Just before leaving for Mayaguez, I gave my computer another try, and to my amazement and joy, it worked perfectly! So I didn't take it to Radio Shack.
We were lucky enough to catch a publico to Cabo Rojo right by the dinghy dock. We greatly enjoyed the ride. Puerto Rican roads are paved and well maintained -- quite a contrast to the lumpy, bumpy dirt roads of the Dominican Republic. We didn't see a single moped or burro, and the homes are attractive, well-built houses, not hovels. The vehicles are late-model cars, such as you'd see in the United States. The scenery is green and lovely.
In Cabo Rojo, we had to transfer to another publico. Unfortunately, there was only one other passenger, so the driver was waiting for two more, to make the trip worthwhile. When no one else showed up after 45 minutes or so, the driver offered to leave right away if the other passenger would pay $3 and we'd pay 5, which was only $1.50 more than we'd have had to pay anyway, so we agreed. It only took 10 or 15 minutes to reach Mayaguez Mall, which was everything we'd been led to expect -- a real U.S.-style mall, with Sears, Penney's, Walgreen's, etc. It was comfortably air-conditioned, too.
We went to a couple of banks to try to exchange our leftover D.R. pesos, but they wouldn't take them. We liberated some cash from an ATM, dropped off a couple of rolls of Roy's film for developing, and ate lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken. What a treat! There were also a Burger King and a Pizza Hut, and later we found a Ponderosa, which we'd have gone to if we'd known it was there. Other than the fact that most of the people speak Spanish, being in Puerto Rico is practically like being in the states.
After lunch, we went to Western Auto, and Roy bought a bunch of stuff. Then we picked up his pictures. One roll didn't come out at all, and the other was too dark, which was disappointing. I bought a top, and then we checked out Sears, which was like any other Sears. Next, we went to the Xtra Supermarket and bought some groceries. They even had our favorite instant oatmeal! And nice fresh broccoli.
By then, it was after three, so we caught a publico back to Cabo Rojo. (Publicos are sort of a cross between a bus and a taxi. They're cars or vans that carry five to thirteen passengers between two points. But they'll also take you right to your doorstep or wherever you want to go for a slight extra charge, maybe 25 cents.) Apparently, a bunch of people had been waiting for two more passengers, because as soon as we showed up, the publico took right off.
To our surprise, the publico didn't go to the terminal but dropped us off about six blocks away, so we got to see some of downtown Cabo Rojo walking over there. Cabo Rojo is much, much larger than Boqueron but smaller than Mayaguez.
What a shock we had when we got back to Boqueron! At the dinghy dock the woman from Pegasus told us that while we were gone, a thirty
knot wind had come up out of the northwest and blown Jofian practically onto the beach! She was about to hit a bunch of rocks and coral, but several boaters zoomed over there in their dinghies, towed her back where she belonged, and dropped the other anchor Roy had rigged up in the bow but never used. Luckily, it worked just fine.
We were amazed, because in the five days we'd been here we hadn't budged, and it was flat calm this morning when we left. It was certainly nice of those guys to go to all the work of rescuing the Jofian. Roy paddled around and thanked as many of them as he could locate, and I put out a thank you on the VHF. Roy offered to recompense them by working a couple of hours for them, but they declined. Boaters help other boaters as a matter of course. We're certainly lucky we were here and not in some isolated spot.
A U.S. woman named Janie has been living here for five years on the sloop Puffin with her husband Ray, who was instrumental in rescuing Jofian. She does canvas work for a living. We need a new zipper sewn on our port curtain and some changes made to the awning, so Roy arranged for her to do it. She'll come by in the morning.
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