.
The girl, Charlotte was from Belgium and mention her experiences on wwoof.org. In order to find details of organic farms there is a $20 fee per farm. After paying for many farms and getting no reply she gave up. I checked with my friend Michelle who hosts volunteers, but she said she had 10 and couldn't sustain any more. I contacted Eladio, the Indian from whom I bought a parcel of land in Aguacate near Loma Partida to see if he could host her for a couple of weeks but neither of us understood his response. Hmmmm. I figured if worst came to worst I could put her up on the boat, but when I contacted the boat owner I got this response:
Power went out around nine was restored at one then finally the bank was attended to at three.
We finally headed out after getting some cash, shopping for a friend a some heavy provisioning. The gas dock was closed, we found another. A friend called, "Did you make it ok?" Hell, we haven't left town left and I still have to go to my house to get the dogs and pack. One hour of daylight left. Stopped by the house. It took longer to climb the stairs than to pack. Onto the boat. With her gear, my gear, two dogs, 30 gallons of insect treatment for the dock wood we peaked out at 14.7 knots. I tried to take a more direct route around the east end of my island and down, but we were at low tide through shallow water. We arrived at dusk. Cutting things pretty close for a moonless night in waters with which I am not intimately familiar. Lots of shallows. No oven, no stove, no cooker? Ok, chica can you make us some salad wraps? Cucumber in yogurt dressing, peppers, lettuce, onions, garlic it was pretty damn good followed by some late night talking on the fore deck under a starry sky.
I tried to borrow money from a friend until I could get an ATM card down here, but with no power the bank was closed and most of the restaurants as without power there was no running water.
On one of my many trips in and out of Casa Verde I ran across a girl who was looking at a poster for a Chocolate Tour. I gave her an unsolicited thumbs up on the tour, then went into the restaurant to talk with a builder about the price of building a 40' x 40' rancho over the water in front of my house. This lasted many an hour. We discussed the cost of buying a tree, cutting it down, slicing it into boards, transporting out of the jungle, transport to town, getting it planed, transporting to house. Similar deal on concrete filled PVC posts. I started to build a bill of materials. This seems to be a lot cheaper than I had anticipated. After looking at the bill Kilo created I noted that beams and joists had been omitted, a not insignificant cost. In order to provide water to the rancho I must add water collection, which can readily achieved by building a steel roofed boat house.
The girl, Charlotte was from Belgium and mention her experiences on wwoof.org. In order to find details of organic farms there is a $20 fee per farm. After paying for many farms and getting no reply she gave up. I checked with my friend Michelle who hosts volunteers, but she said she had 10 and couldn't sustain any more. I contacted Eladio, the Indian from whom I bought a parcel of land in Aguacate near Loma Partida to see if he could host her for a couple of weeks but neither of us understood his response. Hmmmm. I figured if worst came to worst I could put her up on the boat, but when I contacted the boat owner I got this response:
Where is "the girl" going to stay? One extra person essentially doubles the demands on the systems of the boat. Women use a lot of water and fuck up marine toilets. We are converting diesel at $4 something a gallon to water out here. I don't even use water to brush my teeth. You are a boater...right? Have cruised? I was looking for one really competent single guy who is an experienced boater to live on board. It is not easy living for someone who is not an expert at this. You don't want a woman living aboard who has not done it. It will be a disaster. Let's re-think.
No comments:
Post a Comment