Gato Solo

You know it’s hot when you can’t wait for the next fly to buzz by you so can catch that little breeze off its wings.

So we got our boat….for now, to hold us over until we know for sure this is where we want to stay. ‘Gato Solo’ is her name. She came with it. A Gato Solo looks like a strange cross between a raccoon, cat, monkey and anteater. Hmmmmm? If you’re just dying to know more about a Gato Solo, Google will give you all kinds of information.

The boat is a 20 foot panga with a 40HP motor. We’ve taken it out once and sure enough, it catches fish! Perfect!!! We were only out for about 1 ½ hours as our current gas tank is small. Within about a ½ mile from shore we caught a nice Cero Mackerel. GOOD EATIN.

As with most things here not a lot makes sense so Wayne is busy trying to make the boat right. For instance, getting a brace made for the motor for when we are towing it since the motor doesn’t have that handy little position just for that purpose, towing it! The seller of the boat said ‘just leave the motor down, no problem’. Perfect, let’s just drag that thing along the road. I’m sure it won’t do much damage. Or as pointed out by someone else, leave it all the way up. So that’s what we did and had a guy pass us on the road with his passenger hanging out the window frantically waving his arms up and down to demonstrate SEVERE BOUNCING…which I understand is not a good thing.

Because we are launching it from a boat ramp here in Pedasi we have to wait for the tide to be right. Our first trip out, the tide was ok until the last 2/10 of a mile of which we had to push and pull it into the ocean. The river was still a bit low. The river by the way is through the mangroves. Mangroves, you know, where snakes and crocs live! Worked off a couple rum drinks so all was good. We’ll eventually moor it and buy a little rowboat to get out to it.

We are having a really hard time finding land. There’s so much of it here but everyone wants to sell HUGE pieces. No one wants to be bothered with smaller lots unless in a development type of community which we don’t want. We found one piece a little over an acre. It’s perfect in every way. 2 miles from the beach, electric, water, nice view, flat to build, etc., etc. And then…..there’s the pig farm. It’s several hundred feet away but we are told depending on the winds, it could get pretty ripe. We keep driving by at different times of the day with our noses out the window.

Because the quality of construction here is so bad, we really want to build something ourselves. Plus it’s a LOT cheaper so we aren’t really looking to much at turn key stuff. Because in most cases, the key probably won’t work any way!!! We met one guy and he’s building a house out of shipping containers. I know what some of you are thinking, shut up. Believe me, you’d never know it was a container. It’s got real walls, floors, etc. and you can cut walls right out so you can have a very open floor plan. Who knows.

Lastly (for now), there’s something else I really miss. A good napkin. What I’d give for a Vanity Fair napkin. What they give you here won’t wipe the snot off a fruit fly. Plus they wrap your utensils in the napkin first so by the time you tear it off you are left with shreds. If you are lucky enough to have some left on your table, you end up going through about 87 of them and the pile at the end of the meal is still only about the size of your baby toe.