My computer is my only problem these days, and as much time as I spend on the computer, it is quite frustrating.  It is running very slow, crashes often, and about to get the best of me.  

We are talking about taking Valentina into Cartagena to take both laptops to a computer guy {scary}, take our Icom 802 SSB to an electronics guy to help us diagnose the issues, and do some medical check-ups.

After we passed the two buoys into the narrow entrance of Boca Grande, we had two dolphin welcoming us to the Bay by turning flips into the air.  They were not very close, but the pictures turned out good.  It was pretty exciting.

Check out these dolphins jumping

We stayed on Valentina this evening, as the holding in the anchorage is not good, and we wanted to make sure we are staying put.

We left early this morning around 6:30 a.m.   We took our dinghy to the dock, then walked a couple of blocks to catch a bus to Boca Grande to the lab.  We are checking Sonny's cholesterol and some other routine checks.  It is just pretty amazing......here, you do your blood work in the morning and pick up your results in the afternoon.  How quick is that?

We walked from the lab to Centro, which is a couple of miles and took our big laptop to Felix to see if he could repair it.   He ran a lot of tests and finally, three hours later had it running good.   He added some memory to the ram and cleaned the hard drive, and added some programs.   We told him we had another laptop we wanted him to look at, and so we walked to Valentina (another mile or two) and got our little laptop and returned.

One of the issues with our big computer was the backspace key had broken off, so they took pieces from another old keyboard and repaired ours for five dollars.

They also got our little laptop working.....total charge for big laptop, little laptop and repairing the four keys on the keyboard......$55.

We celebrated by getting a small carton of ice cream at the grocery store and devouring the ice cream on Valentina.  How we miss ice cream....

Then, we went back to the dinghy to get the numbers off the filters and walked to Pedro Herrera to get new dinghy and engine replacement filters.

As we walked back to the dinghy, we saw Pedro, an old friend that worked on Valentina before.  We was wanting work, so we asked him if he would be interested in gel coating our potty seat for us.   Of course, he would....it is work which is hard to come by these days.     I know what you are thinking, "Why not just buy a new toilet seat?"   Well, ours is not the normal size and unable to purchase here, so we are having it repainted for $30.

Time for our doctor appointment.....another bus ride,  then a taxi.  Then, back to Valentina after another busy day in Cartagena.

Sonny felt good afterwards, so we casually walked to get his prescriptions, which was several miles away.

When we returned to Valentina, it started raining.   We were glad we were on board, because our anchor drug a little.   We then changed anchorages and moved into more shallow water.   We were in 50' of water with very poor holding. 

We walked a couple of miles this morning to the grocery store, shopped until we dropped, then caught a taxi back to Valentina.

Now the fun begins.....putting everything away.   Since on Valentina, we have so many storage places under and around the cushions, floorboards, etc. I keep a list of where everything is stowed.  So, putting up groceries takes a little longer.  But it sure is nice to be able to find something when you need it.

We walked around today trying to find an internet modem for one of our friends in Cholon.  Finally, after the sixth location, we found one.  Cruisers are a close group and help each other whenever possible.

We went to Old Town and casually walked around the narrow, cobblestone streets and sat in the park watching people.

I found some material at a local store that I plan to make a new Colombia flag for Valentina.  The material cost around six dollars (US) and I can make three flags.  A good deal.

Another afternoon of just returning to Valentina before the clouds rolled in.

Then it was an afternoon and evening in the cockpit.  

Cartagena is so fun to watch the city surrounding you.  On one side, you have the skyscrapers of Boca Grande, the military base with all of the huge ships, submarines, and activities, then the Old City with the beautiful architech lit up so beautifully, the anchorage full of sailboats and the loading and unloading dock for the container ships.   It makes it very difficult to concentrate on our rummy game when there is so much to watch.

Club Nautico is still under construction.   It was supposed to be completed by Christmas of last year, but many political issues and problems have led to tearing down the new construction that was underway, and now beginning again.  A real mess.

We walked to Home Center for two more buckets that we use for everything.  While we were at Home Center, almost right next door is a McDonalds.   So, we decided to go for a quarter pounder and biggie size the fries.  It was so much food, we could not eat it all.   But we sure tried, it has been so long for a McDonalds....cannot even remember.

We walked back to the anchorage and played rummy cube with Windancer on their boat this afternoon. 

We walked a couple of miles to Old Town and met Lenny and Sue at a restaurant and enjoyed lunch together.

Sonny had a 2 p.m. doctor appointment in Boca Grande, so we hopped on a bus this time.  Had a good report from the doctor, so we are home free.    Free to go to Cholon that is.  So, we jumped into gear and bought some last minute fruit and veggies at the basurta and plan to head out in the morning.

This young man is hauling tires with his horse and cart. Oops....he could not hold on to them and they fell off in the street.

The basurta is a very hard place to describe.  It is the local fruit and vegetable market, but not where you want to hang out.  You can buy just about anything there though, at a very good price.

We got 6 nice papayas last week for 5 ml (around $2.50 US).  A very good price, and we try to eat papaya every day that we can.  They are very good for you, especially your digestion.

We love Cartagena and enjoy it so much, but are always ready to get Valentina (and us) back to clean water.

Finally, pull up the anchor......and head to the Bay of Cholon.   We arrived at 2 p.m. and surprised our friends on Bruadair and Hello World.   We are so thankful to be back.

Sonny was anxious to jump in the water to see the damage to our bottom from Cartagena.  We spent 9 days there and came out with little barnacles all over.  So, guess what he is doing today as I made crab bisque.

We ate the crab bisque for lunch and it was.....more than delicious.  I have to share the recipe with you.

There's no place like home......and a good night's sleep.

When we left Cartagena to come to Cholon, we probably only had a few gallons in our tank, so we are anxious to see rain headed our way.

Well, rain it did........it poured for hours.   Our tank was full and overflowing.   We started filling every bucket we could find.

By 7 a.m. we were playing Baha Rummy in the cockpit watching the rain.   Then, by 10 a.m. we were back in bed taking a nap.   We got up way too early.

Today while preparing our lunch, I opened the oven to put the vegetable casserole in....and, I found one of our pet geckos.....after I lit the pilot light.   Yikes!  He was just sitting on the rack.   So, I called in the troops.   Sonny came to rescue the hot gecko and chased him out of the oven.  Not a good place for him to hang out.

Dr. Gilberto and Martha came down this evening, so we went over to visit with them for a while. 

A good day for playing games in the cockpit and watching the rain.

Robert and Carmen are away on vacation in the States and we all miss them a lot. 

It is Wednesday evening and time for most of the cruisers in the anchorage to get together for happy hour on Robert's shrimp boat to sit around and tell wild sea stories, share books to read, and compare boat problems and boat projects.

Tonight, we were invited to Lenny and Sue's (S/V Windancer) for a potluck dinner, so we took pecan pies.

Washing Day.....again.   We washed clothes, pillows, comforter and sheets, just to hang out on Valentina when it started sprinkling.   It continued to rain, so we just left the clothes hanging out.   I couldn't do anything else with them, so they did get a freshwater rinse for sure. 

We went up to Robert's to check on his house for him while he is gone.   He has someone staying there for security, but we miss the beautiful view when we have not been up in a week or two.

Sonny got on the VHF and asked if any of the cruisers wanted to dinghy (four miles) to Baru to eat lunch.  Lenny and Sue did, also Billy (AnnVeraLynn) and Russell and Laura (Letourneau).  So off we went.

I love going to Baru with my camera.   I always see very neat and interesting things.  

It is such a small, poor village, but the people are so friendly and happy and the kids love to have their picture made.  We enjoy going.

But, my favorite is.....the kids.

We sent Icom another email and they responded for us to ship our SSB radio back to them when we return to the States for our next visit.  So, that is good news.   We dearly miss our SSB radio.

Cruising is so fun and exciting.   Without our SSB radio, we were not aware that our friends Bill and Pam (S/V Songbird) were on their way here from San Blas.   So, we saw them coming in the anchorage and it was such a pleasant surprise.  Wilde Matilde (Les and Sara) were traveling with them.   Old friends and new friends.

We dropped the dinghy and ran over to greet them.  We quickly planned a music night on Manatee for Saturday.  Bill plays the guitar and Pam sings like a 'songbird' and Sonny on the harmonicas.  We are sure looking forward to it.

Another wonderful evening on the Manatee.   Billy and Jana (S/V AnnVeraLynn) were there, along with about 25 other cruisers.

Sonny cleaned on the bottom this morning and I spent the day in the galley.  I made a pot of soup, a 1-1-1-1 Mock quiche, peeled papaya, made panella, and more.

We are trying to be good locals by eating the kind of foods the locals eat.  Things like panela, oyami, pomela, yucca, guayaba, anons, and, of course our favorites....papaya and mangoes.  Most of them are actually very good and very healthy for you.

Panela - block that looks like brown sugar.  You melt it in water and make a drink, similar to tea.  Just add lime.

Oyami - big, ugly, dirty looking squash thing.  You boil it in soup and it is good.

Pomela - a big citrus fruit similar to grapefruit.  Peel and eat.

Yuca - similar to oyami, but long and thin.  Peel, boil and eat, similar to a potato.

Guayaba - round fruit, green on the outside, with a pink flesh on the inside with lots of hard black little seeds.  You cut it and put it in a blender, strain and drink the juice.

Anons - looks somewhat like an artichoke but sweet.  White pods inside with black seeds.  Very sweet and tasty.

Enjoy and have another good year!

Sonny was in the water cleaning the bottom and prop when he called up to me to get his spear gun.  So, I did.   He had a snapper that was hanging around....just a bit too long.   So, we had fresh snapper for lunch.

Time for a Texas Sheet Cake! 

 It is pot-luck on Manatee tonight with live music from Bill and Pam on S/V Songbird and Sonny.   Songbird is named that....for a reason.   He is an exceptional guitar player and Pam is a melodic songbird that gives you goose bumps when she sings.

A very good evening with cruisers enjoyed delicious food and great music. 

Our friends, Lenny and Sue, on S/V Windancer have a weather window to head to San Blas tomorrow.  They called on the radio and asked if we wanted to make a trip to Baru for lunch for their last day.  Of course, a meal cooked by someone else always sounds good, for $3.50.

So, we invited others in the anchorage to go with us.  We had 13 people make the 4 mile trip in our dinghies for lunch together.

After Lenny and Sue prepared Windancer for the trip, we got together to play one last hand of Baha Rummy.

It is Saturday night in the Bay of Cholon, so that means, everyone get together on Manatee.  We had a smaller group, as several have taken their boats into Cartagena.   We stayed until the topic turned to politics, then we excused ourselves and headed to Valentina rather than listen to a heated discussion.

The sunset was again.....beautiful.

Well, just like in your home, we have to cook meals, clean house, fix broken appliances, and....wash clothes.  Only on a boat, it does take more time to do each task.  Our washing machine consists of a 5 gallon bucket, a plunger, and a line strung up around our rigging for a dryer.....and pray for no rain for a few hours.

It does take more time, but, that is just what we have.    Today was laundry day on Valentina.