Monday's chores included heading up to the school to seek out Sarah, the pre-school teacher we had met at Robert Righteous' restaurant. Sarah told us that she'd be at school on Monday and would love to accept the balls. Sarah had taken Paula, Brian and Laurie and I up to the school on Saturday afternoon for a little look at her preschool section of the tiny building. Although pretty rough looking and nothing we'd put up with at home, you could see for miles out of her windows. The view of the Tobago Cays was something out of this world. She had a computer in her classroom that someone had donated but it wasn't connected to the Internet. Sarah booted it up and showed us about an hour's worth of pictures of the students, a recent wedding along with anything else mixed in. We left telling her that we'd see her on Monday morning. I resisted the urge to offer to help her file those photos in appropriate folders!
On Monday the 2 of us headed up the hill with several Moosehead Light sports balls. Sarah wasn't there and school was canceled for just the little ones. Apparently she was off to Union Island for the day! We found the principal and handed them over. He was grateful, but there was no real conversation or interaction with the students, although when we walked by the school some time later, an older student said "hi again" as he was off for home for lunch.
Sarah is a typical island girl in her 30's. She has 7 children all by different men and was just giving her last man the boot when we met her on Saturday. He was screaming at her from down the hill and she was ignoring him. Later on we found him at Robert's restaurant where, after begging Robert for money for the ferry to Union Island where he lived, he took his 35 EC dollars and left. Sarah joined us at the table and engaged us in conversation about the island. Always interesting to talk to the locals!
After visiting the school, we walked down the other side of the island to the beach at Saline Bay. There are only 2 roads here; one from Salt Whistle Bay up the hill to the town, and the other down from there to Saline Bay. The walk is extremely steep and one has to avoid slipping on any loose gravel that might be under your feet. We stopped at a little "supermarket" and I use this term loosely, and bought a few grapefruit (3 for 5 EC which is about 2.5 dollars at home) and a half dozen eggs. As usual, the eggs were sitting in large flats on the counter (no refrigeration) and the gal packed 6 eggs into a plastic bag and handed them to me for safe keeping! They actually ALL made it home and are now refrigerated. If eggs haven't been refrigerated, then they're good at room temperature for many days. Flipping them helps keep them fresh. If they've been in the fridge at some point, then they have to remain refrigerated. We got over this a long time ago!
Here in Salt Whistle Bay, charter boats arrive and leave constantly all day. They're inexperienced and provide us with entertainment when they try to anchor, running aground and re-anchoring often because of their close proximity to other boats. Last night about 10 young French adults were on a boat and when the dinghy engine refused to work, one guy pulled the cord for hours without doing another thing to ensure his success. Laurie had previously watched him rocking the dinghy and soaking the engine in salt water, so we can't imagine why he'd have all the trouble!
Our 15 mangoes we scored back in Bequia are starting to ripen. We had a beauty yesterday and by the looks of things the last of them will ripen all in one day about 4 days from now.
We met a couple from a large boat called Moody Blues. Susie and Gene will come aboard Cat Tales this evening for sundowners. They are from west coast US and have sailed for many years in areas other than the Caribbean. So, we'll dig out the map of the world and figure out just where they've been!
