In and on Paradise again

I guess it’s time to update our Blogg, we’ve been so busy I kept putting it off. We finally got rid of the bees. Sid climbed up the mast one night and taped all the holes shut, three weeks later he took the tape off and so far so good no more bees. We heard that three other boats in other marinas had the same problem, must be a yearly occurrence. Our neighbor downstairs told us to call the fire department they would get rid of the bees. We don’t think so, because when Denny had the problem last year, they took care of the bees by pouring gasoline down the mast, no thank you.

A couple days after our trip with Ernesto to Isla Boracho our dearest friend Kathy King, now living in Costa Rica, came for a fun visit and brought her friend Alley, four days later her son Adam joined us also, he flew in from Los Angeles with lots of butter. We had so much fun, Jim took us again on the Los Altos trip,. We did the snorkel trip again with Emir and Carlos. Remember Saint Marie’s Cave they took us too where I saw light coming through the cave ceiling now called Las Velas de Manuela, on the first trip to the cave Carlos explained that once a year there is a pilgrimage to the Saint Marie’s cave with a ceremony for good weather for crops and fishermen, so on the trip with Kathy he told me that they had a ceremony happening that day and that we could not miss it. I was so excited that we could be part of that yearly ceremony, Carlos had me going. As we finally arrived at the cave he explained that we unfortunately had missed the ceremony and that we just have to have our own. He then took a beautiful shell out and presented it to me. The shell has almost the shape of a flame and written on it is Las Velas de Manuela. So sweet, he
fabricated the story about the ceremony that specific day and fooled us.

We all had a great time snorkeling and explored a few new places. We also found the dolphins again, I’ve never seen so many dolphins at once, it was awesome. The food at the island restaurant was wonderful as always and this time I got to pet several iguanas.

The little kitten adjusted way too fast to the house unfortunately Tika didn’t take to the kitten. We still were not sure whether it was a girl or a boy and Alley fell in love with the kitten and decided to take it to Costa Rica but later that week we all realized it was too involved to fly the kitten to Costa Rica. The little rascal slept in her room while she was here giving us some peace at night. He just adored Alley and even shared her meals with her. The ten days they were here went by way too fast and since they flew out of Caracas we took a bus with them and spent two days in Caracas. It was wonderful having Kathy here and of course Alley and Adam, it gave us a well deserved break from all the boat work we’ve been doing.

Ever since they left we’ve been nothing but working on the boat. Now after three long weeks we’re finally moving back onto the boat. Just as we started we received sad news that Norman, the owner of the house was not continuing his two year circumnavigation but was coming back the end of May, so we are not able to rent the house until the end of the year, bummer, we were really looking forward to it. But at least we are done just on time to be out of the house. Anyway, today should be the last day of moving all our junk back onto the boat, sure was easier taking it off. The waterline should be higher as we tossed a lot of crap out.

I completed the V-Berth cushion which looks great. I gave up on the salon cushions as they were a bit of a challenge, a local upholstery guy is doing them for us and I’m sure doing a much better job then I would have done. The fabric store here is incredible, it’s four stories tall with nothing but fabric, one can get lost in there. I found the coolest bead spread material which just needed to have seems sewn in. Sid mounted all the storage bags I made. He also did an incredible job on the inside varnish, Paradise looks almost like a brand new boat. Sid used the clear coat of Awlgrp paint for the finish coat on the varnish which makes it look as smooth as a mirror and is almost bullet proof. We still have to do the varnish outside and found a great slip at the Redonda Marina with floating dock alongside the boat, so varnishing is going to be a lot easier on Sid’s back. We guess that we’ll be two weeks in the marina before we finally can head out and find tropical, lonely anchorages to recoup from the 5 months long boat work ordeal.

The little kitten we thought was a girl turned into a little boy and is as fisty as can be. We finally named him Taz Nibblebiteski (Tasmanian Devil and that he is). Tika didn’t take too well to him, well she could be his great, great, great, great grandma, he also drove me nuts, he was just too wild for us and the boat, besides we didn’t want to start a new kitty family. Tika is now 14 years old and we will sail to destination where pets have to go through quarantine. We didn’t know what to do with Tazy, we loved him but he needed to go, he was so wild the boat would have not been big enough for him or fair. Sharon and Dave of Sea Lure live in Merida on a big piece of property with monkeys, ocelots and other pets and were in town visiting Jim and Jenny. Taz found a loving family and is just as happy as can be, he’s buddy is a little Yo quiero Taco Bell dog of fours months and his size.

They play non stop all day long and also share the bed together. Just the cutiest thing to see. We’re happy and relieved that we have found a wonderful home for Tazy and we do miss him, don’t think Tika does.

Living in the house was fun but came with lots of problems, not one week went buy without one or two light bulbs blowing out. We stopped counting how many we exchanged in the five months. A few days ago two sockets blew out, one especially exploded with lots of sparks, scary. When Sid worked with the engine, he noticed a lot of corrosion, which we never had before. There is a lot of stray electric current in the water, not good for boats. Also when he painted the foredeck we had the anchor off the boat on the bottom of the slip and a few weeks later when he brought the anchor back up a big hole was eaten into it on the bottom side.

The house also is infested with little tiny sugar ants, actually it’s a problem every household here has. One night we’re watching a movie and we brought a couple rums upstairs. Not five minutes later I felt something crawling over me, first didn’t think anything of it, took a shower and got ready for the movie as I felt it again. Sid turned the flash light on me and little ants were crawling all over me. Not just that but my snifter of rum was full of ants, not sure if they needed a bath or a shot of rum, no I don’t share my good rum.

A couple of photos of inside of boat still under construction a few days before we moved in and adding the name back on the transom, well it's temporary for now.

Ever since we arrived in Venezuela we had an ant problem on the boat as well. Before we moved everything back onto the boat, Sid fumigated every corner inside and out and we still find ants. There is another little critter they call wood mites that are almost invisible and crawl all over the house and boat, but we got rid of them on the boat.

Well, we’re almost done and back on the boat. It’s been a great time in the house but we are looking forward to living in our home again in and on Paradise. Here is a beautiful shot of one of the last sunsets from the house. This photo was taken right after a thunderstorm and believe it or not the sunset is behind the camera and reflected in the clouds.

Finally some politics:
It’s been tough buying meat, chicken, eggs and butter here. The meat counters at the grocery stores are empty. El Presidente put such a cap on the price nobody wants to sell it under cost. Our grocery store hasn’t sold eggs in over 8 weeks. Every three or so weeks, a load of chicken will be sold, you should see the mad dash to the counter when the store opens and the line leads through the whole store. They usually run out within the hour, same with meat and eggs. Milk products are running low too. Every time there is more stuff missing on the shelf. I haven’t seen mayonnaise in the store for a couple of weeks. Every time something else is off the shelf it is replaced what’s left on the shelf. It’s not uncommon now to find a whole row of shelf filled with just mustard and ketchup and Cheez Whiz.

El Presidente didn’t renew the oldest TV station in Venezuela because they are not on his side. There are riots in most of the big cities and I think the rest of the world is informed more about the riots then we are here, because he controls the news media here. Just found out that FOX has good coverage of it and that 80% of Venezuelan’s are upset because this was their favorite channel. We still like Venezuela and feel we are safe here but it eventually will take a toll on the people while they start realizing more and more that El Presidente is not out to help them instead is ruining their freedom and future. Our hearts ache for the people here.

If you like to read more about the demonstrations click on:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,275912,00.html#Questions

PS: El Presidente is blaming the United States for the cause of the riots in his country, he also thinks the CIA is funding it. I think that alot of the people in the world blame the United States for everything even bad weather so it sounds like he's on the bandwagon and trying to make himself look innocent