Is spring coming? – some news from Valdivia

The fruit of much labour

An update from Paula.

Here in Valdivia spring seems to be arriving, even though it’s very early. Maybe is el niño, I don’t know… still rains every day, but the days are getting longer, the birds are getting louder, and the trees are flowering. All these is good for the soul, as the winter is long, grey and wet around here. Chris has been away for… I don’t know… two months? too long anyway! And I’m missing him very much. We needed the coins for continuing with our adventure, and so he left. Being away for so long is not easy, and I trully hope we won’t need to do it again.

I had a list of things to get done over the winter, and I haven’t managed to finish all those things yet. Most of the jobs on the list are in some state of completeness… the bilges were treated and painted, and they just need a last coat of paint; the food lockers were painted and divided and fitted with fabric bags to contain and organize our provisions; the seats cushions were modified to accommodate easier access to the lockers; there is a new little shelf on the quarter berth for the antenna cables, and the quarter berth has been fixed (somehow we managed to break one of the supporters for the bunk)… this last job was accompanied by cleaning and reorganizing this bunk storage. We have a new cabinet for the tools, that needs to be varnished in the next weeks. The carpenter who did this took a looong time, and that seems to be normal here in Chile. He has a couple more jobs I have asked him to do, but I’m not expecting them to be done very soon! Our tiller has been checked and the rotten bits fixed, now just needing varnishing. There are some sewing projects half done as well… mosquito nets, shades, more bags!

Any painting job is tricky, as here is very very wet. But with a bit higher temperatures the paint dries faster, and there is less condensation to fight against… condensation is a big issue here! But slowly some things are getting done, and waiting for Chris to come back is easier if there are jobs to get done. The importance of these jobs I don’t know, but certainly they keep me busy. Just another month and my captain will be back, and I won’t have to go to sleep alone anymore!