Remember the perfect translation for mañana = “just now”? We find it to be true. The carpenter was supposed to show up on Friday morning at 8 and he knew we had a Taxi appointment at 9.30, which luckily we had canceled as he never showed up. So we figured he would be here on Monday, wellllll! A little complaining later he showed up the following day. Since we don’t have a phone we take messages through the hotel desk and they deliver the message “just now” too, anywhere from 3 hours up to three days later. So we bought a phone card and tried to make some local calls but the friendly automated phone voice tells us that we cannot make locals calls just International calls, well we want to make a local call and the card we bought says for local calls, go figure, so we’re still without any way to contact people.
Last Saturday we did another Hash, this time we met everybody at “Squeeze” a bar and hash headquarter. It was actually funny we didn’t know where it really was just new the Maxi Taxi (small van used as local bus) was going that direction. The driver let us off and said follow the road up to the next main street. We arrived and knew that Squeeze was a yellow painted building and right next to Dominos’ Pizza. At the first main road we tried to find a street sign, but none was there, so I asked the person that was sweeping the sidewalk, she laughed and pointed behind me and said “right here”, and sure enough there it was. Well, we didn’t even see it and stood right in front of it, but they just painted the building orange. 
One hasher after another arrived 
and all squeezed into an old very beat up bus and started the 2 hours drive to the hash site. Well the 2 hours turned into 3 ½, the bus did only a max speed of 45 km/h, but we had a good time as ice cold beer was passed around. Yep I think these are runners with a drinking problem and we had a blast. The owner of Fortress, the carpenter we’re using, was on the hash, he had many phone calls and was obviously frustrated and told me that he hates the “Just now” thing, his mechanic is telling him since two weeks he would show up and that I will get to experience the “just now” too to which I replied I did already with your employee! The run was really kewl it was in the Palo Seco area on the southern 
First at arrival many indigenous looking people all covered in mud came towards us, it was weird, not much later we arrived at the mud pools.
It is actually a mud volcano and you can see the mud bubble out of the ground. The run through the woods was really awesome and of course it started to rain. We went up and down heavily wooded hills over roots, vines and dangerous trees with thorns all over them and finally heard waves crashing ashore in the distance. I think I deserve the name TP (toilette paper) for wiping up the rear as I’m always the last one in the bunch. I don’t run so I stuck with the guy with the machete who is making sure nobody gets lost and gets back safe to the finish line. Well at one point it was just him and I, he said “stay hea, no need to go furder”. I have such a hard time understanding the Trini accent so I kept going. He said again “stay hea, no need to go furdar, they ahll com back” and sure enough 5 minutes later all 80 or so came back as they had taken the wrong way. I think Sid was surprised to see me in front of him as he is always in the pack of the leaders. It pays to be TP, besides there is a short cut for the last runners or walkers like me and I take full advantage of it. Then the trail brought us to the beach, oh wow, was that beautiful and since it was high tide we had to walk through the surf. The surf was high with high rollers crashing onto the pristine shore splashing us with refreshing foamy water.
Then we climbed a steep mud volcano that drains all the way to the water. On top I was amazed to find just a little cone were only a little mud trickled out.
I took the short cut back and found a wild orange tree, picked a couple and also a banana tree 
and took the purple flower that hangs below the bananas, what a treat, well the oranges turned out to be very, very sour so I use them as lemons. Then of course at the finish line ice cold beer was waiting for us and we partied a couple of hours under the canopy of the jungle with a clear starry sky above and lightning bugs flying around us. They even thought of food as a local sold Pillow a traditional Trini rice dish, yummy. On the drive back we stopped at a bar and had more fun oh yes drinks too, yep definitely runners with a drinking problem. We didn’t get home until
In the mean time the carpenter came and it took him two days to make the templates for the cabin sole (floor) and galley (kitchen) counter, you should have seen the boat it was all upside down as we had to move the table and water maker out of his way. The carpenter now is making the floor according to his templates, the counter template is being sent to the company to be molded to the shape of the template. He told us that he can finish both within three week. Well, we’re holding our breath with the “just now” in mind.
The new autopilot arrived and Sid is busy hooking it up which is more work then he thought as none of the old cables match so he has to crawl through tight spaces to feed the new cables through the bilge into the boat. He also is going to build a new box for the control head. It doesn’t fit where the old one did, but it will be even better as we will be able to see it better. We also ordered a freezer which will fit into the box in the cockpit, for that we have to raise the
While in
Shawn and his wife Debbie the owner of our sister ship “Catbird” came to look at 
They were very impressed at what we’ve done to her. He was especially interested in the dodger and she was just speechless as she came down below and saw all the cabinets. The boat came without cabinets in galley or salon and so Sid built the
m himself. Poor Shawn has a huge boat list now. They were just going to stay for one hour; 6 hours, appetizers, dinner, 4 bottles of wine, and who knows how much RUM later, they left at
We didn’t get home till after 
Midmorning we met them already again on their boat Catbird. It’s nice to sit on a boat that looks the same us ours. The boys were very busy installing speakers, fixing the compass and adding insulation around the engine. Catbird needs a lot of work and Shawn will be busy for a long time to come. So we’ve been well introduced into the liming thing and we’re just glad that they have to work during the week so that we can recuperate.
It still rained for most of the day and some heavy squalls brought uncomfortable waves into the marina. You should see the hills here though, through all the rain the Pui trees are starting to bloom and the jungle is turning into a bright yellow, just absolutely beautiful.
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