Houses, Boats, and Cars (oh my!)

18 December

We are dog sitting for some friends in Figuiera, which is a little village about ten miles outside of Lagos; it's also where Max's school is, so if school were in session we could walk there, which would be very useful considering the state of the car (more on that later).  In any case, Pica is a quirky Chihuahua (spelling?) who was a in a major snit when we first arrived.  Even though she knows us, we are not her people and she was definitely NOT impressed.  However, she recovered and let me take a few pictures of her.  Max bribed her with wet food (she was definitely NOT going to eat the treat I offered her) and she thawed out.  Then she decided that she likes sitting on Frank and has even decided that she would try to sleep in the bed with us.  I have a cold and since I was coughing so much last night I went and slept in the kids' room.  She was already in the bed, so I didn't kick her out.   Chihuahuas can take up a lot of room when they want to!

Pica being annoyed that the paparazzi have found her

Mug shot (profile)

Trying to sweet talk the photographer

It's really nice having the space of the house--we can even be in separate rooms if we want to--but the nicest thing is being the only people who ever use the bathroom.  Frank is also very pleased to be able to take a bath again.  Max actually took two baths in twelve hours, but he said he didn't use soap the second time.  In any case, here are a few pictures of the house, although if I had really had my act together I would have picked up all our clutter first.

The kitchen window, stove, and dishwasher

Courtyard with cluttered table, lemon tree, and outdoor fireplace.  There are no Christmas trees in Portugal, so we'll decorate the lemon tree.

Messy kitchen table

The only downside is that the washer is very quirky, which means that it is taking me an average of 2.5 days to do a load of laundry.  To be fair, what takes a lot of time is waiting for stuff to dry, but I do miss our absolutely not-state-of-the-art-but-free washer and dryer on Behan Street.  However, this is a quibble, really.

Living room

Master bedroom and door to bathroom

Loft bed with quilt hanging down (Max sleeps here).  I don't know if you can see the railing, but he can't fall out.

Bea and Vasco's room (they are the kids who actually live in the house)

Looking out the door of the kids' room into the hallway

Courtyard with outdoor table and lemons hanging in the foreground

We've been on two hikes around here since we've been here.  Jade loves to hike and would be so happy in a house with lots of space for her to run around.  Yesterday's hike was especially interesting because we had to break through the bamboo and the briars to get to the trail we needed.  It was frustrating because we could see it but couldn't get to it and it was starting to get dark.  We did finally make it, though.  Max was a terrific hiker and never complained.  Jade, of course, was ecstatic.  Here are a few pictures from our hikes:

Toadstools

Looking down from the cliff

Approaching the cliff

This looked like a fairy mound to me.

Happy happy dog

On the way home--beautiful light!

Cool-looking rock (Frank took this one)

Some sort of ruin that you can see from  just outside the house

Heading back to the village.

Max checking for enemy forces

Max looking like a movie star

The toothless wonder!

This last picture brings me to my next major event:  after being loose since June, Max's top right tooth FINALLY fell out, so now he's got a rectangular hole in his head.  I'm guessing it will be a while before another one comes out, as Max's teeth tend to take their own sweet time doing anything.  They didn't arrive quickly and they aren't falling out quickly either.  That's OK, though, because each lost tooth makes him look just a little bit too much older.

Now the bad news:  Jade, unfortunately, is still looking for a home with more space.  I so hate to see her go, but she really needs to be somewhere where she can run around and chase the birds.

The other piece of very bad news is that our cute little convertible has a cracked head gasket.  We aren't sure yet whether we'll have to junk the car or not, but we are hoping to be able to find a used part.  New ones are apparently very, very rare, as it's a very rare engine.  In any case, we are out in the country without a car, so it's a bit inconvenient, but we will make it work.  There are buses, of course, and Figuiera isn't very big, so it's not as if we are stuck.

The weather has been nice--not nearly as windy out here as it was in Lagos just before we left.  Max is still playing soccer three times a week (or will be again in January),  I videoed his end-of-term performance but it's a big file, so I have to figure out how to get it out.  Maybe I'll break down and try YouTube.

In any case, that's about it from here!  We hope you all have wonderful holidays!

It's November...

8 November 2012

Once again I cannot believe how long it's been since I've updated this blog!  And no, it's not that I'm doing so many things; I actually have no idea what I've been doing.  I just told my sister in an email that it's not that I don't have anything to do, it's that I don't have any specific time at which it needs to be done, so that means that it's hard to structure the day.  However, I will persevere!

The biggest news is that we got our residency cards in the mail, so now we are legal residents for the next year, which is a huge thing off our minds.  I am sure that there must be just as much bureaucracy in the US when something like this needs to be done; it just seems easier to do it because of the familiarity of it all.  In any case, we got it done and our mug shots (that's what they look like, honestly) and fingerprints are now on record with the Portuguese government AGAIN.

It's been incredibly rainy here, much more so than usual.  Apparently last year was very dry, so this year is a deluge.  It is also very inconvenient that our bimini leaks and we are trying to have it replaced but so far are not having much luck.  The arguments with the company we bought the boat from continue...

Frank is trying to resurrect his golf game.  The first time he went out was terrible, apparently, and should have resulted in a course ban (in his own mind), but the next one was better, so now he's decided that perhaps he is not at the end of his golf life yet.

I am trying to learn some Portuguese, and structurally it is sort of similar to French, but then again it isn't.  Pronounciation is something else entirely.  Max's Portuguese is coming along, although he doesn't think so.  He's recently decided that he wants to specialize in defense on the soccer field.  He played goalie once in practice but wasn't entirely convinced.

Jade came through her spaying just fine and is settling in.  I think once she gets over the puppy stage she'll work out very well.

I guess that's about all the news from here at the moment!

19 October 2012

It's been busy here in the past week or so.  A week ago Wednesday Frank did the paperwork to get the car I mentioned the last post, and on Friday we took possession.  It's a cute little red one (you might have seen the pictures on Facebook), and it's a convertible.  Frank says he's too old for a mid-life crisis, but there you are.  It's perfect convertible weather here.  I drove it to the grocery store the other day with no problems (not that I expected to have any with the car, but I had not driven to the store before even though I had walked there).  The only hairy bit was that an unexpected bicycle race came down the road.  At first I thought it was just a club with a few riders, but a few minutes after the first group of about 20, another couple of hundred came.

Last Friday was a get-to-know-you party at Max's school.  Everyone was asked to bring a traditional food or drink from their country, so we brought a three-layer dip of guacamole, bean dip, and salsa. I would have liked the bring Mom's seven-layer dip, but there is no such thing as sour cream here!  It was nice being able to drive there rather than being dependent on the bus.  Max really likes driving with the top down, but I think we need to keep his sunglasses in the car so that the air doesn't hit him in the eyes so hard.

Then last Saturday Jade arrived!  Our plan was to go out to the shelter here in Lagos and see what dogs were available and then get one the next week, but one of their volunteers lives just around the corner from the marina and she was fostering a dog at her apartment that we met.  Jade is a Portuguese Podengo cross, although we're not sure what the "cross" is.  She had a rough time before coming to us, having been rehomed with a family who left her outside by herself all the time and didn't feed her, so she's pretty scrawny.  She weighs about 11 kilos (24.2 lbs.), although I would like to see her gain about five more pounds.  She doesn't eat much, but I'm thinking that might be from the stress of being rehomed again.  In any case, she is the best-behaved puppy I think I've ever met.  Admittedly, she is five months old, so she's old enough to have learned a few things, but it was nice to realize that she's quite well housebroken.  She had one accident the first night we had her, but that was my fault because I hadn't learned her signals yet.  At night, once she is satisfied that we are all in for the night, she'll go to bed and be quiet until the morning.  She can hold it from about 10PM to after 7AM!  I'm impressed.

Her downside, of course, is that she's a puppy and loves to chew.  Frank's slippers hold a special place in her heart.  Why is it that puppies always want what they are NOT supposed to have rather than what they are?  Why are slippers and other shoes so much more appealing than rope toys and Nylabones?

The weather is getting cooler, but still nice.  Yesterday was the worst day so far.  It rained all day long and never got above 62 or 63.  The thing that cracks me up is how offended I am that it rained.  It's been so nice for so long that I had almost forgotten what rain is like and how dependent I am on the weather being nice to do things easily.  It didn't help that it was also the coldest day so far, but we all survived in the end.  t went out to school to help out in the afternoon and the kids went outside in spite of the weather if they wanted to.  Max did, of course!  The teachers weren't kidding when they said at the beginning of the year that all the kids need raincoats and rain boots!  I also need to send him another change of clothes because they all get incredibly dirty sometimes too.  There is this special mud out there that gets into EVERYTHING, so it's just play clothes for school here!

Max is picking up some Portuguese, and it's obvious that he understands more than he can say at this point.  I am doing a course with Babbel online, but that's unfortunately dependent on the quirkiness of the internet.  At this point, I can say hello and ask someone where s/he is from.  That's more than I could do before, but not nearly as much as I would like to do!

Max has also started an art class here at the marina with an artist who has a gallery here.  He's only been once, but he really liked it.  They've added another soccer practice during the week in preparation for games on weekends, but Max missed the first one last night because it was pouring rain.

Now that we've got the car and the dog, it's time for me to get into a little more structured routine.  Wish me luck, people!

Max's Birthday and Other News

9 October 2012

I don't think I've updated since Max started back to school on September 24th.  He seems to be enjoying it and our transportation situation is working out pretty well.  I take him out to meet Lilia (his lift) and her son (who is in Max's class) at about 7:45 each morning.  Then he comes back in the afternoon with them, usually by 4:30.  The school day goes from 8:30-1:30, when the kids eat lunch and then play and do other sorts of unstructured activities until about 4:00.

The day is structured roughly like this:  most of the academic work takes place between 8:30 and 10:45, when they get a break of about half an hour to eat a snack and play.  Max usually brings a little sandwich because he's hungry by then, having eaten breakfast at 7:00.  Then they go back to work until about 12:30, when they take a quick break for a bit of fruit or something, and then they eat lunch at 1:30.  The food is all vegetarian and largely organic and--amazingly--Max loves it!  Lilia says he's eating really well.  He would never eat this stuff for us!  Since he is such a carnivore, though, we do try and cook meat on the weekends for him.

His class only has six students in it, and it's pretty diverse:  two Portuguese kids, two Americans, and two Germans, I think (one from Switzerland and one from Germany).  Unfortunately, with all these different languages being spoken (and so much English), Max isn't learning Portuguese nearly as quickly as we'd like.  We (Frank and I and Bea's mom, Laura) are hoping that maybe we can arrange for him and Bea to have Portuguese while the others are having English, since they really don't need to learn English in school!  He is picking up some, though; I think it's probably a question of just being patient, which is never my strong suit.

Max likes his teacher, Luis (I do too), whose job I would never want to have!  He is really great with the kids, very patient and willing to make allowances for the kids who haven't learned Portuguese yet.  I was at the school yesterday with a cake for Max and before they had the cake they were finishing up something (I don't know what it was because it was in Portuguese), so I was behind the partition listening to them and Luis was very patient, even when the kids got a bit loud.

The only bad thing about this transportation arrangement is that in Portugal, like Spain, a woman on the side of the road is always interpreted to be doing one thing.  No one makes any assumptions in the morning, though, because Max is with me and he's got his backpack on, so it's obvious that we are waiting for a lift for him, but in the afternoon when I am alone it's different, especially because there is no bench or anything to sit on where I have to wait.  The situation was not helped at all one day when I ran smiling up to a little white car that had pulled off, thinking that it was Lilia.  There are too many little white cars in this country!  It wasn't, and the woman in the car gave me an EVIL look.  Then I decided that perhaps I should bring a book with me in the future!  Where I wait is determined by where Lilia can pull over to let him out.  There is a rock, however, so I've determined that the only way to deal with this is to bring a book and sit on my rock and not look up AT ALL until she comes.  She always sends me a text before they leave so I know when to get there.

Max had a fun birthday yesterday, although we were sorry to wake him up early for school.  In his class, they had a ceremony in which they burned a paper heart with a 6 on it and replaced it with a 7.  Max says that when he turns 8 it will be even bigger.  Then they sang a song in Portuguese and Max got to wear a crown of laurel.  I've posted pictures on Facebook, so in the event that you are reading this blog and we are not Facebook friends, let me know!  I was outside the room at this point, so I didn't see it, but I did hear Bea comment:  "I can't believe we are allowed to BURN things!"  I did point out to her later when she said it to me again that it wasn't as if they were burning the place down and Luis was the person in charge of it.  Then I came in with the cake and Max lit the candle.  His class sang to him in Portuguese, German, and English, and then they made me sing in French.  Max thought the alternative version was pretty funny when I sang it to him while we were waiting for Lilia: "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, you look like a monkey and you act like one too!", so he got Luis to sing that to him in Portuguese and then he cackled.  After the cake I left and Max finished off the school day.

After school, Laura picked him up and she brought him and Bea and Vasco over to the marina for cake and presents.  The electricians were working on the boat (more of that in a minute) so it was too chaotic here, so we went over by the pool and celebrated there.  Our temporary neighbors, who also have a sic-year-old boy, also came.  Then later on we went out for dinner and Max ate a huge plate of spaghetti.  After dinner he got to Skype (much too briefly) with his aunt, uncle, and grandparents, and then hit the sack.  All around a good birthday, I think!

In other news, we finally got our fiscal numbers!  Those are the numbers which allow us to pay taxes, but even more importantly, they allow us to do all sorts of things that I am probably unaware of.  However, the necessary things that I am aware of include:  establishing our residency, switching our health insurance, registering the car, and getting a contract for our portable internet hotspot.  It was a pain because as Americans we had to find a Portuguese resident who would serve as our fiscal representative (basically that means she will pay our debts should we skip the country owing someone, which obviously we will not do), so once that was done we went last week and began the process, only to find out that the system was down.  Friday was a national holiday so the office was closed, so we all went back on Monday and took care of it.  Yippee!!

We are also hoping to have a car this week.  Frank found a cute little Fiat convertible without too many miles on it, so once the minor repairs are done on it, we are planning to buy it.  It will make our lives much easier to have a vehicle!

Max is very happy that the cord for the Wii came in--he's been waiting for weeks.  Now if I can just get  it to show up on the TV in color...

The electrician finally came yesterday and fixed all the things on the boat that needed fixing:  the radar, the autopilot, and some of the wiring.  Now all our lights work--we brushed our teeth with the lights on for the first time in three months!

And finally, the other major thing that we want to do is to get a dog.  We've been planning on doing it for a while, but this week I am going to make arrangements to see some.  I'm not sure if we should take Max with us or not, but I'm thinking that we should, so he can have some input.

The Summer is Over! The Summer is Over!--Final Summer Blog Post

23 September 2012

The summer is over!  Max is going back to school tomorrow!  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  OK, now that I've gotten that out of my system...

It has been a truly wonderful summer.  We've gotten to travel more than I ever thought possible, we finally managed to find a boat and get moved into it and gotten it here and we're learning our way around Lagos.  We've seen Max's school, met the teachers, helped work on the school getting it ready for the year to start, and we've gotten to spend way more "quality time" with Max than most parents ever get to spend with their children.  It's been truly fantastic and life is good...

However, it's time for Max to head back to school.  I know he's enjoyed the summer, but he's looking forward to going back and using his brain for things besides math games on the computer.  Since he's been hanging out with us so much, his time with other kids has been limited.  He's met some kids at the pool, but they have mostly been on vacation and have had to leave within a few days, so it will be fun for him to meet some more permanent friends.  Also, since he will learn Portuguese, it will be easier for him to understand what's happening at soccer practice and to talk more with his teammates there.  Max is excited about learning Portuguese and I am looking forward to getting into a bit more of a routine.  I've been wracking my brains trying to decide what to do with myself professionally and once Max is gone during the day I'll be able to devote some serious time to this issue.  I'm also looking forward to playing tennis with Frank (if he can keep all comments, both good and bad, to himself :) ), and coming up with some sort of exercise routine.  Frank and I are also planning on taking some Portuguese classes too.

All the parents of the first class were asked to make some sort of roll/case for the students' drawing utensils, so I am including pictures of what I made here.  I know I've posted these on Facebook, but I am way too excited about it, although now that I'm looking at it I wish I had made it smaller.

All rolled up-the ribbon is to tie it.

It's got individual spots for the wide ones and the narrow ones.

The back of it, with his name and the year.

This past week was quite busy.  We rented a car for three days and did some sightseeing.  On Tuesday we went to Silves and checked out the old Moorish castle.  

The Max who ate the canary...

This was the inside of the cafe where Max had ice cream and Frank and I had coffee.  Such a pretty room!

Wednesday we went to the water park.  We had promised Max for ages that we would take him once September came and the tourists left so it wouldn't be crowded (it was also nice that in September he got to go for free) and we were right.  There was almost no one there and we never had to wait longer than about two minutes to do anything--Max even got to sit in the front row of the roller coaster three times!  No pictures from there because I wanted to go on things too, but here is a picture of a picture of Max holding a boa constrictor...

Thursday we went to Sagres (about 30 km the other direction) and saw the fort and the end of Portugal.  Then we went to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world for lunch and a swim before we had to return the car at 4:30, so here are a few pictures from that little jaunt...

Today was our first rain since we've been here, and it was not only rain, but it was a full-blown thunderstorm.  It lasted about an hour and then it was cloudy for most of the rest of the day before the sun came through.  It's supposed to be nice for Max's first day of school tomorrow, so will post more soon!

About the Boat...

My dad was asking about how the boat was set up, so I sent him an email about it.  This post contains most of the same information.

A few details about the boat and life in the marina...

The grocery store is about a ten-minute walk and we often go together if we are getting heavy stuff. When we see one we will get one of those rolling shopping bags, so that will make it easier too. There is also a market for produce, so sometimes one of us will go one place and the other the other place so no one has to carry too much.  Since it is so close, we can take the carts from the marina with us if we have to get heavy stuff, which makes it much easier.

We are starting to find our way around the town as well. There is a historic part of town which is a little complicated, but it's built on a hill, so if worst comes to worst (i.e., I get lost) all I have to do is go downhill and I'll hit the water again.

The train station is literally 200 meters from the boat, behind the restaurants, so that couldn't be any closer. Weirdly enough, we've never heard a train, but we've seen them, so it is a working station!

The bus station is a 10-minute walk, just over the pedestrian bridge, so that's where we'll go to get Max's bus for school. One of us will go with him, of course. We will need to be sure to leave enough time in case the bridge is open for boats, but since they don't start opening the bridge until 8:00 I think it won't be a factor.

The boat is 40 feet long with three cabins and two heads. The second head is totally unnecessary but since the boat was a demo (built 2011) and had never been launched we didn't have a choice of layout. Frank and I have the V-berth and Max has the aft cabin on the starboard side if you are facing the bow. It's a little bigger than the port one, so the port one is for guests.

There is a frigerator which opens both from the front and the top; it's not all that large so that also encourages us to shop most days, cutting down on the heavy stuff.

There is a good-sized table in the salon. It folds out so six can fit around it and it's got a place in the middle for six glasses, bottles, and other dishes, etc.

There is about as much storage as you'd expect in a boat of this size, whatever that means! We've got a small closet with space to hang things and four shelves, plus two large drawers under the bed. We also have a cupboard with a shelf and a larger space. There is a little shelf on Frank's side running along the wall and the top of the cupboard is my dresser.

Max has a closet like ours with a seat in front of it. Under the seat is a compartment where his shoes go. There is space on top of the closet which functions like a dresser and he's also got a little shelf over his reading light. His bed is for two people, so there are two lights and lots of space, so all his many stuffed animals have a place to be. There is also a compartment at the aft end of his compartment where we've stored duffle bags and stuff we don't need to be accessible. The other aft cabin is set up the same way but a tiny bit smaller. There is also a little storage compartment under the mattresses on our bed where we keep an empty suitcase.

Other storage compartments are behind and under cushions in the salon, and I am ecstatic to report that we have empty space!

Max actually has a bit of wall in his room so he'll be able to decorate. He's got three portholes for ventilation and we've got a hatch. Oddly enough, the guest cabin only has two portholes. I have no idea why.

Equipment-wise, the boat has an autopilot, radar, a chart plotter, a GPS, plus the usual life-jackets, lines, and fenders. We also have a gangway, swim platform with ladder, deck and inside showers (all handheld), and two steering wheels. The motor is a 45-HP Volvo Penta, so it's pretty speedy. We also have a TV/DVD, radio/CD with the ability to connect an iPod for music. Am I forgetting anything?

Computer Woes and Other Things

We've been in Lagos two weeks today and at least so far our days are relatively predictable.  In the morning, we often fight with the internet, clean, do errands, etc.  Then lunch and in the afternoon we go to the pool or the beach.  It really has been a sort of extended vacation--or staycation, since we live here now.  However, things are about to change in the next couple of weeks.  We went to the sports center here in town yesterday to ask about a soccer team for Max and spoke to this very friendly man (who unfortunately coaches 12 year olds) who directed us to the stadium.  There we had a very laborious conversation in English with the very friendly and helpful receptionist, although it transpired at the end of the discussion that French would have been easier for her.  We switched to French and--amazing!--it was much easier. I felt like an idiot.  I have also got to improve my Portuguese because even the Portuguese think that I am Portuguese!  In any case, the receptionist gave us the number to call and it turns out that practice starts on the 11th.  Max is thrilled because soccer is his current obsession and we are excited because he'll get to meet some kids before school starts.

His school doesn't start until the 24th, but we have a meeting at the school on Monday at 3 which I am looking forward to.  I really want to see the school, plus we need to figure out exactly how to get there and how long it will take.  The bus station is right over the bridge, so it will be easy to get there.  Max, however, will need to start moving in the mornings, though!

I am STILL waiting for a computer cord.  The store here couldn't be more helpful if they tried--they have been very apologetic about how long it's taking.  There was much joy in Mudville the other day when the cord actually came until we discovered that the supplier had sent the wrong one.  Fortunately, he had a Mac that he's trying to fix for someone so was able to charge my computer for me with the other person's cord.  It's back to square one, though...I will scope out some quiet places to Skype and look into a portable hotspot.  That seems to be the only answer, since the internet here is quirky.

Max is starting to amaze me with his mathematical ability.  Frank has taught him how to play Sheepshead, which is really complicated, and he can add up his score very quickly.  This is especially impressive because there are many different values involved.  We were watching tennis tonight at dinner (although the restaurant had the sound off) and Max was informing us about triple set point.  I thought that was really good, but I'm his mother, so what do I know...

He is ever more curious about spiritual things than he was before.  He keeps asking me questions like whether God has a brain and to explain eternity.  Needless to say, I don't know the answers.  We went to church last Sunday, but it was a Catholic church and all in Portuguese, so none of us really got much out of it.  It was a very pretty church, though!

Max tries to speak Portuguese with people, although his language skills are rather limited so far.  He does like Portuguese commercials.  He is also very smart about getting the help he needs.  He went to the bathroom the other morning and left the access card in there.  Frank and I could see him coming back and then he went up to the security guard and said something.  The guard started walking back towards the bathroom with him, where he let him in and Max got the card back.  I thought that showed good thinking.

If there is a dog anywhere, Max has to stop and pet it.  He's doing research for our future dog and he has a pretty good knowledge of dog breeds in general, as well as which ones might or might not fulfill our criteria.  He is also learning to read dog signals and how to approach them.  Now he just needs to learn to ask in Portuguese if he can pet the dog!

Once I get my cord I promise to post some pictures; I am trying to save conserve battery power for as long as possible.

A Week in Lagos

We've been here in Lagos for almost a week now, so we are starting to feel a bit more settled in. We've spent the week unpacking and learning our way around town on a very basic level.

Lagos is a beautiful town, probably about twice the size of Natchitches, so probably 40,000 people, I would guess. The population will go down about a third, I bet, once the tourist season ends.

Meanwhile, the marina is just adjacent to the old part of the city. You get there by crossing a drawbridge which is opened necessary for boats between 8:00 and 10:00PM, so if you are trying to get somewhere you want to allow for the possibility that you'll have to wait until the bridge comes down. The  only time that pedestrians have priority over boats is the ten minutes before the trains leave because the train station is right next to the marina restaurants, so train passengers cannot avoid going over the bridge.

Even though the train station is not more than 200 meters from the boat, we have never heard a train. We've seen them, so we know it's definitely a working station, but it's a very quiet one!

In any case, the old town is lots of little narrow cobblestone streets, and someone decided that all the streets should have designs on them, so they are very pretty. It would be easy to get lost, except that it's all built on a hill, so if you go down you will hit the water eventually and can orient yourself that way.

There are 140 restaurants in this town, which might be a bit much. I wonder if some of them will close for the winter, though. The food so far has been excellent, and with lunchtime main courses for as little as €5.50 it is almost cheaper to eat the main meal out rather than cook in the heat. We can't very well do that forever, but it's quite hot to cook right now.

Fish and seafood are obscenely cheap here, probably because we are so close to the ocean. We spent a hot morning doing errands yesterday and were rewarded with a Japanese restaurant in which you could order endlessly off the menu for a fixed price. Considering how much I like sushi that was a great deal!

There are lots of little shops that cater to tourists, of course, but mixed in with them are other, more practical stores as well. There are several grocery stores near the marina and in town, but the closest one is about a ten-minute walk from the boat--maybe not even that far--and it's large one and very well-stocked. It's very American, though, in the fact that there are never enough cashiers open and it's always crowded.

If you remember my comments about Spanish grocery stores, Portuguese ones (in my negligible experience) are very different. They are organized on basically logical lines so you can feel relatively confident that you'll find what you are looking for in your lifetime.

In lieu of Wal-Marts or Targets, there are stores run mostly by Chinese merchants that sell pretty much everything if you look for it. These are great places for Tupperware, tape, surge protectors, dish towels, beach stuff, etc. Unfortunately, I seem to have forgotten the 12V cord to plug the Wii into the wall and that sort of cord is proving to be a bit harder to find. I will persevere, however...

The bus station is just over the bridge, and that's where we'll have to go for Max's bus. Since he will have to go by public bus, one of us will go with him. His school doesn't start until September 24th for the first class, although the other classes start on the 3rd, I think.

I hope we've made the right choice enrolling him in the first class, since he'll turn 7 in October. I think so, given that he'll be learning a new language. In any case, since it's such a small school and his teacher will be working with kids at different levels he should be able to easily make adjustments if necessary. Frank was a Waldorf teacher and he says that situation would be easy to deal with.

The Last Leg...

Today we sailed around the southernmost point in Europe and are heading north to Portugal. I had not realized that the Rock of Gibraltar is not really a rock. Instead, it is a peninsula and there is a town on it. Maybe the town was where Molly Bloom was from...

The scariest thing was that there were a ridiculous number of huge ships--tankers, container ships, and freighters, all waiting for the current to change so they could go through the Straits of Gibraltar. They made our little boat seem very small, especially when one crossed (pretty far, but close enough to make me squirrelly, at least!) behind us.

Frank is getting quite good at steering the boat and docking it. I keep trying, but still cannot hold a course. I am getting better with the lines now that I understand the different types of mooring situations. We have developed a routine. Max's job right now is to stay out of the way; we've told him that once he's a little older and we are more confident we'll teach him. Meanwhile, he's very encouraging!

Max seems to have adapted and most of the time doesn't need his seasick medicine, but it was so rough yesterday it seemed like a good idea.

The scenery is interesting, with mostly brown hills that have little groups of green trees on them. Occasionally there will be a little village or group of white houses. There are also wind turbines on the hills on both sides, the European and the African. Now that we are almost in the Atlantic the seas are a lot calmer, for some reason.

It is incredible how many containers they stack on one of these ships--all the way up to the bridge! It's amazing that any thing ever gets anywhere without falling off, especially since it doesn't appear that the containers are strapped down.

Today is the first day that we've actually been chilly! The wind is cool and since it is pretty strong it feels cold--very bizarre to feel cold in southern Europe in the middle of August!

August 11 and 12

I wrote a long message yesterday but now can't find it, so I will try and recreate it.

We left Mauricioa or whatever-it-was called (Spanish towns seem to have many different spellings and many different names, which makes it rather complicated to know where you are) Thursday morning. The winds were variable all day and we've been motoring a lot.

The major event of the day was that we ran into an unmarked fishing net which got wrapped around the propeller, so Thomas went under the boat to untangle it. Frank kept the boat facing where it needed to be and I manned the line that Thomas was attached to. He was able to get it taken care of pretty quickly and said that it was just wrapped around, not truly tangled.

Max has been busy. He spends a lot of time playing games, both on the screen and with us (board and card games), and his dinosaurs are spending a lot of time out of their bag. We have to be careful not to step on them.

He is also doing some reading; he's gotten to the point where he can read some chapter books without help. His current favorites are about The Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume about a first-grade boy and his sister. He's got them on the Kindle app I downloaded for his device. My Kindle has died, unfortunately, but it's still under warranty so I will have to get it serviced once we get to Portugal. Frank is using his and I've read everything on it anyway, so that doesn't help me.

It turns out, oddly enough, that I am not a bad cook underway. It helps that the stove is gimboled so things don't spill, and it has these arms that go across the top and hug the pots so they don't move. The food on this voyage is not exactly gourmet, but I haven't poisoned anyone yet. Frank ate a bad anchovy (he thinks) and was under the weather for a few days but is better now. I don't cook anchovies so we know I didn't do it!

Max has been eating a ridiculous amount now that he's adapted to the boat and is no longer seasick. It's a good thing because obviously we don't want him to be on medication and it appears that there are no such things as ginger snaps in Spanish grocery stores. No pickles, either! Spanish grocery stores are another topic which I will get to in a minute...

In any case, Max has finally come into his food inheritance from the Sugarman side (he long ago embraced the Schicketanz love of pudding and sausage) and has become the poster child for the "incredible edible egg," to quote the old slogan. His current favorite breakfast is a cheese omelette. I've been making them with two eggs but yesterday he wanted three--and he ate almost all of it! I don't know where he's putting it because he's definitely not any fatter and doesn't seem any taller (his clothes still seem to fit), so I guess he's just got a fast metabolism.

When we were in Empuriabrava he ate the equivalent of hot dogs and beans most days for breakfast (they didn't have much variety in the breakfast spread there), so I was glad to leave for that reason. Hot dogs and beans do not rank high on my list as an appropriate breakfast for a six-year-old!

The breakfast cereal selection here is awful! So far we've had some horrible muesli with chocolate in it (chocolate is not a breakfast food in my world) and the healthiest cereal I've found so far without raisins (Frank doesn't hate many foods, but he doesn't like pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and raisins; I'm not crazy about raisins in my cereal but love them in Mimi Cookies) is Golden Grahams. Oats seem non-existent as well. Sad times on the breakfast cereal front! I was so desperate that I even bought Frosted Flakes, but Max knows that once we get to Portugal that's the end of that.

Spanish grocery stores are weird, weird, weird. It took me two hours to shop the other day! The grocery store wasn't more than a third of a mile away, but I went by myself (Frank was still under the influence of the evil anchovy) and had to carry everything back. The other thing that derailed my plans for speed was that there is absolutely NO logic to the way these stores are organized, so I couldn't shop efficiently at all; instead I had to keep criss-crossing the store trying to find things. Plus there was almost no produce (necessitating a stop at the produce stand) and no meat (so I had to hit the butcher as well). I wouldn't mind shopping like that so much if we hadn't been trying to leave and if I hadn't been carrying so much stuff. I had also only brought one shopping bag and the store didn't have any more so I had  to trek all my stuff to yet another store and get one there.

We spent last night in Roquetas del Mar. Today, however, we found a logically organized and stocked grocery store; apparently it is an Austrian company, which could explain it. In any case, we were able to find what we needed pretty quickly.

Last night we also found a sort of cut-rate Target equivalent and were able to get some useful things like a dustpan, plastic containers, and hangers. Yippee--I know, I am (sometimes) easily pleased.

There was nowhere with Internet, though, which is why you are getting this long message now.

Today everything is so wet that it feels like it might never be dry again. It was foggy yesterday and we woke up this morning to an invisible marina. It looked literally like pea soup. Fortunately by the time we had done the shopping the fog was starting to burn off,  but it looks more like some mornings on the St. Lawrence River than I would expect southern Spain to look! Our draft was too deep for the gas dock so we have to go to the next marina to fill up.

August 12
We are in Marbella, another town without Internet. It was so rough this morning that we came in here and will leave tomorrow morning heading towards Gibraltar. We didn't do much today but go to the beach and look for an Internet cafe. It is hot here and the whole town is closed down on Sunday.

Moving onto the Boat

August 1, 2012

Last Monday, the 30th, we were picked up in Empuriabrava and driven to Canet to get onto the boat.  After what seemed like many delays over the past few days, we were all excited to get to it.  I am attaching some pictures, but I don’t think you can really see much.  I now have new respect for people taking photographs of boats--a wider-angle lens than I currently own would be a good investment, I think!

In any case, the boat has three cabins--one V-berth in the bow and two slightly smaller ones in the stern.  Max chose the cabin on the right because it is slightly larger and has more ventilation.  It took us about two hours to unpack and get organized for the sail to Portugal, although we haven’t bothered to unpack most of the large suitcases yet; we figure we can do that once we arrive, and there is more cargo storage space than I thought.  On the one hand, there is not as much storage space in the cabins as I had hoped, but I’m sure one more purge should do it pretty well for me.  I guess I won’t need all four dressy dresses I brought with me, but I hate to get rid of all of them.  On the other hand, there is quite a lot of storage in sort of out-of-the way places like under and behind the cushions in the salon, under the mattresses on the bed, etc.  I am feeling rather proud right now because we’ve actually got quite a lot of space we haven’t used yet!  I know it will get filled up as we go on, though!

Monday evening after we went to eat we went shopping, but the store was about to close, so it was not a very productive experience.  There are still so many things we need, but they will have to wait until we are in a less touristy port.   

Tuesday morning I did laundry at a nearby campground and it might have been the greatest laundry experience EVER!  All the machines were brand new and they automatically put the soap in.  All you had to do was go to the machine on the wall, choose your machine and pay your money and the machine started by itself on the setting you chose.  It was pricey--6 euroes to wash and 3 to dry, but the machines were great!  The only bad thing was that I didn’t bother to sort and our new turquoise beach towels turned some white underwear this very pretty light blue.  Oh well...

Once we had gotten the diesel for the motor and the gas for the stove (which took forever because the marina didn’t sell it and we didn’t have a car), we were off, only 20 minutes later than we had planned.  It was a beautiful day for a sail-about 70 degrees and sunny.  There was no wind at first, so we had to motor quite a bit.