Spanish classes & a movie 2.29.08

Wednesday we had a very exciting day! We started our Spanish classes on Wednesday. When we first looked over the curriculum we had decided we wanted the advanced class over the beginner class. But when we got into class and the teacher only spoke Spanish to us…we were worried we had bitten off more than we could chew. We struggled a bit through the class and were feeling a little overwhelmed, but pretty satisfied with ourselves once it had ended. And we felt even better when another couple in the class caught us afterward and asked if we were as shocked & scared as they were!! Luckily, everyone felt the same way, so it was a bit relieving to hear. This way though, we’ll learn more, we hope! I always learn better when I’m challenged so it’s good for me. After Spanish lessons, we decided we’d go to dinner & a movie. We didn’t have a movie schedule but figured we’d leave the boat around 5pm and would just see what was playing & the times when we got there. We walked to the bus stop and waited for about 10 minutes before we remembered that the bus we were waiting for….didn’t stop at this particular bus stop, but at another one just down the road. So we walked to that one, and jumped on the next bus that was going our way. We made it to the movie theatre about 6pm and found the next movie started at 7:25, so we had time to find dinner. We played a game of advanced frogger across 6 lanes of traffic to find an open restaurant!! We started on one corner of the street, realized we had to walk to the next street, then jay-walked (right in front of the police sub-station, we learned later) across the 6 lanes to one restaurant only to find it closed, then half-way across the street, walking the median, until the next 3 lanes of traffic were clear to another restaurant. It was really comical… We ate at an outdoor restaurant and we both dared the ‘house specialties’ – I ended up with a dish called a ‘Gringa’ – which was a beef dish with melted cheese (the term in Spanish is ‘banada’) and tortillas and Michael had the other specialty which was basically the same except he also had potatoes in his. Both were fantastic! We ended back up at the movie theatre at 7pm and purchased our tickets – it was ‘family night’ so both tickets were only $5 – and hit the concession stand for popcorn & a soda. Michael is the popcorn nut and was a bit disappointed….where he would normally find the butter to put on his popcorn, they had hot sauce & jalapenos! So needless to say, he didn’t doctor up his popcorn like everyone else. All of the movies were in English, with Spanish subtitles, which was interesting. There are 4 movie theatres in Mazatlan that we know of and they play movies that are approx 6 months old from those in the states. We watched an awful movie called “We own the night” (Dueno de la Noche) set in the 80’s about a police family & the black sheep brother that was mixed up in a club that housed some bad drug dealers and the police family was trying to catch them. It was not a good movie but was entertaining as I tried very hard to translate into Spanish with the subtitles.

After the movie, we went next door to the Gigante to pick up a couple groceries, then took a Pulmonia back to the marina. The rule here is that you must ask the taxi driver how much it would cost before getting in the taxi. The agreed on price, which can be negotiated (and is often brought down several dollars) is what you pay to get to your destination. Here in Mazatlan, the going price for anywhere around town is $5. Most will start out higher but you get them down to $5, agree, and you’re off on your way. So we asked the guy how much to Marina Mazatlan and he responded with $4….which was weird. Of course, we agreed though and jumped in and he took off, although slowly exiting the area. He got to the exit and turned around and asked us if we spoke Spanish….we told him a little bit and then he admitted it was his 2nd day driving the taxi and he needed us to tell him how to get to Marina Mazatlan. Hahaha!! So in our broken Spanish and the few driving words we knew, we navigated him back to Marina Mazatlan. We laughed as we told him to go ‘mas’ because we didn’t know the Spanish term for go straight…how many times would you ever say “take the u-turn”, “go around the circle and turn left”, or “just over the bridge” in typical every day conversation? So needless to say….we had fun getting him to the Marina and just marked it down as one of our many ‘adventures’ here in Mazatlan.

Thursday Michael felt very crappy so we hung on the boat and fed him lots of medicine & vitamins to make him feel better. I went for my usual walk along the malecon with Danni, stopping at a couple new spots in town. I will take my camera next time and will give you a ‘walking tour’ of Mazatlan, pictures included…stay tuned!!

Friday we got up & around, did a couple boat projects, then headed in town for some errands. We picked up some tickets, went to the Gran Plaza Mall, purchased Mexican cell phones, went to Wal-Mart, then back to the boat. The Gran Plaza Mall is very similar to regular American malls, lots of teenagers, and the stores & food court was the same. They had a fantastic arcade place that was nearly two stories tall and had tons of games & attractions. There was a two-story inflatable slide (like you would get for birthday parties, except bigger), a water area for boats, an area that looked like bumper cars, although they were shaped like bathtubs, lots of air hockey games & lots of video games. It was a huge place, very cool.

The other stores were normal mall stores – GNC, shoes, clothes, swim wear, book stores, department stores (kinda like Macy’s, called Fabrica de Franzia), suits & dresses, photography, etc. We walked around it and remarked that it was pretty deserted and were told that the Mega, which is a huge grocery store, had just moved out of the mall to just down the street. So the scuttlebutt is just how the rest of the mall will survive without the ‘draw’ of the huge grocery store.

Here are a few pics from the Wal Mart…you can purchase fresh seafood, on ice here….and the Mac –n-cheese box has a label over it translating the name, ingredients, & instructions to Spanish!

We were walking to the bus stop when we realized we were just next to the main TelCel distributor, which is the largest cell phone distributor in Mexico. Most of the time we can do without communication but there are times – when calling for an appointment or calling to order pizza (just as an example) when it’s hard to not have a phone. It’s not easy to make local calls unless you have someone else make them for you. There are two options for cell phones – pre-paid and ‘plan’ phones, although you have to sign up for an 80 month plan…yikes!! Anyway the pre-paid cell phones have great deals – free local calling within Mazatlan, free calls to any other TelCel phone as long as it’s less than 5 minutes, free text messaging between phones, 11 pesos for 20 minutes ($1.10 for 20 minutes) to call to the U.S., free incoming phone calls, etc. So we purchased a Mexican cell phone. We’ll use it mainly for communicating between the two of us and calling to local businesses, but it feels weird to have a cell phone again.

Time sure flies out here! I can’t believe it’s already the weekend!

More to follow...

Rene

Juarez Market & the old Marina in Mazatlan 2.26.08

We had been told of a wonderful tradition in Mazatlan called the “Juarez Market”. No one seemed to be able to tell us exactly what it was – the best description was a huge swap meet. The market is only on Sundays and begins early and is all wrapped up around 1:30 or so. We were expecting to go with Danni on Kinship and Judy on Deja Too but both had things come up so we went ourselves. The market can only be described as a combination flea market, garage sale, thrift store, & swap meet, with odd sprinklings throughout as well. The market’s center is beside a beautiful cathedral with bells that chime every hour and the merchants pour out into the streets surrounding the cathedral – some 6 deep! You can find everything you might want to….and those you wouldn’t expect! It seemed like the merchants all had about a 6’ x 6’ space. Some laid their wares out on tables, some overhead & on displays, some on tarps on the ground, some just on the ground. There was a lot of tarps overhead, shielding the sun from everyone which was very welcome as it was very warm & sunny out. There were lots of clothes – some new, some used – Mom’s selling clothes with their little ones just beside her, knowing they had just grown out of them, and new items, still packaged. There were food vendors, selling either fresh fruits & veggies or plenty of items to eat immediately. There were a lot of vendors selling fresh eggs, and some random ones selling seeds for planting and some that looked just like twigs that we couldn’t figure out what it was. The staples were there – tacos, burritos, tortas, candies, fresh bread, ice cream, fresh squeezed juices, etc. but my favorite was the pancake vendors! 3 pancakes for $2…yummy. Again, all you wanted could be found here – hats, shoes galore, TV’s, electronics of every kind – laptops, computers, video games, tools, used car stereos, comic books, lots of kids toys, belts, needlework supplies, arts & craft supplies, exercise equipment, etc. My favorite spot was a tie between the area where the ladies could get their hair cut and the men & boys were getting their heads shaved – with lots of people lining up for the barber chairs (I didn’t dare…) and the already cooked tomatillo’s you could purchase. The fresh juices are sold in small & large. If you order a small, they give you a sandwich baggie with a knot tied in the top and a straw sticking out of it! A large is a HUGE container like something you’d put soup in….with a hole cut in the top for the straw. Very bizarre indeed. There were tons of people there, but we counted only a dozen other ‘gringo’s’ – it was a true Mexican tradition and an amazing experience, the pictures don’t do it justice. We attempted to talk to several of the merchants but our Spanish was not good enough to hold on a decent conversation so we’ll be practicing for the next time! We ended up at a little taco stand where we enjoyed 5 tacos & a drink (Rene had a Tonical, which is similar to a darker ginger ale and Michael had a Coca-cola, which they had to go purchase down the street) for only $5 and a $1 tip.

Yesterday we took a bus into town, headed for the Tortilleria beside Ley’s. Well, there are 3 in town and we took the wrong bus so we decided to ride the bus until the end of the line and figure it out from there. We ended up at the old harbor in Mazatlan, near the ferry dock and saw a lot more of the city in the process. The picture below is of the walkway just opposite the old harbor. And below that is the Hotel El Mirador….how many steps do you thing that is?!

We were planning to get some info on the ferry to La Paz with some other cruisers anyway, so we walked through the area and found the info we wanted. We’re thinking of taking the ferry next week or so over to La Paz for 3-4 days. After finishing up at the Ferry, we jumped on another bus and went to the large Mercado for lunch. Upstairs from the Mercado are a bunch of restaurants, some with outside seating that overlook the busy street below. We had been told of one specific place but it was closed so we winged it in another place we saw a familiar face come out of. The funny thing we’ve noticed being here is there are people who just seem to be at the same places at the same time, a lot. We met a fellow from Santa Barbara about a week ago on a bus and he’s turned up in several other places we have since then. Anyway – the restaurant…it’s a little hard to describe. There were about 5 booths outside and one table inside. The kitchen was open and you could see the food being prepared, the dishes from past customers, and even had to walk through it to pay & exit. We had a wonderful meal…I had a meal called Pollo Veracruzana (Chicken Veracruz) that was fantastic. It was a bit odd, had a chicken leg & thigh covered in French fries with salsa over the top with beans & rice on the side…but was absolutely excellent. The chicken was the most tender, perfect chicken I have had in quite a while. Michael had Gorditas and they were good as well. Again, our total was $5.80 with two drinks. We walked through the Mercado purchasing some avocados, a pineapple, & those yummy coconut stacks I like. Unfortunately, Michael strained his knee again and we high-tailed it back to the boat for the rest of the day.

Today his knee is still causing him pain and the sun decided not to come out all day so we stayed busy with boat chores & I attempted a fruit & nut bread recipe that I’d been given a year or so ago by another cruiser. It called for yeast and everything, my first attempt with it. It turned out pretty good, is either missing something or has too much flour in it, I think. But a success anyway – they’ll definitely be eaten! I’ve been walking with a group of gals in the mornings on Tues, Thurs, & Sat but today everyone decided not to go so I went for a run instead. It’s a beautiful area and all the locals are very friendly. On Mon, Wed, & Fri a group of ladies meet in the cruisers lounge for a “Stretch & Strengthen” class that I’ve begun attending as well. It’s a tough one and has me sore from the first class!

We start Spanish classes tomorrow – twice a week and are really looking forward to it. We’re both getting much better as long as the person we’re speaking to slows down (repitame, mas despacio, por favor) when they talk to us….or at least gives us a couple seconds to translate before starting again. And we’ve found if the other person knows even a little bit of English, it helps significantly. Geez, before too long our days will be planned out with just our regular commitments! That’s OK…it keeps us sane. And at least this way we know what day it is! Cruiseheimers is certainly easy to get out here…forgetting what day it is, what month it is, etc!

OK so tomorrow is Wednesday – I have the S&S class from 8:30-9:30 then we have Spanish class from 10-noon. And Wednesday is 2 for 1 at the local movie theatre where they have English movies with Spanish subtitles. Whew! It even sounds exhausting! Haha…

More to follow…
Rene

Dancing Horse Video

Here's a super small video of the dancing horse...it was on my camera, not on the camcorder so it may be a bit jumpy. Enjoy!!

Dancing Horses 2.23.08

Are you getting tired of hearing about us relaxing yet? Well…it continues. And certainly we're getting just as tired of hanging around relaxing than you are hearing about it, I'm sure. Michael’s knee is still causing him pain and he can’t get around very well so we’re still relaxing and taking it easy. Meanwhile, I’ve joined a walking group that meets on Tues, Thurs, & Saturday that walks about a 4 mile loop down the maleacon starting at Valentino’s and ending at the Shrimp Bucket. We go from there downtown, stopping for a water or popsicle, a paper, & ending up at at the Mercado where we catch a bus back to the Marina. The walk is fantastic, past lots of beautiful sculpture, beautiful beaches, & wonderful architecture. I’ll post pictures when I take the camera with me!

So on Thursday I went for the walk in the morning and then Michael & I ventured out to the local “Mega” supermarket for a few missing groceries. There are several people in the harbor that are listing their boats so there are lots of items for sale. We purchased a surfboard from one of them, a nice almost brand new one, that we can't wait to try out.

Friday came along and we did some boat projects and prepared the boat for some visitors – Janet & Eric – on Tupo who came over for dinner, giving us their alcohol that they couldn’t drink before going home! We enjoyed some very interesting mixed drinks combining what we had on the boat with what they brought over.

Saturday morning there was a swap meet at the Cruiser’s lounge and again, I went for a walk with the girls down the maleacon. I met Janet on Deja Too…check out the website http://www.dejatoo.com/. That evening, we went over to Playa Bruja again for some shows on the beach. It was 2 for 1 drinks at the restaurant which means when you order one margarita, they bring you two....immediately. We had 8 people at the table and ended up with 16 drinks sitting in front of us! It was a sight... The evening started with dancing horses

on the beach which included 4 horses and a 3 piece band. The band played and one at a time, the horses came up on a platform and 'danced' which was very cool. The evening continued with Mexican dancers very similar to the kids that danced for us at the Salvation Army show.

The evening ended with a large mariachi band playing local music. We had started the evening on our own, but met up with 3 other couples on their way to the same place on the bus and had a wonderful time visiting with them during the shows. Anne & Jeff are the couple from Ventura

Sharon & Tony on Wind Toy, and Fran & Larry.

We had a wonderful evening… I'll write more later...

Still resting 2.20.08

The last couple days we’ve spent resting & relaxing & enjoying Mazatlan. Monday we went into town with John & Linda from Seabird

and went to a coffee place that roasts their own beans called El Faro (The lighthouse) Roasting Company. I’ve been out of decaf for a couple days and their coffee is fantastic! And it’s just down the block from the Plaza Murchado which is a small square with historic buildings around it. My favorite building in the area is called the Peralta Theatre which is an old, old building that was used for many things - a bull ring, theatre, and most recently before its demise, an opera house. It is named after Angela Peralta, a famous opera singer who came here and on her night to perform, died of scarlet fever. The theatre went into ruins and was only recently renovated & restored in 1992. It's a beautiful building and I can't wait to see inside it again. Unfortunately, there was some kind of political happening as (we were told in Spanish) congregates from Canada & Mexico were meeting and no one was allowed inside. So we just walked the plaza, stopping for lunch there too. Then we walked to the Cathedral

and down to the big mercado, which is a way cool huge open building that you step into and suddenly there are hundreds of merchants all selling their wares - fruits & veggies, meats, poultry, fish, & any mercantile you wish. We walked by a vendor that was selling cooked yams, & beside them were these orange piles of something. I couldn't resist and asked what they were - they were huge coconut macaroons with a little spice in them. They're the size of your fist. I love macaroons and picked one up - only 5 pesos (50 cents) and it was fantastic....so yummy.

We jumped back on the bus and headed back downtown to a bookstore that sells books in English - I was looking for a 'Lonely Planet' of Mexico so I could do some research on Copper Canyon and the Harry Potter #6 & 7. The only thing they had was HP #7, which we picked up for $10. We were very tired from all the walking so we came back to the boat. Michael had been telling me about a couple he met earlier named Eric & Janet on a boat named Tupo so we dinghied over and chatted with them. They're very nice, I enjoyed meeting them. They finished grad school and took off on the boat and have been cruising for a year and a half. They're cleaning out the boat now, putting it up for sale, and are heading back to Washington, Seattle area, I think at the end of the week. We're hoping to meet up with them before they leave and get to know each other a little better as they were super busy when we went over completing projects. Check out their website... http://www.janetanderic.com/ Michael had told them in the morning we were going to the coffee place and they asked us to pick up a bag for them. We swapped the coffee for a Lonely Planet book on Pacific Mexico, although not the one we were looking for - this one only covers the coast, not inland. But it's a start! I have heard of Lonely Planet books before but everyone keeps RAVING about them so we thought we'd check them out. It looks pretty good - it was funny when we were at the bookstore, the owner kept trying to get us to purchase the AAA books....which we already have but don’t find them useful for what we need them for.

Anyways, we came back to the boat and read/relaxed a little bit. We had been talking to John & Linda on Seabird about this Copper Canyon thing and they had some info from other cruisers and asked me if I had a thumb drive to transfer them to. I have a little one I've been using for transferring all of the photos to and from on the different computers at the internet cafes and took it over to him - turns out it had a virus, which infected both my computer and laptop. I've spent the last couple days updating the anti-virus & spyware software & doing everything I can to kill it. I found a killer of it, finally, although it is all in Spanish and what I've read says it's clean. How embarrassing though - to have a virus! O-well, worse stuff could have happened.

Tuesday we had a couple of friends in town, Judy & Jon Hecox

the previous president/CEO of the company I worked for in California. It was great seeing them both and we enjoyed spending time with them. We have had awful wireless internet connection lately and I had taken the laptop up to the Cruiser’s lounge to call them & send them an e-mail. I sent an e-mail and got a response that they were going to grab a taxi over – I got caught chatting with some other cruisers and when I got to the boat, they were already there!! We spent a couple hours chatting and they headed back. Michael & I ate a late lunch and walked a bit to get some info for me and met up with another cruiser, Ann, who was headed to the carniceria (meat market) called Henderson’s so we walked further to find the market. It closes at 3:40 – exactly – so we walked back to the Marina. Michael’s knee has been doing very good lately but locked up when we were walking so we came back to the boat for some R&R. He has been flying through the Harry Potter books and we just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Today we got up & around, purchased some Tamales from the veggie guy, and met with a Spanish instructor that is starting classes next week. We then took the bus into the ‘Golden Zone’ and walked around a bit and found a place for lunch. We had one of those English/Spanish translation problems there as I have become a lover of super spicy salsa, the hotter the better. Well, the ‘Golden Zone’ is kinda gringo heaven, where they serve lots of hamburgers & French fries & regular “American” food. Anways, I ordered the tacos and asked the waiter for the spicy salsa (Salsa Ranchera) as the Salsa on the table had no spice. As I asked for it, Michael said “Caliente” which means hot, so out they came…with hot spicy salsa….literally! The Salsa was microwaved and was temperature hot, not only spicy hot. Oops!! We laughed as we thought the waiter must have thought we were nuts asking for hot salsa!! We also stopped by Henderson’s again and picked up a whole backpack full of meats. They vacuum pack each piece of meat and deep freeze them, so it’s perfect for us cruisers. We purchased steaks, chicken, pork, & even corned beef! We’re ready for St. Patrick’s day now…

We came back to the boat, relaxed a bit more, chatted with boat neighbors, & watched the bitchin lunar eclipse - did you see it?! We have the first season of ‘Heroes’ on board and have been addicted to it and finished the last episode tonight. We can’t wait to get the further seasons! It’s an addictive show.

I'll write more later...enjoy the rest of the week!

Rene

Resting 2.17.08

That’s all we have been doing the last few days since the Dr’s visits – resting. Although getting Michael to sit down for any length of time is nearly impossible, he has at least obliged and has been doing an activity, then resting for a bit, then attempting another activity. We have been trying very hard not to walk very far, instead taking the dinghy wherever we can. This has helped significantly and his knee seems to be getting better every day. We’ve continued to do our boat chores as much as possible, a little at a time, and Michael even zoomed through an entire book in two days – a record! On Friday, we spent several hours with our friends on Someday and then the Salvation Army Kids dance – all in the sunshine. I’ve been doing so well with keeping out of the sun for too long, but not so that day. I ended up with a pretty good sunburn on my shoulders, back, chest, & tops of my knees so I spent all day Saturday inside the boat, in a t-shirt & comfy shorts. But it was good, I was able to catch up on all of the e-mails and web updates I had been neglecting for the last week. I sent 14 e-mails, and three updates to the website and even got to upload those long whale videos! Today we washed another ½ of the boat – it sure seems to have lots of halves – top half, bottom half, front half, rear half, right side half, left side half, inside front half, etc. We chatted with Chris on Kinship, who I think is the spitting image of David Spade, about some of the upcoming events in the area (a surf competition this coming weekend, and a guitar fest that he has the pleasure of participating in http://www.internationalguitarculiacan.com/) and just as he was walking away asked us – “Do you want a chicken?”. We were just as dumbfounded as you are right now but he explained “there’s a great place just a little ways away that on Sundays cooks a chicken feast for only $60 pesos ($6 bucks) that is a full chicken, tortillas, rice, lettuce, & salsa.” They only do it on Sunday and you have to time it just right as they only do 100 chickens and they start selling them at 12:30 and are usually all gone by 2pm. Sure, why not! So we’re enjoying it for dinner…yum.

We decided to go over to Isla Mazatlan, the island just on the other side of our dock for a small bite. We got there and started chatting with some folks from British Columbia, enjoying a margarita. It was by far, the strongest margarita I have had for some time – it knocked me on my but!! We got back to the boat and both took naps afterwards – it’s hard work this whole cruising thing… J

We dinghy’d back to the boat and our friends from Seabird had made it back from their visit home in Santa Barbara bearing gifts!! We had been watching their boat while they were back in the states and they brought us 4 bags of my favorite crunchy crackers from Trader Joes – woohoo!! I had stocked up right before we left but was on my last bag. That’s the nice thing about having people come back & forth from the states – they can bring packages & goodies back and forth from the States. We have sent several pieces of mail with people who are flying home and they place it in the mail for us when they arrive. We have been looking for the shiv to the block that we broke and the next time someone comes back from the States, will arrange for them to bring it to us. We had hoped to have it before John & Linda on Seabird came back, but it wasn’t possible. Our friends on Chessie are returning to the states on Tuesday and will be back in 3-4 weeks so we hope to have it in time for their return. I’ve been pretty lucky, I haven’t run out of anything that I can’t find a replacement for…yet. I haven’t been able to find the crackers here and the chocolate is awful in Mexico – I haven’t found a good place to sell Chocolate yet, but luckily I still have plenty on board. It’s weird actually, there is plenty of ‘junk food’ stuff here – chips, donuts, and sweet bread stuff, but almost no candy bars & chocolate. Not that I miss it, I’m just amazed that it’s hard to find!

Tomorrow is a big shopping day. We’re planning to go into town with John & Linda and go to an English bookstore (we’ve got to find book 6 & 7 of the Harry Potter series & a Lonely Planet book for info on Copper Canyon), the Meat market as we’re out of all meat on board, and finally the coffee place – they roast the coffee right there and is fabulous!! Since the coffee place is right next to old town, we’ll check it out with John & Linda as well. Should be exciting!

Have a wonderful week and Happy President’s Day everyone!
Will write more later…
Rene

Whale Video attempt again...

This is a long whale video...I hope you can see it! It takes a ton of time to upload...I hope you enjoy!!

Whale Video #2

Here's another video of the whales - a full video. There are a couple more I'll post...I hope you enjoy them!!

Salvation Army Kids 2.15.08

One of the cruisers who has been in Mazatlan for several years arranged a fund-raiser for the Salvation Army called the “Songs & Dances of Mexico” on Friday, the 15th. We had been told what a fabulous show this was, and wow, what a show!! There were about 30 kids there, ranging in age from just a year and a half to almost teenager. The kids danced dances from the different states of Mexico and the man who ran the orphanage sang songs between dances. Their dresses & outfits were very colorful & beautiful. The kids were exceptionally adorable and very friendly. Michael said that he could see how most of them were happy & could see the different attitudes represented – confused, happy, sad, withdrawn, & joyous.




The emcee told us that the kids were brought to the orphanage for several different reasons – some had parents who split up and the parent who was left with them couldn’t handle them, others had parents who left to go to the States or Canada to work and couldn’t take them with them, others were simply not wanted and dropped off. Several of the kids had shoes that were too large for them, and had t-shirts that were just recently donated by one of the cruisers. Many of the kids have brothers & sisters also in the orphanage, some several! One of the cruisers has a fund to sponsor all of the kids’ dental care and had just taken over 20 kids to the dentist. Between all of them, there were 39 fillings, 27 extractions, and lots and lots of infection. But he was happy to introduce each of them by name, introducing also their siblings & pointing out their missing teeth. It was heartbreaking to know that most of the kids in the orphanage were not adoptable, as their parents did not consent to adoption. The school system here is free to all kids Kindergarten through 6th grade, as long as they can prove their age. It was explained that many of the kids did not get their ‘papers’ so they could not go to school, or travel. One of the girls introduced was 12 before they could get her ‘forged’ papers so she could join the 1st grade. The cruiser in charge explained that he tried to get them shows all over Mexico and was given a chance to take them all to the United States for a show…but the group ended up being small as several of the kids didn’t have their birth certificates, and without them, couldn’t get passports, visas, etc.



Back to the show – it was exceptional!! I was taking both photos & video of the show and before long, I had a group of kids behind me, holding onto my neck & shoulders watching the videos calling it the ‘Tele’ and excited to see the photos of their friends. It was very heartwarming.


The best part of the show, I thought, was when the older kids were dancing, the younger kids were behind them attempting to dance the same….I will put a video on to show you, check out the kids in the background boogie’ing to the music…

Friday we also said goodbye to our friends Larry, Jan, & Bill on Someday as they took off in the afternoon headed South. Larry & Jan took a trip to the Copper Canyon and told us all about it and how it was…we can’t wait for Michael’s knee to be good enough to take the trip, it sounds & looks wonderful. We ran into another person from Channel Islands Harbor – Bill Hager on Shanashkat Abby, the previous owner of The Blue Elephant – a Thai restaurant we used to frequent when we lived there. He is here putting his boat up for sale and going back to the States.

Our friends on Beach Access, Rebecca & her sister Paula made it back to Southern California and were written up in the local newspaper. Check it out here… http://www.ocregister.com/news/paula-rebecca-sailing-1978768-beach-one They also have a website, I can't see where I ever shared it with you... http://www.glennandmonica.blogspot.com/

I got a little too much sun yesterday with visiting with Larry & Jan, a dinghy ride to the other marina, & sitting for the show so I'm hiding in the boat today, well away from the sun. Michael has been keeping busy, but taking it easy - dinghying around the harbor to chat with people, playing his guitar (don't worry, I have earplugs...haha), filling the boat with water, pumping up the kayak, etc. I've only been updating the website and attempting to catch up on all the e-mails! Thanks everyone for their nice comments & encouraging e-mails!!

I’ll write more later!
Rene


*** Click on the below video, then click the arrow to make it play. They are beautiful dresses & such a cutie in white. ***

Dancing Videos #2 2.15.08

Here's more videos from the Salvation Army Kids. Click on the picture, then click on the arrow at the bottom left side of the picture to see the video. Be sure to watch for the cute little kids in the background that are dancing just like the performers - they are so cute! The first video is a dance called "Machete Dance" - not for the faint of heart.

This one is where the little ones are dancing in the background...

Doctoring in Mexico 2.14.08

We had an interesting couple of days doing Michael’s doctoring here in Mazatlan. I called for an appointment to Dr. Levid, a General Practitioner as he was highly recommended by many of the cruisers and speaks English. I got to practice my Spanish as the receptionist didn’t speak English! We set the appointment for 2:30 on Wednesday. As we were telling a local friend here, Ray, who is the father of Sheryll, from Eric & Sherrell on Saranawho we met here several years ago, he promptly called up Dr. Levid and asked if Michael would need any x-rays. They agreed he would and so Ray said he’d take us to the x-ray place in the morning – meet him at 10:30. We met him and he drove us to the x-ray place and we just walked in, asked for an x-ray of his knee and his chest (he’s still having Asthma problems), paid approx $50, and walked out 20 minutes later. We had to go back at 1:00 to pick up the x-rays and the report so we came back to the boat, made arrangements for a Taxi. About 1:30, the taxi picked us up, we went to the x-ray place, then over to the Dr’s office. The Taxi driver, Chuy, was a very nice guy and we chatted the entire drive over.


When we arrived, we spoke to the receptionist and told her we were there for a 2:30 appointment….well….I misunderstood over the phone, the appointment was for 12:30 (dose-y-media), not 2:30 (dos-y-media). And she was going to send us home! We explained we were from the Marina and it was very far from the office and she agreed to let us wait until after everyone else was seen. Doh! I was beating myself up for this mistake but was really fuming as there were some Pharmaceutical Reps in the office, also waiting for the Dr., and the reps & the receptionist were bashing both us and any Americans who don’t understand the language. They were really having fun and I was getting really aggravated as I understood every word they said… but Michael surprised them as they were trying to say something in English and he corrected them. Suddenly they realized we understood them!

Anyway…back to the story. We finally got in to see the Dr. and were apologizing to him for missing the appointment and he could care less. No problem, he said, that’s a very common mistake – mistaking 12 for 2 and vice-versa. We were feeling guilty for being in as the Drug reps were still waiting and found it kinda funny as we were telling him our ‘story’ and he pulled up the website right then and watched the videos & looked at the pictures. We really liked the Dr. He spent probably 45 minutes with us, but ultimately, referred us to an Ortho Dr about 6 blocks away. He said the swelling in his lower leg was because the fluid was draining down and that the knee more than likely needed to be drained. He said to stay off of it, take it easy, and get to the Ortho. It was 3:00, break time for everyone, but I was hoping to get an appointment so we decided to walk over there. Just as we were trying to figure out which way to go down the street – a man ran up and said “Hey my friends….in the Taxi….my friends…” We both didn’t know what he was saying and figured he was trying to get us to take his taxi. Then he said something about did we have our camera. Well…I had the @#$ camera next to me in the taxi and had taken photos of the x-ray place and forgot it! I couldn’t believe it. But Chuy, the first taxi driver had brought it to this guy who drove back to the Dr.’s office and waited until we left. Wow…how lucky was I?? Since he was there, and had waited for us, we asked him if he could take us to the Ortho Dr’s office and then back to the Marina. The Ortho Dr’s office was on a main street, one of the busiest streets in Mazatlan and he graciously circled the street many times looking for the address. Finally, we parked in the general direction and we walked up the street until we found it. It was in the back of a huge Farmacia and they were closed until 5pm. So we jumped back in the Taxi and went back to the Marina.

We asked Elvira in the Marina office if she would mind calling for an appointment for Michael as we still don’t have a way of calling Mexico yet (and honestly, I was a little gun shy calling for another appointment!) She got him an appointment for 11:30 the next day.

Thursday came and we took a bus to the Central Mercado as the Dr’s office was just opposite it. We went into the Dr, his name is Dr. Alberto Castillo, who spoke very little English, but his ‘other Dr’, a female nurse came into office and helped us translate. Between the 4 of us, we communicated very well. Anyway, he manipulated the knee, pushed, prodded, jerked, & poked. He said the ligaments were fine, not ripped, as we had feared. But there was a ton of liquid behind his kneecap that he must see to make sure it was not infected or full of blood. Now those of you who know Michael knows he HATES needles and was not comfortable with this at all. The Dr. numbed the area and then inserted a needle through the side of the knee. Immediately, it started dripping and the Dr. added a syringe and began drawing the liquid out of the knee. Luckily, it was a clear yellow color, which indicated it was not infected and no blood was detected. The Dr. took out 3 syringes of liquid, then injected it with a cortisone/anti-inflamatory medicine and we were off again. The Dr. prescribed one thing….REST…for 3 weeks. Rest, Ice, Compression, & Elevation in fact.

So we made the decision to stick it out here in Mazatlan until it’s time to go back to the States to sell the Electric Boat business. Luckily, the marina has room for us the entire time. I can’t say I’m not disappointed – I had hoped to get further South this season and was really looking forward to it. But Michael’s health is more important – and those spots will still be there next year, so what’s my hurry?! We’re going to make the best of our time here – we’re looking into Spanish classes and have made a list of non-walking things we can do for the next couple weeks. Hopefully his knee makes a full recovery and we’ll be to continue the other activites we are looking forward to doing soon.

I’ll write more later…
Happy Valentines Day everyone!!
Rene

Scott’s visit 2.12.08

Our good friend, Scott from the sailboat Ocean Lady came into town late Friday evening. Scott & Liz own Ocean Lady, a 50’ Gulfstar ketch rigged sailboat that was in Channel Islands Harbor 4 years ago. They are originally from Santa Cruz and cruised down the coast and spent a couple years in Channel Islands Harbor getting the boat ready for long-term cruising. We met them on New Years day 2003 as Michael was walking Casey that morning and they were walking their two dogs. Michael struck up a conversation and the rest, as they say, is history. We became very good friends and when we purchased & moved onto Ahea Kali, we were right beside them on the dock and we got to know them even better. They left to go cruising in September 2004, one year before we were originally scheduled to leave. Our master plan was to ‘catch up’ with them as we were looking forward to cruising with them. Well, you know the story, that didn’t happen. Since they left, they have spent several seasons cruising in Mexico and further south. During their cruising we visited them on vacation two times, once in Mazatlan, the other time in Barra de Navidad & Tenacatita. They ended up finding a great surf spot in Nicaragua, just North of San Juan del Sur. They are both avid surfers and are in heaven where they’re at. They purchased a plot of land and are building a house & guest house on the property. Not able to keep both the house and the boat, the boat has been brought to Mazatlan and put up for sale. We’re heartbroken, as they are, but understand completely the financial strains of both building a house and owning a boat. Scott flew in late Friday and flew back out early Wednesday morning.

During his visit, Michael and he worked on his ‘project’ list on the boat. He had several ½ day projects to complete and together with Michael’s help, accomplished many on the list. Plus, Scott had a rental car so we enjoyed all of the trips into town for supplies & goodies. We went to the tortillaria, to the grocery store “Gigante”, to the battery shop, to Office Depot, bank, & all over town. Michael and he were very busy each day and we met most mornings for breakfast and every evening for dinner. It was great seeing & visiting with him, we miss them both a lot. Liz was unable to come as she is nursing some puppies that lost their mom before they were done nursing and hasn’t been able to find a suitable replacement for her ever 2 hour hand-feedings yet!

Somehow just before Scott arrived, Michael twisted his knee somehow and it has swollen up to the size of a cantaloupe. We’ll need to have it looked at as it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. We visited with Milan & Adrian Ford, on M/V Integrity, a 36’ Albin Trawler who are also from Channel Islands Harbor on Tuesday. They have a beautiful boat and we enjoyed catching up with them. They are here in Mazatlan in El Cid marina and have cruised for many years, originally on a sailboat in the South Pacific, where they hope to get back to! We also heard from our friends Bob & Louise on EZ Lady who has made it to La Paz and are enjoying themselves. There is a ferry that goes from Mazatlan to La Paz that we are thinking of taking to visit them and others.

I’ll write more later….
Rene

Having fun in Mazatlan 2.9.08

We’ve had an exciting week here in Mazatlan. There are lots of things to see & do here and we’ve been busy adapting to the life. After Sunday’s Carnaval parade, we hung out on the boat doing boat chores Monday. Chad & Michael worked on some blocks that needed maintenance and some general cleaning/maintenance on the boat. We went for a walk in the afternoon checking out our surroundings. The Marina is very different from when we were here 3 years ago! There are 3 large condo complexes, another two being built, and a large boatyard here. When we were here last, there was one building being built…and a trailer that made up the office and cruiser amnenities – laundry & showers.

We had a wonderful dinner aboard Seabird Monday evening. John & Linda are from Santa Barbara and each of us found something in common with them as we chatted. Tuesday we headed to the beach to Playa Bruja which is just North of here. A simple bus ride, costing all of 6 pesos (60 cents) took us there. There is a restaurant at the entrance and we had lunch & picked up a bucket-o-beers and went to sit on the beach. The beach was beautiful – a little bit windy but wonderful. Michael braved the 65 degree water and went swimming a couple of times. That evening was ‘Fat Tuesday’ with another parade for Carnaval. We had been in contact with Tony & Shannon Morrelli, friends of ours from Channel Islands Harbor that left cruising a year before us on a boat named Sweetie, and they were currently located in the old harbor. We made arrangements to meet up with them at the parade, but at a different location than we previously had been. We met them at the end of the parade, in a section that you had to pay to enter ($2). There were about 6 bandstands setup all along the route & mariachi bands were playing in the streets. We found a spot to sit and they joined us a little later for the parade. The parade was great, again. What a wonderful show they put on! They boys were sitting watching and Shannon & I jumped up on some folding chairs to watch, even joining the parade at times! The Mazatlan Carnaval is touted as being the 3rd largest in the world, after Rio and New Orleans. However, Mazatlan’s is still family oriented – there is no nudity, no alcohol binges, & the streets are safe for everyone. After the parade, we headed up the streets to a street vendor that served baked potatoes – smothered with sour cream, butter, cheese, & meat. On the table was sliced cucumber, radishes, guacamole, & salsa for everyone to share. We enjoyed dinner and spending it with Tony & Shannon! Unfortunately, when we left the parade route, Chad twisted his ankle very badly and was hurting very badly so we went home. I have a bunch more pictures of the parade that I’ll upload too, so check them out!



Wednesday morning Chad flew back to the states. He packed up his stuff and shared a cab into the airport with the folks from Seabird. Michael and I worked on the boat – cleaning, scrubbing, and cleaning some more. We haven’t done a thorough job of cleaning since before we left the harbor and it showed. On a boat, you must deal with moisture, which can turn into mold. The majority of the boat is dry, but there are certain spots you must continually clean. Up in the V-berth, I cleaned the walls, ceilings, & cabinets with Windex to kill anything growing up there, then sprayed it again with an anti-mildew spray from 3M that works wonders. We have our ‘library’ up in the V-berth and it always seems to be more damp up there than other places. We pulled up the rugs & cleaned all of the nooks & crannies of the boat. After a hard day cleaning, we had a very relaxing evening of a home-cooked meal & two movies!!

Thursday our friends from Sweetie came over mid-morning and we visited with them for a while. We have continued to do boat maintenance & cleaning/organizing. Michael has been working on the dinghy engine and thinks he may have it figured out. It seems the hose that connects the fuel to the engine was getting air in it. So he re-cut the line and it seems to fit better & hold the pressure without the air. We will get a new line while we’re in town today and replace it to see if it fixes the problem completely. After he worked on the dinghy, we put it in the water and dinghy’d around the harbor, meeting & talking with several other boats. There are a couple other boats here from Ventura & Channel Islands Harbor and we chatted with them a bit. We have been told that the fuel pumps at El Cid are off by about 10-15% (meaning you get charged for 10-15% more than what you get) and since we will be here for a little while, we are taking the time to fill our 5 gallon jerry jugs, 3 at a time, walking across the street to the Pemex to fill them, then dumping them in. We only need about 100 gallons so it’s not a big deal. The water here is not fit for consumption so we must purchase bottled water to fill the tanks. That’s more of a hassle than the fuel as we use the water continuously! We have two water tanks and are using one for drinking water, the other for ballast right now as the boat heels quite a bit when one tank or the other is empty.

Marina Mazatlan is a nice full-service marina. There are lots of cruisers here. There is a local VHF net every morning at 8am and each morning there are about 45-50 boats that check in. They have shower facilities, a cruiser’s lounge, internet stations (bring your own laptop), laundry facilities, a fruit/veggie truck stops by Monday-Wednesday-Friday for fresh produce, an Ice truck, Purified water truck, Beer truck, the hairstylists come by about once a month, exercise classes in the cruiser lounge, etc. You could pretty much stay on your boat and not have to go into town for anything! But where’s the fun of that…

Last night was the Chinese New Year Cruiser’s party. There were probably 100 or so people attend. It was a potluck and there was some FANTASTIC food!! I made up some Chicken Curry, thanks to Sue Chenoweth for the recipe, and it was gone so I guess it turned out OK. There were so many dishes – yummy dishes – everyone was full. We met a new couple that just pulled into the harbor a couple of days ago, Dee & Paul on Blue Pteron & our friends from Someday also joined us. We met several of our boat neighbors and chatted with them a while as well. I have another cruiser website for you to check out - www.svchessie.com. It's Richard & Karen on a sailboat that is currently in a slip 2 down from us. We met them also at the Chinese New Year's party and enjoyed getting to know them.

Today is Friday and Michael has made his run for fuel. We headed into town to the Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries & some supplies we need. We took the big green bus (Sabalo Cocos) for 5 pesos. They have a great bus service here that’s pretty easy to navigate. We picked up a ‘cruisers guide’ when we checked into the Marina that has an easy to read section of the highlights & stops of each bus. There are lots of recognizable places here – Sams club, Costco, Dairy Queen, Burger King, McDonalds, Office Depot, Home Depot, etc. It’s amazing how much food we’re going through…you know all of those odd bottles in the back of your refrigerator that you’ve maybe used a bit of? We’re finally using them all up cause it’s all we have and there’s no place to purchase more! I’ve had several onesie bottles of drinks, etc that have tasted GREAT!! How could they have sat in the refrigerator for so long without me drinking them before! I’ve been spoiled I guess.

OK, I’ll write more later and let you know what’s happening. We are still planning to be here about 2 weeks or so – we want to tour Copper Canyon which is touted as being better than the Grand Canyon, tour a tequila factory, do some hiking, etc. Michael wrenched his knee and is hobbling around pretty badly and is hobbling along painfully though so I don’t know when we’re going to be able to do all this strenuous walking!! Our friends aboard Someday left this morning to check out Copper Canyon so we will certainly find out more about it when they return. Scott, our dear friend from Ocean Lady, is coming in tonight to get his boat ready to sell. We’re sad about that, but happy they’ve found home. We are excited to see him.

More to follow…
Rene

Best of luck, Chad 2.6.08

Chad left us today, headed back to the states. We’ve had a great time with him and wish him well in all of his endeavors. Chad has been a great friend to both of us – he worked in the shop with Michael for some time and even took off with us on our first grand adventure in 2005! How great is it to have a friend who will take 2 months off to go cruising with some newbies! Chad has been up and down the coast of Mexico numerous times as he races sailboats and helped us (me primarily) learn the ‘ropes’ so to speak on the basics of cruising. He is an incredible teacher & we learned a ton from him. We’re indebted to him for all of his kindness & patience with the both of us! We’re so lucky to have such a wonderful friend. We wish him the best of luck in all of his adventures & will miss having him aboard. I’ve read that life is full of ‘firsts’ and that you must take the time and enjoy all of them as they’re happening as there will never again be that opportunity…. We had a lot of ‘firsts’ with Chad (first flip of the dinghy, first bow line break in Avalon, first fish caught on the boat, first trip down the coast of Baja, first time petting a baby whale, and many more I can’t list here…) and I can’t think of a better person to have shared it with. Now I’ll have to start holding my own 2 hour shifts on crossings…and what on earth will we do with all that wasabi!? (wink, wink)

Carnaval in Mazatlan 2.4.08

We arrived in Mazatlan yesterday – just in time for Carnaval! Michael was tired once we got in and went down for a nap while Chad & I walked the docks and over to the other marina in the area, El Cid. El Cid is a marina and a hotel/resort right at the entrance to the harbor. Michael & I stayed at the resort about 3 years ago when we came to Mazatlan to visit Scott & Liz. The resort is very nice and has swimming pools that are open to the cruisers who are at the marina. Our buddy boat, Someday, is staying in El Cid marina and we met them at the pool to chat. Michael called me on the radio letting me know he was up and about so we walked back to Marina Mazatlan, where we are staying. Our other buddy boat, Seabird, with John & Linda on board is tied up two boats to our left and Michael was chatting with them when we arrived.

Chad made up some wasabi and cut up the Dorado he caught and we had sashimi for lunch! Yum… :-) We all got washed up and headed into town for Carnaval.

The parade started at 5:30pm and we were dropped off at the end of the parade route. I asked some locals and was told it wouldn’t get to this end until 9:30pm!! There were a TON of people! Everywhere you looked, all down the malecon, everywhere!! I have some photos, but it’s impossible to portray in pictures! There was a magnificent sunset and we walked down maybe ¼ of the way and found a lamp post to stand on and watch the parade. It started and I laughed as the first 3-4 floats were all sponsored by the beer companies – Tecate, Pacifico, etc. After the beer companies, the snack/bread company, Bimbo (like wonder bread) was next, Home Depot, a local car dealership with about 10 cars, etc. Stuff was thrown into the crowds – candy, pens, water bottles, packages of cookies, & CD’s. Again, I thought no way this would happen in the states! People were getting hit in the head with everything…it was really funny to watch & duck!! After about an hour, the parade seemed to have a break time! We decided to leave our post and find a bathroom. We were walking past a restaurant on the parade route and noticed a football game – wait it is SUPER BOWL!! We had totally forgotten. We walked in at 4th quarter, the score was 7-10. Seems we came in at the right time as it flipped and the Giants won – woohoo! We watched Super Bowl and met 3 people, Sylvia, Jaime, & Alex who were on their bicycles – bicycling down from Canada! We chatted with them for some time and ate dinner with them. They are also maintaining a website www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/myrtle check it out when you get a chance.

OK, back to the parade. There was about a 1 hour lull from the first floats to the next group. The first floats were like a flatbead with dancing girls & guys, then there were delivery trucks with the back opened up, throwing goodies out of the back. Then there were the cars for sale…then came the good floats. The 2nd ‘session’ were home-grown floats not sponsored by major companies. They were floats also with dancers on board, but with very elaborate decorations similar to the Rose Parade. I hope you can see the detail in the pictures. Since we missed a couple floats because of watching superbowl, we headed down to the end of the parade route. It was a squeezing match to get through and took us a ton of time. Everyone in the crowd was having a wonderful time! People were hanging from everywhere – building tops, hotels, restaurants – to get a good view. On the streets adjacent to the parade, there were tons of people selling their goods – hats, balloons, food, drinks, etc. About every block there was a big beer tent that sold beer by the can and if you purchased 6 of them, you got a plastic baggie with ice in it too. Ice blocks were on the street and they chipped them off to keep the beer ice cold. Once the parade was over, there were a ton of pneumonias standing by to take everyone home. Pneumonias are the local taxi service – they are open-air VW’s that zoom tourists around town. We hopped in one and were back at the marina.

This morning we’ve been doing some boat maintenance, laundry, watching the jumping fish, listening to music, & visiting with others in the marina. At the morning check-in on the VHF net, I counted over 30 boats chime in.

I’ll write more later, I hope you enjoy the pictures of the Parade. I’ve also uploaded several more photos into the photo album so check them out when you get a chance!

More to follow…
Rene

Arrived in Mazatlan 2.3.08

We arrived in Mazatlan today at approx 10am. We made what is called the ‘Southern Crossing’ from Cabo to Mazatlan. The evening was a very pleasant one, not like the last trip! We had very little wind, only about 5-10knots, the seas were very stable, and the swell was only 1-3ft. We only had a couple of other ships pass us during the evening and we were in communication with our other buddy boaters Someday and Seabird all evening. We even got to do some hand bearing compass drills for approaching ships. We’re in Mazatlan Marina and are just beside our buddy boat Seabird. There is very little change in latitude between the two spots but Mazatlan is more tropical and we can already feel it. My hair has been so incredibly dry & straight lately and suddenly it’s curly again! (I knew you all wanted to know that). It’s currently 71 degrees with 65 degree water. There were a ton of stars out and I identified about 4 more constellations last night – Orion, Lepus (the rabbit), the star Sirius and the constellation it makes up – Canis Major, or the big dog, Canis Minor (the little dog), Gemini, and a cool one right on the horizon called Carina which is the ship. Jeez, those greek stargazers certainly had a vivid imagination! It’s hard sometimes to find the ‘animal’ in those constellations…haha.

We saw lots of dolphins on our trip, a marlin that jumped out of the water, another sea turtle, and lots & lots of fish. We’ve been seeing flying fish lately and they’re always fun to watch! We did the same watch schedule, 2 hours on watch, 2 hours sleep. Michael’s last watch was from 6-8 and he stayed up the rest of the time.

I worked to get the videos changed over to something usable last night – it takes a ton of time to render them. But I just let the laptop work while we were upstairs lounging in the sunshine. The weather is finally nice enough for swimsuit, shorts, & tank tops and I was lucky enough to spend a little time in the sun! On the trip over, the laptop worked away rendering the videos, I caught up with some e-mails, read, & enjoyed the nice mellow seas. Chad was fishing and finally caught something edible! A little Dorado maybe 6lbs and 18in long. It’s currently chilling in the refrigerator and we’re looking forward to a little sashimi today. Woohoo! Yumm…Sushi! I miss sushi!!

Tonight is the first parade of Carnaval. I’ll be sure to update the site as soon as I can with the details. Have a wonderful week!

More to follow…
Rene

San Jose del Cabo 1 Feb 08

OK, OK, I know…I can’t go from daily updates to nothing…it starts to freak out those who care! I’m so sorry…we’ve just been enjoying everything here and I haven’t had any ‘down’ time pretty much the entire time! Michael & I have been nice and lazy today though and are checking off our chores.

We arrived in Cabo on Tuesday, the 29th after a 24 hour passage from Magdalena Bay. Hey! We made it down the coast – woohoo!! We left the anchorage in Magdalena Bay about 9:45am on Monday and arrived in Cabo approx 10am Tuesday morning. EZ Lady left about 3 hours before we did, and a powerboat, Seabird, left about an hour earlier. It was a very bad, very rocky rolly passage and we were glad to round the corner into Cabo. We had 4-8ft following seas with 2-3 ft windwaves and extremely sloppy. The wind was between 18-35 knots the entire night coming also from our stern so the boom flailed from side to side all evening, making the passage a working one trying to control the boom all evening. Our autopilot had a tough time keeping up with the incredible movement of the swells & wind and we had a couple hard accidental jibes, one breaking a shiv on our mainsheet block. We’ll be able to get it repaired and it shouldn’t chafe between here and there, so it’s not a huge problem. But the plastic block hit hard on a metal winch….and the winch won! It was nice having recognizable lights on the horizon to follow while we are night sailing. We had about 5 large ships – cruise ships & tankers that joined us on our passage, one passing within only ½ mile! Michael said it was close enough for him to see people in the portholes…haha. I’m finding I really enjoy night sailing and am attempting to find a new constellation every time we are out in the evening. My favorite constellation has always been Orion, the sun god, and just below his feet is Lepus, the rabbit and just to the east of that is the bright star, Sirius. I’ve also found Gemini (my sign) which is also to the East of Orion. I’ve been shown Cassiopeia, but can’t seem to identify it myself yet.

We are staying in San Jose del Cabo, not Cabo San Lucas. San Jose del Cabo is located approx 15 miles east of Cabo San Lucas and we’re staying at a new marina here called Puerto Los Cabos. The marina is very new, only about 20% completed, which is why we show up on land on our position reports! The marina is very nice and we’ve been enjoying water & electricity being piped into the boat, not worrying about having to make it. No generator time and no watermaker time! And there are nice hot showers! Jim Elfers is the Marina manager and has known Michael for some time while we owned the Chandlery. The rates at a marina in Cabo San Lucas are high – approx $250/night – NOT including water & electricity…way outside our price range. Since the marina here is still under construction, the rates are much more affordable less than 1/3. Our buddy boat, EZ Lady is also here as well as a boat we met in Turtle Bay, called Someday. We’ve also met a group on a catamaran called Beach Access, Monica, Rebecca, & Paula that are also cruising down the coast. It’s been nice to meet & chat with everyone! Everyone has their own horror stories!

Our first afternoon/evening here we took a taxi into town and wandered through the town. We met a really interesting guy, Darren McDonald, who owns a pottery shop in town with his wife called Necri. We chatted with him, visiting his business, had a shot of tequila together (only in Mexico!), and are enjoying his homemade hot sauce. We had a fun evening and met some wonderful people in town. The next day we took the taxi into Cabo San Lucas. Chad has spent lots of time in Cabo so he took us on the ‘tour’ of the town. The next day we went grocery shopping at the Mega – a huge mega grocery & department store and we stocked up on lots of goodies. That evening we were all a bit tired but Thursday is the day that San Jose del Cabo ‘comes alive’…we had met the owners of the Baja brewing company restaurant/bar and they highly suggested we come in town and check it out. Every Thursday, they have an art walk in town through about 18 art galleries. The art was incredibly beautiful – from paintings to pottery, sculptures to candles, you name it…there was everything. We had a great evening and ended back at the Baja Brewing Company for the evening entertainment. Again, on our trip we’ve met such wonderful people – last night I spoke to a rancher from Idaho and a physician from Cabo San Lucas in town. I was told that Cabo has grown 17% a year for the last 5 years and they estimate that everyday, 75 people move to Cabo. Wow!

Here's some photos - of the beach we visited today, of Michael & I in front of the harbor entrance, & of the plaza in town.

San Jose del Cabo is a beautiful town of about 100,000 people. We’ve only scratched the surface of the town, but don’t have time to spend here. Chad is flying back to the states on the 6th so we’ve got to get him to Mazatlan! While we’re in Mazatlan, we’ll be treated with Carnaval, which is a big party time in Mazatlan. Check out this website… http://www.carnavalmazatlan.net/-c2.php You can click on the ‘English’ hyperlink in the upper right hand side of the screen. There are two parades through town – one on Sunday and the other on Wednesday. We’ll be in town on Sunday early morning and I hope I can convince the guys to go in town for it! We’ll miss the big firework display as we’ll be on our way. We have spent some time in Mazatlan before, on a vacation with some great friends of ours, Scott & Liz who were cruising down the coast 3 years ago and just missed Carnaval by a couple days. So we’re looking forward to getting there. As luck has it, Scott will be in Mazatlan a few days later and we’re looking forward to seeing him.

It’s finally warmed up to an acceptable temperature and is about 75 degrees during the day with lots of sunshine. The evenings still get chilly, but we’re OK with that. The water temps are still chilly – in the 61-65 range. But at least we’re in shorts & tank tops instead of layers & layers of warm clothes. This morning I woke and ran around the marina, over to the beach, up the side of the mountain, etc. I had a great time and really miss my daily exercise! Today has been our ‘down’ day and we’ve been busy doing chores, walking the beach, checking out the other side of town & back at the boat catching up on e-mails, did a load of laundry, & updated the slog! We have met so many fun, interesting people and yesterday I was able to ‘chit-chat’ with 3 other women and it was GREAT!! No men in sight…we just talked for hours.

Oh, before I forget – there is another boat out here, Beach House, a catamaran who also has a website and is posting updates – you can check them out at http://www.svbeachhouse.com/. We met them in Magdalena Bay and we’re hoping to catch up with them in Mazatlan. They stayed in Mag Bay for a few more days to catch the whale festival & hold out for a good weather window.

We’re heading for Mazatlan tomorrow morning – it’s another 25 hour passage so we’ll leave here about 9am and should be there in the late afternoon. We had to wait out a weather front that brought big seas & winds to the ‘Southern Crossing’ area. The powerboat we met in Mag Bay, Seabird, is also heading over tomorrow as well as the group from Someday, so at least we’ll have lights to look at on our way over!

So that’s the scoop. Again, I’ll be better at updating…sorry! More to follow…
Rene

{GMST}023|03.00|N|109|40.00|W|Puerto Los Cabos| San Jose del Cabo{GEND}