Patiently waiting...

Torneo de Pesca 2020

The smart remarks have returned. Rick is on the mend! It took him a few days to get his energy back but all is good now as far as the food poisoning goes. 

We have been here in Barra for nearly a month now due to a couple boat issues that kept coming up that were mentioned in our last blog, so our time to leave keeps getting pushed forward. Since our time to leave was so close to the Torneo de Pesca 2020 (fishing tournament) which takes place right here at the marina, we decided to stay and leave after tournament.  It’s a very big deal here! The event goes on all weekend long. It’s a team event consisting of 4 fisherman per boat. Only one person is allowed to hold the leader to bring the fish to the side of the boat. But there are no restrictions to the number of people to get the fish onboard. The species of fish include Sailfish (catch and release basis only), Marlin, Dorado and Tuna.

It’s always exciting to see the big fish, especially the Marlin that come in! There are some pretty expensive fishing boats that come from all over to participate, that stay at the marina…we’re guessing in the 3-5 million dollar range (not including the electronics and add-ons) and with probably 100 thousand dollars worth of rods and reels and other fishing equipment. The docks are all buzzing with music and excitement morning and night with crew washing and preparing the boats for the fishing expedition. Each evening the boats are due back by 5p.m. with their catches. When the fish are brought in, they are measured, weighed and raised up with a long line and hung by their tail for everyone to see. On day one of the tournament, the biggest Marlin I have ever seen weighed in at 550 lbs! It was a monster of a fish! Crowds of spectators were swarming the docks to see! The first prize is a little over $15,000, so you can imagine the excitement. We didn’t bother paying too much attention to the fish that came in the next couple of days of the tournament because we had a feeling this was the winner. And it was! The boat that caught the monster of a Marlin was just a simple Panga.  I was happy to see the team on this non-de-script boat be the winner! 

There was a big celebration with food and music for the teams at the end of the tournament. The day after, the marina was pretty much cleared out and things were back to normal. The 70’ Viking fishing boat docked next to us that participated in the tournament is still here though. They did not have much luck at all over the weekend. They only caught two Sailfish, which they had to release and that was it. They were not happy to say the least. Not sure when they will be leaving. But we hope they leave before we do because their ’70 boat is sticking out a ways in their ’50 foot slip, and we might have trouble getting out of our slip and into the fairway without bumping into their several million dollar boat… which will not be good.

On this quiet Monday, Rick had a doctor appointment to figure out why his asthma has been acting up so much and him having to use his inhaler 3-4 times a day. Usually he only uses it maybe 3-4 times a year. So we made it to his appointment on time to see Doctor Rosa in San Patricio/Melaque. She came highly recommended. She is apparently very thorough and speaks very good English. But unfortunately most the town of Melaque know this too and were inside her office waiting room as well. Some with appointments and some on a waiting list. For some reason Rick’s name did not appear on the appointment list so I had to sign him up on the Walk-in list. Needless to say we did not get right in at our appointment time and waited about 2 hours longer. Rick wanted to leave but I insisted he stay since we’d come this far and had waited so long! 

Within those 2 hours we watched all the patients in waiting, coughing, hacking and blowing their red tender noses. Almost every patient was sick with the flu, looking dreadful! Some people came in just to get flu shots which a nurse in the back room was doling out like candy. And some of the people with the flu, had already had their flu shots months back! This was some flu! All I could think about sitting and watching these ill patients, was that I too was going to catch this and how that would really suck! Rick and I both felt doomed that we would catch whatever everyone else had. So I sat there almost paralyzed in my little Ratan chair not wanting to use up too much oxygen. Taking the most shallowest of breaths, trying to inconspicuously cover my nose and mouth with my purse without appearing rude. I just sat with my head down, staring at the floor counting tiles, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone, just in case this flu was contagious through the eyes. I noticed a hand sanitizer dispenser over on the wall, across from where we were sitting.  I thought I better go get a squirt since I used a pen to sign in with…the same pen that all the sick patients had been using. But the dispenser was not working. I pushed and banged on it repeatedly in desperation to get a squirt, but it was empty. Next I slithered into the bano without anyone noticing and washed my hands rigorously in the sink until my hands were practically raw. Somehow this made me feel a little better. A few times during our wait, I walked outside to catch a big breath of fresh air…filling my lungs as much as possible as if I were about to dive under water, then I’d quickly go back inside and sit down holding my breath. 

Finally Rick was the second to last patient to be seen. I went in with him. We were both afraid to sit down in the doctor’s office chairs for fear of coming in contact with something that the previous patients had touched. Rick sat and I stood for a bit, then I gave in and sat down. I figured things couldn’t get much worse than what I’d already been exposed to.

During the visit, Rick was instructed to come back the next morning to get some blood drawn and to do some other tests, and was also instructed to go to Manzanillo (about an hour away) for an X-ray the following day. The doctor did not want to just refill his inhaler without making sure exactly what’s going on. I’m happy she is checking all things out. Plus Rick does not want to be a slave to an inhaler. 

As the Doctor ordered, we made our journey to see her the next morning at 8:30. We got up early, Rick having to skip breakfast and coffee (doctor wanted him to come in fasting), hailed a water taxi, took it into Barra. From there we got in a cab and drove to San Patricio. Wasn’t quite sure we would make it since the cab sounded like it was on it’s last leg, rattling and clanking over each Tope (bump) and sputtering along the way. And…the driver kept performing the sign of the cross the entire ride to the doctor’s office.  Once there, Rick gave him the cab fare along with a tip, he kissed it, did one more sign of the cross and puttered away.

So once in the office, the doctor extracted 3 tubes of blood from Rick’s arm, told us to go to the Hospital in Manzanillo to get an x-ray (Rayos X) and to bring it back to her office later in the day. So, back to Barra by bus…stopping to eat breakfast since Rick had been fasting, back on the Panga in Barra and back to our boat at the marina. At the boat, I made a call to an American friend Phil, who lives year round in Colimilla (close to Barra..right behind the marina) to see if he would drive us to Manzanillo and back. He just so happened to be in Barra and would wait for us there. So, back on the Panga, and back to Barra we met Phil and off we went. An hour later there we were in Manzanillo at the Hospital. 

At the hospital in the waiting room was another sad sight. Both walls were lined with people sitting in chairs all looking heavy-laden. What was really strange was that almost everyone seated was having eye drops administered in both eyes by a nurse. Rick and I both looked at each other, like…what on earth?! We didn’t bother sitting. We chose to stand instead. Yesterday in the doctor’s office we were worried we would catch a killer flu and today we didn’t know what kind of hell we were being subjected to. We did not only stand but we stood in the doorway facing the fresh outdoors.

Rick was soon called in for his X-ray, got in and out swiftly, was given the X-ray and we got back in the car…heading back to San Patricio/Melaque. An hour later we dropped the X-ray off with the nurse at the doctor’s office and were told that we should come back at noon on Friday to discuss everything. 

So it looks like we will at least be here a few days more. We hope to untie our dock lines as soon as possible! 

Hang in there! I promise to be somewhere else when I write our next blog.