Off to town up the river

Sowell Family's Travels on Gijima
Skipper: Tim Sowell Admiral Tracy Crew Sean & Alex
Sun 25 Jul 2010 04:13
We dropped by some of our friends on moorings to collect their orders for
groceries etc, and then we sped of to join Bill and Jean and their
granddaughter to go 10 miles up the estuary to the nearest town. Sean jumped
into their boat for the ride and Tracy settled back with Alex in our bow
seat, and I sipped on coffee as we slid across the water under full
throttle, avoiding the shallow areas, and fishing nets. We were just on low
tide so we stayed of the mangroves by 30 feet, but the local fish men in
their dug out canoes, have set fishing nets about 20 feet off from the
mangroves in a funnel to heard fish in, so we dodged these.
It was Saturday market day for the whole estuary so pangas from other
settlements on the estuary also head there, as their really are not tourists
here, we pulled into the town dock, alongside some pangas and found someone
to look after the dinghies while we went to town.
We were not here for fun, we caught we wanted our veggie and fruit supply
up, and then get out, before the heat set in and bugs got to us (dengue
fever is significant in El Salvador and with all the recent rain we
concerned for the boys so we want to have avoid residential areas for long).
We set about gathering the veggies and soon had that covered, off we went to
bakery for cookies found we had to do toy rides out side a stall on the way.
The bakery entrance had a swarm of bees as the sugar was close, passing
through these we found the cookies out the back near the oven and the boys
put a bag full for 40cents.
Then the tuk tuk ride back to boats, and ice cream.
The Ride back was no eventful, but the sun was out, so breeze and then swim
at the other end were welcome.
I am having issues with the watermaker not getting to pressure can only
assume the intake which gets effected by the small wood in the water, so I
am making some adjustments and we will see tomorrow, as this is a critical
system on our boat. It is clear I will need to use dock water as the source
but that has issues with leaks etc as well. It's boating cannot be easy, but
we will work through it.
Life on the boat is getting back to normal, as the things are put away, and
Tracy is starting craft projects with the boys, and I am doing maths and
science. We are now in the habit of if we see something in the day we come
back at night and look it up in the children encyclopedia and we read it and
discuss it. Like yesterday and today the boys found mushrooms in the grass
close to pool, we talked the safety of not touching, and then tonight we
read up on it. We have done this with the Inca structures and we go through
Galapagos Animals as well. I find it rewarding and fascinating how both boys
just are like sponges, and because they have seen things live they can
relate, like the other night and ongoing investigation this week is whales
which we have seen a lot of this year, and boys bring up what they have seen
and then we read and discuss.
Sean and I are putting a weather station together tomorrow and he will start
looking at this, recording especially with rain and wind.
So another busy completes in this very rewarding life style.