What it Takes to Get a Postal Parcel!!!
Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Wed 28 Apr 2010 18:26
the galley and pack away things ready to leave today was the refrigerator to
empty and defrost and dry out, I think we getting close, tomorrow is toys
and puzzles and then we will move the family ashore into the hotel for 2
nights and I will move the boat down the estuary on the full tide to a
mooring which I hope will be laid down by then.
This gives me 36 hours to do the final put away and test everything
disconnected from the dock.
But at lunch time I received a postal note saying there was a parcel at the
post office, this is similar to what happens in the states with parcels when
you have a PO Box and they cannot fit it in. So I thought no issue then I
asked a local, and sure enough the post office is 30+ miles away.
The parcel was from my sister Cath for Tracy and boys, and we actually
though it was lost but no. So I grabbed a shirt and money and passport for
ID and went off to reception to determine a plan to get this parcel. The
issue is that the post office was going to close at 5pm it was 2 pm, and the
bus was 1 1/2 hours if all ran well. So I went with a taxi that cost 25
dollars to get there, and sure enough the town it was in was on a hill very
narrow streets and all one ways. A part of the plan was that taxi driver
would know where the post office is, well he knew where the town was, so
step 1 was out of the way, but he had no idea where the post office was. So
we proceeded to ask the initial local on the main street with horns blowing
from buses trying to get around us we gathered the information. Off we went
and sure enough we drove directly out the other side of town, even I knew
that so we did a U turn and back we came we turned up the hill, and asked
again, even in my broken Spanish I understood go up 3 streets turn right
then 2 more blocks and then left and then left again, at that point I lost
it (actually assumed I had miss understood) But it became clear that I had
understood and the reason for doing loops around blocks was due to a
creative one way system through very narrow streets lined with colorfully
painted houses and shops, and I mean reads, yellow, blue, purples etc.
But no sign of the post office, we had now been going over an hour it was 35
c (90s F) no wind outside (but a positive we had an AC in the taxi. We then
by accident stopped to ask, and found ourselves outside it, the post office
was not marked so I would have spent all day searching but the taxi drive
noticed a postal delivery uniformed man and then put 2 and 2 together.
After filling out forms, and signing many pieces of paper, and proving who I
was and that I was the same as the one it was addressed to (another 30
minutes) we had the parcel, and headed down to main street, where I planned
also to pick up some locks that I needed (had planned to go to the markets
tomorrow but I could avoid the trip and do other jobs). Found a hardware
store with everything, in a back street, and I mean everything but
everywhere, but I walked out with 4 locks for $7.50 so was happy. Then the
taxi driver said that he had to go home to his family, it was by this time 4
pm, so he dropped me off at the bus station and I searched for the bus. Now
the busses here are all painted into bright colors and pictures but they do
have locations written on them, my only issue was I did not know my
destinations name as I only new hotel name. So off I went trying to
determine which bus, and sure enough I found one heading to the market town
at then end of estuary so I climbed on board and figured I would work out
when to jump off before we branched off to the peninsula. The bus filled up
and stopped everywhere (it was not air conditioned) so the heat came up, and
so did the filling of the bus, at one stage we had 3 people on a seat for 2,
and I am not small.
I jumped off at a junction and then caught a minivan like we have in Africa
down the peninsula road, to the hotel. 4 + hours after I left I returned
hot, sweaty but with the parcel, and actually quite enjoyed myself, and I
dived in the pool with a cold beer. The other cruisers were in the pool for
afternoon drinks and discussion and were surprised that I had made it and
back in the time.
As I write this our first solid rains have started the fresh sweet smell of
rain is flowing through the cockpit, and the air is rolling off. This is
good as it will clear the air of the dust from the burning off and it will
allow us to test the covers for rain and if we get any leaks or we fixed
them all (can't believe that). But it will be a nice sound to go to bed with
the pity patter of rain on the deck, reminding me of when I was a boy in
Australia under the tin roofs.
As I tried to send this the lightening started up with the storm and I think
it hass taken out the internet.
Cheers