Preparing to head North

We spent two days at Marina de la Paz preparing the boat for our voyage North in the Sea. We loaded 100 gallons of fresh water in the tanks, filled 40 gallons of jugs with drinking water, filled the diesel tank, filled the gasoline tank, did two loads of laundry took civilized showers and of course, my favorite; re-provisioned.

Walmart again, scores my shopping. It is hard to make a difference choice when I am so confident that here is where my dollars stretch the longest; nowhere else I have found 1 Lt of orange juice for $7.5 pesos (US$0.60) or the 1 Lt Box milk for $10 pesos (US$0.90). It really makes a difference when I have to buy 15 liters of each.

Although, Walmart was a good provisioning source, a trip to the central market is a must for me. I can almost taste a piece of Tuna rolled with cream cheese, cucumbers, calrose rice, seaweed, soya sauce and pickled ginger; SUSHI!! The market sells a kilo of Tuna for $70 pesos. I GOTTA GET IT! Also, I want to buy some fresh tortillas and a few kilos of green, juicy mangoes.

Also, it is always a good idea to carry pesos of which we have NONE, we have none of the other either… well, a little… I have a few travelers checks left that I must change in Scotia Bank, the only bank that cashes them. In order to cash dollars or checks one must present a passport, they make copies and supposedly they handed back to you, but in this case they forgot and so did I. I made it all the way back to the Marina and the port captain had called to notify that my passport was at the bank. SH….! I was parted in between feelings of anger and relief; we are supposed to be leaving now and walking back to the bank would take me more than one hour R/T. On the other hand, I can’t even imagine what would have happened if I was not notified on time? I could have taken a taxi, but I was saved by the good deed of our friends from vessel “Imagine” who have been very generous with their car.

Finally it all seems to be in place, tanks full, cabinets full, fridge and freezer full and the hammocks with fruits and veggies swinging with apples, mangoes, onions, tomatoes, cabbage and more. It is time to say good bye to our friends and to sail away the comfortable, beautiful and fun city of La Paz.