Chapter 6: The Basics

We took a mini vacation from our vacation. We headed home to hug some good friends, took care of some business and grabbed our car for a few weeks. We are back in Marathon. Will now continue on with our blog. After touching on food, I will talk about the other basic needs.Plus: The Dos and Don'ts! Local tap water: Do Not Drink it!! Everyone drinks bottled water or Soda including the locals. We brought plenty of gallons of drinking water for the boat and doubled the chlorine for our water tanks. We took our showers on the boat. Do not shop in the local markets, hygiene is not a priority and refrigeration is not evident. Always carry hand sanitizer and tissue with you at all times. You may or may not get a toilet seat at a public restroom. You will probably not be able to flush the toilet. That is why they have an attendant at every public restroom to collect your peso & give you a few sheets of toilet paper. They flush the string attached to the bottle cap or throw in a bucket of water every few times. We found that pretty disgusting! Needing change anytime you needed to go, was very aggravating. Some attendants would try to get you to give them a dollar coin. I always had my own tissue & gave them 5 to 25 peso & they were happy. Watch where you walk! If you were not stepping in gum, you were side stepping dog crap! There are stray dogs & cats all over, that look half dead. There was no petting..... of any animal .....at anytime! We never lost sight of the fact we were in a communist country and we basically had no rights there. It is against the law to photograph any military or police. They are everywhere. Along the waterfronts, probably every 200 yards. We were also told we were on camera 24/7 on our boat. The wifi is monitored and very difficult. We saw a police encounter that happened so quick it made our head spin. They do not take the time to read anyone any type of rights.....because they have none!