Another Flashback: Barra de Navidad - February 14 - 23, 2014

The Following Is Another Flashback Post -- 

Valentine's Day - Who Loves Ya, Baby?

February 14, the day after we arrived in Barra de Navidad -- as every woman in North America can tell you -- is Valentine's Day.  And yes, they do celebrate this holiday in Mexico - or at least the enterprising merchants of Barra do.  

You may recall (or not) that one of our favorite things about Barra de Navidad is The French Baker. Six mornings a week during the cruising season the French Baker rings a little bell on his delivery panga and announces over VHF Chanel 22 that "Ze French Bay-kair es een ze marina!"  He delivers freshly baked croissants, pastries, pies, breads and quiches dockside -- making the world a better place.  

Ze French Bay-kair

On Valentine's Day he also shamed most of the men in the marina by giving a single rose to each of his female customers. Bryce immediately invited Molly out for a lovely Valentine's Day dinner . . . 

A Rose Is A Rose - No Matter The Giver

Paperwork Tangle Tango Estilo Estados Unidos

Before we enjoyed another of our favorite things about Barra -- the pool at the nearby Wyndam Hotel -- we logged on to Earthclass Mail (our internet mail forwarding service) and found a scan of a letter from the California Public Employee's Retirement System (CalPERS) announcing that we had five weeks to prove that we were married or Bryce would loose his health insurance!  

Background: CalPERS is the entity through which most California government employees and retirees purchase health insurance. Bryce has been insured through the CalPERS system as Molly's dependent for twenty-four years. When we each retired three-ish years ago, we went through the process of confirming that we were still married for a variety of retirement-related purposes. And now they needed us to prove that we were married -- in less than six weeks. 

Now as anyone eligible for a certification of mental competency knows, there's no joy in trying to reason with a government entity that is on a mission to find "waste, fraud and abuse". Nor is there any hope that an exception will be made just because a likely malefactor is living abroad. Besides, all we had to do was upload an electronic scan of our marriage certificate and the first page of our 2013 tax return to the website of CalPERS' efficient third party contractor. How simple is that?  

Our 2013 tax return was easily accessible from our computer.  Sadly, our marriage certificate is in a box in a storage locker almost 1,500 miles north of Barrra de Navdad.  

But wait - a certified copy of our marriage certificate was available through the City and County of San Francisco's third part contractor (it's the season of "privatization" efficiency). They would send us a certified copy of our marriage certificate for only $27.50 USD, and all we had to do was provide them with a notarized statement that we were the parties identified on the marriage certificate. 

Of course they didn't know - or care - that the only place to get a U.S. notarization outside of the U.S. is at a U.S. Consul's office, the nearest of which was in Nuevo Vallarta -- 133 miles behind us.   

As we had only recently been released from embargo in Bahia Banderas we were not anxious to return there for any reason -- and particularly not by sailing into wind, back around Cabo Corrientes, at 5 miles an hour or less. We checked bus schedules and hotel booking websites; we despaired and fumed.   

As we were in the depth of our despair -- telling our sad story to any sailor that made the mistake of asking cheerily how we were doing -- we received an e-mail from friends Pam and Ted Simper (S/v Roundabout II).  Roundabout II was currently docked in La Cruz, but Pam and Ted were coming to Barra on a road trip to drop their daughter and son-in-law at the Manzanillo airport.  Did we have time to get together? 

Sometimes even the crappy things in life work out.

Pam and Ted arrived, we enjoyed dinner with their family and they took the bait when we told them our sad story. They offered us a ride to Banderas Bay in their rental car! We had a great chat in the car on the way Nuevo Vallarta and even stopped for a quick visit and lunch at the Puerto Vallarta botanical gardens.  

Crews of S/v Roundabout II and S/v Abracadabra

    

   

And because sailors just can't help themselves, we stopped for a quick trip to Zaragosa Marine - the West Marine of Mexico (aka: "Zar-a-gosa my money" -- thanks for the line, Janet!).  After a night at the Paradise Village Hotel (where they couldn't figure out why we weren't staying a week on the all-inclusive beverage plan . . .) we visited the Consul and got the necessary notarization (only $50 USD - maybe they need a third party contractor). After a bus ride back to Barra, scans of the two-page certification (thanks, S/v Kaylami!) and a fax by the hotel to the second third party contractor -- only three weeks and some $300 from when we started -- we had the proof that we were married. And a great story of government insanity, estilo estados unidos. 

We uploaded the marriage certificate to the CalPERS third party contractor and - voila - two weeks later we were deemed compliant.  

If anyone knows whether CalPERS actually caught anyone insuring a non-eligible dependent, would you let us know?  Just wondering.  

And The Tally For This Cruising Season IS: 

What are the odds that in any four month period (a) Abracadabra would be embargoed by the Mexican tax authorities for reasons never explained to us; (b) we would have to prove to our health insurance purchasing entity - after 24 years of coverage - that we are married; and (c) our (now former) marine insurance broker would suddenly assert that our policy requires Abracadabra be dry-stored during our summer absence?  

We'd end this post with something cheery such as "all's well that ends well" or "bad things happen in threes" except that . . . we're not ready to tempt fate yet. 

And along the lines of not tempting fate, we're currently unwilling to sail from Huatulco because weather reports call for very high winds across the Gulfo de Tehuantepec for the next week. Rather than continue staring at weather websites on an hourly basis, tomorrow we're off for a few days in Oaxaca to enjoy the unique culture of one of Mexico's colonial jewels.   

We'll be on our way to Chiapas soon - we're sure. 

Searching for Paradise On The Way to La Cruz – May 1 – 22

The direct route from Marina Ixtapa to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (which readers of this blog know as one of our favorite places) is about 331 miles.  Our bay-hopping itinerary made it a longer but a much more enjoyable voyage.  The entire trip was spent travelling through territory we had visited before, but as we have learned in every journey there is the possibility of new experiences.  This trip we learned that there is more than one way to experience paraíso (paradise).

Marina Ixtapa to Bahía Santiago – May 1 to 6

That said, our first leg, a three-day trip to Bahía Santiago, was not paradisiacal.  We managed to eke out only 20 hours of sailing during the 47-hour trip (40%) because low night winds (several hours at 2 to 4 knots) and the combined high swells and moderate winds during the day required us to use the motor to make headway. 

We set anchor at Bahía Santiago late morning on May 3^rd after two nights underway and found that the bay was no longer in the grip of the tourist frenzy that is Semana Santa.  But as the weekend dawned on Saturday, it was clear that the bay is also a popular short-break destination and that we were destined to be entertained once again by jet skis, banana rides and tour boats.  Bryce’s favorite tour boat encounter during this stay:  As the boat approached, blasting 80’s rock-n-roll, the guide announced over the loud speaker that the bay often hosted sailboats from all around the world, and that this boat (Abracadabra) was occupied by gringos. 

Aside:  Life can be interesting when you fly the US flag as publically as one does when sailing a US-registered vessel.  When Bryce was deciding whether to become a US citizen, Molly warned him that traveling on a US passport was different than traveling as a Canadian; that he would no longer benefit from the international assumption that, as a Canadian, he was polite, friendly and peace-loving.  But he took the oath anyway.  Now that is real patriotism – taking the bad with the good. 

The use of the occasional derogatory descriptive term aside, most Mexicans are very kind and polite to US citizens; sometimes because they actually like the US, and sometimes because Mexicans are generally polite to visitors.  During one of our trips to shore in Bahía Santiago two Mexican couples spending the day on the beach with their teenagers invited us to join them.  They wanted to hear about our trip to Mexico and to tell us how much they enjoyed their travels in the US.  They shared their beer with us and would have been happy to let us have one of their beach cocktails (a vile sounding mixture of cognac, mineral water and Coca Cola) had we not declined their offers.  We explained that we couldn’t drink much because we had to launch our dinghy into fairly substantial surf. 

We managed to restrict our intake to only two Coronitos (cute little 6 ounce sized Coronas) each, and to politely extract ourselves from the party.  We were ready to launch.  However, our two male hosts insisted on “helping us”.  Lesson learned:  It’s not enough that the dinghy crew remain sober; the launch crew must also be sober!  Our hosts were not annoyingly drunk by any means – but they weren’t in top dinghy launching form.  Fortunately, the only damage resulting from the Keystone Cops maneuver that got us off the beach was a thorough soaking of all parties.  Bryce managed to row through the surf before starting the engine (our new favorite departure technique – whatever happens in the surf happens without the engine prop spinning into someone), so we got back to Abracadabra with our groceries still in the boat and our hats and sunglasses on!

Bahía Santiago to Bahía Tenacatita – May 6 - 8

Not the perfect journey: an eight and a half hour trip with seven hours on the motor.  We turned in at Barra de Navidad to buy some fuel, worried that if these low winds kept up we might not make it to La Cruz with the fuel on board.

We anchored and enjoyed a quiet evening aboard.  Sadly, the next morning we awoke to find that  Abracadabra was surrounded by scary-looking red water.  We seemed to be experiencing what is often referred to as “red tide” but (according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website) is more accurately referred to as a “harmful algal bloom”.  NOAA’s website explains that not all algal blooms are harmful, but since we’re not equipped to tell the difference, and we just thought the red water looked a bit icky (our own highly scientific term) we decided to forego a trip to shore and depart the next day. 

Our only neighbor was an Armada Mexicana vessel,

Nice, Quiet Neighbors

so when we woke to see clear water the next morning, we were tempted to stay an enjoy Bahia Tenacatita in the low season.  But we decided to push on to a little bay to the north that we had always wanted to visit – Paraíso.  Who wouldn’t want to visit a place called “Paradise”? 

Bahía Tenacatita to Paraíso – May 8 – 10

Making up for our prior low wind adventures, the universe granted us a day of perfect sailing.  We turned the engine off as we left Bahía Tenacatita and we didn’t listen to the beast again until we arrived in Paraíso five hours later.  We had south-east winds of from 10 to 16 knots all day (warm, clear, beautiful, yada yada yada). 

And yes, we found Paraíso to be aptly named.  Every other time we had passed this tiny little bay it had been fully occupied.  This time it was occupied by Abracadabra – period.  Well, we shared the bay with some day kayakers from a nearby hotel and a few fishermen, but no other boat was anchored at Paraíso while we were there. 

Abracadabra in Paradise

We swam in the clear, coolish water (it’s all about getting in quickly) and explored the bay’s tiny inlets by dinghy. 

Dinghy Tour of the Bay



Wildlife

We peered into sea caves that were too scary to take our dinghy into.  We watched foam erupt from blow holes and understood how early sailors could believe that dragons live there. . .  We walked on the beach.  We watched beautiful sunsets.

Caption Not Required

We concluded that this was Paraíso. 

We didn’t want to leave, but after a week with only one meal on shore we were beginning to be tired of Molly’s cooking (or rather, Molly was getting really tired of Molly’s cooking . . . ).  Plus, our last sail had been so spectacular that we were encouraged to try it again.

Paraíso to Bahía Chamela – May 10 to 12

And again we won the sailing lottery.  After raising anchor we had a short (2 hours) but perfect down-wind sail to Bahía Chamela.  Dolphins playfully swam beside and under Abracadabra.  Ah yes – this too was paraíso.

We anchored off Pérula, the little town at the north end of Bahía Chamela.  We walked into town and purchased some produce and a couple of beers, visiting every little tienda in town to find the few items we wanted.  Pérula is a sleepy little place.

We had lunch at one of the beachside enramadas.  By April of last year we had become somewhat jaded about the menus at these little enramadas.  Much like dinners at a British pub, the frequent enramada visitor can close his or her eyes, guess what the menu will offer – and almost always avoid surprise.  There will be:

• whole huachinango (red snapper) fixed five ways (frito – fried; ajo – garlic; mantequilla – butter; ajillo – garlic and chilies; empanado – breaded);

• fillets of dorado (mahi mahi) fixed (usually, the same) five ways; and

• medium-sized camarones (shrimp) fixed (usually, the same) five ways. 

Sometimes the menu will include pulpo (octopus) fixed (yes) five ways or one of the five ways will include Veracruzana (in the style of Vera Cruz – garlic, onions, tomatoes, olives).  But after several months on the Mexican coast there will be few surprises for the enramada diner.  The only difference between enramadas is the care taken by the cook. 

But interestingly, after an even longer time traveling the coast this year, we found that we enjoyed our filete dorado ajillo very much.  Perhaps the trick is to eat Molly’s Chicken and Vegetables in Trader Joe’s Bottled Mystery Asian Sauce over Rice two nights in a row before trying something “à la five ways” . . .

Bahía Chamela to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle – May 12 to May 13

From Bahía Chamela we motored directly into low winds and two meter (6 foot) plus swells.  Our perfect sail run was clearly over.  For three hours, we held on and listened to the motor as Abracadabra bucked up and down in the swell.  We kept telling each other not to become disheartened – that it wasn’t necessarily the case that we would have to motor the entire 101 miles to La Cruz. 

And so it came to pass.  Three hours out of Chamela the wind picked up and we put up the spinnaker.  The wind was a little low for the spinnaker, but it was going to be okay. 

And then it wasn’t. 

The swells were making it difficult to keep Abracadabra’s stern from crossing the wind – and at the very moment we took our eyes off the sail to eat some lunch (All Available Vegetables Pasta Salad) the spinnaker wrapped in a most bizarre fashion.  And then it wrapped around the furled jib. 

O...M...G...

Because we couldn’t even figure out how the wrap had started, we decided the best approach was to finish lunch. 

After scooping up our pasta salad, and staring a long time at the mysterious wrap, we decided that the worst case scenario was that we would have to motor to La Cruz and hope that the spinnaker didn’t rip - again.  The best case scenario was that we would somehow manage to unwrap the wrap without ripping the sail.  So - we turned on the motor and slowly turned one way . . . but the wrap didn’t come undone.  We then slowly motored the other way . . . and again it didn’t come undone.  Then Bryce went forward to see if pulling on something would have any positive effect . . . and still it remained wrapped.  To assist Bryce in his undirected tugging attempt, Molly eased the spinnaker sheet and let the spinnaker fly a bit and . . . it started to unwrap!  Bryce just stood there and watched it unwind itself – sort of like watching a tangled rope untangle without assistance.  We’ll never be able to replicate our “fix”– but it worked.  We didn’t even take time to do the “happy spinnaker unwrapping dance” – but hastily furled the spinnaker and decided enough was enough – we’d use the jib in these fluky seas. 

The wind seemed to agree that it was time to put the spinnaker to bed because at about 16.00 the seas flattened and the wind increased and shifted to Abracadabra’s bow.  So we tacked, and tacked again and again – every couple of hours throughout the afternoon, evening and night as we rounded Cabo Corrientes (Cape Currents).  We managed to sail all but 8 hours of the entire 28 hour trip! 

Other than Bryce having to wake up twice during Molly’s night watch to help her tack the big jib the trip was very calm and enjoyable.  All of our encounters with cruise ships and container ships were distant sightings.  The seas were relatively flat and the winds, though from an inconvenient direction, were consistent.  When put into the context of rounding one of Mexico’s most problematic capes – and our past hair-raising encounters with mystery ships in the night -- it was a type of paraíso.

Time-Share Paradise – May 15 - 18

We tied up at the La Cruz marina and called our friends Bob and Kathy Romano who were vacationing in Puerto Vallarta.  We were looking forward to joining them for dinner in the big city, and having them visit us in La Cruz.  However, they reported that they had just completed negotiating an upgrade to their time-share arrangement and had been given three days in a two-bedroom suite with an all-inclusive food and drink plan for four.  Now that’s friendship!

We decided this was a sign that the sea gods had sent us the Romanos and their negotiating skills as a reward for all our good sailing.  So we sent our clothes to the laundry, cleaned up Abracadabra, arranged for a diver to clean off the gunk that had accumulated on her hull in Bahía Zihuatanejo, and took a cab to PV to join our (really, really, really good) friends for three days of all-inclusive air-conditioned relaxation.  And because we’re just that kind of friends, we made sure that they got good value for their negotiations: we ate and drank and napped by the pool for three days.  Ah, yes – yet another way to experience paraíso. 

Bob and Kathy, Hard At Work

We also had two wonderful meals in old-town PV.  If you are visiting the area make sure you spend an afternoon enjoying the view, the tapas and the wine at Tapas Barcelona, and an evening enjoying the nuevo Mexicana cocina at No Way Jose! (don’t be put off by the name – the waiters don’t require you to drink tequila shooters and wear a sombrero – it’s a very good restaurant). 

To Date

Because we couldn’t figure out a way to stay at the time-share without Bob and Kathy’s sponsorship, when they left to go home to Spokane we returned to Abracadabra.  We’re doing boat jobs and planning and preparing for the last leg of our trip north – a 400-mile trip into and across the Gulfo de California (Sea of Cortez). 

But even a working-at-the-dock stay can be fun.  Last weekend a national kite-surfing race was held in Banderas Bay, filling the air with brightly colored kites that looked like a swarm of butterflies. 

Kite Surfers - Banderas Bay

But like sailors everywhere we were most entertained by studying one racer’s attempt to recover his downed kite – rooting for him to overcome the obstacles of current and waves, and cheering on another racer that gave up his race position to assist his compadre.  Neither kite-surfing nor sailing is a solitary activity.

We have looked at weather reports and prepared four days’ worth of underway meals.  We have told the Capitan de Puerto that we are leaving.  One more trip to a tienda to purchase bananas and tomatoes and we’re on our way tomorrow morning.  We’ll report in on that trip once we arrive!  Who knows – maybe we’ll find another bit of paraíso along the way?

La Cruz / Day Trippin’ Banderas Bay – February 2013

Well, we spent almost a month in La Cruz before we began travelling southward. And though we have often said that this village at the northern end of Banderas Bay is one of The Best Places, we don’t see that we’ve ever explained in this blog why we think that is so. So, here is our list of the top ten reasons we love the village of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (pronounced something like: Juan-a-costeley), in no particular order:

1.     It's A Good Place For Locovores: The residents of La Cruz were locovores long before it became "the thing to do" where we come from. There is an open air Mercado del Mar at the marina where the local fishermen sell their catches. We had pompano the other night that had been swimming around on a reef 70 kms away less than 24 hours before we grilled it. At Carniceria Kenny, early in the morning, you can find the day’s carne (beef) hanging in half-cow form from a hook to the left of the counter. The borego (lamb) is in the freezer, but as with the cows - Kenny not only butchers it, but grows it. And if you happen to order more than you have cash for, the signora will give you your purchase and let you bring the remainder of the purchase price later (yes, even if you are a gringa yatista!).

2.     There Are All Manner of Restaurants: Frescati’s for fresh pasta. Falconni’s for crispy pizza (bring your own beer or wine). Masala when you’re feeling like really fine dining and wonderful service. Tacos de Sillas Rojas (Red Chair Tacos) or Gorda’s for fabulous street tacos (and Tacos en Calle – Tacos in the Street – for street tacos that have been discovered by the tour books). YaYa’s or Octopus’ Garden for breakfast and lunch. Or one of the various economicas (cheap eats) locations around town where one can purchase one of the day’s two home-cooked style meals and a drink for less than $3.50.

3.      It's An Easy Place To Practice Yoga: Six mornings a week, Lee of Affroesa opens her personal yoga practice to anyone that wants to drop in and join her. It’s a wonderfully gentle way to great the day. 

4.    And Take Spanish Lessons: Two mornings a week Professora Anna gives a beginner’s class (for Molly) and a more advanced conversation group (for Bryce). 
 
5.     One Can (Relatively) Easily Find Boat Bits and Services:   La Cruz is home to a number of reputable marine services businesses, including the following, which we have used:

• Todo Vela Mexico operated by Jess and Janet Coburn (located behind the Mercado del Mar fish market) which stocks all kinds of rigging parts, Marlow ropes, and yachting gear. See www.todovelamexico.com.
• Sea Tek, a rigging shop located in the La Cruz boat yard run by Peter Vargas, a well-known rigger formerly of Long Beach, California – he does excellent work.
• Marine Vallarta, a marine electronics sale and repair shop run by Pieter Karsten and his wife. See www.marinevallarta.com. 
• Luis Santoyo of SeaMar Canvas made our dingy chaps and various other small canvas projects.

Friends have had work one at the La Cruz Shipyard with good results. See www.lacruzshipyard.com.  And the PV area, with its three marinas, has several chandleries including Zaragoza – a large West Marine sized operation in the Zona Hotelera.

As an aside: marine items are a lot cheaper from the US mail order outfits: free domestic shipping, no sales tax, that special spring sale….. very tempting. And yatistas do spend an inordinate amount of time going off to the border to pick things up; trying to get a visiting friend to bring parts in his or her suitcase; or even trying to import boating supplies directly. But Bryce has come to believe that Mexican retail pricing is the equivalent of a full price purchase from a West Marine plus 16% Mexican goods tax – and research suggests this theoretical price is usually not more than 5% off.  We generally comfort ourselves with paying this price by reminding ourselves that the stuff is right here - available today or at least sooner - and doesn’t cut into beer drinking time. On the other hand, Frank?, Bob?, Jim?... next time you come down, would you mind bringing a few spare parts we might order from Defender?

6.     There's Great Live Music: There’s country and western and classic rock -- Philo’s Bar and Anna Banana’s are rocking six nights a week - loud enough that you don’t even have to go inside to enjoy the music! And for those of us that don’t need to hear Stairway to Heaven or C’est la Vie (You Never Can Tell) every week, there’s flamenco music on Friday nights at the Black Forest (and good schnitzel, too) and on occasion at YaYa’s.

7.      We Have Boat Friends There: If they’re not there when Abracadabra arrives, they’ll show up sooner or later. Everyone loves La Cruz. Thanks to friends on Dodger Too, Full and By, Kayalami and Can 2 for the hospitality on this visit!

8.     There’s Good Transportation: The bus system that runs between Punta de Mita and Puerto Vallarta - up and down Carratera 200 (Highway 200) -- is inexpensive, fairly efficient and fairly safe. A one hour trip from La Cruz to Puerto Vallarta will only cost 17 pesos (about $1.50). The equipment is inconsistent and never plush, and each bus will be as crowded as the ridership is willing to bear (if you want on, and think you can get on, they’ll let you on), but the buses run frequently, the pick-up stops are marked and the driver will drop you off anywhere along the route. And a ride will often include musical entertainment, though that can be somewhat inconsistent and will cost a bit extra if you decide it’s worth a tip.

9.     It’s Not Too Touristy or Cute: Even with all the tourist and yatista-related services in town, there’s something about La Cruz that says the villagers have not sold out to the tourist / cruiser trade. Maybe it’s the family that, every evening, sits on plastic chairs in the street watching a television they have set on the sidewalk outside of their store. Maybe it’s the Capitain Garfio (Captain Hook) bar and pool hall that blares banda and mariachi music from its upstairs location – “nice” women not invited. Maybe it’s the fishermen’s wives that bring food down to the launching area in the evening to provision their husbands as they set off for work. Or maybe it’s the way the people greet each other in the street – small town anywhere with a musical Mexican accent. They were here before the tourists discovered them, the condos were built or the marina had slips. They’ll be here if we leave.

10.     And It’s A Good Place For Day Trips:   When we’re in the mood for a “soft adventure” there’s always some place new to see in the Bahia Banderas area. Most recently, we've visited:

Sayulita, a town known as a surfer hangout. It is indeed a hangout for those taking surfing lessons:

Mariachis Serenading Pirate Surfers

Come On Baby, Surfin' Safari

In addition to surfers, the town was full of tourists, including those of the backpacker variety – we are sure we saw our former selves walking toward us on more than one occasion!

Our more adult selves took a trip to the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens, which is home to a number of lovely gardens:



Cactus Garden

Agave / Cactus Garden

Viva la Bouganvilla!

 

Water Lillies

The Botanical Gardens also offers several short jungle hikes:  

A Walk To The River

The Great Explorer!

 We highly recommend a trip to the Botanical Gardens if you're visiting Puerto Vallarta. 

* * * * *

But, of course, no matter how much we enjoyed La Cruz it finally came time to leave. Why? Well, because we’re not just living on Abracadabra, we're travelling on Abracadabra. So we’re now 100 miles to the south of La Cruz in Bahia Tenacatita – we'll report in on THAT journey in our next posting.

Mexico Moments -- (Primarily) Banderas Bay

From time-to-time we experience moments we think of as charmingly, quintessentially Mexican.  Some we have captured digitally, others we recall in word pictures.  Here are some we’d like to share:   

Mexico - Land of the Entrepreneur:  Though on many corners one can still have one’s car washed by a man using a rag and a bucket, at one shopping mall in Puerto Vallarta we saw a more modern approach to the portable car wash:

Con Sonrisa (With a Smile)

Style:  On a Sunday afternoon in Puerto Vallarta, Molly sat in the shade in the main plaza, waiting for Bryce and Jim to finish a tour of the naval museum.  There were three shoe shine stands open for business.  At one, a nattily dressed elderly mariachi having his boots shined was serenading the shoeshine man.  We will never know if the mariachi was paying for his shine with his song or whether he just wanted to sing.

Glamour:   The glamorous style adopted by many Mexican women is difficult for Molly to attain and maintain while traveling on Abracadabra: 

Glamorous - But Impractical For A Sailor Gal

“In Mexico, There Is Music”.  Music is everywhere -- on the street, in restaurants, and on buses.  When we are not in the mood for music (oh, say, it’s midnight and we’re trying to sleep . . . ) we chant the following mantra as an attitude adjuster:  “This is Mexico.  In Mexico there is music.”  Many of our “Mexico Moments” are musical:

                Street Side Café – Mazatlán.  Friday evening at a street side café in the Olas Altas neighborhood of Mazatlán a well-dressed businessman sits by himself.  He sips tequila, relaxing after his work week.  An elderly man walks through the café with his guitar.  He offers to play a song for the man.  They strike a bargain, and the musician begins to play and sing.  The man sips more tequila, and then begins to harmonize with the musician. They sing well together.  The musician sits down at the man’s table.  They sing another song.  The man sips his tequila.  The sun begins to set.  They talk, and sing another song.  They are no longer customer and entertainer, but compadres. 

                Local Bus -- Sayalita to La Cruz.  The bus is very crowded.  Several seats are occupied by the middle-aged members of a band commuting into town for an evening strolling through restaurants and playing for tips.  The drummer removes his snare drum from a seat to allow Molly to sit.  Bryce sits next to the guitar player.  Behind Molly is the cellist.  Often musicians will play music on the local buses for tips.  These men have a long evening in front of them.  They do not sing.  The drummer takes out his cell phone and plays . . . a reggae song: Rivers of Babylon.

                Venta Gas.  Most kitchens in La Cruz use propane fuel.  The delivery truck comes several days a week and circles through town playing its jaunty jingle over a loud-speaker:  “Ven-ta, Ven-ta, Ven-ta Gas!”  (Selling, selling, selling gas!).

We hope you have enjoyed our Mexico Moments – and that you will share your “moments” with us wherever they take place. 

Life in Gringolandia – February 21 – 29

Paradise Village Marina is in the heart of Paradise Village (see: http://www.paradisevillage.com), which includes an all-inclusive resort, a hotel, condominiums, pools, tennis courts, a golf course, restaurants, a Bengal tiger breeding program (no kidding - see:  http://www.paradisevillage.com/wildlife-reserve-zoo.html), fractional ownership units and Paradise Village Plaza, an air conditioned shopping mall.  It would be at home in the Inland Empire of Southern California (except perhaps the tigers).  In Mexico, even if one doesn't consider the tigers, it’s just plain weird. 

While visiting a nearby chandelry we were asked by a gringo eployee how we liked the marina.  When we hesitated . . . and finally said it was a little bit odd she said:  "Yes, we call it Gringolandia."  Perfect. 

However, as we admitted to the woman in the chandelry, it’s oddly comforting to stay at a really clean resort filled with Canadians and Republicans after three days bashing about in the ocean dodging “fishing boats” and going without sleep. 

After we arrived “in Paradise” on the 21^st, we cleaned ourselves and Abracadabra, dressed like tourists (or at least sailors in clean clothes) and met Irene and Frank for dinner.  The next three days with them were spent committing acts of tourism in Puerto Vallarta:



including posing with statues along the Malecon.  This statue is called The Gossip Bench, but we decide that in honor of Fank and Irene's honeymoon we'd call it the Listen to Each Other, The Marriage Therapist Said bench:

  

We also joined Tom Salmon, an acquaintace of Frank and Irene's that lives in PV, for dinner at a restaurant that was really wonderful - despite having the unfortunately touristy name of No Way Jose.  Tom tells us it's quite popular with locals, and after our meal, we understand why. 

On Thursday we went on a day sail on Abracadabra in Banderas Bay:

                               

and spotted several whales (which Frank captured with his fancy-schmancy camera!):

Frank and Irene left on the 24th -- and we were left to honeymoon without them! 

One day we ventured out of Paradise to a fancy shopping mall in Puerto Vallarta.  The mall is anchored by a department store named "Liverpool".  Something seems lost in translation when the name of a working class town is used for a fancy store.  It’s as though someone renamed Macy’s “Buffalo”.

Again, it was oddly pleasant to visit an air conditioned shopping mall and drink a latte at a Starbucks after several months in “real” Mexico.  We visited the Telcel center in the mall and signed up for a new in-country telephone and a 3-G computer connection, so hopefully we will have better intenet access going forward.  And, to treat ourselves (even more than the latte and 3-G - how is that possible?) we saw The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo - the American version -- at a real movie theater, in English!  It was really nice to watch a movie on a screen larger than our computer screen.

The rest of our time in Gringolandia (perfect!) was spent hanging around the various swimming pools at Paradise Village trying to even up our sailor tans.  We never got over thinking how odd the place was – but we actually enjoyed it for the week!  

On the 29^th we departed Paradise Village Marina and headed “home” to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle to find that the marina here is in full swing preparing for a series of sail boat races that begin this weekend -- The Copa Mexico (see: http://www.regatacopamexico.com/), including MexORC (see: http://www.mexorc.com/).  There are Lasers and C420s zipping around the harbor and the Bay, and rows of J-24s on trailers.  Last night Tacos en la Calle (one of our favorite taco places) was packed with tables of sailors in town to race or to watch and various support crew members.  Our return to sleepy little La Cruz may not be quite what we had planned!  

We expect to be leaving La Cruz to go north before most of the racing starts on the 9th, but we're enjoying watching the trials for the C420s, and dodging event personnel as they rush around getting ready.  It's hard to imagine all of the potholes in La Cruz can be filled by the time the important people arrive, but there are crews working day and night in an attempt to do just that.  And we're hoping that we can get out of town before breaking an ankle while they're tearing everything up!