July 6, 1998 5:00pm

This morning we've returned to the boat to pour some diesel purchased on the black market into our fuel tank and wait for delivery of some ice that never came. We still have no water.

We had planned to leave for a week of diving in the islands of Cayo Breton and east but there is another tropical wave coming through with a cold front that will be very bad and have the potential of a hurricane. It will be Wednesday, two days from now at the earliest before we can depart.

Our afternoon is spent talking of home and family. Chris had become a part of our household the months he stayed with us this year and last and speaks fondly of the good times we've had together and the times to come.

We left twenty dollars with Nara last night to purchase some pork and vegetables. Tonight we'll have a big party at their home which I am quite looking forward to. I've grown quite attached to the little girls, they remind me very much of when my daughter was young.

It's so damn hot I can't believe it. All day and all night I'm sweating so profusely my clothes are never dry. I think I'll become acclimated to it but it doesn't happen. Chris has just made some soup but I can't bear to eat it until it's gone cold. Food is of little interest here because of the heat. It's just as well, since except for the cans we have on board "Defiance", there is little to eat and what there is, ranges from bad to almost edible. If I don't drop twenty pounds here it will only be because of drinking cold beer.
		Photo Courtesy of C. Pritchard

		The children at the casa are twins and it seems the youngest show the effects of too little to eat. Their extended stomachs and sad faces are evidence of the hard life Cubans endure.

© 1998 John Petrak

Next Journal Page

Return to Index