May 4-5, 2011

Wednesday, May 4, 2011:

In my hurry to post an update on the blog, I forgot to say that we had to get gas yesterday too.  We did that first thing.  Have I told you how much gas is here? Well, yesterday morning the pump said it’s $2.73 naf per liter.  At 3.84 liters per gallon, that’s $10.49 naf per gallon, or $5.86 usd (at the current exchange on the internet). When we asked the guy how much gas was today he told us $6 and change.  You never really know how much they charge.  It’s all full serve.  It’s a big monopoly and they are all related – so who’s going to raise a stink? They don’t convert at the pump either.  The guys just pump and guess (probably rounding UP =).  The gas is all paid for in cash too, no check or credit cards. So these big guys are standing out there with a wad of cash in their hand that’s probably 3 inches thick.  It’s like a drive up drug deal! And they never get robbed…hmmmm?!  Today, our little Getz car took $50 to fill it up from ¼ tank.  I guess we contributed to the cartel!

Here’s something weird, I was able to get on my website this morning with no problem.  Interesting that after each time I call and complain, I don’t have a problem! WTH!?

My sinuses have gotten worse.  So bad in fact that my face, neck and even teeth are hurting! Must be all the rain we’ve had.  I was trying to take Sudafed, but it’s not working, so I’m breaking down and taking a Z-Pak.  I hate doing that, but I’m in pain and it’s even difficult to turn my head.  Hopefully it will help! You would think the salt air would keep the sinus infections at bay!

The weather looks relatively decent, so I guess we will try the beach today.  Won’t take long to get ready, everything is still together from yesterday! So we head out to the beach. It was a perfect day really. There weren’t any cruise ships in town, so we parked up close.  Not too many people on the beach.

We saw a group of people swim out to the floating dock.  Looks like there having a contest to see how many people it can hold.  It’s about a 12x12 wooden dock that’s anchored a short ways from the beach.  Lots of people swim out there to sun a little.  Today lots meant about 25!  First they were standing. They had about 15 climb up on the dock and the top was barely above water. Then a small wave came at the same time someone was climbing up the ladder, which caused it to tilt and ultimately spilled everyone into the water!  Ha! You could hear the entire beach laughing!  But that didn’t stop them.  One by one they got back on, this time sitting, encouraging anyone on the beach to join them.  There ended up being about 25 or so people on it, and the dock was at least a foot under the water, but it didn’t break!  Except one board did pop off and they drug it to shore! But it still floats!

Other than that, the ocean was calm, the winds were blowing softly and the sun was out; perfect…that is till about 2pm.  Then it went behind some clouds that were building in the mountains and it got a little cooler.  The locals selling wares on the beach were wearing sweatshirts and jackets.  Darn! We weathered it for a while, but just before our regular time to leave (4pm) we gathered our things and left.

We got back to the apartment and I made spaghetti for Gerald, showered, then I ate too.  We watched American Idol (which makes me crazy) and that’s pretty much it! Tonight there is no breeze.  It’s so bizarre that you can go from gale-force winds howling, to nothing in a day! Weird!

Thursday, May 5, 2011:

Well…apparently they are cleaning up the house behind us.  They were running a power washer early this morning.  Can’t see exactly what they are doing, but they are cleaning out the pool, cleaning the mold and stains from the concrete and chipping up tile from someplace.  We haven’t seen any action since we’ve been here on this house. Wonder if they are getting it ready to sell or rent?   

Looks like it might be a good day to go out to the beach again, so we got our stuff ready and headed out. 

As we were leaving the apartment we got behind some of the little buggies headed out for a tour.

There was a whole slew of them!  Unfortunately a couple of them were going slow…like really slow.  So slow that at one point the guide had one of the slow ones go to the back.  My gawd! These guys were going like 15 mph! and they were all over the road!  This is one reason they shouldn’t be allowed on the main road, or at a minimum  you should be a licensed driver before you are allowed to drive on! They also should have pulled over to let traffic by, because we could never pass them with traffic coming the other way or because of the windy roads! UGH!  It was kind of funny though! They look like they could be fun!

We finally got to the beach! Not many people out there today.  There are 2 cruise ships in, but it’s the off season I guess. 

There was another round of people trying to sink the dock today.  Apparently yesterday was the practice round.  They were yelling from the raft for people to come and help.  There was a large boat out there egging them on too.  They would use their speaker and yell stuff!  The group, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, were calling it “Sink-O de Raft-O” and trying to get more to join them.    Probably had as many people on it as yesterday, maybe more, but it didn’t go down as far in the water as it did yesterday.  I found out they were offering free beer yesterday for anyone who participate.  They should have done that today too!

Clouds developed again over the hills and shaded us from the sun, but it was still nice out, so we stayed till our usual time.  One the way home we stopped at Juicy Burger down the road and got a burger and fries for dinner.  We brought it home to eat.  It was ok, but nothing special.

The guys are still at the house below us running the power washer.  They’ve been here all day.  At 9pm they were still out there - talking on the patio. Hope they don’t get paid by the hour!  They remind me of the painter in St. Croix!