Instead of ham - our choices are camarones, carrucho, almaja (shrimp/conch/clams) being sold roadside in little kiosks. The kiosks all smell so great with cooked skewers of fish or chicken and other booths with piles and piles of clams and mussels that people buy individually and eat right there (raw) with some hot sauce or key limes.
On Saturday morning, we moved Astarte a little closer to shore so the row in woudn't be quite as torturous. Michael was a bit sore from all the rowing lately - but he's willing to take on anyone in an arm wrestling competition. After moving the big boat, Michael rowed us in and we roamed around downtown Boqueron amongst thousands of "spandexed", swimsuited, sunburnt folks here for the holiday weekend(lots of fashion don'ts). We walked around and across the Marina Boqueron bridge which is a footbridge
that is mechanically pulled up when boats need to get out. We crossed the bridge and on our way back - got stopped for an opening. But it took forever and in the hot sun, the crowd started to get a bit feisty. Though all in good fun, they started yelling at the bridge tenders and getting some loud whistling and shouting going. It took a good 15 minutes before the boats went through and just when they started to close the bridge to the cheers of the growing crowd waiting to cross, another couple
of boats decided to leave. It was a very humorous scene.
We found a bar with free internet so decided to stop there for lunch. Michael had the special of the day which was a steal - baked chicken (large piece/mashed potatoes/vegetables) for $4.95. Plus beer was only 25 cents more than a diet coke. You gotta love this place! We got on line and called our parents and Derek (Happy Birthday again) and checked e-mails. Then we got three more jerry jugs of diesel and hiked them back to the dinghy. Again, Michael got us back under rowing power and under
the careful eye of the "policia" boat. It was good to have them handy as it slowed the speeding jet skis, banana boat rides and small power boats that were everywhere buzzing about the anchorage.
Back on board we decided to move Astarte away from shore a little bit and away from the jet ski traffic. We thought it also might help with the noise from shore tonight. But it seems that neither is happening - three venues have bands playing on outside stages and they are competing for loudest. The boats continue after dark - going really fast through the anchorage. It's always amazing there aren't more collisions.
But it is a holiday weekend and we're actually enjoying the festivities both onshore and from the anchorage. The sights, sounds, smells make us realize we are in a foreign country (though a US territory). We just wished we studied our Spanish more.as it would be even more fun to be able to understand and speak with the locals more easily.
On Sunday, we'll leave and head out in the afternoon to stage for an overnight trip to Ponce. It is best to travel the south coast of Puerto Rico at night to avoid the heavy trade winds that occur during the day. The trades move around 10 pm and the light winds last through daybreak. (For Ms. Giffords class: look up katabatic wind effect.) The cool mountain air rolls down the southern shore of the island and pushes the trades farther out to sea. So if we stay close to shore and travel at night,
we aren't supposed to be bashing into the head winds and seas. Ponce is about 50 miles away and we'll stage from the Cabo Rojo light where we'll head in the afternoon.
Happy Easter and don't eat the bunny ears first!
No comments:
Post a Comment