Well, where can I start. It is now our sixth week in El Yaque, Margarita. The last two weeks have gone very quickly. Nearly two weeks ago we had the excitement of the Canada/USA Ice hockey final. Now, that may not seem particularly relevant, but bear in mind that we are staying in the house of two Canadians, one of the guests at the time was a Canadian Ice Hockey player, Erik, and another guest, Dan, was from San Francisco. Also consider that the Canadians were on track to grab the biggest gold medal haul in the winter olypmics if they won gold in the Ice Hockey. Now, maybe you can imagine the atmosphere in the house that day. There was some confusion about the time of the match - at first thought to be 6pm local time, but we were at the beach at 4pm when we got a call to say 'the match is on - NOW'. By the time we got changed and got back to the house the match was well underway - don't ask me which half, quarter or third it was in - but Nora was beside herself with anxiety as the Canadians were 2-1 up - but she wanted more. When the USA scored with 20 seconds remaining and took the game into 'sudden death' overtime, you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. Luckily the Canadians won and I don't think Dan was really too disappointed and we all went out to celebrate at the pizzeria! Nora was very happy - and Dave is now a convert to watching Ice Hockey - thanks, Erik, for that - another sport to add to the list of those that Dave watches!!
 
The light winds we were experiencing when I last wrote, lasted for 4 or 5 days with one of those days being totally windless. After that period the winds picked back up although not quite as strong as when we first were here. We had about 6 days of nice planing conditions and were definitely improving our windsurfing - more jumping, gybe practise and starting to try duck gybes. For those of you who don't know, a duck gybe involves 'ducking' under the sail whilst turning the board around downwind - and when done well it looks really cool. However, when done badly it can result in some quite spectacular and crowd-pleasing dismounts!! I think any crowd watching us try would have been well pleased!! Neither of us managed to nail one, but we were getting closer and then the wind died again. Last Friday, the wind was marginal for planing, so we spent the afternoon practising heli-tacks instead. Hard work - but good fun - and nice to practise them in just sub-planing conditions rather than just really light winds.
 
On Saturday, it was very light wind again and with even less wind forecast for Sunday we decided that we would hire a car. Having already tried to book one in advance earlier in the holiday, I had been told that was not possible and the car could only be booked on the day you wanted it, and that the car hire place, 'El Gringo, car hire' was only open from 10am. So at 10am on Sunday we went down to hire a car for the day, only to find that 'El Gringo' was not open!! Whether that was because it was Sunday or whether it opens at 'Margaritan 10am' which could be anything up to 2pm, I don't know. Anyhow, on Kathy's advice we went to the El Yaque Hotel and spoke to the receptionist there who said we could hire a car, well a jeep, for 210 Bolivars (about $40) a day (half the price of 'El Gringo') and we could pick it up at 12 noon. So we popped back to Casa Nora, packed a bag for a day out, and went back to the hotel for 12 noon, which came and went... and 12:30 too... Then the receptionist made a call, and told us that the car wouldn't be there until 3pm. At which point we said we would hire it tomorrow instead - but, 'No', for some reason that was not possible... and by now we were hiring the car for 3 days as that was the minimum hire period - I can't quite remember when that was mentioned!!! So, we said we'd leave it!! But of course, that couldn't be allowed - and a few phone calls later, a taxi arrived to take us to pick up the car, with the explanation that the traffic was heavy in this direction so that the car couldn't be brought to us, but clear in the direction towards the car so we would be able to get there. Did I mention that the whole of this conversation was conducted in Spanish as the receptionist spoke no English - that was rather tricky, to say the least, as we speak no Spanish!!!
 
By now it was just after 1pm and we set off in a taxi, with our destination, as we thought, the airport. However, we passed the airport and carried on towards the main city, Porlamar, and soon we were heading through the backstreets of downtown Porlamar. By now we were a bit nervous, not just about the whole car hire business, but about the fact that somehow we were going to have to navigate our way back through Porlarmar!!! Just then, the taxi stopped on a street corner, and the driver turned round, gave us a great big beaming smile and said 'Person come with car!'. So we waited, no person, no car, but a call on the driver's mobile phone. Apparently we were at the wrong street corner!! Two minutes later, another street corner, and a little white Suzuki Jimny pulled up. This was our 'jeep'! Hmmm, not quite what we had imagined, but....

at least it was a car and it was only 1:30pm. So we did what we never thought we would and gave our credit card to a guy on a street corner - and were the proud owners for 3 days of a clapped out (not that we knew that then) Suzuki Jimny - although to be fair there was some considerable confusion as to whether the rental ended on Tuesday, or Wednesday. We knew it was 4pm, but not which day!!! Not to worry, we could deal with that later.
 
We set off and had to amend our plans of touring the western part of the island, as we were now at the Eastern tip. So instead of the planned easy trip around the unspoilt uninhabited western half, Dave was thrown in at the deep end and had to negotiate the busy roads out of Porlarmar. After a few navigational hiccups and mixed up lefts and rights (it's tricky when you are driving on the wrong side of the road, left and right seem to get swapped in your head - not just me, Dave too) we reached the road we wanted to the old capital of the Island - La Asuncion. This turned out to be a pretty town with a nice central plaza, where we ate lunch (pre-packed in case we couldn't find anywhere to buy food!) and had to be very firm with the local dogs who turned up in numbers to sit and beg and drool. To be honest, I nearly let them have my lunch as they certainly looked like they needed it much more than I did.
 
We had a walk around the town and then visited an old fort (sorry I'm no good with dates) which, as it said on the poster, was free to enter. However, it was a different matter when you came to leave. The security guards were very keen to show you the visitors book for you to sign and made it clear that a contribution was expected, by leaving a note of the correct denomination by the book, just to give you the right hint!! So much for free access.

We then found a road which led right up to the top of the mountain where there was a national park which was beautiful. Lots of trees that reminded me of the Banyan tree we saw in Lahaina, Maui - lots of trunks all joined together, and a beautiful view out over Porlarmar and the coast. Just below the top, there was a restaurant with the same fantastic view(see attached picture - the thing that looks like a cloud is actually a small island just offshore). , where the owner, Pedro, keeps birds - some in aviaries, but many just encouraged to come by feeding. There was a humming bird feeder and the tiny humming birds come and hover whilst drinking the sugar-water - enchanting... He also has a beautiful Red parrot, called Teresa, who he feeds and she chooses to stay there.

She is completely free to leave but just doesn't. About three months ago she laid three eggs and Pedro put them in his incubator and all three have hatched - so he now is looking after three baby parrots, who looked like the most raggedy bundles of fluff and feathers. He just dotes on them and they obviously love him...

As for the restaurant, we just had a fresh juice - squeezed from the fruits that they grow there on the side of the mountain. Fantastic!! We were too full to eat lunch as we had eaten in the plaza - with the dogs watching - and then I really wished I had given my lunch to the dogs as the food looked great - cooked on an open wood fire and served with the fantastic view overlooking the island!! Oh well, maybe another time, I thought, as we reluctantly left!!
 
We travelled on through a small village, Tacarigua, where the women hand make hammocks and saw the ladies sitting out on the street finishing off some hammocks, and then arrived at a coastal town, JuanGriego - just in time to watch the sunset over the sea, very beautiful.

The next day, we decided, as the wind was still light and we had the car, to go to the western part of the Island. Here we found a rather nice marine museum where we spent a couple of hours. There were lots of interesting exhibits, including fish and turtles,

but the best bit for me was a parrot they had rescued from a nest which had been attacked by a snake. Her wing was badly damaged in the attack so she cannot fly and therefore cannot be released to the wild. She was asleep on her perch when we walked up but as soon as we started to talk to her, she came and offered her back and neck to be scratched. She also kept putting a foot through the bars of her cage, at first I thought it was to ask for food, but it seemed that she just wanted to hold hands!!! Her role at the museum is to encourage people not to take parrots into captivity to be pets, but I have to say although I really agree that is a bad thing, I would love to spend more time with these obviously intelligent and companionable birds!!!

We drove around the coast of the western part of the island called Macanau, and stopped at a beach for lunch, where we watched the local fishermen net a shoal of fish. There were two boats and about half a dozen men, but try as they might, they couldn't stop the pelicans diving down and stealing fish from the net!! After about two hours, we decided we couldn't wait any longer for them to land their catch, which had seemed imminent for ages and left to continue onwards.

We arrived at the isthmus between the two parts of the island just in time to take a boat trip out into the lagoon at La Restinga, which is surrounded by Mangroves. The young 'captain' of our boat delighted in pointing out the local wildlife, and we saw oysters, starfish, and several herons, as well as lots of fish jumping, and it was a perfect end to a lovely day.

Tuesday was our last day of car hire, well at least we thought it probably was, or maybe it was Wednesday, who knew... anyway we planned to visit the northern part of the island which we had heard was very beautiful. However, during the night, my ear decided to flare up and I got raging ear ache - so instead of the planned day out, we embarked on a second trip to the hospital, hoping that this time the doctor would be available. After a few navigational hiccups, we arrived, armed with a letter written by Luzy, the housekeeper at Casa Nora, which would have passed for a doctor's referral letter, explaining my symptoms and asking for help. The receptionist explained with some difficulty (in my understanding not her explanation) that the doctor would not be in until 4pm. I thought from what she said the the doctor was in a different hospital for the morning session and she showed us the hospital on the map - in central Porlamar.
 
I was quite happy just to take some painkillers, and return at 4pm, but Dave was keen to get me treatment and insisted that we should try the main hospital. To be honest we found it quite easily - but that was when the fun started. We could only find the Emergency entrance and thought that was hardly appropriate, but whilst we were hesitating the guard on the big metal gate called Dave over, read the letter and called us through. There were armed guards everywhere, and lots of people who they seemed keen NOT to let in. The guard took us to a porter, and instructed him where to take us... so we set off through the hospital, which seemed to be in the middle of being knocked down and rebuilt - whilst still operating!! The porter had read the letter by now, and stopped at a nurses desk and consulted with them. They pointed him onwards - and we followed. I started to get a bit concerned when I saw the signs for ECG, Cardiology etc but the porter insisted that we follow him into the ward... were he consulted with two doctors, a nurse, a cleaner - and one of the patients.
 
It became clear that what he was focussing on was a point in Luzy's letter which asked that I be assigned to an English speaking doctor - rather than the bit that said the doctor should be an ENT specialist!!! So here we were in the Cardiac Unit - presumably because there was a doctor who spoke English, but I could hardly think they were going to be interested in looking in my ear!!! Luckily, at this point (and I did wonder whether this was some strange dream I was having), a TV camera man that was filming in the hospital, joined in the debate, and he spoke beautiful English and also was clued up enough to realise that the important thing was that the doctor should be an ENT specialist as a priority, and English speaking only as a nice to have!! Unfortunately we did not have the name of the doctor that we had been trying to find - but by now I was doubting that I had understood the receptionist at the first hospital correctly. Maybe she had only been telling us of an alternative hospital to try - not that that was where the doctor could be found. By now, with the intervention of the TV camera man, the porter had come up with the name of a doctor and told us that we could return at 1pm - but I had no real confidence that this doctor was going to be an ENT specialist or speak English - and certainly not both!!!! So we decided, despite how helpful everyone had been, that we would go back to the first hospital at 4pm.
 
The only problem now was the car which we had to get back for 4pm (but as I said we were never quite sure which day) so Dave rang the chap who we hired it from and arranged that we would take it back at 10am on Wednesday. We weren't sure whether we had arranged an extension or a shortening of our hire - but whatever... So with a few hours to kill, we decided to go for a bit of a tour up the coast and back to the mountain top restaurant - where we had the most fantastic ribs, BBQ'd over the wood fire, homegrown tomato salad, and boiled potatoes with garlic butter - accompanied by papaya and passion fruit juice. All served with many smiles, with the hummingbirds feeding in the background. We also heard 'someone' talking away and found that in our previous visit we had failed to notice the Toucan who was joining in the general conversation from his enclosure down amongst the papaya plants!!
 
Having eaten, we returned to the hospital, with 10 minutes to spare, despite several detours!! Only to be told by a different receptionist to come back in the morning, as the doctor for that afternoon could not speak English. I tried to explain that we had been in the morning and had been told to come back and must have looked so disappointed that she spoke to the doctor and suddenly it was agreed that I would be seen. I went into the consulting room expecting to continue the difficult Spanish/English conversation, only to find that the doctor spoke almost perfect English!! She also had a device with a camera, to show me inside my ears - not a particularly nice thing to see, but interesting!! The upshot was that she prescribed two lots of ear drops, antihistamine tablets and two days off the water (which by the time of writing means that I can go back on the water tomorrow!!!). So, a pretty successful hospital visit and a nice day in the process.
 
We returned to the beach yesterday, feeling like we had been away on a mini holiday within a holiday, to find that almost everyone we knew had left in the intervening time, and that lots of new people had arrived. The Vela windsurf centre is much busier just now (for a week or two, we are told) so there is more competition to find the right board and sail combination - but Dave got himself some kit and got out on the water and had a good session, whilst I caught up with Lindsay, Alex and the cookie guy!! It felt like coming home!!
 
I can't wait to get back on the water tomorrow and am keeping my fingers crossed that my ear will continue to improve - the new drops certainly seem to be helping. The pain is gone now which is great and was a condition the doctor set for my going back on the water. I just hope that the medication is killing all the yucky things I saw in my ear - not nice knowing they are living in there...
 
Our wildlife encounters continue - we had a tiny bird fly up onto the terrace at breakfast one day and get stuck between the window bars and the glass - well at least it couldn't find its way out. I caught it and took it to the edge of the terrace, opened my hands and it just sat there! Then after a few moments, it flew off - straight into the house!! When I caught it the second time, I took it downstairs and let it go into a bush!
 
I have caught two geckos in our room, only small ones, and they don't seem to mind too much as they are happy to sit on a warm hand once caught. What else, a few frogs - that's about it, I think. Oh, and did I mention, that I got bitten by the nice parrot at the mountain top restaurant? No... well I guess that is just a story for another time...