I Can Count to Five!

Finike is the Orange capital of Turkey...so we are right at home.

Well, here we are.  Dorothy, you are not in London anymore!  Finike, our winter home, is a small agricultural town....think Crawfordville.  The only tourists are the cruisers that arrive by water and we are an odd lot.  This international community is mainly made up of Brits, Germans, and French with a handful of Scandinavians, Aussies, New Zealanders and Americans thrown in the pot for added flavor.  Most days, we are one big happy United Nations.  That is unless we are asked to all agree on something.  The main issue is the French/German's would occasionally like to speak French/German and some of the English speakers just can't seem to get their head around that.  Most American's are wise enough to stay out of these discussions.....but unfortunately, not all.

Ostinato has a prime spot ......next to the showers!

King and Vince enjoy dinner
...and lots of bread, before the symphony

The winter people vs the going home people has not filtered out yet so there are still hundreds of folks milling about. Daily activities have begun. There's movie night, pub night, games night, and bi weekly trips to the symphony. During the day, art, guitar, bridge, stitch and bitch (whatever that is) morning coffee and yoga. And...the occasional hike, bike ride and ancient ruin trip.  ABYC on steroids.   I don't know when people do any work on their boats.  We are going to the Symphony Friday night. Looking forward to getting off the reservation. It feels a bit like I'm in training for life in a retirement home. Off to the Symphony by bus with an hour stop at the hardware and a big grocery store.

Beautiful fruits and vegis at the Saturday market

Finike can be walked from one end to the other in about 30 minutes.  After several weeks even I have ventured out by myself without fear of being lost.  There are a number of grocery stores.  They tend to be about the size of a convenience store.  None carry everything you might think you need so it often requires a stroll from one to another to fill your list. King has found one that offers Oreo cookies so all is good with the world.  He has even signed up for their frequent shopper card so he can take advantage when they go on sale.  The market, which is the size of a football field, is held every Saturday morning on the edge of town. Each stall overruns with beautiful fruits and vegetables, nuts, olives and cheeses.  Around the parameters, vendors sell anything that can be packed into a van.  We have also found a smaller market that is open daily so we are never without cucumbers (heavens forbid).  The bakery was located by following our nose.  Oh my!  You have the choice of two kinds, round and oblong.  A large brick oven sits in the back of the store with multiple loaves baking away.  When done, the finished loaves are displayed on a large concrete area that takes up 2/3 of the room.  It always seems to be filled with just out of the oven bread.  Mmmmmm.  On many days, they have a huge pan of baklava to tempt you at the counter.  For 50 cents a loaf, still warm from the oven, the bread machine has gone into storage for the winter.  The stop for bread also enables us to avoid the jewelry store owner who will drag you off the street into his store for "a cup of tea and a chat.....and maybe since your here, a look at his jewelry?"  The store we have visited the most is the Turkish equivalent to Walmart, or also known as the Chinese store.  It is filled to the brim with housewares, automotive, stationary, and cosmetics ....cheap.  We've found all kinds of things that we simply can no longer live without.  Throw in multiple restaurants, small hardware stores, a couple of clothing stores, a gift shop, or two, along with a few barbers and you have shopping in Finike.   Last but not least, Finike has two chandleries, small but they seem to have many of the basics one might need to keep the boat afloat.

You can smell the bread baking for blocks

Besides learning our way to the grocery, high on our agenda was acquiring a Turkish Residency Permit (RP).  The RP allows you to remain in Turkey for longer than the typical 90 day visa.  The day we arrived, we learned that 2 other American boats were here in Finike and they were heading off to Kemer soon for their RPs.  High on the agenda became connecting with them.  Barbie and Vince generously shared what they had for the application process and invited us to join the group to share a taxi in 2 days for the trip to Kemmer.   We quickly accepted, not having a clue to what was involved.  The list of documents was long so we jumped in immediately to pull everything together.  The only stumbling block was health insurance.  For anyone under 65 (that would be me) you needed to have proof of insurance that you had medical insurance that covered you in Turkey.  After several unnecessary hand-offs between BC/BS and the beloved People's First, we made our way back to BC/BS to request a letter from them that would specifically say I had health coverage in Turkey. Apparently just saying "worldwide" was not enough.  I'm not going to go there.  Because of the time difference, I had 3 hours to make it happen.  Thank you T-Mobile.  BC/BS responded quickly providing a letter that indicated my health coverage was world wide...sigh...but not the magic "including Turkey".  The time difference meant I would have to wait until tomorrow to try again and that I would not have time to get the letter translated.  We decided to give it a try anyway.  In hind sight, probably not one of our better decisions.

We met Carol and Jim, the rest of the American group, at 0630, along with Omar, our taxi driver. The goal was to be first in line because the process is lengthy.  With only a few hiccups, i.e not enough copies and none of us had the necessary PINK folders (Omar magically managed to acquire these items) all went swimmingly until they called Vince and me back to the window to give us papers.  Omar seemed to know what was expected so we followed him out of the building and across the street.  The business seemed to provide a bit of everything, licensed plates, copies, pink folders maybe, and health insurance!  Apparently, the driver had been told that Vince and I needed to purchase health insurance. The cost.......2100 TL or about $1000.  Only those in the group under 65 are required to have  health coverage, go figure. Well we knew not having the documents translated might be a problem so we would just wait and come back. In the mean time, there was more paperwork to get through so it was off to the Tax Office.  Again, each of us moved through the lines quickly until Vince was working through his last step.  Suddenly, it appeared he was getting close to being arrested for insisting the official who was trying to make him pay his fees, had in fact, already taken his money.   There was lots of discussion going on but none that the 6 of us could understand and no one to interpret. Just as the police were beginning to move into the conversation, someone finally pointed out a security camera.  Yea! Vince was ushered into a small room surrounded by officials and guards while the rest of us were left to fret in the lobby.  The video tape of the transaction showed Vince leaving the window to go to another window to pay his tax and the official giving Vince's payment to the women who was in line behind him.....She was apparently surprised but not enough to refuse the generous bounty.

The drama over, business was concluded and back in the taxi we piled to return to the police for the final step.  We stepped up to the window one by one and delivered the remainder of the paperwork. I showed them my letter from BC/BS and pointed with vigor to the word Turkey in the correspondence.  Omar weighed in for me......they took my pink folder to the back room where like the Wizard of Oz, some unseen person apparently gives each a thumbs up or down.  After a brief time, each was called up one by one to receive their temporary RP.  The final approval would come in the mail from Antalya.  I was finally called up to the window where they proceeded to return all of my 6 passport size pictures back....not a good sign.  They kept the pink folder.  Through Omar, they insisted that I must purchase insurance in Turkey. No Turkish insurance, no RP.  Back across the street we went.  Did they have other companies?  Yes, but all the same price.   The dilemma - I will be 65 in 8 months.  At 65, I will not need the coverage.  I already pay an obscene amount of money for health insurance that covers me in Turkey and anywhere else I may choose to roam.  There is strong belief within the group that information we have been given is incorrect.  We could leave Turkey and travel or return to the State's in late December when my visa runs out and not return until late March.  I could then apply for another 3 months which would take me through to my 65th birthday... but where would we live for 3 months?  We decided to get our documents translated and try again another day.

Back at the marina, our first step was to meet with Ziya, the marina manager, to get his assistance on determining if we did indeed have to purchase insurance in Turkey.  After checking with company's other marina's across the country we were assured that this was a misinterpretation of the new law.  280 TL later, 80 for the translation and 200 to have it notarized,  AND, again thanks to Ziya, armed with a letter from the marina and the name of someone in the office that would assist us, we headed off for Kemer.  Again, arriving bright and early only to learn our contact would no be in the office until 1600.  Not what we wanted to hear.  Vince and Barbie decided to go ahead without the contact's help.  King and I had a car so we would wait.  In the end, it didn't matter.  By the time I arrived, they were expecting me.  No number needed, I was motioned to come to the window.  My folder was on top of the pile.  They took my letter, along with the translated documents without a word.  Copies were made, no sending me across the street this time,  and the Pink folder made its way into see The Wizard.  We waited.  Minutes later, we were again called to the window. My passport size pictures were requested again and lots of writing was taking place.  My hopes rose.  My temporary RP was handed to me with "under administrative review" in Turkish scribbled across the bottom.  In good bureaucratic fashion, it had been kicked upstairs!

The day was not totally lost, we did get to visit Kemer marina where our friends, Bob and Jean on Patient Lady, spent so many years.  The marina is quite nice and full of yachts but have very few live aboards now.  Certainly nothing like it was in its glory days.  Still, the office staff remembered Bob and Jean fondly and even offered to make room for Ostinato because of our friendship.  The real prize for the day was a stop at the Migros where King found strawberries and bacon. Both, ridiculously expensive but we enjoyed each and every mouthful.

I have been working on my Turkish but outcomes have been poor.  I can count to 5 and say thank you.  "Merhaba" (hello) which has only been added recently, typically pops into my brain after I have already said it in English and received a like response. I started the Turkish language class but became a drop out when the class quickly moved on past my abilities.  It seems you were expected to study and practice during the week.  Fortunately, I've become pretty good at charades.

The mountains surrounding Finike became covered in snow in early December

No news on our RP so King and I have decided we will return to the State's for the holidays.  It will be nice to spend Christmas with family.  I have been tracking seat availability for our Buddy Passes and it looks like our best shot for a seat is Amsterdam to Atlanta.  Of course, that can all change in a day but armed with what knowledge we have the plan is to fly to Berlin for a few days (It's one of the few big cities we have missed), take the train to Amsterdam and then fly home.  In the mean time, lots to do including a quick trip up to Izmir for our new sails, stopping at Marmaris, Bodin, Fetheyia and Demre (to see St. Nicholas!).  King was on cloud 9 in Marmaris.  Two blocks of nothing but marine stores!  The boy was dancing down the street.  Thankfully, we had a schedule or we might still be there.  I believe we can now say we have had dealings with every West Marine in Turkey.

A few days before we left we arranged for Ostinato to be put on the hard.  There was only an inch to spare on each side.  The staff were pros and graciously invited us to share their lunch.