Laundry - forget it!

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Since our washing machine is not working, we had been handwashing a few things but finally our landlady, Cecilia came by with a key to an empty suite where we could use a washer. The settings are all written in spanish so I sit there with my spanish to english app and try to translate what they mean.

Some of the settings take over an hour to complete per load and no matter which setting I use the laundry all ends up soaking wet. Then the dryer, no matter which setting is used, barely gets hot at all, it would take hours if not days to dry things that way. We manage to get everything washed and hung up to dry, but this laundry business is something we won't bother with again. There are places dowtown where you can take your laundry and they do it for you for $2 per load, washed, dried and folded. Forget doing any more of our own laundry, this will be on our list next time we rent a car. We are told to make a list of the clothes before we drop them off just to ensure we get everything back.

It was rainy and humid and with the laundry taking up most of the day, it was late afternoon before we go for a walk. This time we walk to the Trans Caribe ferry (about half way to town) then down the street towards the center of the Island as we have not been that way before. We find the parking lot for the ferry and some empty jungle area. A few blocks down we come to a major street, most of the buidings look empty, once having business now closed, residential areas in behind. I don't like this area, the buildings are tagged with spray paint. A group of Mexican men are on the corner, one calls over to us, then he crosses the street to ask us if we speak Spanish, when we don't, he offers us information in English. We aren't sure what information he can provide but we decline politely and turn around and go back the way we came. I'm not sure this is a very good part of town, we will investigate this area further when we have a car and see where these roads go.

The sunset was pretty today, clouds all hanging around and cruise ships leaving for the night. Ian is making his way through his welding course books and we have both finished reading our first novels.

We are still getting used to all the sounds during the night, like garbage trucks, vehicles, people walking and talking, air tanks getting clanked around at the scuba shop next door. One thing about home and our small town is that it is extremely quiet at night, rarely a sound, but we are slowly getting used to the change.

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