One of the negatives about staying in place as fertile as the Galapagos, is that things start to grow on the boat.

Beaujolais had sprouted a crop of green algae on her hull.

This was in addition to the oil and dirt we had picked up from Shelter Bay, one of the negatives of being alongside the ‘big boys’, as they run their generators constantly they are polluting the water around them with a fine film of oil, yuk!!!

We have always managed to keep Beaujolais pretty clean and this was annoying both of us. I had tried, without much success (mainly due to the dinghy bouncing around as the waves were a bit too choppy), to clean it and finally Roger could bear it no more.

So with his new found friend, a young Pelican who seems to have taken a shine to him, Roger began the arduous task of scrubbing the hull ( well the waterline at least).

I busied myself by cleaning out the fridge, which was not a pleasant task either. Speaking of the fridge, here is the latest update. We had hoped that the compressor and parts would be here by the end of this week, so Roger rang Jason of Bodega Blanca to ask for the status of the compressor. Bad news, it was still in Miami, waiting to be shipped!!!!!!! This was almost 2 weeks after ordering it. Jason was apologetic, apparently his freight forwarders in Miami had screwed up. So it was supposedly being shipped yesterday. We can only hope that his expeditor in Ecuador can get it out of the customs warehouse quickly. Otherwise there will be another 2 week delay. So the way it is looking we may not be leaving for another week or two!!!!

It was a productive day. Long overdue, as the work list has been growing exponentially and we have been busy having fun!!!

The horse races were due to start at about 5pm, so we cleaned up and headed ashore.

Once again there was a very good turn out for the final festivities.

As we arrived they were just finishing the running races.

There was the mens race, which was 6 times round the square. A good line up of 7 runners, 2 of whom were gringos. It is nice that the locals let others join in their fun. It was funny that the local police drove their motorcycles ahead of the runners, as if it were the London or New York Marathon. Apparently, according to our friend Max, there are 40 police on the island and 50 police vehicles, now we know why!!

By the end of the race there were only 4 finishers, the last of whom (by almost a lap) was one of the gringos, the other having dropped out.

But the locals applauded him home.

Roger and I had secured a ringside seat at one of the restaurants as I was looking forward to the horse races and wanted to get a good photo.

As before, the police came riding down the course (which was the main street) to clear the people away (most of whom came back as soon as the police had passed!!!), then a few minutes later came the riders.

There were only 4 entrants, but they gave a splendid performance, galloping past us, flat out at break neck speed.

The rest of the cruisers arrived and while the adults sat drinking (there’s a surprise) and chatting, the children amused themselves, swinging on hammocks or playing tag nearby.

We called it a night at about 20.30 hrs, but the locals and the music could still be heard at 06.00 the next morning.