Tuesday, August 15, 2006

La Isabella

Chapter 6 - LaIsabella. Arrived LaIsabella at dawn and anchored in front of, as the guidebook describes it, the lovely Rancho del Sol Hotel. Mark actually knows the owners as he sold them a boat several years ago. Promptly went to sleep. After waking, took it easy for the day and about sundown noticed another boat entering the anchorage. Contacted them on VHF and it was one of our pod from MC. Apparently, they had gotten up in the morning, found the seas flat and wind calm so all 3 decided to leave MC for LaIsabella. Big mistake. Trades filled in after they had gone too far to turn back so they spent the day getting their brains beat out in seas right on the nose. Anyway, next morning a young man paddles out to our boat on a kayak and introduces himself as the son (Pablo) of the hotel owners. When I told him that Mark (who was off visiting one of the other boats) actually sold his father their boat, he looked at me in disbelief and I am sure thought I was pulling his leg. So off he went to confirm the story with Mark and when done we, of course, were instantly adopted as distant relatives. Pablo took us in to see LaIsabella and get Mark a haircut.

LaIsabella is the site of the first city founded by Columbus in the New World and there are a number of ruins still here as well as a museum with a nice collection of artifacts from Columbus' time here. The village itself is really small with 2 bar/restaurants, a couple of 1 room stores, and a few houses. Mark got his haircut which will probably last him for 3 or 4 years. After seeing the results, I decided to pass. Had a sandwich at one of the restaurants (I use the term loosely as there are no walls and there is a constant parade of people, kids and animals). Food was really tasty and the chicken standing next to the table seemed completely uninterested in it or us. Almost all of these places have 2 huge blown out speakers which play Dominican music at a volume that precludes any conversation so we eat and leave. Meet Pablo's mother, Sonja, back at the hotel and she and Mark renew acquaintances. Charming woman who is fluent in several languages including, fortunately for us, English. The hotel is actually small with only a few rooms and a magnificent veranda where meals are served overlooking the bay. The Spanish have a word which perfectly describes this place, tranquillo. If you ever want to spend a few days in an absolutely gorgeous place and can entertain yourself (reading, sitting on the beach, contemplating your navel, etc.), this is heaven. If you need more excitement, you can always take trips from here, although it's not terribly easy. We actually rent motorcycles and see the surrounding country plus Luperon where we will later get stuck for almost a month.

LaIsabella is a delight for us. We can buy the few things we really need in the little stores and find that the second restaurant, Olivo's, doesn't play loud music so we adopt it as our hangout. Good choice as the food is wonderful and costs little although there are only about 10 items on the menu. For about $4-5 you get 2 whole snappers, vegetables and a salad. We become regulars here and spend one of our most enjoyable nights in the DR when Mark and I are invited to sit with Olivo's family for dinner and conversation. We spend about 4 hrs doing our Spanglish thing (only one of them speaks English) and just have a ball. The rum and El Presidentes make things go much smoooother. Just a series of really nice relaxing days until the troubles start. We began losing the short wave radio between the Turks and Caicos and the DR and Mark wants to get it fixed before continuing as we have no other means of communication. This is why we have not posted anything recently and this and future updates are more of a retrospective than a real time occurrence. After much effort, he finds a guy in Puerta Plata (an hour away) who can do the job, so the radio gets taken there for repair. Turns out to be a lengthy process involving numerous trips mostly from Luperon where we will next stop as both the radio and tuner have problems and will require parts from the States. Anyway, about this time we begin having problems with the outboard on the dinghy which finally stops running. This is a serious problem as there are no docks anyplace we go so you need a dinghy to get from the big boat to shore and the winds prevent rowing. Bottom line - we are basically stuck on the boat. Not fun. Mark takes apart and cleans the carburetor (which we suspect is the problem) about 4 times, but no luck. It's about this time that we decide to continue to Luperon which is actually a small town and on our way in the hopes of getting things fixed. After 1 aborted attempt due to strong headwinds, we make Luperon where the saga will be continued. We think the radio problem is fixed (8/15/06), and if so, updates will soon continue.

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