Margarita - fruits and veggies

Most of the supermarkets in the Caribbean were the size of someone's average bedroom, with a few limp things on a shelf here and there, so it was a joy and a delight to walk into Sigo in Porlamar, on the island of Margarita. It was just HUGE (just like a normal Asda, you know, the big ones) - so many different types of fruit and veg, I didn't recognize them all - it was almost overwhelming to see so much, such a huge variety again! There is a largechocolate/alcohol (duty free) section too with kitkats and Lion bars being about 50 cents each (so you know I was happy) - and of course the men found not only the rum they were looking for (Cinquo Estrellas) but they found the OLD rum that started their love affair with it - the rum Paul said was no longer made.... the Tres Coronas. It's b7.50 a bottle here which is about $1.36 based on the 5.5:US$1 exchange rate. The Cinquo Estrellas is a little cheaper, at $1.30 a bottle - but P's favorite is Tres Coronas, so between the two of them (Paul also likes it), they bought out the entire stock and ordered more, hopefully to be picked up on Wednesday. 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. I stayed on the boat to do the blog and do some skyping.
Now the currency on the boat has changed - we no longer refer to it as bolivars or dollars - but in terms of bottles of rum. So for example, I bought two large bottles of water in the trolley (the water on the boat is tasting a little salty and not quite to my taste to drink plain), they were b8.50 each ($1.54) for a huge bottle - but Phillip pointed out to me that my water costs more than one bottle of rum. A tenpack of kitkats cost 4 and a half bottles of rum etc....
But he's a very happy boy.

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 exchange some US$ on the b.m. and got 5.5 to the dollar. If you go to a bank, you'll bet 2.14 to the dollar, which makes it a very different shopping experience. If we had to shop using the 2.14 b:dollar, we couldn't afford anything because it is outrageously expensive that way.