Enjoying San Blas 12.15.09

What a great place for a little R&R! I spent the past couple days just laying low, resting, & trying to get my energy back. Each day I am better, and each day I push myself to the limit to see how I’m doing. On Saturday, I walked from one end of the dock to the other as Anne & Jeff on S/V Outrider came into the marina. That was enough for a while and I high-tailed it (yeah, right!) back to the boat to rest again. That evening though was the Virgin of Guadalupe celebration and I didn’t want to miss that, so we took a taxi into town and strolled through the plaza, watching the parade go by, and into the church where many of the townspeople were gathered.



Then we just sat on one of the benches in the plaza and watched the world go by. It was so much fun to watch the families, laughter, kids playing, & the motorcycles! You see, there was also a motorcycle rally going on this weekend and we just happened to have front row seats for many parts of it! We hung out for several hours before jumping in a taxi back to the marina.

The next day I was ready for another outing. So, as I hope you’ve seen…we went into the San Blas Social Club, www.socialclub.sanblasmexico.com, for some internetting (finally updating the blogs),



some great food (my first real meal in a while!), and a front row seat for the Moto rally. Check out www.madbuildersmotocicletasmexico.com The parade began with a Police escort – motorcycle police airing their horns alerting everyone they were coming, a Pacifico Hummer (I want one!) with huge mambo speakers cranking out ear splitting music,



and row after row of motorcycles – vroom, vrooming their loud engines so you could feel the vibrations in your body! It was deafening…but awe inspiring at the same time. After the parade wound it’s way through town, they ended back up in the town square where the Policia Vial Jalisco proceeded to perform an acrobatic show…on motorcycles – the Escuadron Acrobatico!



It was amazing to watch as the men, women, & boys mounted the moving motorcycles, climbed on each other’s backs, and held the kids above their head in incredible pyramid after pyramid.



Fun stuff. Then, as we were leaving, we watched in awe as after a governor was finished speaking, he flung peso coins out into the crowd. The kids scrambled over to pick up as much as they could and it was a huge bag of coins!! Now tell me….is that buying votes?! Haha…

Monday morning we were up and at ‘em bright & early to go to the crocodilario, the crocodile farm on the Jungle tour. We met Anne & Jeff at 6:45 and jumped into a taxi who took us out near Mantanchen Bay, where the jungle tour begins. We had a full group with Anne & Jeff from S/V Outrider, MJ & Bill from S/V Grey Max, Mike & Julie from S/V Slacker, & Joe & Deb from S/V Pacific Jade.



We all hopped into a panga with our driver, Chuy, and set off in search of birds, reptiles, & crocodiles! And that’s exactly what we found! MJ from Grey Max is an avid birder and she provided us with not only the names of the birds we saw but also their habits & activities. We were so pleased she was along!




The guide was patient and kind, stopping whenever we pointed or asked to get a better look. Our first stop was at the crocodilaria, or crocodile zoo. Inside the zoo were a handful of crocs, from itty bitty ones to monster large ones. We stopped & fed the fish, chatted with the locals, and admired the amazingly crystal clear water.



Our next stop was at a fresh water swimming hole and restaurant. The panga driver told us the restaurant wouldn’t be opened for another hour and we were all happy to spend that hour soaking it up in the fresh water. We begged him to let us stay for an hour more than usual and after a little resistance, he finally said OK. It was a crystal clear day, with temps in the upper 80’s/lower 90’s, and the water felt simply heavenly.



There was a trapeze swing that a few were brave enough to attempt crazy jumps in with and many just floated along. We were all excited to see the restaurant workers arrive, cervezas in tow, and they swiftly setup tablecloths & served us up some refreshments. We all ate a little something, made sure Chuy also had something to eat & drink (for his troubles), and finally drug our feet to leave. We saw many more birds on our way back and Chuy didn’t bat an eye at stopping for us.

What a fun day!




You can imagine, I was pretty beat so after the tour and walking down the street for some of the famous banana bread that is a must-get at Mantanchen Bay, we jumped on a well-timed bus back into town and a taxi back to the marina. Back at the boat I was exhausted & went down for a nap, sleeping for a couple hours to rest. Grrrr….I’m ready to be BETTER!!! Just a couple more days of antibiotics…..

Today we had a mellow morning. It’s overcast today and everyone on the dock seems to be enjoying the mellowness. We caught up on laundry, washed down the boat, read, etc. We are back in town now, at the Social Club, after just eating some fantastic tacos just down the street. I’ve said it before….life is good!!

We plan on being in La Cruz for Christmas. We are leaving the marina tomorrow morning and will spend at least one evening at anchor back in Mantanchen Bay before taking off South. I’ll be glad to be back in the anchorage. I love being so close to town, but the mosquitoes are eating me up and I’m ready to get back in the swing of things!

Until later…
Rene