Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Beep beep, Jimmy got a Jeep

Exciting news in the Ripple household, ya'll...we are once again a two car family! 

Here's the deal with cars here: the military paid for us to ship one car. There is the option to ship another car, but we have to pay for it and it's a pain. Also to note, the max speed limit on base is 35 mph, but the majority of roads (both of them) are 25 mph. Also, there's no Pep Boys around the corner to buy parts or have things fixed, everything has to be ordered online and I wouldn't say we have any real qualified car maintenance workers. 

A lot of people buy and sell cars on the island. There is a market of "GTMO beaters" - old beater cars that people pass around. Since this isn't real Cuba with the embargo and all, there are new cars that people have shipped here. It's not like an episode of Cuban Chrome or anything, but there is definitely an increased number of old, ridiculously painted, barely running cars. Back to our story...

So we decided to sell a car. I had a Honda CR-V and Jim had a Chevy Camaro. One of these is a teeny tiny bit more practical. I will never forget the time Jim told me he couldn't pick up our CSA box of veggies from the farmers market because there wasn't room in his car. And the time he told me we could easily fit one or two car seats in the Camaro, so we wouldn't need to get rid of it for a long time as it was just fine as a family car. So this was obviously my chance to get rid of the ridiculously small, however very nice Camaro. (Love you, Jim) 

For the last few months, we've been sharing the CR-V. And by sharing I mean either Jim riding his bike to work or me dropping him off and picking him up from work so that I have the car for errands and things during the day. I bike some too, but my cute little bike basket just doesn't work for grocery shopping, pets to the vet, etc. It worked ok, but Jim wanted some freedom, and a Jeep. A friend Jim worked with was leaving the island soon and had a Jeep she was selling, so he was in luck. And now we are the very proud owners of a 15 year old red jeep! 

Izzy and Jim are both very excited as you can see. I like it too, it's nice for carting around scuba tanks and things, and when you want a little wind in your hair. 

In other news, this week I celebrated a birthday! I had a great day. Some friends and I had lunch out and got pedicures and Jim cooked dinner at home because our "nice" restaurant is only open weekends. I also had a super fun cocktail tasting party over the weekend. Lots of friends came over and everyone brought a fun drink to try. I tried to take a picture of our cute tasting set-up, but the lighting and cinder block walls didn't do it justice, so here is a picture of me about to blow out allllllll those candles. 

Hope you all had a great week! 

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