Continuing with our adventures in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela - one day we took a bus to Los Altos, an artists colony in the hills just outside the city. Since we neglected to go with a guide, we didn't know exactly where to go but, as we got off the bus, we spotted a woman with a donkey carrying 4 cases on Polar beer, the local brew in Venezuela, and followed her, thinking she was going to a restaurant but she ended up at a house. Someone partied well that night!

On one of our marina sponsored shopping trips we bought a couple of boards, and Charlie made a ramp, making it a lot easier to get on and off the boat. Since we were backed into the wall that surrounds the marina, we were able to run the boards from the back steps onto the wall. Even Star, the dog, had no trouble getting onto the dock.

We also met another couple on a catamaran that pulled in right next to us called "Cat House". They made a very speedy approach to the dock and didn't really slow down until they hit the concrete wall, slightly damaging their boat - not a great way to arrive at a dock, but at least they didn't hit us. Of course we were standing by, fenders at the ready, just in case.

They were a nice couple, and the chief thing I remember about them is the wife kickboxing in the cockpit as a video played in the salon. She was around my age and in terrific shape Turned out they hadn't been sailing very long, and their subsequent fate is a cautionary tale for all sailors, especially newbies.

Sometime after we left Venezuela we heard that "Cat House" was wrecked in Tortuga, another Venezuelan island off the coast. Seems they had decided to leave Tortuga at night with only the autopilot navigating while they were both below deck and ended up on a reef. The boat was a total loss along with many of their personal belongings. As far as I know the boat is still there, slowly disintegrating on the coral, a reminder to other foolhardy sailors who might be tempted to do something similar. We always enter and exit a new harbor in daylight, and both of us are keeping a careful eye out for any possible obstacles in the water.

Back in Puerto La Cruz I observed at least 10 cats roaming the marina grounds, keeping the rat population down. Apparently they were doing a good job because some of the cats in our section of the marina looked a bit thin, so Charlie gave them some of our cat food. Being an animal lover I wondered what would happen to them once we left but have since heard they're being cared for, not sure by whom.

Every day we read an English language paper published in Venezuela called "The Daily Journal". It was so critical of the Chavez government we wondered how they were able to publish it, and, indeed, when we visited Venezuela in 2005, we couldn't find it anywhere. In addition to being a good read, "The Daily Journal" also contained the "New York Times" crossword which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Our plan now was to go to Trinidad, where my son Eric would join us for the holidays. After that we would sail back to Connecticut to deal with the 10 palettes of household furnishings I had in storage there. In addition, they were calling for a general strike in Venezuela to protest the Chavez government, so we wanted to be out of there before that took place. There were also rumors of a possible coup to overthrow the government, so, on December 4 we cast off the dock lines and headed northeast.

To be continued.