Merry, Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas.  Happy Hanukkah.  Happy New Year.

A lot has happened since our last blog.  We've been working non-stop since our boat splashed.  Things have happened that you just can't make up....in summary, we're having a blast.

Currently, we're completely moved aboard.  We did this miracle in about 9 hours - once our items arrived from storage.  Our stuff is stowed, but needs to be organized.  That is a continual process as many of you already know...

The biggest challenge - getting our stuff from storage to the boat.  On the surface this should be relatively easy.  Show up.  Load up.  Drive.  Unload.  Unpack.

Our stuff in storage

No so fast.  I left the boat at 7am to get to storage and load our items.  A large bus was arranged to pick me up at 9am.  I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  I called.  And called.  And called.  Nothing for almost 1 1/2 hours.  At this point I'm near boiling (something that has been harder to do since we've moved to Argentina as I'm a little more used to the "we'll get there when we get there" attitude).  I finally reached Antares, and they called the bus company.  They'd scheduled the wrong day.

No worries, they were sending a new bus to arrive in 30 minutes.  When he arrived, and saw my stuff, he 'No'.  I said 'Yes'.  This went on for a while, partially in spanglish.  I called Antares, they talked to him.  When the phone call was finished, he slammed his door, and drove off.  You can't make this up!  Evidently he didn't want my bins on his seats - (insert some not so good language from me here).  This was the same bus that previously picked up Neil and Shaun.  Unbelievable.

Finally, over 2 hours after my arrival, Antares finds a guy to pick up the stuff for me, so I can get back to the boat and head off to Customs & Prefectura (Coast Guard) for boat export papers.  I jump in a cab so we can get the paperwork completed before we set sail at 6am the following day.

After clear instructions from Antares on 'how' to unload the items at the boat - the driver unloads about 50 yards away, up a hill.  I'm not there.  My cell is dead.  Sarah's cell is dead.  Sarah is upset (insert some not so good language from Sarah here).  Sarah in the meantime, starts to walk these items (see pic above for perspective) from up the hill, down the ramp, to our boat - by herself.  The truck driver is yelling in Spanish to the workers for them to help.  Finally, two very helpful Antares workers came to the rescue and move all items - to the boat.  At last, we're ready to move on the boat - 4 hours later than expected.

Field Trip at Yacht Club Argentina

The best moment:  Raising the American flag on the stern of Field Trip.  For me, it was emotional.  It signified so much that we as a family had been working towards.  It turned all the challenges and pain into humor.  It was a release of pressure.  Field Trip is now 'Our Boat'.

General update:  We completed the trip to Colonia, Uruguay yesterday.  All paperwork is complete.  Most systems are working.  There are some hopefully minor fixes that will be made over the next 4 days.  We set sail for Brazil Monday night!  Stay tuned!!

Sailing back to Argentina from Uruguay

Gaston swimming in River Platte

Our captain

Approaching Buenos Aires