Monday, September 25, 1995 - Curaco

We've learned to take the eight or nine o'clock bus. There's no ten o'clock, and if we wait for the eleven, we don't have much time to shop before all the stores close for siesta. So Roy rushed this morning and caught the eight o'clock. I took my time and caught the nine. Roy carried the twenty-five pound alternator from one shop to another, trying to get it tested and to find out how to hook it up. He didn't have much success, but he got a few clues. I mailed a bunch of letters, and then tried to phone Radio Shack. This time, someone answered. She said Radio Shack had closed. She'd sold all the printer ribbons and didn't have any relays. She told me I could get a relay at Jimmy's Electronics. I went to an ATM, confident that by now the communications problem would have been taken care of. It wasn't. I was down to my last fifteen guilders, so I went in a bank to see if I could get a cash advance on my Mastercard. Unfortunately, I hadn't thought to bring any ID with me, so I couldn't get it. Walked over to the public library. I thought the sign said it opened at ten. It was 9:55, so I waited five minutes. The door opened, and I started to go in, but a security guard stopped me and said the library didn't open until two. I took another look at the sign. Sure enough, on Mondays it opens at two. Every other day, it opens at ten. Rode a bus out to where I'd been told I could get the polyfoam brushes I wanted. To my surprise, I saw a building with a sign that said "Radio Shack". I thought, "Wow! I've found it!" The ground floor of the building was an appliance store. I walked completely around the building, looking for the entrance to Radio Shack, but the only entrance was to the appliance store. The cashier told me Radio Shack was through the store and around the corner, but when I got there, the clerk said Radio Shack was no more. They didn't have printer ribbons. They had relays, but not the kind Roy wanted, so I left without getting anything. Crossed the street to an ATM and tried again. Still communications problems. Hard to believe. Walked three or four blocks up the street to the paint and hardware store that was supposed to have polyfoam brushes. To my amazement, they actually had them! I was almost completely out of money, so I only bought four. Returned to the ATM. Still nothing. Frustrating. Drank a chocolate shake at the brand new McDonald's and tried again. Zilch. Took a minibus to Otrobanda and tried the ATM there. Same results. Strolled up to the Super Jumbo Colon Market and bought a package of chicken with the little money I had left. Jimmy's Electronics was closed for siesta, so it didn't matter that I didn't have the money for a relay anyway. Kept trying ATM after ATM. Nada. This is really disgusting. At two, I went to the library. The latest issue of the New York Times that they had was dated September 11th. Roy was waiting on the 2:15 bus when I got there, so we returned together. Roy tried out the new alternator again. As usual, it didn't work. He went over to the marina to try to find out the location of an alternator repair shop. He ended up talking with an electronic engineer (the same one who refused to work on the VHF.) The engineer agreed to look at the alternator at 7:30 tomorrow morning.