There is a large chocolate/alcohol (duty free) section too with kitkats and Lion bars being about 60 cents each (so you know I was happy and stocked up) - and of course the men found not only the rum they were looking for (Cinco Estrellas) but they found the OLD rum that started their love affair with rum - the rum Paul said was no longer made.... the Tres Coronas. They also bought lots of Cinco Estrellas and lots of Tres Coronas. Our total supply now is 78 bottles of rum, and plenty more to come. They've gone on a beer run today, beer is about 30c / can, not bad. I stayed on the boat to do the blog and do some skyping.
Margarita is nice. We are anchored in Porlamar, which is the biggest city here
and the anchorage is VERY rolley - so much so that everyone has put out a bridle, which is an extra rope from the stern of the boat that hooks onto the anchorline and sort of pulls the boat around a little and makes it very stable, so that it doesn't face directly into the wind. That reduces the amount of swell that we feel, so it's not too bad at all. Porlamar is a pretty big place, lots of tall buildings, very built up, all kinds of shops, boutiques, supermarkets, banks etc., just like any normal city.We are anchored near Marina Juan (www.marinajuan.com) - Juan runs an office there attached to a dinghy dock where he hosts a variety of services - laundry, phone, fax, propane, bus service into town, book exchange etc. We checked in through him which costs a little more, but the extra $20 we give to him is well worth the above services which are included. Yesterday, for example, we caught the free bus into Sigo (the supermarket), shopped away to our hearts' content and bought several cases of rum, paid for it. One of the Sigo personnel loaded all of it into boxes, taped them up very well and loaded them onto the bus for us - then he came back with us on the bus, helped unload the boxes and made sure they all got onto our respective dinghies - and all we had to do was tip him a dollar or two. What fabulous service! I only wish I was more of a drinker because then I'd be in seventh heaven - still, the chocolate section kept me entertained - never seen such a selection of chocolate from all over the world. Even in airports, duty free, you don't get it like this - really something to behold. I'll try to get photos next time I go there.
Prices are very reasonable if you exchange dollars on the b/m (which is what we all do because they really want US dollars here) - Phillip got 9 gallons of gasoline (petrol) for 60 cents. NO, that's not 60 cents per gallon, that's 60 cents total. He went to the gas station and filled up his gas tanks. However, we needed to fill up the big boat with diesel, so the fuel boat came around and they charged 60 cents per gallon for diesel (same for petrol). Hard to believe really.
When you walk the streets here, you get hassled all the time by people wanting to exchange money with you. We have been warned over and again not to do this because it's a scam - you think you're getting x number of bolivars, but you're not. Either that, or they're fake bolivars.
Phillip has ordered some more rum, hopefully it will arrive on Wednesday. After that we head to la Blanquilla
http://www.explore-yachts.com/charter/blanquilla.htm
It's supposed to be gorgeous there, hope to do some scuba diving there and then Paul and Joyce head off west to Bonaire and Phillip and I probably will head to St. Thomas or St. Croix. We were hoping to go to St. Lucia but don't think the wind will get us there - so if we go to the USVI we can either sail back to Fort Lauderdale via the Bahamas, or else I can fly back to FL and Phillip can sail right up to Norfolk, Virginia (he'll have to get a crew member). Just haven't decided yet.
