After several weeks of contacting Dell about a problem with our laptop, under warranty, we finally got a visit from a Dell technician. He came to the dock where we go ashore and worked on the computer at a table outside - with several curious onlookers. He was quick, efficient, and now we have a new LCD screen in our laptop! He also noticed that the LCD casing was cracked and ordered a new part for us. Language was a bit of a problem, as he had no English, but our rudimentary Spanish held up for the operation.

Last Friday, Nov. 28th, we took a trip up to the University here (la Universidad de Oriente), which is a short bus trip away from the city. It's a beautiful campus, set in the hills. We ended up coming back on the University bus after dark, so it was a rare time off the boat in the evening. We chanced upon the cathedral downtown during Friday evening communion mass. Families, dogs, children - it was a big celebration, including a parade through downtown with robed church officials, censers, chanting, singing, and a statue of a bishop or a saint, into the streets surrounding the main downtown square. They went right past fruit vendors and the general hubbub of Friday evening revelry downtown.

One of the most unpleasant aspects to Venezuela so far has been the piles of trash. It is everywhere - in the parks, on the streets, in the curbs, all over. Lots of signs saying not to throw the trash and to keep everything clean, put litter in trash bins, but to no avail. The mentality seems to be to throw things wherever you happen to be. A cleanup operation would be a massive undertaking.
Here also is the zapateria (shoe repair shop) downtown that fixed my Keen sandals, which are punished by long hikes everywhere we go.

We have been keeping ourselves busy here in Isla Margarita, mostly going to different doctors, trying to figure out the bus system here to get around, and just doing general boat main- tenance. We took another trip up to La Asuncion, this time on the bus, with Wayne and Debbie on Sunshine. We saw the government buildings in the state capitol, and found the governor's residence, which has a very pleasant inner garden.
There is a fort up the hill from La Asuncion, well worth the walk up for the views afforded there.

We also have tried to see the Art Museum in Porlamar - which is closed every time we go. Outside the museum are several sculptures - one is pictured here. Maybe it really will be open next week and we can look inside.

We did take a couple of trips around the island, one by bus, and one with local friends on the island. We saw La Ascension, the capital city of Isla Margarita. It is inland from the coast, and a sleepy town with not many tourists this time of year. It has a lovely cathedral which must be hundreds of years old, with many statues and tableaux of the Passion of Christ.






The local buses are fun to ride; it has taken us quite a while to figure out routes and where to pick them up. The fleet is ancient, along with many of the cars and other vehicles on the island. Here is one bus. The buses are cheap, only one bolivar for fare around Porlamar (about 25 cents U.S.), so we can take a bus just to see where it goes and have an adventure.

Getting Out the Vote, from Venezuela
Normally I’m not a politically active animal. Aside from voting in national elections or joining an occasional local cause, I keep a distance from the political process. Maybe this is my response to the sad spectacle of progressively atavistic and loutish administrations from Nixon through Reagan to the Bush coterie. Democrats have not been wonderful either, but at least they haven’t tried to tear down the house. Or it’s possible that my slow turning from 1960s enthusiast to imminent retiree has made me more worldly skeptical than wise.

But this election year is palpably different. The McCain-Palin ticket exceeds by half the Atwater-inspired gusto for fabricating dirt, bullying and trading truth for power. These two desperate figures have made for me an unbeatable case for giving participatory democracy an extra push. And what better place to become politically active than in a land where a strangely popular leader has remade government in his own ideological image. That’s right, I’m busy here in Venezuela.

Having literally sailed across the Caribbean into this Latin petro-state for a two month visit, I decided to do more than watch the American elections from afar. It was time to unlimber the laptop-Skype package and contact the Obama campaign to help persuade swing state voters to make a sane presidential choice. This means dialing to help my state of residence, Florida.

My first surprise was how easy the Obama organization had made joining online. Political campaigns, like retail stores, are naturally geared to accept monetary offerings, but are not always well disposed towards maverick volunteers. Yet in short order I registered and was provided a call list with names and numbers from Boca Raton to Ft. Lauderdale.
Now I was ready to help redeem the sunshine state’s seamy reputation for shady election results. But as anyone who has worked for a candidate knows, noble expectations seldom match the real results.

Back in Venezuela a national election is also scheduled later in November. It will be another referendum on the policies of Hugo Chavez and his efforts to radically reshape the country’s political landscape. Since Chavez came to power ten years ago through an old-fashioned Latin American coup, he has been eager to present his regime as being popular with citizens and more legitimately established through elections.

In fact, El Presidente does seem to enjoy the support of about 40% of Venezuelans—most, though not all of them low income. He achieves this in no small part by spending about half of the country’s oil-derived budget on social programs and subsidies for the poor. Gasoline here costs $0.10/gallon at the pump. His largesse for the masses, together with self-proclaimed leadership for other Latin countries and a vigorous anti-U.S. stance, are the lynchpins of his”Bolivarian revolution”. But Señor Chavez has not yet succeeded in being better at uniting than at dividing.

Meanwhile Florida residents are not exactly leaping on the Obama bandwagon as a result of my long distance canvassing. The majority of voters I call are either not home or have incorrect numbers. How many cellphones vs. landlines I call is unknown. Of the rest, some already support the candidate and politely tolerate a reminder to vote. A few remain undecided while some are so strongly opposed to the Democratic ticket that conversation is barely possible. Hangups happen. One woman who oozed hostility warned me that if Obama is elected president we are all “done for.”

A recent article, The Irrational Electorate, by Larry Bartels,
(The Irrational Electorate) about voter behavior confirms what a lot of research by political scientists has shown: that most people think we are being objective and thoughtful when we choose who to vote for. Instead we tend to make voting decisions based not on facts and careful comparisons but on wishful expectations and ignorance. (Not you and I of course.)

If U.S. politics is colorful and lively now, the polarized Venezuelan situation may be reaching combustion point. Public dialogue is punctuated with reports of assassination plots. Recently the offices of a leading newspaper were attacked after the paper’s editor made a very provocative statement about Chavez on a national TV interview program. Nothing too inflammatory, just that the President should be careful not to become too great a tyrant or he may end up hanging dead upside down like Mussolini at the hands of a mob. Chavez in turn has threatened to jail his main presidential election opponent and calls him a crime boss and a swine.

Opinions here often divide between those, on one hand, who see Chavez dismantling democratic institutions and leading the country down a socialist road to ruin. Supporters, unsurprisingly, believe that a new day has dawned for Latin America, with a foundation in social justice and overdue pride in the non-U.S./European heritage of the hemisphere. Mass rallies of Chavez’s red-shirted supporters proclaim vague slogans: We are the future of the people.

To wrap up my brief volunteer stint, I click and save, thereby reporting the results of my hopeful calls to Florida Obama HQ. For some reason, this part of their otherwise efficient online system does not quite work as advertised. I receive repeated automated reminder messages from my field coordinator to report all call results. I did that, many times. Or else I am a most un-savvy internet activist, which is likely.

It’s time now to dinghy ashore for good café with Venezuelan friends from across the political spectrum who are gracious and amable. The people here have a talent for open conversation about the world, life or just juicy gossip that leaves politics aside. Sometimes that’s where it belongs.
-Larry

Here in Porlamar, Isla Margarita, we have been exploring the city and taking advantage of the opportunities available here. We found a great watch place amongst the jumble of shops downtown and took all our watches in for new batteries and bands where needed. There are also very inexpensive clothing and shoe shops here.
The diesel man visited us at the boat one morning and filled our jerry jugs with diesel, delivered to us at anchor. He has a manual pump and comes right on board to get everything flowing right. We have full jugs and tank now, and it only cost 50 cents U.S. per gallon. We also took our jerry jug for gasoline in to a service station ourselves, and filled it for about 9 cents a gallon for gasoline. That's right, 9 cents! If you're back in the States you probably can't believe that.
We also started our medical and dental treatments here. Both of us have fillings that have fallen out; Larry's filling, done in St. Martin, fell out a month after it was put in, so he's been waiting for some time. Debby also got three fillings. The dentist was professional, using the latest 3M dental fillings. Total cost, for three small fillings, two large fillings, and two cleanings, was $200 U.S., or about one-fourth the price we'd pay in the U.S.

On Tuesday evening, September 16, after almost three months in Grenada, we finally set sail for Venezuela. After a lovely overnight sail, we came to Los Testigos, and spent three days there. It is a lovely, isolated spot, with great swimming and snorkeling. We took the opportunity with the dinghy on deck to finally clean all the barnacles off the bottom and wax it. The poor dinghy never gets any attention, and we use it as our "vehicle" every day while at anchor.
Then, we sailed into Isla Margarita, the port of Porlamar, on Sunday, September 20. We knew it would be quite a different experience from our first view of the harbor - it is a big city, with skyscrapers and over a hundred boats at anchor. We've been spending our time getting adjusted to the island and the country - brushing up on our Spanish, figuring out how to change money and get groceries. We'll be writing more on Venezuela and our experiences here in future blogs.

On Saturday, September 13, Aubrey on s/v Veleda organized an outing for the children at the reading program we've been working with in Grenada. It was a great day, with lovely weather, and the kids and adults all had a good time. Four boats, including the Debonair, took kids out for a short sail. Then we re-anchored and had a picnic on shore at the local beach park. The kids especially were excited and loved it. For us, it was a good time to get the boat out, raise the sails, and check everything out.

We have been spending our Saturday mornings helping local school children in Grenada in a reading program. A number of other cruisers have gotten involved too, and everyone is having a good time with the kids. It is an existing program organized by Mrs. Jeanne Pascal on the island. We are helping the kids with math and science as well as reading. Kathy from Idyll Island, Kevin from Exodus, Pam and Chris from Wildcat, and Aubrey from Veleda IV made the bus trip up last Saturday to Mount Airy just east of St. George's.

And we are having a good time on the boat too - Margaret and Brian from Gipsy Days, who have sailed to Grenada from their home in Melbourne, Australia, joined us for "nibbles" in our cockpit the other evening.

Another waterfall expedition in Grenada. This one we reached by public bus and hiked in, along muddy trails up and down into the rainforest. This waterfall site is called the Seven Falls, just about smack-dab in the middle of the island. We only went to the first two falls; to see the other five required more hiking and then jumping (!) down each of the falls to get back. We did have a refreshing swim below the falls.

It's Carnival time in Grenada. We attended the steel pan orchestra competition at the National Stadium in St. George's on Saturday night with several busloads of cruisers. It was fun, but a lot of time was spent in set up and tear down of the seven bands. To see these orchestras perform was great - 70 to 100 musicians, with music you won't hear anywhere else. It is reminiscent of calliope music. Steel pans originated in Trinidad, just to the south of us, with musicians making instruments out of discarded fuel drums.
The big costume parade was on Tuesday - with some great costumes, including stilts. One of the steel pans had live music in the parade also.

We visited Father Mallaghan's Home for Boys - an old- fashioned orphanage for boys, ages 8 to 18, with some US Peace Corps volunteers. We had a great day with the Peace Corps, especially Matthew, and the boys were a delight too. We helped them string beads for the afternoon's activity. This home is up in the northwestern corner of Grenada, in a town called Victoria, a bus trip up the coast. Trying to organize volunteer opportunites for cruisers has been a long process, since nothing is in place for volunteering on the island. We've visited two orphanages, the second being Bel Air home for infants and girls, much closer to where we are staying in Prickly Bay. We also met with a social worker in the Ministry for Social Development, which has its hands full with housing, poverty, and all human services on the island. The Ministry is enthusiastic but we still need to work out useful activities, transportation, materials, etc.
Here is Debby in a familiar pose - using the computer with Skype to talk to her mom back in Minnesota.

We are still in Grenada, and just can't seem to tear ourselves away from it. So far it's our favorite island in the eastern Caribbean. Larry has been coordinating volunteer opportunities on the island, trying to find out what agencies or places would need help that other cruisers can offer, and working with the government and non-governmental groups. With no coordination in place, it has been a slow process. We've been visiting orphanages and the Ministry of Social Development, and will meet with the local Lions Club next week.
Carnival is also being celebrated in Grenada this week, and we will be attending a steel-pan orchestra competition at the big new National Stadium in St. George's this evening.

We visited St. George's, the capital of Grenada, again last week and climbed to the top of Fort George. A beautiful view of the bay and city unfolds from there. We also saw the basketball court at the fort where the prime minister of Grenada, Maurice Bishop, was executed in 1983, during events leading up to the U.S. invasion.
Later, we took a bus tour of the island with other cruisers, from Cuddy's Taxi and Tours. We had a great time, even with the cloudy skies all day. We had several nature lessons, where Cuddy stopped to find samples of different herbs by the roadside (mace, nutmeg, allspice, lemongrass, saffron) for us to sample in their natural state. We toured a cocoa factory and a rum factory, and saw Annandale Falls.



The rum factory can only be described as Dickensian - it is still operating using 18th/19th century tools, cauldrons, a water wheel, vats, and wood-fired furnace. After seeing the vats of rum bubbling in open vats, even the most devoted rum drinkers in our group had second thoughts about drinking what came from these vats, with bats flying around, and flies everywhere.

At Annandale Falls, we met young men who leaped down into the pool for us to photograph them (and then asked for donations, natch). It appeared that this was their job.

On Friday, July 11, we took a bus from Prickly Bay up to the capital city, St. George's in Grenada, a short trip. It's a lovely Caribbean capital city, with lots to see. We will need another trip to see it all. It's got the ubiquitous fort overlooking the bay, a museum, and each street has many things to see. In the first photo, of the Carenage in St. George's harbor, you can see the cathedral with no roof on the skyline, we think from hurricane damage. You can also see hurricane damage in the roof of this old Parliament building (no longer used). They have done a remarkable job of restoration after the damage done during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, but you can still see many roofs blown off, especially on the historic buildings.
The streets of St. George's are steep - many do not have motorized traffic, only steps, and many others rival San Francisco in their climb. The views from the top are wonderful, though.

While in Carriacou, which is an island in the far southern Grenadines and actually a part of Grenada, Deb got the sewing machine out again and finished the lee cloths for the cockpit and some other repairs. Carriacou is about the sleepiest little island we have been to, not much going on there, but we could go running in Tyrrel Bay and swim around the boat.
From Carriacou we sailed south to Prickly Bay, Grenada, and we really like it here. It's a great cruiser community with a VHF net every morning, and several protected bays on the south coast. We'll stay here and take some buses around the island for a few weeks and then move on to Venezuela.

While in St. Lucia, we took a bus up to the Sulphur Springs and saw the active steam vents and bubbling cauldrons. We also soaked in the sulphur springs pool, very warm waters that we eased into. It is supposed to be good for the skin.
We sailed south and bypassed the island of St. Vincent, with all the reports about boat boardings and some violence in Chateaubelair in the last year. We sailed into Bequia, in the Grenadines. We stayed there a little over a week, until the wind came down a bit.