Day 134, Year 5: When is Enough, Enough?

March 9th, 2010

Day 134, Year 5: When is Enough, Enough?
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Weather: HOT with No Breeze
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India

Our roller coaster ride with the freezer compressor continued today. This morning we got a call from Anthony, the manager of General Engineering, telling us that the compressor had been checked out and that it was fine. We didn’t get too excited as we have been told this before. But Anthony said they would be coming at 2:30 in the afternoon to reinstall. We worked like crazy to go get water from the Bolgatty, do the laundry, and get ready to go shopping so we could be back by 2:30. Just as we were ready to go ashore, Anthony called back and said the team would be here in one hour. So Mark took me to shore to go shopping alone and he stayed on the boat. I don’t mind shopping alone, but I can carry only so many kilos in my backpack and in carry bags. This meant I would be making multiple trips. At this point we were both asking ourselves, “Just when is enough, enough?” We have spent half of our time in India dealing with this freezer compressor situation. But I headed out alone to do the provisioning, and Mark once again waited on the boat. I bought tomatoes, 4 more kilos of onions, 4 more kilos of potatoes, 60 eggs, another kilo of garlic, a kilo of ginger, some flower pots for growing more basil and arugula, and headed back to Windbird. I was carrying about 16 pounds on my back as well as the carry bags and that was about as much as I could handle in this heat. When I got back to the waterfront, I called Mark on the VHF portable radio to have him come get me at the dock. I was a bit surprised when Mark showed up with Nazar in Nazar’s boat. They took me back to Windbird where Nazar the refrigeration guy, Ajayan the mechanical engineer, Anthony the manager of the company were sitting in the cockpit waiting for the freezer system to be vacuumed. I decided I wasn’t getting on that boat, so I dumped all the food, gave Mark instructions to wrap the tomatoes in newspaper, and took off again with Nazar to continue shopping. When we got to shore, Nazar walked with me to the market area by the jetty. He told me that he would be taking us to check-out of India in the morning and then said we would be going to his home to meet his wife and two children, a girl aged nine and a boy aged six. This was a bit of a surprise, especially since time is short and there is still so much to do. But we would like to meet his family and we’ll just have to squeeze in the time. On this trip to shore, I had lunch at our favorite restaurant. Just as I was finishing, Ed and Lynne arrived, so I stayed for a bit and talked with them. I have hardly seen Lynne since she returned from the US, so the lunch break gave us a bit of time to catch up. I filled my pack with rice and whole grain flour, cabbage, cauliflower, more tomatoes, backpacks for Nazar’s children, and hurried back to Windbird. It was about 4 pm and I thought the refrigeration team would be long gone. But no. Mark explained that despite their best efforts, the compressor was still not able to keep the necessary pressure to cool. So when we arrived at Windbird, I got onboard but saw that Mark and Anthony were deep in discussion in the cockpit. So I busied myself taking down the laundry. After folding each piece I threw them down the front hatch into the v-berth. Mark and Anthony were still in an intense conversation, so I just dropped down through the front hatch and landed on the v-berth when I heard, “Madame!” Nazar and Ajayan were in the main salon and very surprised to see me drop down the hatch. I thought they were in the cockpit with Mark and Anthony and was a bit embarrassed by my not so graceful landing. But it gave them a chuckle. They explained to me that despite their best efforts, the compressor was just not going to work. So the bottom line is that we are out about $900 for the compressor, shipping, and Custom’s duties, and Anthony is out for seven days of work. It is our understanding that we are not paying for the work since most of the time was spent undoing problems they created. Anthony still believes the compressor is fine, but because it arrived with connectors not compatible with our system, and since connectors are not available here, Anthony believes the “fashioned” connectors might be the problem. Some other year when we are back where connectors are available, we’ll give the compressor another go. But for now we are without a freezer. We just simply have to learn to live with that fact.

Nazar was coming to get the refrigeration team but was not yet here, so we left them on the boat and headed to shore to do one more market run before the end of the day. Mark wanted a new set of fan belts and we went on a wild goose chase that got us nowhere. It was now after 5:00 pm, so we went to the market to get limes, oranges, more tomatoes, more cabbage, another pumpkin, eggplant, and okra. Then we walked to the supermarket near the waterfront and got even more whole wheat flour, more toilet paper, a couple of packages of frozen chicken breast that we will have to eat quickly, some freeze-dried peas that make a wonderful addition to almost any dish. By this time, I was quite ready to get back to Windbird. Again, we were asking ourselves, “Just when is enough, enough?” One little sailboat can only hold so much stuff. We had hoped to have sundowners with Ed and Lynne, but it was too late when we got back. Hopefully things will be more relaxed when we reach the Maldives and we’ll get to be sociable once again. In the meantime, we wrapped tomatoes in newspaper, wrapped limes in aluminum foil, covered eggs with Crisco, and decided to use our freezer space to store pumpkins, cabbages, egg plants, and ginger. After I finish writing this log, I still have to find space in the overloaded refrigerator for the remaining veggies.

Tomorrow is check-out, meet Nazar’s family, do our last bits of shopping, take back our rented modem (so no more internet after tomorrow morning), and get ready for our trip south. It should take us only two to three days to reach our first destination. We’ll still be communicating from there, but only by HAM radio, so no more Skype calls to our kids. We have heard that once we reach the southern most atoll in the Maldives that we might be able to connect to the internet by phone modem. That will be a great present if it proves to be true. Because after that we have three months with absolutely no way to communicate other than the HAM radio email. I am going to miss those Skype connections with the kids terribly, but we have been out here for 134 cruising days, and I really don’t feel like we have gotten started. So it is time to unplug and move on.

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Day 133, Year 5: Little Things That Make You Smile

March 8th, 2010

Day 133, Year 5: Little Things That Make You Smile
Date: Monday, March 8, 2010
Weather: Cooler, but Still Hot
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India

Ziggy Milo, our son’s baby boy, started our day with a smile. We finally connected via Skype video. Ziggy and Justin were just getting out of the bath when we called, so Ziggy was in the altogether. Thank goodness Justin put clothes on! Ziggy has been sick with some sort of virus that has been circulating, so he was not his usual smiley self, but Justin and Jo were able to cajole a few smiles out of him. We might get to have a video Skype call from the southern Maldives, but after that it could be six months or more before we have internet that can handle video. There is internet in Madagascar, but it evidently is not working most of the time. So Justin and Jo sent us a video through Skype of Ziggy playing, eating, crawling, and giggling that we can watch over and over during the next few months. We had no idea that you can send video via Skype, but you can. How wonderful! Both the Skype call and the video made us smile.

Nazar arrived just after the call with Justin and Jo, so we loaded our outboard engine on Nazar’s boat, and Mark and Ed headed out with him. They went to a Yamaha dealer on Fort Cochin Island. Mark was very impressed with the professionalism in the Yamaha shop, and thankfully, the motor checked out fine. It seems the vibration problem is coming from water in the fuel. So we’ll filter the fuel and hope all is well. We were just glad to hear that there is nothing major wrong with the engine. Hope the guy is right about this one. Nazar then took Mark to General Engineering. This is the company that has been doing the refrigeration on the boat. Mark went to vent and to let them know that we out about $900 US and that we don’t intend to pay them for the work done unless they can get something working. Since they have already told us that the new compressor doesn’t work, we don’t really expect anything to start working. But evidently Mark made an impact as they came to pick up the new, non-working compressor this afternoon to check it out in their shop. We have almost zero hope that something can be done, but at least they are checking into the issues.

Mark and I had planned to go to the Post Office this afternoon to mail off tax forms, and then go food shopping. After that we were going to pick up the alternator. So we left the compressor on Constance and called Nazar to tell him to pick it up there. We took a rickshaw to the Post Office and then another one back to the market off Jew Street. We did a hunt and kill shopping trip for garlic, carrots, and potatoes, and then hailed a rickshaw to take us to pick up our alternator. Since the alternator shop is in a different town, we were very surprised that the first driver we stopped seemed to know exactly where we wanted to go. He said something about it being the end of the school day and then we took off. Shortly we understood the importance of knowing about the end of the school day. He stopped and picked up seven little bright-eyed girls, ages five to nine, and off we went. This is in a rickshaw that is meant to seat two, or at most three adults. We did the ‘quick tour’ of the suburbs outside of Ernakulam delivering the little girls to their homes. This was an unexpected side trip, but it was very interesting. We drove down one street that was lined with homeless people staking out their territory with bags of who knows what. We turned the corner and there were lean-to homes made of sticks and old pieces of tarp. We have not seen this kind of poverty here before. But then we entered the ‘burbs’ with narrow little lanes lined with walls and gates. Behind every gate there was a neat little home right next to another one. We dropped off one little girl at a time and with each departure, we would wave and they would smile and wave back. And we would smile. When we reached the alternator shop, he dropped Mark off and told me to stay in the rickshaw. He said we’d return in 20 minutes. So I stayed in the rickshaw to deliver the last four girls. We then went back to pick up Mark and drove back to the Bolgatty jetty. Although we had not bargained for all the side trips, it was a highlight of our day.

Tomorrow is a shopping day. We have to buy all of the perishables that you put off until just before departure-eggs, limes, oranges, more potatoes and carrots, and green peppers. We will probably wait until Wednesday afternoon to buy bananas. We are coming down to the wire. I have to share one funny thing that happened this morning. I was on the back deck doing laundry. One of the tour boats that constantly ply through the anchorage cut right in front of us and someone yelled, “Live Free or Die.” Concord, New Hampshire, is the home port printed on our stern and evidently someone from the US was on that tour boat. Small world.

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Day 132, Year 5: The Day After

March 7th, 2010

Day 132, Year 5: The Day After
Date: Sunday, March 7, 2010
Weather: Weather Changing, North Winds and Cooler
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India

I’m still not rebounding from the compressor disaster. I’m spending way too much time being ‘musu.’ Mark is doing a little better, but still very upset. We have still not been able to reach Anil. He is the head of General Engineering and he is the one who sends people to our boat to “fix” things. No matter what your religion, Sunday is a day of rest here, so we will just have to catch up with Anil tomorrow. There’s probably nothing that can be done, but Mark really wants a chance to vent. But then Mark is headed to the local Yamaha dealer tomorrow with our dinghy motor, so he won’t be here. Unfortunately, our one year-old dinghy motor has been idling roughly, so just one more thing to add to the list.

Today was cleaning day on Windbird. Mark dove down and cleaned the prop. The water is so murky that he really couldn’t see the prop, but he could feel it and actually it wasn’t too bad. The whole bottom is covered with a jelly-like layer of algae and some small barnacles, but we will wait and clean this when we reach Uligan in the Maldives. I hopped in the dinghy and washed the top sides with fresh water and cleaned the algae from the waterline. By mid-afternoon a film of yucky stuff came in with the tide and made a mess of my cleaning job. I’ll have to clean the bottom half of the top sides once again before we leave. And I continued soaking, washing, and rinsing every rope on this boat. The next big job is buying and storing fresh produce. We need kilos of potatoes, more kilos of onions, limes, carrots, green peppers, oranges, and bananas. We still have eggs left from Thailand, but we will buy fresh eggs here to take over when the Thai eggs have run their course. So there is plenty to fill our time before we leave here on Thursday. I thought we were leaving on Wednesday, but Mark and Ed talked this morning while getting water from the Bolgatty and decided that the tide is more favorable on Thursday. So March 11 is departure date.

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Day 131, Year 5: Just Unbelievable

March 6th, 2010

Day 131, Year 5: Just Unbelievable
Date: Saturday, March 6, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazey
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India

4 pm–I am being held prisoner in my own boat. Right now I am standing in the forward head, jammed in with about 90 rolls of toilet paper, 20 kilos of onions, and crates filled with rice, crackers, etc., etc. The two refrigeration repair men, Nazar and Rafik, have been here all day again today and every time they think they have found the problem, they find another one. It is late afternoon and we had all waited expectantly for an hour while they vacuumed out the system. They then filled the system with refrigerant gas and we waited to see the freezer starting to chill. Not. Now they think a valve on the cold plate is the problem. That will cost another $65 for the valve and who knows how much we are paying for labor. I had to escape to the bathroom because they were going to start releasing refrigerant gas from the system and I was sitting in the line of fire. This is the second time today and probably the fifth time this week the system has been vacuumed while we wait and wait, only to find that the leak just fixed is not the only culprit. And all of these leaks are in fittings they have applied. I know these guys are sick of working on this system and Mark is really tired of standing, watching, and waiting. And just now I am told that they have to go to shore to buy a part. At best it will 6:30 pm before the part can be installed, the system vacuumed AGAIN, and then filled with refrigerant gas in order to see if it is working.

7 pm-Now I am sequestered in the aft cabin. The work continues, but now that everything has been checked we are told that the new compressor is not working. Let’s see, we paid $600 for the compressor, $150 in shipping fees, in excess of $125 in Customs fees, and have wasted untold days trying to get the compressor from Customs in Chennai and seven full days of having people working on the boat since we arrived here. And we have no idea how much that is going to cost. But, it is not working and that is that. It was working yesterday, so we can only believe that they have done something to cause the problem. But as a last resort, we had them try the old compressor, but they say it is not holding pressure either. It is just too much. I have never seen Mark so upset and there is absolutely nothing we can do about this. I know a lot people sail without a freezer and many without a refrigerator, but this is just not our style. It is going to be a very, very, very, very long fifteen months until we get home. We don’t think there is anything we can do about this fiasco, so we will just have to move beyond it somehow.

The good thing about today is that Lynne returned safely from her trip to visit with her mother in Florida. Ed, Lynne, and I made a quick trip to the supermarket this afternoon to do a little provisioning, but we didn’t get much of a chance to talk. We thought we would do that this evening over dinner, but that was not meant to be. I don’t think I’m ever going to get that artichoke pizza.

We did put our woes behind us long enough to talk to Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah on Skype. The video worked great and we got to see Jonah crawling and pulling up. And we got one great big smile. Sam wanted to read a book with us tonight, so we read Animalia by Graeme Base. We have a copy of the book and Sam has one as well, so we could read together. He then decided that he had to get the whole family to hide in the closet and we got a couple of good Skype photos of the Goldstone clan in the closet. We missed talking with Justin, Jo, and Ziggy again this morning, but we did talk with Justin and will talk to them on our Monday morning, their Sunday evening. We are really going to miss being able to see our grand babies via Skype. That, too, is going to make this a very long cruising season.

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Day 130, Year 5: 64 Will Have To Be Better

March 5th, 2010

Day 130, Year 5: 64 Will Have To Be Better
Date: Friday, March 5, 2010
Weather: Not As Hot, but Still Hazy
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India

Today was my 63rd birthday and somehow everything seemed to go the wrong way. So I am thinking a year ahead and am hoping that 64 will be better than 63. Mark turned 64 during our first year of cruising and I am still needing and feeding him. Hopefully a year from now he will still be doing the same for me. So here’s a salute to the Beetles and their song, “Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?”

I got up early to check e-mail and to call Justin, Jo, and Ziggy during their early evening. I got on the computer, turned on the modem, but no internet. I tried all the tricks, but still nothing. So then Mark tried. Still nothing. So we assumed our month was up and we were out of time. That meant I would have to go to town after 10 am to have the modem checked. We then turned the engine on to charge, and it wasn’t charging. Thank goodness it was just a loose fan belt, but it was just another one of those things that seem to be going wrong these days. Mark hesitated to leave the boat until the refrigeration team arrived, so at 10:30, instead of the promised 9:30, they did arrive. Well, at least one man arrived. It was Nazar, the original man sent about a month ago. Once Mark brought him up to date on what happened the day before yesterday, Mark took Ed and I to shore and then returned to Windbird. Ed and I first went to our favorite electronics shop that keeps us topped up on our cell phones and rented us the modem. The modem was fine, so I have no idea why it wouldn’t work this morning. It was just a nice little trick to play on me for my birthday. Maybe we have Gremlins aboard! While Ed and I were at the market, we got a call from Mark. He needed to know where something was and he reported that after an hour, nothing had happened with the refrigeration. Nazar was just thinking. Not a good sign. Ed and I finished our shopping jobs, had lunch, and headed back to the jetty. Just when we arrived, we saw Mark getting into our dinghy with two other men. We waved to try and get their attention and finally did. Mark was taking Nazar and another man named Rafik to shore with our cold plate. Something had finally happened. Nazar and Rafik got out of the dinghy on the rickiest remains of a pier that I have ever ventured out on. But Nazar and Rafik got off the dinghy safely and Ed and I got in. The cold plate needed to go back to the shop to have a crack in a connector brazed. This crack might have been our problem all along, but it was difficult to find. We waited all afternoon on the boat, but no one returned. We called at 3:30 pm and were told they would be coming. We called again at 5 pm and were once again told they would be coming. They arrived at 6 pm and just left at 7 pm. As the sun was setting we are waiting while the system is being vacuumed. After that we watched the gauges to see if there is still a leak. And unfortunately, there is. So this goes on tomorrow.

My artichoke pizza dinner had to be put on hold until tomorrow, but I’m determined to have artichokes on my birthday. So Mark has promised to fix an artichoke omelet for dinner. I didn’t get a working freezer for my birthday, but one thing I did get was beautiful silver starfish earrings from Heather, Jed, Sam, and Jonah, and a great photo of Ziggy from Justin and Jo. I’m still hoping to talk to Heather later this evening, her morning, but will have to wait until late tomorrow morning to try and catch Justin, Jo, and Ziggy again. I did get a wonderful email from my sister-in-law Conda this morning. She has received cards from so many people, memorial contributions to the church, flowers, emails, and an unbelievable number of phone calls. She has just been overwhelmed. Both my brother and Conda touched the lives of many and those many have certainly sent their love and affection. Conda is keeping busy and is doing well, and her email was a very special birthday present.

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Day 129, Year 5: Birthdays

March 4th, 2010

Day 129, Year 5: Birthdays
Date: Thursday, March 4, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India

If my mother were still living she would be 102 today. I was too stubborn to let myself be born on her birthday, so my day is tomorrow. But today is my brother-in-law Joe’s birthday, so “Happy Birthday, Joe.” March 4-5-6 are birthdates of other friends as well. Happy birthday to Susan on Sea Bunny and Alan Kanegsberg back in Concord, NH.

I spent my day doing laundry and baking once I found out that no one would be coming to work on the freezer today. We don’t know why, but no one was available even though the team that left late yesterday evening said they’d be back this morning. When we called this morning, we were told that someone will come tomorrow and will definitely get the freezer running. We shall see. Mark found a place that works on alternators so he took our big alternator there this afternoon. We are not sure how long that repair will take, so we just have to take one day at a time. We are still planning to check-out on Tuesday and leave on the high tide on Wednesday. Lynn will be returning from the US early Saturday morning and once she is rested, the final provisioning will begin.

Now it is time to start the boat cleaning process. Everything on the deck is just filthy from a month of Cochin pollution, so sunshades and cockpit seat covers were sent home with Nazar today to be washed. We will start soaking lines tomorrow. You cannot tell that they were once white. Most everything is a lovely shade of dark gray now. I will also work on cleaning the waterline tomorrow. So tomorrow is a cleaning day for me. Mark will be working with whoever is here to work on the freezer. And if there is time at the end of the day, we are planning to make an artichoke (out of a can) pizza for my birthday dinner. I love artichokes and think I have had them on my birthday for the past 36 years. Don’t want to break that tradition.

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Day 128, Year 5: Two Compressors, but No Freezer

March 3rd, 2010

Day 128, Year 5: Two Compressors, but No Freezer
Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India

Three frustrating weeks and a thousand dollars later we find out that we may not have needed a new compressor after all. So now we have two compressors but no freezer. A different team was sent today. They thought they were coming to fix a refrigerator, not to install the new compressor. They had no knowledge of the previous problems and it took Mark and hour to try and explain why we had been told we needed a new compressor. And then it took ALL day to do the installation because the new compressor had different connectors from the old one so the day was spent making new connectors. When it was finally connected, the compressor worked great but this team is saying that the problem is a leak in the expansion valve connected to the cold plate or the cold plate itself. And that in order to diagnose this, the cold plate has to come out and go to a shop. We honestly don’t know what to do. If we take out the cold plate, we have no idea if anyone here can really get it reconnected corrected. So tonight we are sorting through the options. We can remove the cold plate ourselves so we know it is done correctly, but then if there is a problem they can say it was because we removed it improperly. We can do nothing and just not have a freezer for the next eight to ten months, but then we have the same problem when we reach South Africa. We could go to the Chagos and then return to Thailand or Malaysia in June to get things fixed, but then what? We would either have to stay there for another year or head south to Cocos Keeling and across to Mauritius and South Africa late in the season. That is feasible, but it means we would miss seeing Madagascar. All I can say is that this is just no fun. So that’s great news from Windbird for today. I hope I can be a little more upbeat by tomorrow.

I left the boat today before the refrigeration team came just so I would not be in the way. My birthday is on Friday, so I decided to go over to Fort Cochin and buy myself a birthday present. Our settee covers are micro-fiber and have been wonderful, but where we sit on the port settee cushion constantly, it is wearing. So I went off in search of some sort of cover. In doing so, I learned all about pashmina and Kashmir wool. The pashmina comes from the beard of the goat and the Kashmir comes from the stomach. When the pashmina is truly authentic and in natural colors, you can smell that it is real. Some scarves are hand embroidered in the finest embroidery that you can imagine. They are out of sight expensive. One scarf costs $200 US and would be $600 in the United States. It takes ten goats and one month of labor to produce such a scarf, so I am sure they are worth it. I just can’t afford them. But they were thrown over my shoulders and I was walked to mirrors to try to persuade me that I just had to own one. I resisted. And there are so many beautiful quilted wall hangings here. I was sure I could find one that would make a great cover for the settee. But unfortunately, all of them have sequins sewn on and they just wouldn’t be comfortable. But I did find an embroidered silk throw rug that had just the right colors, so I bought that. I also found a State-supported cotton shop where pants and shirts are made as you watch. Everything there costs 150 Rs which is about $3.50 US. I just had to buy a few shirts and colorful baggy pants for women that are so popular here among tourists. I love them for their comfort and their kicky colors. Unfortunately my good day ended when I returned to Windbird and found that things weren’t going so well. I just had to sit in the cockpit and read for the remainder of the afternoon while the work continued below. The refrig team didn’t leave until after 6 pm and if they return tomorrow morning, I think I’ll leave again!

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Day 127, Year 5: Strike in Kerala

March 2nd, 2010

Day 127, Year 5: Strike in Kerala
Date: Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy; 92 degrees F inside at 6 pm
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India
We are not buying fuel here in Cochin because the price is way too high for this part of the world. The prices here are more like Australian fuel prices. And evidently the entire state of Kerala has been in an uproar about this. So today they declared a 24-hour transportation strike. Mark, Ed, and I took the dinghy to shore about 1:30 this afternoon. We walked along the waterfront and saw no ferry activity, but that didn’t clue us in. We then rounded the corner and found no auto rickshaws, no veggie and fruit stands open, and even the little shops that sell snacks and cold drinks were all wrapped in tarp. We looked up Bannerji Street and there was NO traffic. We felt like the end of the world had come and we didn’t know about it. When we reached the street there was a vendor selling lottery tickets and we asked what was happening. He said, “Strike.” And then an English speaking couple wandered by and explained that the transportation workers were on a 24-hour strike. All transport workers including bus, taxis, and auto rickshaws. And very few stores in town were open, probably because no one could get to work. The people of this country depend heavily on public transportation, so Ernakulam was like a ghost town today. We walked up to Market Road just to see if the main fruit and veggie market was open. Some stalls were, but most weren’t. But the ones that were open allowed us to buy what we came for. Supposedly, everything will be back to normal tomorrow. Since nothing was open, we couldn’t buy a newspaper, but what I read on the internet suggested that the strike will end tonight but that the bus system will go on indefinite strike as of March 11 unless they are allowed to increase fares. Evidently even the educational institutions were closed today and the annual examinations in the schools scheduled for today and the University examinations were postponed. Our latest planned departure date is March 10, so on this front our timing is good.
Evidently not all transportation was closed today as our compressor was delivered by Blue Dart, a subsidiary of DHL here. We cooled down a bit overnight and decided that we had no choice other than to pay the unfair duty costs. We still plan to investigate this with the Customs officials here, but we really expect to get nowhere. Tomorrow morning the refrigeration team will come to install the new compressor and hopefully it will be up and running by tomorrow night. The toilet repair kit left New Delhi yesterday morning, but we heard nothing about it today. Maybe because of the strike. Hopefully tomorrow that will arrive and we can be finished with worrying about whether or not things are going to arrive. We received another package from our daughter today, so the West Marine toilet repair kit is the last thing we are waiting for.
But now we are having a diode disaster. Tonight when we turned on the engine to charge our batteries, Mark saw that the voltage output was not as high as it should be. When he looked in the engine room, he could see one of the diodes on our main alternator sparking. That is the same alternator we had rebuilt in Thailand, but something is not right. I have no idea if we can get this repaired here, and I know we can replace the main alternator with our spare, but I also know that means that we will have to run the engine much longer to charge. I’m not sure we can carry enough fuel from the Maldives to Chagos to make this work, and if we continue on, we will still have four to five months after the Chagos before we reach South Africa where repairs could be done. Soooooooo . . . we will have to have this checked out and then make decisions on what to do or where to go from here. This has definitely not been our year. We just go from one big problem to another. I’m hoping that St. Patrick’s Day might turn all of that around!

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Day 126, Year 5: Back to Reality

March 1st, 2010

Day 126, Year 5: Back to Reality
Date: Monday, March 1, 2010
Weather: Hot and Hazy
Location: Bolgatty Hotel Anchorage, Cochin (Kochi), India

We are back on Windbird after a wonderful little trip north to the Chinakkathoor Pooram. We got home mid-afternoon and had Ed over for dinner tonight. It is always good to get home, even if only after one night away. But unfortunately we got home to more unsettling news about the shipment of our compressor. As soon as we got home we got on line and found no update. That was not good. Then we got a call late in the day from the shipper saying that the compressor is now in Cochin and he will bring it to us tomorrow morning. BUT we will have to pay about $130 US in Custom’s Fees. We should not owe that much at all, but now the problem is whether to fight it or just pay the price and get our compressor. That will be our decision tomorrow morning, so we’ll have to report on what happens in tomorrow night’s log. Let’s just say that this whole Indian shipping process has been one of the most frustrating things we have ever had to deal with in our time sailing around the world.

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Day 125, Year 5: Chinakkathoor Pooram

March 1st, 2010

Day 125, Year 5: Chinakkathoor Pooram
Date: Sunday, February 28, 2010
Weather: Inland HOT
Location: Ottappalum, State of Palakkad, India

The Chinakkathor Pooram makes Carnival in Panama City look like a birthday party for a one-year old. Carnival was interesting, but the festival today was totally unbelievable. Just getting from our hotel in Ottappalum to the Sree Chinakkathoor Bhagavathy Temple in Palappuram just five kilometers away was quite an adventure in itself. Once we got to the temple festival grounds, the mass of humanity was overwhelming. And we could see nothing but people jammed in the highway for as far as you could see in either direction. The kuthiras or huge, stuffed horses on a platform carried by at least 40 men, the caparisoned or decorated elephants, the live music from scores of small bands continuously beating out a rhythm for five hours, the dancers in ornately decorated masks, things that looked like whirling Christmas trees, each ‘tree’ carried on a person’s shoulders. It just went on and on. I’m not sure there is any way to describe it to really share what it is like. I think getting the photos posted will help tell the story, but you have to hear the people and the constant beat of the drums to get the full effect. We’ll get video up as soon as we can, but in the meantime, you can search for this festival and see video of past years on the web at http://www.keralatourism.org/video-clips/chinakkathoor-pooram-707624724.php. It was definitely a once in a life time experience that we will never forget. There was one big disappointment in that the parade of the decorated elephants was so late in the evening that we couldn’t stay to see it. We did get to see the elephants, but not in all their glory. But the decision was to either stay and watch the elephants and walk through thousands of people in the dark or leave before sunset and miss the elephant parade. Walking through the crowds after dark just didn’t seem like a good idea, especially since we were the only white people among the thousands, so we left early. There were also a few apprehensive moments during the day and evening, but there were so many wonderful people who made sure we were safe that all was well. So that’s the short story. I’ll now continue with the detailed version of the day.

Our day began with a ride to shore with our agent, Nazar. We then hopped in an auto rickshaw and headed to the Ernakulum Junction train station. Our train arrived about a half an hour late, but before 10 am we were headed north. I was really sorry that I hadn’t brought my laptop as there were actually laptop plug-ins on the train. We were in an air-conditioned car with fairly comfortable seats. Two hours later, we arrived at Shonaur Junction. We exited our AC train car and were greeted by the hottest blast of wind I have ever felt. It was obvious that we were no longer on the coast. The heat of the inland was intense. But on we went. We hopped in an auto rickshaw and made our way to the Hotel Aramana in Ottappalum. I had called to make reservations and talked with someone named Krishna Kumar. When we arrived at the hotel, he came to greet us and knew I was Judy without me saying a word. He had expected us two hours earlier and I had to explain that we changed our plans. I felt bad that I hadn’t called to tell him, but I’m not used to people caring whether or not you arrive. India is different. Once you call someone to make a reservation, they feel they must take care of you. What a nice change from what we are used to in the US. The hotel looked great, but as we walked by the hotel bar, it was sounding a little rowdy and it was only noon. Kumar explained that the festival time is special and people really celebrate. We learned as the day went on that ‘celebrate’ was an understatement. Kumar took us to our rooms, made sure the AC was working and told us to have a little lunch and rest and get to the festival before three o’clock. There was a room at the end of our corridor that said ‘AC Family Restaurant.’ We opened the door and went in to find about four tables and a waiter. Obviously food was being brought in from a main dining room somewhere, but we loved having the convenience of eating in a quiet room just a few doors from our rooms. It was about two o’clock when we finished, so we decided to head to the temple. Kumar found a rickshaw for us and off we went-but not far before we found ourselves behind a huge group of men blocking the road as they were carrying one of the horse motifs to the temple. Immediately our rickshaw driver made a left turn and off we went through the back alleys of somewhere. He would head back toward the main road from time to time, see the traffic blockade due to the parade, and head off in another direction. He tried to cross police barricades, but that didn’t work, and finally he indicated that he had taken us as far as possible. We got out and started walking. Mark and I didn’t have hats with us and the sun was unbearable. Some young guys sitting in the shade saw us and came to us with paper visors. I then got out a silk scarf I was carrying and also threw that over my head. The road was lined with people and still more people were walking toward the temple. There were drumming bands and brass bands in the road along the way. Some were playing, some were not, but just walking among so many people was quite an experience. The people got thicker as we approached the temple, but when we looked behind us, we were glad we had come early. There was just as huge a mass of people behind us and in front of us.

When we got to the temple we found a place to stand in the shade where we could see the kuthiras or stuffed horses. I left Mark and Ed to walk closer to the temple to take some photos. As I walked in that direction, I started feeling a little uncomfortable. Not only was I the only white person in sight, I was the only woman. So I scurried back to where Mark and Ed were standing. They had met a man with two young sons and another man who was trying to explain things to them. About that time, an older gentleman approached us and basically told us to move. At first we thought he was being rude, but then we realized he was trying to get us to go into a covered shelter where the press and policemen were standing. He kept saying something about fighting, so we went and the police let us enter the special area. Because we were obviously foreign tourists we evidently had priority seating (although there were only a couple of plastic chairs). I felt uncomfortable at first, but once the festivities were underway, I understood why we were there. Each of the huge stuffed horses being carried by more than 40 men were in a competition. One kuthira or horse motif would move to the center place and the men holding the platform would work into frenzy and then throw the horse and platform into the air as far as they could. We then realized that this was an athletic competition of sorts and then we also realized that the platform bearers were drinking some alcoholic brown liquid and that tempers easily flared. A fight broke out and I was glad to be in a shelter with the police. They were doing nothing to stop the fight, but at least we felt protected. The throwing of the horse platforms was spectacular, but it was marred by the flaring tempers. Eventually police came out of nowhere and escorted a couple of men from the festival area. By this time we could see the parade of elephants far in the distance and we thought they would arrive soon. But at least an hour went by and there was no movement. Finally, Mark and Ed left me in the protected shelter and they went in search of elephants. I stubbornly stood in my little space in the shelter where I would have a chance for a great photo when and if the elephants arrived. I was pushed and shoved in all directions by other people, but I held my own. Then Mark and Ed returned and said they had been able to get good photos of the elephants and that we should probably leave as it was approaching sundown. I agreed, although sad that I wouldn’t get to see the parade of elephants. But I did go to see them up close. They were magnificent with large, intricately designed gold plates covering from the top of their heads down onto their trunks. The backs of the elephants were covered with brightly colored carpets and each elephant driver carried a decorative parasol.

As dusk approached, fireworks went off, temporary temple structures lit up and more and more people arrived. So we tried to head down the highway. But the road was packed with bands, floats, and more people than I could imagine. A friend that we had met earlier in the day found us and said we should follow him. I have no idea how he found us among the thousands, but he did and he walked with us for at least a kilometer or two to get us out of the packed crowds. At one point, we head someone say that there was a fight ahead and we realized just how precarious our safety could be. In such crowds, you could easily be crushed or trampled by people innocently running from a fight. We were shoulder to shoulder with no place to run, but we just kept following our friend who eventually helped us find a rickshaw back to the hotel. Whew! It was a long, hot afternoon with some spectacular memories. But we were hot, tired, incredibly dirty from the constant dust kicked up by human movement, and really glad to get back to Hotel Aramana. Krishna Kumar met us again and made sure we were all set for the evening. Needless to say, we slept well.

100228 Day 125 India–Chinakkathoor Pooram

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