Provisioning……And Waiting…..

Ceiling panel down…wires…aarrgg!

Well, I knew things were going way too well…..It’s just not normal for things to be so easy!   So, it wasn’t too surprising (but, yes…very disappointing…I could get used to easy!) when we hit a glitch.  John reactivated our satellite phone on Tuesday, except that it took until Tuesday night to get the job done.  Then Wednesday morning when he went to test it, it worked, he got data.  Woo-hoo!  LWG! Turned it off….turned it back on….No joy.  Through a series of phone calls, emails, and consultations we have thus far concluded that it’s broke.  Actually, we did determine that a TNC connector was bad, so had that replaced, but it still doesn’t want to work properly, and we don’t dare take off until we know this thing is going to work as our communications and weather hub across the Pacific.  So we wait.  We wait on the local Panamanian KVH technicians….We wait on our Stateside support for answers…..We wait for my never-say-die, amazing Captain to figure it out.  And we wait.  So close but so far……

We were supposed to do our next provisioning run Wednesday.  Needless to say, we spent that day ditsing around with the sat phone instead.  Thursday morning, we decided that I really needed to go into town and check on John’s fishing poles and regulator and make a pass at Riba Smith’s, while he continued to problem-solve and wait on the local KVH techs.

Panama City Skyline from the Marina…Look at all those places to shop!

So, Thursday morning, I escaped the waiting game, armed with my bags and a gritty determination to make something go right.   The first adventure of the day was getting a taxi to take me to town.  I knew how much it should cost because we’d been several times already.  Anyway, the first guy wanted too much money and I said no, how about this amount?  Believe he called me a “perro” before he sped off.  Ouch….Someone must not have had his coffee this morning!  Finally got a cute older man, Wilson, to take me for a very reasonable fee, and we conversed in my broken Spanish and his limited English quite well thank you, as he wound around the back roads missing almost all of the morning traffic. (take *that* Mr. crabby young cab driver!)

Wilson dropped me off at Abernathy’s, the marine supply store, and eureka! John’s fishing poles were ready, so I picked them up, and left, laden with 3 cooler bags and 5 grocery bags slung over one shoulder, my purse and a bag with my lists and inventories slung over the other, and the 2 fishing poles in one hand.  Walking 5 blocks, through the construction mess and across traffic, brought me to the scuba store.  Miracle!  John’s regulator was ready!  Added that to my bag with the lists and inventories, slung everything back up on the shoulders, picked up the fishing poles and walked 3 blocks to the grocery store.  Managed to find a cart, but alas the ceiling was too low to park the poles upright….Tried several different configurations and finally settled on the poles pointing back towards me, off to the far side of the cart….Not bad….only 3 or 4 feet of rods protruding from the cart.

At this point, I tried to settle in all my crap in the basket and still leave room for the groceries.  I did as well as I could, and quite thirsty, pulled out my stainless water bottle, which I had earlier filled with diet Coke.  As I unscrewed the lid, the thing exploded soda all over me and my stuff.  Lovely, just lovely…..

I spent the next 2 and half hours wandering back and forth through the store, attempting to get everything crossed off my list.  Well, there’s try and do…..Sorry Yoda…..This time there was no do, only try.  But, in the meantime, I did manage to fill my cart to overflowing, with exciting things like 4 jars of mayo, 12 cartons of UHT milk, 8 boxes of taco shells, 10 cans of pinto beans, 4 pounds of sugar and the like.  And, I only impaled 4 or 5 people in the process.  Oh…and took out one row of jarred spaghetti sauce on a particularly tight corner.

Provisioning, Round 3

Check out and bagging were completely non-eventful, and I’m not sure why, but the store manager sent his best boy to help me out of the store.

So, out we go, fishing poles in hand and groceries in the cart.  And….not a taxi to be seen anywhere.  Now, this is Panama City…..there are always taxies to be had.  Nope, not today…..not here, not now.  So the nice young man helping me, walks up to the street and tries to hail a cab.  After about 10 minutes, he succeeds in nabbing a taxi with a driver and another guy in the front seat.  He asks me where I’m going, I explain, and once again, he quotes a totally out-of-line price.  He drives away, but kindly keeps his thoughts to himself.  Finally, an older taxi driver pulls in and drops off his fare and proceeds to quote a price that’s a little high, but hey! my frozen peas are melting!  In we get, fishing poles wedged in the front seat and back into the back window, and the trunk full of my stuff.

So, Senor Thomas proceeds  to tell me, in perfect, barely accented English (this after we have struggled to communicate where I’m going and negotiated fees, etc. in rapid –fire Spanish) that he is retired from working for AFFES in the Canal Zone for 30 years.  Very interesting and pleasant conversation with him and then…..

We pass…..a very, very large…..DIGICEL sign.

Now, I must digress here, because one of the primary missions of my outing was to purchase a couple of  Digicel cards so that we could add minutes to our phone and data to our modem.  We hadn’t thought that we’d need more minutes since we were to leave on Sunday, but now with the Sat phone issue, it was critical to be able to communicate with the techs, both here in Panama and Stateside.  I had assured John that I was up to the task and would return with 2 cards firmly in hand.  In my defense, the Digicel cards are generally purchased at the cash register upon checkout, when my list was put back in my  purse and I had fishing poles in one hand and the visa card and my wallet in the other.

The coveted Digicel cards

Ggggaaaacck” is the closest thing I can think of to write that portrays the noise that escaped from my mouth.  To Senor Thomas’s credit, he didn’t run into the car merging into the lane in front of us, but did look at me in a rather concerned way, inquiring if I was okay while eyeballing me in the rear-view mirror.

When I could speak again, I rapidly explained the situation, and he reassured me that he would stop at a place where I could purchase a couple of cards on our way back to the marina.  Pulling across 5 lanes of wall to wall traffic, he skidded onto the ramp leading to Caledonia and the presumed Digicel store.

Sorry…..I simply must digress one last time.  The cruiser G2 on taxi drivers goes like this (quoted out of the 2012 Cruisers’ Guide to Panama):  “If you use a taxi driver you do not know, never leave anything in the taxi for even a short moment (such as a run into an ATM machine). It is also a good idea, to make a note of the taxi number in case there are issues.”

So, mind racing with the dilemma, I work though the pros and cons…..Pro–I have his name/Con-he has my stuff.  Pro-Does he really want or need 12 cartons of UHT lite milk?/Con-He seemed to like the fishing poles.  Pro-We really need those cards/Con-I could return home empty handed, having failed in my so-important task, and walk to the mini-super across the way and pray that they have cards.

And then he stops in front of a deli/store in Caledonia sporting a huge Digicel sign, and I have to decide.  I’m hot, I’m tired.….I decide to risk it; and as I exit the car, I ask him “Senor Thomas, you will wait for me??” He says yes and I rush into the store breathless and with my heart in my throat, watching him out of the corner of my eye.  In record time, I have my cards and change in my fist and jump back into the back seat of the taxi and we proceed on our way….

Finally, there is an “ahhhhhhh” moment in the back seat, and I relax…..And then I hear from the front seat….”This is further than I thought it was”.  Hoo Boy…..we’ve had this happen before….A demand for more money before the driver drops you off.  Now, I look in the rear-view mirror at him….Not only am I still hot and tired, but now I’m also hungry  (or h’angry, as our friend Jeanette so aptly puts it).  Senor Thomas has no clue that his life is in danger at this moment.  I just stare at him in the mirror and say nothing.  We approach Balboa yacht club, and Sr. Thomas starts to pull in.  No! This is not it!  Again, he states for the record that this is further than he thought and I assure him that it is now just down the road.  At long last we turn into La Playita, but not before we miss the turn the first time, and he has to make a u-turn even further down the road to come back.  Senor Thomas is no longer my bud……

At La Playita, there is a familiar and happy face….Toro, one of the dock hands is there, with a smile on his face, ready to help me to our boat with all my stuff.  I awkwardly pull the fishing poles out of the front/back seat and lean them against the electrical box while I hand Toro all the bags out of the trunk and he loads them into a dock cart.  Senor Thomas does not bother to get out, and I pay him our agreed upon fare, plus an extra dollar (for swinging by the Digicel store – NOT because it was further than he thought) and away he goes with the 2 extra fares he picked up at our u-turn down the street.

Of course it is low tide, and the ramp is very nearly vertical, so I end up carrying several of the lighter bags while Toro snags a cohort to ride shotgun at the front of the cart so that it doesn’t get away from him.  Minutes later we are safely at Mystic Moon and have landed the groceries and bags in the cockpit.  I give Toro and his buddy a couple of cold Ginger Ales, and John comes out to help me haul the groceries and goods inside.  I ask him about progress on the Sat phone, ridiculously pleased with myself that I remembered the Digicel cards and start to tell him about my day, and…….

Ggggaaaacck!!!! (there’s that noise again…)  I’ve left the fishing poles at the top of the dock.  How, how, how could I do that after dragging them every-friggin’-where with me this morning?!!  John looks at me in horror and I practically levitate off the boat and run towards the gate to the dock.  And then….Here comes the 2 guys with the sportfisher that I had met earlier and talked to at the top of the dock before coming down the ramp, and they have the 2 poles in hand and are bringing them to me.  We get a good laugh (well, they did) about leaving my “husband’s tools” unattended at the gate, I thank them profusely, and return to the air-conditioned splendor of the salon. 

And just like that, life is good again….

Of course, the sat phone did NOT get fixed and nothing got resolved on that end……so still, we….Wait…..

Cruising…..Yeah……It’s a lifestyle…..  

Captain YB…LIG…right??…RIGHT????