Friday
I got up very early. Ben, an Australian, visited me. He is a crewmember of the catamaran ‘parked’ nearby – a ‘neighbour.’ Ben quitted a job which he didn’t like and decided to sail through the Pacific. He mentioned that he met a Polish yacht in Panama. It was manned by a couple who travelled with a dog. They were going to/from Easter Island. Could it have been Tomek Lewandowski? Is it possible that we were there at the same time and we missed each other? Geez...
Ben was to pull me to the top of the mast but, being a gentleman, he offered that he would climb it instead. I agreed hastily, before he had a chance to reconsider:) Thanks to him I crossed several repairs out of the list, and only a few remain there now...
In the morning, I was visited by a large turtoise and now I am sitting in a beautiful hotel. In the mountains. Totally by accident! – yesterday in the morning, in a water taxi, I met Fernando. Fernando is a manager of Royal Palm Hotel (www.royalpalmgalapagos.com ) and he must have noticed how tired and busy I was. He offered me a rest in his hotel. You will not imagine how lavish a reception I got! I was greeted with a cocktail at the reception desk. After I drank coffee, I was led to a large apartment with a porch where a hammock was hung. The floor was wooden and the room was furnished with beautiful wooden furniture. In the bathroom, I found a large bathtub (3 people would fit in) and a huge bed in the bedroom! – I love Tanasza and my bunk, yet my grin was wide at that moment... I could not believe how well I was... There is a huge mirror in the apartment (a luxury for me) and the Internet access. Wonderful!

The hotel is a fantastic place to rest. The service is very kind and, which is important, professional in all respects. It is very calm here, with birds being the only distraction. It is everything I needed after the hardships of the cruise... I guess I have never in my life spent so much time in a bath! :) what is more, I’ve already had it twice (so far)! I used the break to go for a dinner: spinach soup and a delicious steak... Oh, I’m feeling good, that I can tell!

Thank you Fernando!
You know what I like most here, on the island? Tiny local restaurants in small booths whose interiors look like a kitchen at home. And one more thing. There is a pelican near the pier in the evenings, always there, not moving. And those volleyball courts in the very centre of the town, where people come to play in the evenings. (oh, I just remembered our game, somewhere in Mexico, I think, when we stopped on the way from Cabo San Lucas to Los Angeles and played with local shipyard workers. As it was not on the beach but on concrete, not only did we lose it but also hurt our knees:)