Alfredo went to Buenos Aires for two days so yesterday I visited Alajandro to see if the quotation for my rigging wires was ready, and it wasn't. Alfredo went into a monologue about problems communicating with their BA head office, mentioning antenna and internet problems, trying fax, and maybe manana. I wasn't too convinced or impressed. I drew a line in the sand and told him that I will be departing MdP on 24 March. This was no bluff. If they aren't able to deliver such simple pieces of equipment after what will have been more than 4 weeks of effort then I'll sail out with what I've got.
My early impressions of Argentina have been disappointing because I can't help but to compare it with La Paz. In La Paz marine services were more professionally run. I got fast quotations and delivery was generally prompt and on time and always at the quoted price. Some of the teak work was delivered the next day, and the superb stainless steel work was delivered within a week. There was no duty charged on imported items for the boat whereas here I am told that the importation duty is 50%. I must admit that I also miss Mexican food too. The food that I've seen here so far is more conventional, with lots of deep frying.
Yesterday I got a response from the club administration to a simple question that I asked shortly after arrived: would they give a discount for a prepay of 9 or 10 months for a slip. The response was that because of inflation the club will not give discounts for long term, though they will honor any prices paid in a long term prepay. Just to prove the point about inflation, when I went to pay for 2 more weeks here the fee had gone up from 128 to 141 pesos a day. That's a 10% increase in the 2 weeks that I've been here. (Hopefully a deteriorating exchange rate will reflect the inflation, which will insulate me somewhat.) At Marina de La Paz I paid a year up front, got a 5% discount, and the transaction was completed in about 5 minutes, whereas here it took 2 weeks just to get that answer.
Please bear in mind my caveats "early impressions" and "seen so far", because I have a long way to go in my visit. Hopefully the marine services at Tigre and San Fernando north of BA will be professional and efficient. I like the people and it seems like a happy and relaxed society.
Yesterday I serviced the two cabin winches, so all 6 winches are now ready for sea: four size 28 in the cockpit and two size 22 on the cabin. The winches are all in good shape with no broken gear teeth, damaged bearings, or missing seals or springs. There are problems here and there with deterioration of the aluminum components but nothing serious so far.
I don't think that I have yet published photos that I took of the tears in my first line headsail early during the passage to the Horn. I managed to stitch the material together and there was a reasonable chance that the sail would have held up had I been forced to use it again.
1 comment:
After being in La Paz for ages no wonder you miss it but what about Freo??
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