We began the New Year by sleeping late (7AM). After breakfast we went
for a walk. We walked up and down all the docks and stopped to visit with
some of our friends. We then went to the pool and although the wind was
strong the sun was still hot enough so that a swim felt refreshing. We all
had a siesta after lunch. There was a meeting of Seven Seas Sailing
Association at the marina the same time that we had agreed to visit and have
Happy Hour aboard Promesa. We skipped the meeting and had a lovely evening
with Blanca and Leo. It was a nice way to spend the first day of the year.
It was definitely cold here and there was no way I was jumping in the pool at 6:30 in the morning. We slept until 7AM and then listened to the Cruisers Net at 7:45AM. Our ears perked up when they announced that we had won the prize for the best decorated boat in the Marina (3 free days at dock). After breakfast we took a taxi to Exito which is a Venezuela style Walmart. We wanted to pick up some new sneakers for a trip we’re taking tomorrow. When we arrived at Exito we found they were closed for inventory. We had the taxi continue on and stop at a hardware store for Rick and then we headed downtown. The sneakers we found cost about $6 US so we bought 3 pairs one for each of us.
We walked to El Morroco, a restaurant that we’ve heard was great. We were a little concerned that we weren’t dressed properly for eating there but because it was lunchtime rather than dinner, we were fine. We had a lovely meal and hope to visit again before Kelly leaves.
When we returned to the boat Kelly went and lounged by the pool (it was still too chilly for us). Rick and I removed the Christmas lights in 30 to 35 Knots of wind. Leo came by and loaned us a spare USB/Serial port adapter he had. It worked well and now we can start catching up on over a months worth of emails. We went to the restaurant for Happy Hour. It was a goodbye get together for most. While we’re away on a land trip this weekend, Promesa is flying to Colombia to visit with Blanca’s family. Sirena is going to Merida for a week and they will take Vivian, their daughter to Caracas to catch her flight on their way back. Distant Drummer, whose family has only been here one week, is leaving tomorrow morning.
We were up and ready to go by 8:45 this morning. We met Karioke and
Decibel at the east gate of the Marina where Andrés was to pick us up.
Andrés was our tour guide for the weekend. Since it was a long drive we
were pleased to see that he drove a comfortable Mercedes Benz van. We
drove past Mochima National Park towards Cumana and the Golfo de Cariaco.
We stopped at a couple of craft huts on our way. One place that we stopped
at sold Empanadas and Naiboa. Naiboa are flat round cakes served with
boiled sugar cane between them. We stopped in Cumana and toured the fort
which was nice but very similar to the one in La Assuncion Margarita. In
Miraflores we
had lunch at a Venezuelan cafe and Andrés found a place that makes Cachapa which is mashed fresh corn cooked as a pancake on a griddle served with
cheese between two of the pancakes. I loved it so we stopped at the booth
and the ladies let me try grinding the corn. We then did some trekking
along and across the Miraflores River. The scenery was beautiful but none
of us had realized that crossing the river a few times meant literally walking
through the water (rapids) 7 times (14 times in total). The current was
strong and because we were quite high in the mountains the water was cold.
It was the type of hiking that Rick and I enjoy (easy) but Kelly didn’t like to
cross in the cold water so we stopped at the third crossing and let the others
go
ahead to view the canyon at the end. We were there on a weekend and it
was fascinating to see all of the Venezuelan families that were there picnicking
beside the river for the weekend.
Our drive continued through sugar cane and coffee country until a little
after 6 PM when we arrived in Caripe and went directly to the Guacharo Cave.
The cave takes it’s name from the oil (Guacharo in spanish) bird. The
birds are cave-dwelling birds which prefer darkness. They are the only
nocturnal birds that feed on fruit. It was supposed to be impressive to
see all 18,000 of them leave the cave at sundown. They make a
terrible racket as they’re leaving and they all return by 5AM. We had
envisioned the 18,000 all trying to leave the cave at the same time, but they
don’t. They leave
in groups of about 14 so their leaving wasn’t that
impressive but the noise was. While we sat and waited for them to exit,
Andrés served us champagne. We left the caves and went for dinner at a
small Venezuela Restaurant. Rick had rabbit, Kelly had chicken and I had Pabellon Creollo, which is the staple dish in Venezuela and consists of shredded
meet, fried plantain, rice, black beans, white farmers cheese and Arepas.
After dinner we drove a short distance to the Hacienda where we were staying.
Rick, Kelly and I shared a stone built cabana, which had a loft bedroom for two
and bunk beds on the first level with a kitchenette in the same room as the bunk
beds. It was basic, unique and comfortable. There were a lot of
Venezuelans staying at the Hacienda for the weekend and they partied until well
after I fell asleep.
We had a nice breakfast in the Hacienda dining area. Kelly and Aby were
anxious to go riding. They only had 3 horses available so Jim (Aby’s dad),
Aby and Kelly were ready and waiting when they brought the horses out.
They were small but sturdy island horses. The threesome went to leave and
was told that the young boys would lead them on foot. The girls were very
disappointed but Jim said he was actually embarrassed. They literally led
them around like children on a pony ride. They went down a driveway and
back up. That was it! We got our things together and got in the van
to go back to the Guacharo Cave. The entrance to the cave is at an
altitude of 1, 065 meters. The mouth of the cave is 23 meters high and 28
meters wide. The tourists are allowed to go in the first 1500 meters of
the cave which is over 10 kilometers deep. In the interior of the cave
there are masses of Stalactites and Stalagmites.
It was awesome being in
the cave. As we walked through we could hear and see some of the birds in
their nests eventually we made it through the Gallery of Silence to the Precioso
Hall. The entrance to the Gallery of Silence is too small for the birds to
get in as they like a lot of room to fly so there are no birds past this point.
It becomes very quite from there on. When we left the cave we all stepped
into the small stream to wash the mud from our shoes. We stopped and
bought a few things at the craft shop and then went for lunch at La Solana
before driving home through the "Llanos de Guanipa" to see the oil fields.
It was 7PM by the time we arrived back at the marina.
We didn’t have much on board for breakfast this morning so Rick went
foraging. The first stop at 7:30 AM was the Mini Mart. He found
there had been a yogurt delivery while we were gone. We all love the
yogurt because it is home-made, fruit bottomed, thick and tasty.
The pool is normally closed on Mondays but because of the holiday season they
have been trying to keep it open longer. The men cleaned it first thing in
the morning and it was opened before noon. Kelly went to work on her tan
and we joined her later for a swim. At lunchtime we asked the restaurant
to bring our meals to our table at the pool. After lunch we returned to
the boat and I worked on updating my journal entries in the
computer while Kelly
and Rick had a siesta. We went to the pot luck dinner and took along some
chocolate and coffee liquors we had purchased on our trip yesterday. They
were a hit and when it was time to leave, both bottles were empty.
We had nothing planned for today so we spent the morning at the pool. During the afternoon Kelly lounged in the hammock on board the boat, Rick tried to play catch-up by answering some of our emails from the last 1 1/2 months and I fell asleep in the cockpit.
We all jumped a bit when we heard something fall on the deck. It was Kelly! Rick had just put the hammock back up this morning as we had taken it down before going away on the weekend. It appears the foot end of the hammock slipped. Kelly was surprised but unhurt. We had a few laughs but it was time to get up and get ready to go out. We went to Tio Pepe a seafood restaurant on Paseo Colon. It was a great meal with excellent service. We all had Caesar salad and then Kelly and I ordered the mixed seafood platter while Rick had a filet of Red Snapper. There was way too much food. Kelly and I should have shared. We asked to take our leftovers home. When we returned to the marina Kelly opened the kitty bag and served a couple of our guard cats a gourmet meal. Before going to bed I tried to send our email out on the Ham radio but the electrical interference at dock made it impossible.
After breakfast Rick and Kelly put the dinghy in the water and Rick filled
the gas tank. When he finished he came below and announced that he had hit
his head on the out board engine which was still on the stern rail. He
wasn’t badly hurt but he did have a small cut. We gave him some ice for
his forehead and had him lay down for a few minutes. I offered to staple
the cut closed for him but he declined. Kelly and I then welcomed him into
the Harry Potter club.
When the dinghy was ready to go we went to the Mare Mares Resort where we
docked it while we walked around the Caribbean Mall. When we had
tired of
window-shopping we went for lunch at an Italian Restaurant Rick and I had been
to before. Lunch was great but very filling. We returned to Mare
Mares after lunch and spent the afternoon in the pool until it was time to
change for the (free) Wednesday cocktail party. Afterwards we dinghies
back in the dark with Windmiller and Cheshire Cat.
We were almost ready to go when we got a message that Andrés had been trying to find us last night. He had left a note on the bow of our boat but because we had traveled by dinghy we didn’t climb on over the bow. He was supposed to have taken some other cruisers and us to Los Altos this morning. The following is a copy of his note and it was impossible to be upset.
Buenas noches, Dear family
Dona Carolina, my hart [heart] is in a million pieces. Because in my company we have a broken vehicle I most [must] work here tomorro [tomorrow]. So Alto Santa Fe tour is canceled [cancelled]. Sorry!
Please talk to Jaime he has a solution for Friday.
Enjoy your stay
Sincerely w/ love
Andres
Everything and everyone is rebooked for tomorrow. Meanwhile we made today another pool day. In the evening we had a lovely dinner of Lomito, plantain and potatoes at El Ancla.
This was Kelly’s last full day in Puerto La Cruz. Rick wasn’t feeling
well so Kelly and I went on our tour to Los Altos without him. We expected
the tour to be a half day but we left at 9AM and didn’t return until almost 5PM.
It was a wonderful tour but a lot of the artisans we visited didn’t have much to
sell. They had been cleaned out over Christmas. Many gave us a tour
and demonstration. We stopped for lunch at a posada that had great food and
some interesting pet animals most ran free. We played with a monkey who
was friends with a few parrots. We also saw an agouti and ocelot.
Before leaving to continue our tour we hiked up a huge hill to check out the
view.
When we returned Rick was feeling a little better. He was into his peanut butter again.
Kelly and I went to El Ancla Restaurant for dinner and entertainment.
They had a live band performing. The band played and sang every type of
music. It was enjoyable but we didn’t stay very late.
This was Kelly’s last day with us. She packed her suitcase in the morning so that it was ready to go. Although it was half the size and weight from when she arrived, most of what she had to carry home was still ours not hers. I think she could have carried all of her things in an overnight bag. She got settled in at the pool while I finished making a few backup CD’s for her to take with her. Later, we met and went to El Ancla for her last morning jugo (fresh fruit juice) and my café con leché. Alexander (the waiter who spoils us) brought my coffee with a couple of little flowers on the saucer.
We spent the rest of the morning with Rick at the pool and it was after 1PM when we finally went for lunch again at El Ancla. We had lots of time after lunch to shower and change before 5PM when Potter (our taxi driver) was to pick us up. When we were ready and had maneuvered the suitcase off the bow of the boat onto the dock we wheeled it up to the restaurant where we had one last beer together before she left. At about 4:45PM Arnoldo, the dockmaster, came up to us and said Moonrise was trying to reach us on the radio. He gave us his handheld to use and Moonrise let us know that Potter had called to say he’d be at the gate in a few minutes. We thanked everyone and headed for the gate. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and since Kelly was only going to Caracas tonight she didn’t have to go through customs or any major security check. Once she was through the gate we had Potter take us back to the marina. We went straight to El Ancla and had a drink while we watched the clock. Joan and Dan (Mainly) joined us and we discussed how hard it is to watch our family members leave us. (Their sons had come for a visit in November). I informed everyone when Kelly’s fight was taking off, when her flight landed and approximately when she had arrived at her hotel for the evening. Once I felt she was safely in her hotel we returned to and empty boat and read for a while before going to sleep.
It seemed extremely quite when we awoke. It wasn’t just the fact that Kelly wasn’t here. There was no wind. The day became sunny and hot early in the morning. I tidied the boat, which seemed very empty and Rick ran the engine for a while.
We went for lunch at El Ancla where Maria Elana (Roberto’s wife) promised to make us cachapas for lunch. Robert was to bring nice fresh ingredients when he arrived. It was almost 1PM when he finally made his appearance but he had forgotten the cachapa makings. He was sent out shopping and didn’t return for almost a half hour but when he did, he had grocery bags with him. It was almost 2:30PM when we finally got our lunch but it was worth the wait. Since it was Sunday, dominoes began at 1PM. We had planned to play but watching all of the effort going on to ensure we had our cachapas we didn’t feel we should leave our table and move to a game table so we sat and people watched.
After lunch we returned to the boat and watched a movie in the afternoon.
First thing in the morning Rick and I dropped off humongous amounts of dirty laundry. We had a nice surprise though, the laundry lady was caught up. Our laundry would be ready same day. It had gotten to the point that she was so overloaded it was taking three days over Christmas and New Years. I had a café con leché with Bob and Marta who arrived back from Merida last night. I thought it was unusual for them to be up so early but then I learned that they hadn’t been to sleep. They had dropped their daughter Vivian off at the Caracas International airport terminal last night. They then had to go to the National terminal to catch their flight back to Puerto La Cruz. After arriving in Puerto La Cruz (Barcelona) they learned that Vivian’s flight had been delayed and had still not taken off. They were very concerned that she might be stuck in Caracas without a taxi or prearranged hotel for the night but they had no way to reach her. After numerous calls to the airline, family, friends, Vivian’s cell phone etc. etc. they still had no idea what was happening. The phones to the airline closed at 5PM. This went on all night and in the morning they were able to learn that she had made it as far as Miami but had been there overnight. While we were having our coffee she was on her way to Washington.
All this to say that this whole conversation was making me concerned as to whether Kelly had made it home ok. I hadn’t been able to connect and receive email from the boat late last night or this morning because there was too much electrical interference for the SSB radio. The computers in our little Internet café have not been working for a while now. I decided it was a good day to take some pictures in the canal and dinghy to Plaza Mayor where I could check my email. Sure enough, there was a note from Kelly saying that she had arrived back in Toronto with no problems. I could relax and shop.
We picked up a few groceries and returned to the marina. While I made a large bowl of potato salad for the potluck dinner Rick picked up the laundry. We are not normally fans of hot dogs but there wasn’t a lot of fresh meat at the grocery store. There was however some great big Oscar Myer wieners so we barbecued hot dogs.
I had arranged for Rick and I to go on a shopping trip with Andres today. This was a regular Tuesday morning trip to 4 or 5 stores. For some reason I thought it left at 9:30AM so we missed the bus by about 5 minutes. It left at 9AM. No problem, I discovered that the first stop was at EPA (a Home Depot type of store). Rick and I grabbed a cab and caught up with them. We bought a few things in EPA, looked around in the Auto and Boat Store, which was our next stop but made most of our purchases in Exito. Our final stop was at Fiorca Plaza when there is another grocery store and a nice bakery.
When we returned to the boat we used one of our new purchases, a sandwich grill. I made some nice ham and cheese sandwiches to go with left over potato salad for lunch. In the afternoon, Rick read and I decided to try napping in a hammock that we had purchased for Kelly’s visit. I fell asleep quickly but found the sun was soon sneaking under the awning and it was getting warm. I moved below into the cabin and eventually tried to catch up on more email.
There was a general announcement on the radio this morning. The water in the marina was going to be turned off for 1 to 2 days. Everyone filled their water tanks. The lavandería (laundry) announced that they would be closing at noon. We had nothing planned for the day so we just stayed on board. Rick polished some stainless steel while I tidied and tried to catch up with some more email. While I was playing on the computer a wonderful thing happened. I found the Canadian English language and dictionary set-up for windows XP. My sister will be very pleased that the spell check will now allow me to use “Double L’s” in words like travelling and the “U” won’t be deleted when I talk about my “favourite” places.
We had all our meals on board and watched a movie in the evening.
I slept really late this morning (7:30AM) but I was up in time to listen to the Net. Wow! It was announced that there is still sufficient water in the river for anyone wishing to see Angel Falls. Often the water in the river at this time of the year is too low for the canoes to get up the river to the falls. I went and booked our trip immediately. We leave tomorrow morning at 6:30AM. Since I’m not taking my laptop this means that I’m back to writing my journal manually and won’t be able to send it out until I return.
Poor Rick had to dig down into our storage under the aft bunk to find the bags where we stored socks and sweat suits. Somewhere along the line we must have got rid of our sweat suits and not updated our inventory (How could this happen?). They were only needed to sleep in so we’ll make due with long pants for Rick and I have a pair of long sleeved/legged pajamas that I’ve been carrying around for a couple of years. Now will be an opportunity to finally wear them. I sent out as much email as possible again today and gathered things together and packed for our land trip. We went for dinner and movie night at the El Ancla Restaurant.
I’ll update you on the trip as soon as possible when we return.
The alarm was set for 5AM but I was awake in time to turn it off before it
sounded. We had breakfast and were ready and waiting for Jaime at the gate
by 6:20AM. He arrived with two taxis at exactly 6:30AM. One was for
us and the other for a Dutch couple named Maria and Kees. They were
staying at the marina around the corner from Bahia Redonda and we would be
travelling together. Jaime went with us to the bus terminal and helped us
board the correct bus. It was a very comfortable air-conditioned bus that
we would be on for 4 hours. We stopped for a break in a small town about
9AM. Rick and I were both chuckling that the service onboard the bus was
better than on most airplanes. One by one some vendors came aboard, one
was selling cookies, another had chips and water, there was fresh popcorn
available as well. We went
for the fried plantain strips.
We arrived in Ciudad Bolivar at 11AM and our guide Bladimir was at the bus
terminal to meet us. He took us to the Hotel Laja Real where we would
spend the night. It was a nice hotel, the rooms were basic but very clean
and it was right across the street from the small airport we would fly from.
There was a great restaurant in the hotel where we had a light lunch but saved
ourselves for dinner. Bladimir suggested we take a boat trip up the
Orinoco River to see the pink fresh water dolphins that swim there. We did
and we saw lots of the dolphins but just like their salt-water relatives they
move too quickly to capture on a digital camera. The water level in the
river was down about 25 metres
from the rainy season level. Shores that
are under water during the rainy season stretch back as farm fields. The
locals claim this land when the water recedes and plant crops like corn, beans
and watermelon etc. which we could see where already starting to mature.
We stopped at a small island that is only above water during dry season.
There we searched for and found a lot of bird eggs laid in sand nests. As
we walked around the island looking for the nests of eggs the birds were diving
out of the sky at us. We didn’t stay there long and climbed back in our
boat to return to town. There is a great suspension bridge across the
river that reminds me of the bridges across the Hudson River in New York.
When we returned to shore Bladimir left the four of us to wander through the downtown. Since it was late Friday afternoon, the town was starting to bustle. We took a taxi back to the hotel before dark and agreed to meet at 7PM for dinner.
Ciudad Bolivar to Canaima. Bladimir met us in the hotel lobby at
7:30AM. He walked us across the street to the airport. We were
flying in a Cessna 206 which is a little single engine plane that holds five
people plus the pilot. A man named Casper joined us. He was with a
group of five other people so their plane was full. Soto who was our
piloto, made me the co-pilota and I sat up front beside him. We had a
great flight but there were too many clouds to try flying over Angel Falls.
He pointed out a lot of interesting landmarks on our way. During the
flight I tried to ensure that all co-pilota responsibilities were completed
correctly. I told everyone that there was no smoking allowed in the
washroom (which we didn’t have) but later when I asked them
to return to their
seats, fasten their seat belts and raise their tray, they laughed. There
is absolutely no way to get out of your seat unless you want to walk on a wing
and there were definitely no trays. When I could see the runway ahead, I
instructed our piloto to put the wheels down. He looked out the window and
said that they were already down. Then when I said flaps down, he told me
not yet, it was too soon, but to give the order a little closer to the runway.
We were having so much fun that the one hour flight seemed that it was over in
no time.
We arrived in Canaima at 9:30AM. And our Canaima guide Jorge
(pronounced Horhay) met us at the airport. We climbed into the back of a 4
wheel pickup truck and travelled about 4 blocks into the village. Canaima
is a Pemon Indian Village. The houses are all well constructed of stone or
block with stucco. The Indians have their own hydro power plant in the
lagoon so all houses in the village have electricity and running water. No
one in the village uses beds. Everyone sleeps in hammocks. Our camp
consisted of a large block building with one side completely open. Near
the open side, many hammocks were strung and there was a large eating table in
the other area. There was a big kitchen and a couple of washrooms.
We each chose a hammock in which to sleep and set our backpacks on the floor
next to the hammocks. Normally there would be
35 to 40 people in the camp.
Tonight there would be only four of us.
Rick and I went for a walk to the lagoon. The water in the lagoon is
some of the purest water in the world but it is almost the colour of a cola soft
drink. The colour is caused by all of the iron in the ground. There
are also beautiful white
sand beaches. The beaches come from the abundance of sandstone. In
some places I saw some nice pink sand which I can only guess is a combination of
both. The scenery in and around the lagoon was beautiful. There were
palm trees growing in the water. These are very old palm trees that were
there long before a dam was built downstream. There are six waterfalls in
the lagoon (Salto Ucaima, Salto Golondrina, Salto Wadaima, Salto Hacha, Salto El
Sapo and Salto Sapito) and I think each of them is as spectacular as Niagara
Falls. We walked along the beach where the children were playing while the
mothers were washing their laundry. There were three little girls who
giggled and smiled as we walked by. Two little naked brothers rushed
toward us to show the pet parrot they were carrying. Two other young girls
had each just picked a flower that they held up to
show us.
We returned to the camp in time for lunch and a short siesta (in the
hammock). After lunch Jorge arranged for us to meet him at the lagoon at
2:30PM. He then took us in one of the canoes (which are called curiara in
the Pemon language). The canoes are amazing boats that are constructed
from a single tree. They are burnt and hollowed out which causes the wood
to spread wider. Most range from about 45 to 55 feet long. They have
an extremely thick hull, which makes them very safe over shallow areas of the
river. In our canoe we went past the first four water falls and our driver
left us at a small island. There Jorge led us on an easy hike up and
through
the forest to Salto el Sapo. On the way he pointed out many unique
plants and trees and explained their uses. One that fascinated me was the
Topcoca plant (scientific name Melastomatacea). It is a plant with large
buds. The buds are homes for small ants. The ants and the plant are
symbiotic. As soon as anything touches the leaf of the plant the ants come
charging out to attack the insects or animals.
When we reached the Salto el Sapo we walked under the falls to the other side
where we climbed to the top of the falls. At the top we walked across a
natural bridge formed from rocks. This wouldn’t be possible in the rainy
season as the
water would be deeper and flow over rather than under the bridge.
We sat at the top of the falls for a while a watched a green parrot that was busy taking over a termite nest. We walked back across a savannah area rather than through the forest.
When we returned to the canoe, the driver took us to shore a little distance
from where we had originally started so that we could visit a couple of small
native stores I had heard about. As we walked to the stores we saw
monkeys, parrots and even a baby wild boar. These birds and animals seemed
to be pets rather than wild as the baby wild boar was wearing a red collar and
when I reach down to touch his coarse coat of hair, he laid down like a dog for
me to pet
him. After that he followed by my side even into the store where
he seemed at home. Walking from the stores to the camp we saw a couple of
very large red and green macaws high up in the trees and a red-billed toucan
flying through the trees. We passed a couple of children on our way and
they both said “Wakuperu” (both u’s in the word have a couple of dots above them
but I don’t know how to make my keyboard do that). Wakuperu means Hello,
in the Pemon language.
Back at the camp we had a nice dinner and then hit the hammocks.
Rick who never snores, snurked last night. When Kees, Maria and I got
in our hammocks, Rick who was a little ahead of us was snurking so loudly we
thought we’d never get to sleep. I use the word snurking because that’s
what Kees called it. I have no idea how it is really spelled in Dutch but
I loved the sound of the word so that’s what we now call it.
This village was another place where the roosters seem to be very confused. I’m sure that a rooster crowed and woke me at least 4 times during the night.
Breakfast was served at 8AM after a great night sleep (the snurking stopped
after the first half hour). It consisted of scrambled eggs and ham with a
wonderful light bread that tasted more like an unsweetened donut. I asked
the cook what it was and he called it a “domplin”. He gave me the recipe
but he didn’t really measure things so I’ll have to play with the ingredients
back at the boat to try and duplicate it.
A little after 9AM some new members of our group arrived. Claudia and Bernard flew in this morning. They were Swiss so we were a small but international group.
We all walked to the lagoon and then above the falls where our backpacks were
already being loaded into the dugout canoe. Since there were only six of us,
only one canoe was required for the gear and people. We all wore life
jackets to go up some heavy-duty rapids on the Rio Carrao.
We soon learned
that those were the first of many rapids we were to climb. The canoe was
about 50 feet long with a 45 HP motor. There was the driver, his wife and
his two young children, a crew of one man with a large paddle at the bow and our
guide. On our way to Salto Angel we used the word spectacular so many
times it was ridiculous. It was used not only for the view but for the
skill of our driver as well. He not only took us up and over rapids and
mini waterfalls but through unimaginable rocks as well. The hull of the
dugout canoe was so thick and well constructed, we all felt very safe.
Well, all except Claudia who left her fingerprints imbedded in the seat.
We hit bottom many times but usually the boat would just bump and slide over the
rocks. In the middle of one set of rapids, Jorge
had to jump out and help
push us sideways to get us free from some rocks. Although the captain kept
the kickup on the outboard and would push us towards the rapids with short
bursts of power before raising the engine we did have to stop so he could
replace the propeller. You could tell he had done this many times because
the paddle man calmly prevented us from turning sideways as we drifted quickly
back towards some rapids. It took him no longer than one minute to put the
prop on and have the engine back in the water. When we reached the Rio Churun where the water got shallower the rapids became almost non stop. We
squeezed through huge rocks that towered above us. It was 70 kilometres to
our camp at the base of the falls so we stopped for a shore lunch on the way.
When we did reach the camp Jorge took the others on a 3 hour hike closer to the
falls. He had explained to us that it was a strenuous hike and difficult
climb. I had already seen three people (in better shape than I) back in
the village with nasty injuries. One had his wrist broken in two places
and two others had hurt their knees when they fell going on this same hike.
I didn’t think I should try it so I wimped out and stayed at the camp where the
cook made me some coffee. I had a little dip in the pure but cola coloured
water and then lay in my hammock and fell asleep while looking
at the falls.
When I awoke I watched the driver clean and cut some chickens in half and place
three halves each on a large spear. He added a little spice and then just
stuck the spears in ground beside the fire. Eventually the gang returned
totally exhausted but all in one piece. Rick said that it was wise I
hadn’t attempted the climb. He found it difficult to keep up and it was
only a half hour before dark when they returned.
After dinner everyone hit the hammocks before 8:30PM.
Last night before going to bed Jorge asked if I normally woke up early.
When I said that both Rick and I are normally up with the sun he asked if I
would shake his hammock at 6AM he wanted an early start to make arepas for
breakfast. He showed me which hammock and I counted from ours to make sure
I had the right one. At 6AM on the dot I very quietly walked over through
the sand and shook his hammock. He didn’t stir. I waited about 5
minutes and shook it again, still nothing. One more time 5 minutes later
and I was ready to give up.
Meanwhile Kees had gotten up so I took him
through the forest a short distance to see a different view of the falls.
No matter which way we looked at it early in the morning it was covered in
clouds. When we returned to the camp it was 6:30AM and I decided this was
getting ridiculous! I shook the hammock one more time and when I got no response
this time I tried to quietly call his name. As soon as he heard me he
jumped out of his hammock, which was next to the one I had been shaking.
With all of the laughter, poor Bernard who happened to have been in the wrong
hammock at the wrong time then poked his head out from under the blanket and
mosquito netting. As I was profusely apologizing to him for my mistake, I
woke his wife Claudia and for good measure everyone else that was still sleeping
was then awakened by all the laughter. The cook jumped up pretty quickly
and got the coffee
started for everyone. Jorge when he did finally get to
make the arepas explained step by step what he was doing. Even though he
didn’t measure a thing I think I could successfully make arepas now.
After breakfast we got our things together and climbed into the canoe for our trip back. Try and picture white water rafting in a dugout canoe and that’s what we were doing. It was great fun but the most amazing part was when we came to the rocks that are about two stories high. We had just barely squeezed the canoe through all of the rocks and bends around them. On our return trip we did it in reverse. We literally backed through the rocks with everyone ducking and helping to hold off (not push off) because we were just about wedged in there with our heads all ducked down below the ledge of the rocks.
We were making great time so stopped at some small waterfalls for a swim and
a Kodak moment. We also did another prop change today and I learned that
when we were stuck yesterday we didn’t damage the prop. At this time of
year because the water is so low in the Rio Churum, the captain knew that we
were going to bump along the rocks going through all of the rapids so he put an
old prop on yesterday. As we were almost out of the Rio Churum and into
the Rio Carrao he took the old prop off and put the new one back on again.
We weren’t finished with all the rapids yet but there was significant flat water
between rapids now that he could make better time with a good prop. When
we were almost back to the village we were taken ashore for a good hike
across
the savannah area which was really hot as it was almost lunchtime. I asked
Jorge if we were taking this walk because we were ahead of schedule or if the
captain was concerned about the last set of rapids and wanted to go through them
without us aboard. He said it was neither, a friend of the captains who
lives in this area had shot a Tapir and had offered him a leg of tapir. He
went to pick it up and drop it at his place before picking us up for the last
stretch.
Back in the village we returned to our first camp and had lunch. Before leaving for our plane we had a quick shower and changed. I really enjoyed the village of Canaima and would love to have spent more time there. It was the first area we have found in Venezuela that the homes and buildings don’t have bars on their doors and windows.
Our flight back to Ciudad Bolivar was good. Bladimir arrived at the
airport about 5 minutes after us. He took us to the bus station, showed
us where our bus would pull in and we waited for about 45 minutes for it to
arrive. It was late when we arrived back in the marina and we were both
tired. We stopped at El Ancora Restaurant but they were in the process of
closing. Roberto felt bad that they couldn’t make dinner for us. He
asked if we had any bread on board. I didn’t so he gave us a couple of
baguettes and wouldn’t let us pay. In fact he wanted to give us some
tomatoes and cheese as well but I assured him that I had some on board. I
made us a quick sandwich and we both went to bed.
First thing in the morning after the net, I walked down the dock to Promesa. Blanca and Leo had arrived back from Colombia last night and we were anxious to hear about their trip. After a quick discussion we agreed to meet and Rick and I would have a café con leché at the restaurant while Leo and Blanca had breakfast. We wanted to hear all about their trip and they wanted to hear about ours. By the time we all finished telling about our travels and we were ready to leave it was after 12PM. Rick said we should sit back down and order lunch but we decided to wait until sometime after 2:30PM. We all went back to our boats and finished a few chores before meeting again. This time it was after 5PM when we finished so we agreed to meet on our boat at 7PM and watch a slide show of each other’s pictures. I popped some popcorn. Blanca and I had some red wine while the guys drank beer watching the picture show in the cockpit. It was great to have them back. It was after 10PM when we all started yawning and decided to call it a night.
We started the day with great intentions of working all day. It was about 10:30 when Kees and Ria arrived at our boat. They had come by dinghy from their marina. It was so nice to see them and I suggested we have a coffee at the El Ancla Restaurant. While we were there Leo was walking by so we invited him to join us. A little while later Blanca came looking for Leo so she joined us too. It was a fun to watch Leo, Kees and Ria all gabbing away in Dutch. It was after 12PM when we decided we had better get back to work. Kees and Ria invited all of us to their boat in the evening to look at the video of our trip.
We all returned to our boats and Rick started working on refinishing some of the interior teak. He got the wood around the companionway stripped. I got caught up with my journal entries. At 2:30 we met Blanca and Leo for lunch at the restaurant and not much work was accomplished after that.
It was just before 6PM, we picked up our clean laundry and then met Blanca and Leo again. We walked out of our marina and crossed the street to visit Kees and Ria on their boat Mariele, at the marina next door to us.
We had a wonderful evening and it was almost 9:30PM when we left.
We finally got into getting some things done on the boat today. Rick did a great job of prepping most of the teak in the companionway and galley that he wants to refinish. We were also able to get a good radio connection which allowed me to again catch up on email and journal entries.
We had lunch at the Ancla and returned in the evening for pizza and a movie. We have no idea who selected the movie for this night but a lot of us left part way through it was so bad.
Rick was hard at work with still prepping the wood first thing in the morning. I worked on recipe updates for the web site. There are quite a few new ones. Kees and Ria stopped by late in the morning to say hello. Rick and I had lunch at the Ancla and then we went with Blanca and Leo to the large Auto and Boat Centre. We all roamed aisle by aisle throughout the store and bought a few things. Rick and I bought some hydrofoil fins for the dinghy outboard. Before leaving the area we walked to EPA and the guys roamed through that store but didn’t spend any money.
We returned to the marina in time for happy hour. Although we started out at a table for four, we eventually had company. Derek (Dream Weaver), Chuck (Manana), Marci and Rod (Windmiller) as well as Deirdre and Mike (Cheshire Cat) joined Blanca, Leo, Rick and me. It was a fun get together. When we all noticed that Blanca was sitting in her chair sound asleep we decided to call it a night. It was well after 7:30PM.
Today was my birthday and Rick began by taking me for a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs at the Ancla Restaurant. We returned to the boat and worked on a few chores until 1:30PM. We had arranged to meet Blanca and Leo for a special lunch/dinner. First however, Rick and Leo want to take us (the women) to a marine store we hadn’t visited before. The four of us took a taxi to an area called the Lecheria. Since we had the address of the marine store it didn’t take us too long to find it but because it was Saturday afternoon the store was closed. I was so disappointed! Roaming a new marine store has always been something I’ve hoped to be able to do on my birthday. It’s something that every women pines for. We all put our faces right up to the glass and peered through trying to see at least some of the shackles and cleaners I might have wanted to purchase. Eventually we gave up and flagged down another taxi to take us to El Picador Restaurant. It was a little early when we arrived at the restaurant but the place was already hopping. We had a couple of drinks and eventually got around to placing our orders, Rick and I decided to try a sirloin steak. Blanca and Leo ordered lomito, which is fillet of beef and normally the only beef, that’s guaranteed tender here. Since this restaurant specialized in beef we thought we’d take a chance. The sirloin steak was extremely tender and tasty but I think there was enough meat to feed many more people than were present at our table. Each steak must have been 1½ inches thick and 6 x 16 inches. We each ended up taking a huge doggy bag back to the boat with us and feeding the leftovers to the cats.
We all retired to our own boats for a siesta. Blanca and Leo had invited us to have dessert onboard Promesa at 6pm. We had a wonderful evening. Blanca baked a pineapple upside-down cake and had a sufficient number of candles burning on it. She served us a sparkling sangria (one of my favourites) and some nice wine. We had brought a bottle of wine as well but when we opened it, everyone decided it was not a good bottle and over the side it went. That was unusual because we buy that particular brand of wine frequently. It was quickly replaced with another bottle that was fine. We had a nice evening and it was quite late when we returned to the boat and went to bed.
I slept late this morning and woke with a start at 7:45 to find Rick already
applying Cetol to the teak he had prepped in the galley and companionway.
I had only had half a cup of coffee when Dorothy from Windbrel came rattling our
chain. She had planned a trip today and because Susan and Bob on Pipe
Dream were not feeling well she had a couple of extra seats. Would we like
to come? Rick was already well involved in his project for the day so I
called Blanca to see if she would be interested. She wanted to work on the
boat as well. So I went and let everyone else
stay behind and work.
It was a neat trip. We were going to visit churches. I quickly
ironed a dress and made it to the gate in time to meet Carlos with his driver
and van. I realized afterward that I had forgotten to make breakfast for
both Rick and myself. I knew he would fend for himself but I was stuck
until we stopped near a store.
The first church we visited was outside of Barcelona on our way to Piritu.
It was called Capilla Jose and had an interesting story associated with it.
Jose was the first person to ever win a lawsuit against the government in
Venezuela. The government had wanted to confiscate his land for the gas
wells. He fought and won. The government now pays him rent for many
hectares of land. He
donates at lot of the money to charity and in 1994 he
built the church for the people in the area of his hacienda near Piritu.
It replaced an existing small one. Providing the church to the people was
his way of showing his gratitude for winning the lawsuit.
The second church was located in Piritu and was called Nuetra Senora de la
Conception. Carlos had to arrange to have the church opened for us because
Mass was over and the Priest had gone to another church. This church was
over 400 years old and use to be a fort. There is a large well at the
church with an underground tunnel. This tunnel is full of water and goes
quite a distance to another location in town. The Spanish settlers used it
to escape from the Carib Indians when they overpowered
the fort.
We stopped at a large local restaurant for lunch and I ordered a cachapa con queso (a corn pancake with cheese). Next door to the restaurant was a cheese factory and we were able to watch the men making cheese. The Venezuelan cheese is very different from the cheese we know from home. Some of the soft cheese here is boiled and stretched over and over as though it was pizza dough.
We then travelled a short distance to another town to visit The Virgin de Los Clarines. Again the church doors were closed but Carlos had one of
the locals run and find someone to let us in. A cute little altar boy
arrived
after a short wait and opened the doors for us. This church was
409 years old. The inside of each of the churches including this one was
beautiful but the outside of this church appeared to be in need of a paint job.
The young boy then explained to us that the outside had been painted just over a
year ago but it all peeled off.
The last church on our way back to Puerto La Cruz was the Iglesia de San Celestino Cathedral de Barcelona. This church was 490 years old. Our timing was perfect for arriving at this church. There were at least 50 young people lined up waiting for the doors to open. They were having first communion lessons. The doors opened minutes after our arrival and we were invited to go in with the young people.
Not only was the tour of the churches interesting but I learned something
else as well. In each village, town or city we visited there was always a
Plaza Bolivar. What I learned today was that the statue of Bolivar in each
of the squares represents the size of the town or city. In small towns
there is normally only a bust or head of Bolivar. When we see a full size
statue of Bolivar standing we now know we are in a fair size town. If
however the statue is of Bolivar on his horse, the Plaza is in a large city.
When we returned to the marina, I found Rick had finished his Cetol for today and Leo and Blanca had gone to Plaza Mayor to watch a movie. Rick and I went to the Ancla for dinner and were joined by Windmiller, Dream Weaver and Blueprint.
I awoke to the sound of Rick sanding again. He was hard at work a little after 7AM. It’s hard to do anything in the galley without touching wet Cetol so we had arepas for breakfast at the Ancla Restaurant. Frank (Distant Drummer) joined us and later Blanca and Leo sat down. It was cute when Frank disappeared for a few minutes. He came back with Irene, sat her down and told her she was his substitute while he had to leave and do something else. When we returned to the boat I got things together to take to the Internet Café in Plaza Mayor while Rick finished his last bit of Cetol for the day. We took a taxi to the mall as it was actually raining. Granted I think we got a total of 15 drops but that’s the first in a long time. We went to the internet café first and then went upstairs to the salon where we had our hair cut before Christmas. We both had a haircut. My cut was a little shorter than normal but we now take the approach that the difference between a good cut and a bad cut is two weeks. So I know that in about two weeks I’ll be happy with my cut.
We then went to Unicasa and picked up a few groceries for the potluck dinner tonight. We returned to the boat and I quickly made a bean salad and prepared some barbecue sauce for chicken that we bought. As we left the boat to go to the potluck, I found Charlie from Lady Diana sitting on the dock sketching our boat. He is a wonderful artist who is here on a short vacation. I saw some of his sketches yesterday and asked him to draw our boat but I didn’t expect him so soon. I was going to remove a few things from the deck for the picture however he said to leave them because this way it looks like a true cruising boat.
Every table was full in the barbecue area and the selection of food was wonderful. Spice Island Lady joined Promesa and us at a table. It had become a perfect evening as the clouds had dissipated and the wind had diminished. We returned to the boat about 8:30PM.
It was one of those days when we had to keep changing plans. Rick started out working with the Cetol again but Luis who cleans the bottom of our hull arrived. He had a new compressor so it took a few minutes to get him hooked up with an extension cord on our deck. Then each time we’d start on something we’d hear a tap tap on the hull. He brought us the zinc from our prop, which was in need of a replacement. He provided us with an estimate (as requested) for our next door neighbour Nanuo etc. etc. When he finished we both started working on our projects again then Promesa came by and asked if we wanted to go for a café con leché. Silly question! Rick was at a point with the Cetol that he couldn’t stop so I left him working and went with Promesa. Trio and Mischief joined us and by the time we finished coffee it was 12:30PM. I was returning to the boat but Rick had finished and was on his way to join us for lunch so I turned around and went back again. After lunch Rick took a siesta and I finally began reading the new Harry Potter book (The order of the Phoenix).
It was about 4:50PM when Promesa stopped by again to see if we wanted to join them for Happy Hour. Another silly question! We met at 5PM and then realised that Jaime (Our resident tour operator and guide) had called a meeting at 5:30PM (in the restaurant) to tell us about a trip he had put together for anyone interested in going to Machupicchu, Peru. We sat in and listened to all of the details and we are certainly interested but it’s still rainy season there so we’ll probably wait until March.
Meanwhile we’re trying to plan a trip to Merida in the Andes for next month. Puerto La Cruz is such a great location and there are so many things to see around here that it’s going to be difficult to fit everything in before we leave. When the meeting and Happy Hour finished it was almost a natural migration to move right into dinner. Joan and Dan (Mainly), Irene and Frank (Distant Drummer) joined Leo, Blanca and us for the rest of the evening. It was 9:30PM when we eventually left the restaurant to return to the boat.
We decided to go to Mare Mares tonight so since we had to splash the dink it seemed like a good time to visit the Dinghy Doctor. Rick walked over to the Dinghy Hospital and made a 9AM appointment for tomorrow morning. Our dinghy has had a very slow leak for at least the last 6 months and the Dinghy Doctor (true name, I’m not making this up) is supposed to be extremely good at finding and fixing these little leaks. It was also a good time to install the new hydrofoils we had purchased for the outboard engine. Everything was finished by mid morning which was when Sirena and Moonrise pulled back into the marina. It was nice to see them again. We joined Marta and Bob for lunch and later got a peek at the apartment they’ve rented. Their boat is going on the hard and they are having new gelcoat rather than awlgrip applied to the hull. They can’t stay aboard while this is being done so they rented one of the condos at Bahia Redonda. It’s a very small but nicely decorated unit. Really when you think about it any apartment is large compared to living on a boat.
We had a small siesta in the afternoon and then went with Leo and Blanca to Mare Mares for the free cocktail hour. Our trip there was not fun at the time but was certainly funny to discuss afterwards. I guess with the new hydrofoils something needs adjusting. We’re not sure if it’s the tilt of the engine or the dinghy cover but we were scooping up water over the pontoons (which are large) like crazy. Rick got soaked but in his attempt to keep me dry he suggested I sit on the fuel tank. I did but within a few minutes I could tell that he had just filled it before we left. It was difficult to appear the least bit formal at the cocktail party as his shorts were soaked and I smelled of gasoline. When we arrived at Mare Mares, both Rick and Leo allowed Blanca and I to gracefully climb and crawl out of the dinghies onto the concrete dock while they secured the dinghies. Talk about Mutt and Jeff! Leo almost tumbled three times overboard from his dinghy into the water. They secured them to the wall and tied them together. Rick then realised he had forgotten his dinghy lock. Leo came to the rescue and said he had his lock and would lock both dinghies together. The problem was that Leo had his lock but had forgotten his key. We just left them tied and went for a few drinks.
After the cocktail party we went indoors and Gayle from Fifth Season gave a special performance. She sang and played her harp (which she keeps onboard her boat). We had met her and her husband David in Grenada but I hadn’t heard her perform before. She was both an amazing harpist and singer.
I am pleased to say that our trip back through the canals in the dark was uneventful. Leo had forgotten to bring a light and we happened to have our flashlight (with a white plastic cup that we put over the flashlight) and our red flashing bicycle light that clips on to our clothing. So we were the engine of the train with the white light while Leo and Blanca were the caboose. They followed closely behind us with the red light all the way back to our own marina.
We were at the haulout ramp in time for our 9AM appointment with the Dinghy Doctor and he kept us waiting probably no more than 10 minutes. He had his assistants’ wheel a trailer down the ramp and then wheel the dinghy through the yard to the door of his office. Rick and I removed the dinghy cover and the doctor took one look and said “Oh, Oh, PVC.” We assured him that we had paid top dollar four years ago for an Aquapro HYPALON dinghy. He being the only dinghy doctor in the Caribbean with a PHD assured us that it was PVC. In fact he brought out a sample of both types of material to demonstrate. Since it was such a small leak in a seam he suggested that it would be wiser to leave it alone until it got worse. Opening a seam unnecessarily on a PVC dinghy is not a wise thing to do. We thanked him and took our dinghy back to the boat. It was time for a coffee break with Marta and Bob and when I finished that it was then time for coffee with Blanca.
Next on the to-do list was to have a small adjustment made to the dinghy cover since it was already off and the mainsail cover needed to be restitched. I took them both up to the North Sail office and they said they would have it done by 5PM same day.
After lunch with Leo and Blanca I was able to get one of the computers in the small internet café which is finally up and working again. It’s been out of commission since just after Christmas. I was able to surf for quite a while and found quite a few articles on Peru. I also checked the Aquapro web site and found it very interesting because they talked about Hypalon and Polymar but never explained which dinghies were which.
When we checked our small ownership and repair manual it wasn’t really clear there either. We can purchase a guaranteed Hypalon “Carib” dinghy in Venezuela for 1/3 of the price that we paid for our Aquapro four years ago so I guess we’re finished with Aquapro.
We later picked up our stuff from North Sails and returned to the boat for the rest of the day. We were very please with the work done on our sail cover. I had asked that they restitch the whole thing as the thread was rotting. They pointed out a few small holes caused by chafe. I explained that I was hoping to get one more year out of the canvas so if they had the fabric it would be great if they could patch it but otherwise not to worry. They did have the fabric and did a nice patch job. In the evening we stayed aboard and watched the discovery channel.
January 30, 2004, Puerto La Cruz
I just barely made it out of bed in the morning (7:15AM) and Rick started pulling the boat apart. I had him stop long enough to eat some breakfast. He was removing the last electrical wire that ran from the nav station, which is midship on the starboard side of the boat. It ran forward across the bow in the anchor locker, down the port side to the hot water heater, which is below the bunk in the aft cabin. So there weren’t too many areas he didn’t pull apart. At 9:30AM Leo came to get Rick to go to a couple of marine stores. I initially wasn’t going to go with them but when Rick said I wasn’t allowed to put anything away in the boat yet I decided it would be better if I went so that I didn’t have to look at the mess.
When we returned he finished all he was going to do this day and cleaned up the mess. Meanwhile I made lunch. After lunch we both had a siesta to rest up for an evening of dancing. El Ancla was serving Pabellón Criollo (the national Venezuelan dish of shredded beef, rice, black beans and plantains) and they had a live band playing. The meal was excellent. This is the fourth time I’ve eaten Pabellón Criollo and each time it was a little different but this was the very best so far. The band however was a little loud so the four of us left shortly after 9PM and returned to our boats.
We did a little preplanning for this morning. Rick wanted to continue rerouting the electrical wiring so I offered to stay out of his way all morning by shopping. It wasn’t an exciting shopping trip but a successful one. I went with Blanca and Leo to Plaza Mayor and while they surfed the net I shopped in the very large pharmacy next door to Plaza Mayor. We all met afterwards and went grocery shopping for a few items. When we returned to the marina I found that Rick had almost but not quite finished his wiring. It was 3PM when he stopped. There was a small marine store that was having a going out of business sale in our marina. The sale started at 3PM so off we went to look for treasures. There weren’t any but we had fun looking.
At 6:30PM we met Blanca and Leo and left the marina for a night on the town. This was exciting because we normally don’t leave the marina after dark on our own. We had been assured that where we were going was quite safe so we decided to give it a try.
We took a taxi to our first stop “ El Amir” which is an Arabian restaurant that we had been to before with Kelly. We had some great Chawarmas (similar to Greek Gyros in Toronto) after dinner we went out to stroll with the crowds along the Paseo Colón. We had been told that many people come to stroll along this street in the evenings. The artisans set up booths, ladies sell some wonderful baked goods and it’s a family affair. We found that most of Puerto La Cruz was there this night. The street had been closed to traffic and a large stage had been set up in the middle of the road for the bands. We were then informed it was the pre-carnival party. Evidently carnival begins in Puerto La Cruz in a week and we had no idea. There were people of all ages including very young. There was one particular area that was less crowded and it appeared that this was normally the section that the very young got to ride their little motorised cars around in circles. We watched many families with young ones arrive with these little cars. We continued walking but as we got closer to where the band was Blanca got a little nervous. The streets were vibrating with the sound of the band and everyone dancing as they walked to the music. The crowd had also got so thick in this area that it was difficult to stay together. We all turned around and walked back in the direction from which we had come. When we reached the end of the beach and park area we hailed a taxi and returned to the marina. It was after 9:30PM so we were quite proud of ourselves for staying so late on our first night trip to town.
Before calling it a evening, Blanca wanted to have a Seven Up at El Ancla Restaurant. We arrived and found Irene and Frank (Distant Drummer) just finishing dinner. Roberto and Marie Elena (the owners) pulled some tables together and had all of us sit down together. We had a cold drink but then next thing we new Roberto had the waiters serving us wine (on the house). The evening progressed with everyone telling jokes. Some were quite funny but each needed a little assistance or interpretation. Frank and Irene are Swiss Americans, Leo is Dutch Canadian and Roberto is Venezuelan. With Blanca’s help I was able to repeat Kelly’s Canadian joke reasonably correctly.
It was late when we finally made it back to our boats.
