The day started slowly. Our agent, Enrique Plummer, had said he’d show up to collect the tires and lines. By 10am there was no show so I called him to say we were off. We’d designated the day as a crew day which meant everyone could do what they liked and there was no obligation to stick together. Annie and Sam had had another late night so they started the day asleep. John opted to hang with us for a while as we wanted to visit the old town, Casco Viejo.
Helen was keen to walk despite my reading it was unsafe. Against my better judgment we humoured her. On the map it didn’t seem 
far but in the heat of day it went on for a long way. We reached a point where the buildings were becoming more crowded and run down. A policemen stopped us and indicated it was not safe to go any further. This convinced Helen we should indeed take a taxi the last mile.
We were very soon into the old town and back out of the taxi. It was a bit more run down than the old town in Cartagena and certainly not as quaint. But it did have it’s own charm and it was quite pleasant walking around.
Soon we were looking for food as it was nearing lunch time. Exploring the old town didn’t take too long so we headed along a side street towards a shopping area.
We found a place with lots of cheap Chinese stores. We picked up some little bits and pieces to use as gifts when we’re out in the Pacific. I also picked up a bunch of tee-shirts for myself and Sam. We found a Chinese restaurant and decided to have 
lunch there. For under $20 we ended up with plates with so much food we couldn’t finish them.
Feeling full we headed on and found a high street full of stores selling very low cost stuff. Helen bought a couple of nice dresses from an Indian store and we picked up some more small items for the boat.
Next stop was the water maker store to pick up some filters. John came in the taxi with us and stayed in the taxi to get to a mall where he thought he could get a charger for his camera (he’d left his at home). Having picked up filters Helen and I walked to the nearest Rey supermarket to pick up some near term provisions then taxied back to the boat.
We arrived within a minute of John and unpacked. We headed back to the shore for what we understood to be a book swap. We were a bit late and it had already finished. The bar was closing down so we couldn’t get a decent seat and food was not being served. We stayed for a little bit before heading back to the boat. We later learned that Annie and Sam had been to much the same places as we had.
Leave a Reply