Day 51. Sometimes you wish you’d listened to other people’s advice. Especially when they’re right. Before we left, we poo-pooed RJohn’s (Annie’s eldest bro’) suggestion that Safe might consider taking along a spare pair of glasses. Once we had decided this wasn’t necessary, it was only a matter of time before one of the lenses fell out of Safe’s glasses on a beach in Nicaragua. We’ve now managed to lose or break most items of value that we were carrying, including:
- Two pairs of sunglasses
- One hat
- One salty camera
- One designer pair of specs that Safe is (was) very attached to
We’ve tried several times to find someone who’ll fix the glasses and it’s only in Cartagena that someone has been willing to give it a shot. We’ve now learnt that titanium cannot be soldered with iron! Here is the evidence:
Attempted soldering followed by attempted wiring!
After several attempts at resuscitation, our friendly mender of glasses threw in the towel and suggested we try an alternative remedy of the old lenses in a new frame. This required a bit of jiggery pokery, namely lens-filing and some double-sided sticky tape, but the result was worth it. Safe said farewell to his faithful old pair and said hello to his new pair.
Suddenly I see!
We tried to be semi-prepared for Aunty Audrey’s Birthday by sending her a postcard a week in advance, not that we expect her to get it soon, if at all! We were a bit shocked by our encounter with the Post Office, though we should have been prepared for this as Safe had to give his fingerprint, occupation and what he had for dinner last week just to change money at the airport! We had to give our names to buy a stamp and send a postcard, and we received a formal proof of purchase just to show that we really did try to send a card!
Stamp and proof of stamp
In the evening we visited San Felipe Fort just outside the city walls. We turned up at sunset just as it was closing but miraculously the guards decided it wasn’t quite ready for closing once we’d paid them directly. We had the entire fort all to ourselves and got some great views of the city at sunset.
San Felipe Fort
Boca Grande from a distance
Well,even if the card doesn’t arrive, I can see it above. Thanks for all your effort! Happy New Specs, Safe! Aunty Audrey XX
PS. The sights are very impressive.
looking good Safe
Thank you! Forget titanium. I love my plastic
glasses!
Poor old glasses?
🙁
I know! Will you recognise me without them???