SailingKnitter

Now finished...another little pair of socks for soon-to-arrive baby Ella Grace. The self-striping yarn really did all the work on these. I just twiddled some toothpick sized needles around the yarn and this is the result.

My stupid computer would simply not connect to the internet using the TIGO dial-up USB port modem. Using this telephone company is how we get internet out here in the anchorage - and also in Guatemala (but that takes a different SIM chip). We load money onto these "sticks" using a telephone number and then buy chunks of computer time (day week, month). Anyway, it's all very confusing and was a no go.

Hibiscus

So Jonesy and I dinghy'd into the village of West End and rode the packed public transportation "collectivo" van into Coxen Hole. The first place we went was out of business. I was hungry so I forced Jonesy to take me to what looked to be a very popular local food joint. The menu was limited and verbal in Spanish - fried chicken, fried pork or pork patis. Well, I can't eat wheat which is probably what is coating anything fried so I opted for the last choice given whatever it was. The plates came. Lovely red beans and rice and a nice green salad. But what in the world was the mass of bones and connective tissue in the yellow sauce? No meat to be found! Jonesy guessed it was pig's feet. Yep, we looked it up later - pig's feet.

We walked about a mile to the next computer/phone business to see if they could get my internet working. The lady there tried for about an hour but no luck but we did enjoy watching and listening to the stream of people coming in to buy phone time. Next, we walked to where a different public transportation company had vans to take us out to French Harbor - another half hour of travel (the van only travels at about 20mph!). There we went into the main TIGO customer service office and a talented young man diagnosed the problem, uploaded a different driver, so voila! it works. No charge? You've got to be kidding. A generous gratuity was accepted.

We got back to our boat just in time to dinghy over to the sailing catamaran Sunbow for dinner and drinks with a gang of other cruisers. I celebrated having access to the cyber-world again and being able to watch the sun set over the sea. It just doesn't get much better than this.