Fixing Things

Fixing things is what we have been doing for the past couple of weeks.  It is a never ending part of living on a cruising sailboat.  Things just break, or wear out, or corrode, or you discover that after three years of use, they were not put together correctly in the first place.  Thank goodness Mike can fix things.

First thing we needed to fix was (again!) the water maker.  The main pump stopped working.  The company we bought it from graciously sent a replacement, which UPS promptly sent flying back and forth between California (where it is built) and Florida (where our shipping agent is located).  It went back and forth three times without being properly delivered.   No one knows why.  The UPS tracking page was cryptic.  Finally, after almost a month in transit, it was delivered.  The odd thing was, there was another package mailed at the same time from the same shipper, that arrived in Miami with no problems.  Anyway, Mike got it installed, so we have a water maker again.  Of course we have not needed it  because it has been raining a lot, so we are drinking rain water.

After that was handled, Mike turned his attention to the fridge, which has a leak somewhere.  He bought all this fairly expensive fridge-fixing equipment, and had at it.  He took out a piece of copper piping, and replaced it.  Sounds easy but it was not - he had to use a braising iron and stuff like that.   It seems to be working fine now but Mike is not satisfied - he wants to tear the whole system out and put it back together in a slightly different way.  Big job - but he wants to do it, so who am I to stop him?

Mike also decided that we needed a new battery bank, so he arranged to have that happen as well.  The plan is for the switch to occur on Wednesday of next week.  Then we should be free to return to the islands for a week or so, and finally on to Costa Rica!  I am looking forward to a change of scene, and we plan to stay at a full service marina, with a pool and all that good stuff.

So we have been busy here, and it has also been raining a lot, so we have not left the boat and done much.  My kindle needs some new books.  I did re-read both "This Side of Paradise" and "The Beautiful and the Damned" both of which I loved of course.  Before that, I read some Booker T. Washington ("Up From Slavery") and then a bunch of silly stuff I got on the kindle for free.   I have some stuff I can re-read, of course, but I need something new.  Time to take it up to the little mini-mart, where if I buy a beer I can use their wireless for free.  The kind we have on the boat works with a stick, which can't be used by the kindle.  It needs what I refer to as "free range wireless."

I love it when it rains, even though it means we are stuck on the boat as who wants to take a dinghy ride through choppy waves and rain.  Not fun.  But I like it.  It sounds nice, and I feel snug and safe within the little wooden cabin.  Especially with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, depending on the time of day.  I like to look across at all the other boats, and see how a curtain of rain blocks my view of the shore.  The birds and hunkered down, but the fish are still jumping and doing what they do.  There is a school of thought that says fishing is best right after a rain.

Anyway, not a really exciting post, I realize.  But things are not always that exciting. I did have to go to the dentist, and I hope things are better, at least it does not hurt now.   My experiences with medicine and dentistry since I have left the US have all been good. 

This is it for today.  Have a great day!

"I read so I can live more than one life in more than one place."  (Anne Tyler)

 

Costs of Things and So On

We are in Panama City, and have been for a couple of weeks now.  In that time, I have visited two doctors and a dentist.  The doctors were seen because my elbow swelled up with a sac of fluid on it, and I went to a GP who referred me to an orthopedist.  The orthopedist told me I could have it drained, but it was likely to go away by itself.  Having no desire to be cut on, and experiencing no pain whatsoever, I elected to wait and see, and lo and behold it IS going away, just like he said it would.  Total cost for both appointments:  $110.00.  Then I got a REALLY  bad toothache and had to see a dentist.  He ended up removing an old filling (probably the oldest one I still have that hasn't turned into a root canal ), got rid of some decay, and refilled the tooth.  He also fixed this denture I have that never fit right.  All of that for a whopping $60.00.  And all three offices were clean, there was no waiting time, and the equipment is exactly the same as that used by my doctors and dentists in the US.  Since I left the US almost three years ago, I have seen doctors in Mexico and dentists in El Salvador, and now both here.  I have had no problems with getting affordable, good care down here. 

Our replacement water pump has traveled many miles to get here.  It was "returned to sender"' no less than two separate times, for reasons only UPS can fathom.  I can't even blame it on international shipping issues, because it never even makes it to the address of our shipper in Miami.  Two packages were originally sent, both to the exact same address.  One made it without a hitch, and the other has been traveling from San Diego to Florida (once making it as far as Fort Lauderdale before it was turned back) since early September.  It finally arrived in Miami, and our shipper has promised to deliver tomorrow.  I sure hope so, but I now have no faith and will not believe it until I see it 

The day before yesterday I finally cooked the jack cravalle the way I learned in El Salvador, from our friend and landlord Santos's mother.  Although I have eaten hers several times and found it delicious, and followed her around like a tail for an entire morning taking notes on the process, I had not yet made it myself.  I was worried I would not be able to turn that awful tasting fish into something good.  Well, the recipe is accurate and the dish was delicious.  Absolutely delicious.  I am going to make empanadas out of it, and those will  be to die for. 

We have to eat up as much of our frozen food as we can, because Mike needs to fix the fridge.   He spent a small fortune and bought some equipment just for that purpose.  It is the sort of thing we may \not need to use often, but if he can fix the fridge ourselves, it makes us that much more self sufficient.  Besides, it is hard to find someone to work on these boat fridges, and when you  do find someone, it is very expensive.  And other people need help periodically, and Mike could pick up some extra change if he wanted to.  But I know him and he would fix stuff for free.  He has already determined the fridge has a leak, and knows approximately where it is,  and I believe he will fix it.  Once that is done, and the water maker is  back up to snuff, we will go  back to the islands and then off to Costa Rica.  Or at least that is the plan so far. 

Otherwise, we have been simply getting things done, visiting medical personnel, and just kind of winding up our stay here in Panama.  I am looking forward to seeing a new place, but I really like it here and feel like I could stay here happily.  So who knows?  No pressure, no schedule. 

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."  (Eleanor Roosevelt)