Well, after arriving at the hospital, paying for her vaccination, waiting to be called, all of which was very efficient, albeit that not a word of English was spoken and Elaine doesn’t speak Spanish, the nurse promptly announced: “No COVID!” after she was called. Confused that the appointment was specifically for a COVID-19 booster, Elaine’s queries resulted in the same response: “No COVID!“. Resigned, she returned to the registration desk to get a refund, much to the surprise of the administration staff member and even more surprising to the administration staff member who had made the appointment for Elaine a week ago. After a long conflab on the phone to the clinic nurse, Elaine received the same response: “No COVID!”. Trying to enquire as to why not and where she could get one, proved to be completely pointless. Reluctantly we left the hospital and decided to ask at a pharmacy instead, given that we’d already tried all the hospitals and clinics, to no avail.
Not surprisingly the pharmacy we visited gave us the same response, indicating that we needed to go to a hospital. At this point, exasperated, Elaine decided to at least try to get a flu shot as a bare minimum. She was elated when the pharmacist indicated she could provide a flu vaccination, but when it was placed into a “to go” packet after Elaine had paid, confusion was swiftly followed by incredulity; no one would administer the shot! We left with a flu shot in a bag.
After enquiring at the ARC office as to whether or not there was perhaps a First Aid Officer of sorts that could possibly administer the shot, it was down to trusty Dr Roy once again.
Armed with a youtube video, an alcohol wipe, a cotton wool pad, a plaster and the injection, he administered the shot, at which point Elaine thought she was going to pass out from fear, but never felt a thing; he had performed the task expertly. This experience, however, brought healthcare to an all new low for us and this in Europe of all places. Incredulous, and quite honestly, shameful!
Regardless, as you can imagine, Roy thoroughly enjoyed sticking the needle in Elaine, but he duly kept her under observation for the prescribed fifteen minutes. Fortunately, we didn’t have to deal with any side effects or reactions.
Earlier in the day, besides continuing with the repairs on our one fresh water tank and sorting through all the ARC documentation we’d been given during our check-in, as well as diarising all the events, after visiting the hospital we found the El Corte Inglés store recommended by Anne, off Time Bandit. Delighted to find a huge, well stocked establishment with everything one could possibly need for provisioning, will certainly help with those items we haven’t been able to find elsewhere on the island thus far.
Our final errand for the day was the paint shop we wanted to visit on our walk back to the marina, but, unfortunately, it was closed, since we’d, once again, forgotten about afternoon siesta time.
Back onboard we enjoyed an early dinner before making our way to the first of many ARC sundowners, hosted by various vendors supporting the rally and enjoyed meeting some of the other cruisers, although rain interrupted play.
With the blustery rainy weather conditions continuing, this morning, the first task of the day was to sort out the purchase and delivery of our emergency drinking water, as well as some non-alcoholic beverages for the passage, since these are too heavy to lug from the store to Paw Paw. A very efficient service was offered by HiperDino and Roy had barely returned to Paw Paw when our purchases arrived. The downside, however, was that water is rationed to purchasing a maximum of ten bottles per day regardless of volume. That has resulted in a second trip having to be made. At this point, though, it feels like Paw Paw is going to crawl out of the marina, given the load she’s carrying.
Afterwards Roy continued with his repair efforts on the fresh water tank, which are being hampered by the much cooler temperatures, requiring longer drying periods between stages, before we enjoyed lunch and a coffee at the Barlovento 326 café, following which Elaine started her preparation tasks for departure, since she had the time. These included checking all the head torches, completing our Water Management and Fuel Management calculations, creating our Deck Log and Fuel Consumption Log and, of course, the all important task of checking our toilet paper stock to ensure we have enough for the passage, much to the amusement of Justine and Paul when they were asked how many toilet rolls they use a day; the devil is in the details as always!
In between all this activity Roy enjoyed a chat to his brother in South Africa and Elaine had a brief chat to her sister in Ireland.
News from the Cadman Jr household was that Carter had lost his first tooth, but poor Brayden had been at the dentist to have two teeth removed, since his second teeth were already growing in, but his baby teeth were stubbornly staying put; poor little mite. A photograph of a drawing William had done for us was also sent; it’s clear he really likes sharks!
Once our purchases had been sanitised and we’d had another early dinner, it was time for the second round of sundowners, organised by the ARC rally and one of the sponsors, wrapping up a somewhat busy day.
