Hanging out in the Venezuela airport

We will be a little out of touch for the next 3 weeks while we are in Peru. Today we are spending 12 hours in the Venezuela airport waiting for our flight to Lima. We left Crossroads this morning at 4.30 and will arrive in Peru at midnight. CRAZY! It is really not a long flight however, there are very few flights from Trinidad to Peru.

Glenn and I ate lunch at a resturant called Memphi's and spent $75,560 Bolivares. Can we say monopoly money or what? We hope to catch everyone up and post lots of photo`s when we return from Peru. I tried to post some of our photos from our recent visit to Tobago but the server was down in Trini.

Michele and Glenn

Bottom Jobs and Fabric shops

The rain went and away and sun came out, ouch! I continued stripping and scrapping the teak and Glenn sanded and painted the bottom of the boat. This was tons of fun for Glenn wearing a bunny suit and a respirator in 100 degrees. I think he drank a gallon of water a day to stay hydrated. We took a break from the projects and went to Port of Spain to go fabric shopping. I have never ever, ever in my whole life seen so much fabric. We bought fabric for two Hawaiian shirts, a sundress and a swimsuit. A couple days later I took all the fabric and examples of what we want to a local seamstress, she will bring our new clothes back in a week. Check out the photo of Jill and Dean in their bunny suits.

Glenn's B-day Party on Dragonfly

We had a party for Glenn’s a birthday party on Dragonfly. We made homemade pizza, and sangria. Check out the costume party with Glenn, Jeff, Una, Dean and Jill. We enjoyed a yummy cake baked by Jill.

Market in Trini

Our first week back in Trini a tropical wave hit Tobago. The results for us were a week of rain. It rained all day every day for 4 days. It is muddy under and around the boat as we are out of the water and in the boat yard. We are living aboard in our “tree house” boat that is ten feet off the ground.

One of the highlights of the week was going to market. Every island that we have been on has a market, but Trinidad has the largest by far. We went on the shuttle with Jesse James and 7 other cruisers. Yes- you heard me, his name is Jesse James. Meeting Jesse is worth the trip to Trinidad. He runs a taxi/ tour shuttle but that only begins a description of Jesse. He is the rescuer for us cruisers. Jesse is one of the most altruistic people I have ever met. The list is endless in the ways he donates his time, talent and taxi for blood drives, his cell phones for the night watch patrols, etc. I really could go on and on about the kindness he demonstrates to the cruising community.

Back to the market, Jesse gives us an hour there. I was overwhelmed with all the fresh produce and fresh fish. I sent Glenn to get the shrimp and tuna. I starting buying produce like crazy, fresh mint and parsley, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, limes, plantains, mango’s, and bok-choy just to name a few. I had no idea what we would cook but we were going to have fun with great fresh produce. Meanwhile our friend Jill was standing in line for our doubles. Doubles are a bit like a small roti. It is small flat bread with a curry chickpea mixture and hot spices, wrapped to make a delicious snack.

Saturday afternoon we spent the day with our friends Steve and Rhonda on V’ger. We first met them in St. Pete. They have been ahead of us most the way down so it is nice to finally be on the same island with them. They are staying at the Trinidad and Tobago Yacht club. TTYC is the yacht club for the local boats and V’ger is about the only cruising boat there. We grilled hamburgers and caught up on our stories from our visits in the states.

Sunday was filled with projects and cooking. I experimented with cooking the fresh shrimp, I sautéed butter and garlic in a saucepan and cooked the shrimp, and they were sooooo sweet and good. We will save the rest of them for our potluck tonight where we will grill the shrimp and tuna. I made a chocolate cake for Glenn’s birthday.