We dropped Mighty Mouse into the water and geared up to head into Mayaguez to clear customs. We followed the instructions in our Guidebook that instructed us to clear customs at the government dock. The government dock wanted to charge us $25.00 to tie our dingy up there so we opted to beach her about ½ mile away and walk to the office. When we arrived we were told that this was a branch of the customs office but since we needed to clear through immigration as well we would need to go to the office about a mile down the road to do both. This is also listed in our guidebook as the customs office. Oh well, we needed to be out walking anyway after being on the boat for 44 hours. My only problem now is my inability to wear any other shoes besides flip flops. I get blisters from all my other shoes now. I was still nursing a blister from walking around Puerto Plata and the Waterfalls and now have a couple of new ones from my Chacos. The bottoms of my feet however have become very tough, although it is not recommended to go without something on your feet especially in third world countries or anywhere with an open sewer system. It took about an hour to clear customs and immigration as we found out a decal is now required to be able to clear back into any US territory via the automated telephone system for US Citizens arriving by private vessel. We will purchase one online when we have internet again. After clearing into Puerto Rico we stopped for a couple of beers at a roadside stand near the waterfront before making our way back to Mighty Mouse, that we had locked to a tree on the beach. We stopped at a small local grocery store on the way and found the prices to be very reasonable so we purchased a beef tenderloin, pork chops, chicken to restock the freezer and a few additional provisions were we low on and carried them back to our Dink. We also found a bakery and picked up a hot fresh loaf of French bread. The people here have been very welcoming and most are bilingual. We were asked by the man in the bakery if we were the people from the boats that arrived in the harbor that morning? We have only been in the country a few hours and we are already infamous. Or perhaps we just stick out like a bunch of sore thumbs being the only gringos in this part of the neighborhood. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner on the boat. The next morning I rode with Mike and David back to the beach as both boats needed additional fuel before continuing on to Boqueron. I dropped them on the beach and stayed with the Dingy. We had seen a place to purchase diesel about ¼ mile from the beach and so the boys took off empty diesel jugs in hand. I did not envy them the walk back, in the rapidly increasing heat and humidity. They did not make it but about 50 steps from the beach when a local gentleman by the name of Umberto stopped his car and told them to get in. He said he would take them to the gas station. When Mike mentioned that he was heading to the one we had seen the day before Umberto said he knew someone there. That station was for refueling large trucks and only sold in large quantities but after a mas rapido exchange in espanol between Umberto and his friend, he was able to talk them into selling Mike and David enough to fill their jugs and then gave them a ride back to the beach. He showed them where he lived and explained that if they needed anything else just to knock on his door. Talk about instant hospitality what a great welcome. Thanks Umberto!
Living the Dream 