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| Helping himself to a tuna steak |
First, let me apologize for mis-spelling the name of this lovely town and port. It is Ayora (aye-ora), not Aroya. So now that we know where we are I'll let you know what (little) we've been doing.
After a very uncomfortable rocky rolly Friday night at anchor things finally settled down a bit Saturday when the wind switched to the SW and faced us into the waves instead of sideways to them. We had invited a young couple who is leaving the rally to come and dine with Joe and us. We had to hold our drinks all night because they would have tipped over from the rolling. But Jan fixed a wonderful dinner with tenderloin and we had a great time before taking Advil PM and trying to sleep.
THE OTHER HALF
Saturday morning is the weekly farmer's market and we were advised to get there early for best selection. On the water taxi trip ashore we met the gal from the largest Oyster, 92' "Lush", who was headed to the market to provision for the 10 people aboard for their 3,000mi sail to the Marquesas. She is one of the paid crew - the "hostess" - a person wearing many hats including cleaning, daily yoga instruction, entertainment and provisioning for the professional cook.
The owner of Lush is a famous Scottish Formula 1 race car driver whose name I forget but our good friend and race car driver Bob Bruce wants us to meet. He flies in to ports to enjoy his boat between races and expects everything to be first-rate while he's aboard.
But he doesn't have the time or patience to do long ocean passages so the crew takes the boat from place to place. While he's away the crew can play and relax. Everywhere we've cruised we have always been amazed just how many wealthy people there are in the world who own big ships with full-time paid crews just so they can swoop in for a few days at some exotic port and play for a bit. This owner will join Lush in French Polynesia. So that's how the other half live!
TRIP TO THE MARKET
Anyway, the hostess from Lush joined us for our trip to the market. We asked a local the whereabouts of this market and he directed us away from the water "seis" blocks. After about 10 blocks we found the Mercado Municipal, a lowly bunch of small shops selling local organic produce. There were few people around so this didn't really seem like the weekly market we were looking for but we bought a few things and the hostess stayed behind and bought tons of stuff which she took back to Lush by taxi.
Jan and I asked three guys on the street corner how we could get back to the port and showed them a map of the town so they could explain the directions to us. They said to take the street we were on "that way". We walked about 15 blocks "that way" and did not see any evidence of water. However, we came upon a huge, bustling open air market with hundreds of vendors under a giant peaked roof, about a city block in area. THIS was the Saturday market! There were family-run stalls with all sorts of raw meat, fish, vegetables and fruit, and also stalls which were cooking stuff which you could buy for breakfast or lunch. Lots of people were sitting in groups eating together and having spirited conversations.
After wandering around the market we again pulled out our map and asked for directions back to the 'puerto'. Every time we pull out our map (and we found this true in Panama as well) the locals seem totally befuddled looking at all those lines on the paper, and don't seem to recognize any street names. They just give directions by going to landmark X, turn left and go to landmark Y, etc. We're told they just don't use maps and street names!! A totally foreign concept to me, a map maven. I couldn't live without maps.
We finally faced the direction of the wind and the sun and walked another mile back to the harbor. The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday we relaxed aboard reading and enjoying a cooler, drier breeze; or going ashore by water taxi ("Taxi aquatico, taxi aquatico, Este es volero Quester por favor) and wandering around town or hanging out at the Oyster HQ hotel using their wifi and chatting with other Oyster crews. Very relaxing with just the two of us aboard. And great sleeping the last few nights!
TRIP TO THE MARKET
Anyway, the hostess from Lush joined us for our trip to the market. We asked a local the whereabouts of this market and he directed us away from the water "seis" blocks. After about 10 blocks we found the Mercado Municipal, a lowly bunch of small shops selling local organic produce. There were few people around so this didn't really seem like the weekly market we were looking for but we bought a few things and the hostess stayed behind and bought tons of stuff which she took back to Lush by taxi.
Jan and I asked three guys on the street corner how we could get back to the port and showed them a map of the town so they could explain the directions to us. They said to take the street we were on "that way". We walked about 15 blocks "that way" and did not see any evidence of water. However, we came upon a huge, bustling open air market with hundreds of vendors under a giant peaked roof, about a city block in area. THIS was the Saturday market! There were family-run stalls with all sorts of raw meat, fish, vegetables and fruit, and also stalls which were cooking stuff which you could buy for breakfast or lunch. Lots of people were sitting in groups eating together and having spirited conversations.
After wandering around the market we again pulled out our map and asked for directions back to the 'puerto'. Every time we pull out our map (and we found this true in Panama as well) the locals seem totally befuddled looking at all those lines on the paper, and don't seem to recognize any street names. They just give directions by going to landmark X, turn left and go to landmark Y, etc. We're told they just don't use maps and street names!! A totally foreign concept to me, a map maven. I couldn't live without maps.
We finally faced the direction of the wind and the sun and walked another mile back to the harbor. The rest of Saturday and all of Sunday we relaxed aboard reading and enjoying a cooler, drier breeze; or going ashore by water taxi ("Taxi aquatico, taxi aquatico, Este es volero Quester por favor) and wandering around town or hanging out at the Oyster HQ hotel using their wifi and chatting with other Oyster crews. Very relaxing with just the two of us aboard. And great sleeping the last few nights!
Rolling at anchor? You should switch to a catamaran!
ReplyDeleteSwabby Jim