Ensconced

I vacated the apartment this morning.  Things went well, though the two loads that I carried to the boat were big enough to force me to walk beside the bicycle and use it purely as a cargo carrier. After putting away the first set of things I sat down at the nav station and used the Google translator to pen a thank you note to Teresa.  I also gave her a contact telephone number here at the marina in case I left something behind or she has a question about anything.

On my second trip I made sure that the apartment was clean and tidy (even the bed was made up) then walked out, leaving the note and three sets of keys on the table.  Downstairs I saw Teresa at the laundry, told her about the note and the keys, thanked her for everything, and extended my hand, but instead of shaking it I kissed it.  She looked surprised and very pleased.  I had told Brenda that a hug like she had given Teresa might trample on cultural sensitivities, and a handshake seemed too formal and frosty.  Maybe my time in Mexico has activated a caballero gene.  She asked a question with the word "regresso" in it, which meant something about coming back.  I told her that Brenda and I would visit in January to say hello, so this was not adios but hasta luego.  She smiled at that.

Soon after returning to the boat I screwed the new shelf onto the refrigerator compressor supports and laid down a second coat of varnish. The photo shows the result of my effort.

In the afternoon I walked up the 3 or 4 blocks to Serdan street and two minutes later I was on the no. 34 bus for Home Depot.  There I found the carpeting which Ib had described and purchased 6 meters of the 650 mm (26") wide material.  I like it.  It is actually more mat than carpet: soft like neoprene, not solid but rather with tiny gaps.  I ran into Roger and Jean Wise and Jean admired the material, saying that they once had similar mats on their floor.  I expressed doubts about the material holding up when wet but they were pretty sure that there would be no problem since the water would not penetrate the material.  At our Skype session Brenda correctly described it as a heavy version of those anti skid place mats that we have for the table.  As the photo shows, I  chose a blue color to complement the seat covers.  Fitting this will be my project for tomorrow.

During our encounter Roger said that he would install the new refrigerator on Friday morning (day after tomorrow), which suits me just fine.  For today I've kept the fish, fruit, and vegetables in a chiller bag with two  Sprite containers of frozen water at the bottom.  Tomorrow I may bring in a block of ice.

At Home Depot I also purchased three plastic containers.  I have given the three large reserve water containers to Ib and will use the gained space to better organize the starboard quarter berth.  I've had too may spray cans, oil containers, etc just lying around.  The need for reserve water is not as acute as before, when there were two or more of us on board and we were crossing vast expanses of ocean.  The 280 liters in the main tanks should support me quite comfortably for 70 days.  I've got two 10-liter water containers which I use for rinsing after a salt water bath and capturing rain water.  I'll probably get 2 more 10-liter containers for reserve drinking water.  In an emergency that 20 liters should sustain me for 20 days.

Tonight will be my first sleep on board Pachuca in three months.