It’s The Tourist Life For Us! – April 5 – May 1

As previously reported, we moved into our time-share suite at the Pacifica Resort in Ixtapa (a tourist area six miles – or a nine peso bus ride -- northwest of Zihuatanejo) on April 6 and officially became tourists for three weeks.  We enjoyed all the perks of time-share life – reaching for a beer in an upright refrigerator, for example, and sleeping through the whole night; but we didn’t just watch the parasails outside our hillside window.  We did some work on Abracadabra, practiced yoga in Spanish and performed a couple of genuine Acts of Tourism before returning to life aboard:

Work:

Bryce took advantage of the resort’s Wi-Fi and electricity to bring our oldest laptop back from the dead and to synchronize and back up both of the laptops.  When one’s entire filing system is on a couple of laptops, synchronization and backing up are key components to happiness. 

We did some boat-part shopping in the ferreterias (hardware stores) in downtown Zihuatanejo:



Bryce -- In Plastic Hose Heaven

Zihuatanejo Ferreteria

Bryce used those parts to improve our water-making system, which we use to create Eau de Chateau Abracadabra from sea water.

Molly put a new leather cover on the wheel, which involved sewing -- not one of her core competencies.  So, she’s very proud of the fact that it actually works.  We didn’t get a picture of her effort, so like other big-time publications we’re substituting a “stock photo” of our friend Irene deBruijn sewing the wheel cover on Solar Wind (though Molly was wearing a t-shirt and shorts . . . ): 

Stock Photo:  Irene at Work on Solar Wind's Wheel Cover

Yoga in Spanish:

The resort offered yoga practice with a local instructor (Yogi Carlos) three times a week.  Yogi Carlos is a very pleasant leader, and he did a very good job at pitching his classes to the type of practitioners found at most resorts – the new drop-in student.  We enjoyed the chance to stretch and meet other visitors (this time of year, primarily Mexican nationals) and found an unexpected benefit to the classes, because they were taught in Spanish:  Molly now knows how to say left, right, return to center, inhale, exhale and slowly!

Acts of Tourism:

We rented a car for a day and visited Soledad de Maciel (also known as La Chole) and Barra de Potosi to the south of Zihuatanejo.  La Chole is the site of the largest archeological ruin in the state of Guerrero – named Xihuacan by archeologists.  Significant excavation began there in 2007 and archeologists have uncovered a ball court and a pyramid.  They believe there are six other pyramids, two plazas and a palace still to be unearthed.     

Pyramid - Left: As Unearthed; Right: As Reconstructed

There is a nicely organized little museum that tells the story of the pre-Hispanic cultures that crossed paths at this trading site originally established by the Cuitlatecos – including Toltecs, Aztecs, Mayans, Zapotecans and Tarascans. 

Among The La Chole Artifacts

The site was initially brought to the attention of the Mexican government’s National Institute of Anthropology and History by a local landowner who had begun collecting artifacts he found in the area.  The local “museum” was originally in the front room of this man’s house until his lobbying efforts paid off and the new museum was built two years ago.  We toured the museum and the area with Adan Velez Romero, one of the grandsons of the initial proponent of the site.  Adan has been gathering artifacts in the areas since he was a child, and has attended an eight-month long course given to guides of archeological sites.  Unfortunately, Adan only speaks Spanish, so Molly’s tour was less enlightening than Bryce’s (there were only so many times we could stop Adan while Bryce translated).  Adan was quite charming, and after the tour took us back to his family’s home and played for us some music on a pre-Hispanic whistle he had found.  [The video we got can't seem to be rotated so it can be viewed without holding one's computer sideways and it wouldn't download anyway because we don't have enough bandwidth . . . we'll just have to whistle for you when we see you next!]

This is a “must see” for your next trip to Zihuatanejo or Ixtapa.  Take a look at the website that Adan and his family have set up:  http://lachole.com .   [Note: it takes a very long time to download, so don’t get discouraged by the fuzziness of the type!]  Tour companies in Zihuatanejo also offer tours of the site, so we are sure that an English-speaking guide (or at least a translator) can be found through a hotel concierge. 

From La Chole we drove back toward Zihua and stopped for lunch at Barra de Potosi, a small village with a few vacation houses and enramadas along a miles-long palm-fringed sandy-white beach.  We ate lunch at an enramada that had been recommended to us, and Molly napped in one of the hammocks provided for over-full diners, and Bryce just drifted off sitting at the table! 



Bryce - Post Snooze

Blissful moment: swaying in the warm breeze, listening to the background noise of a Saturday afternoon in Mexico – friends greeting each other, families laughing, and wandering musicians playing. 




Molly - Full Snooze Mode

As we left, a couple was dancing in the sand to the music of the musicians hired by their family, as their family took photos of them with their cell phones.  

A Saturday Afternoon Dance

Our other Act of Tourism was not quite as idyllic.  We signed up for the bicycle tour offered by the resort.  There is a very nice 15-kilometer cyclopista (bicycle trail) from Ixtapa to Playa Linda that for those that actually know how to ride bicycles (unlike, say – Molly) can be a nice morning ride.  For Molly, it was a death-defying activity.  Fortunately, she defied death, and returned to take ibuprophen for a couple of days - and she now has renewed respect for her bicycle-riding friends!  Bryce fared better:

Biker Bryce

Return to Marina Life:

We returned to Marina Ixtapa on the 27^th, spending a few days getting ready for our sail north.  This time of year there are very few people living aboard in the marina, but we had the fortune of meeting an Australian couple with a boat registered in the Cook Islands.  Their plans put our preparations to bay-hop to the Banderas Bay area (a whopping 400-ish miles north) into perspective: they were preparing to sail across the Pacific Ocean to the Marquesas Islands – some 3,000 miles west!  A homey detail to put the logistics of our two trips into perspective: we purchased 18 eggs; they purchased 7 dozen! 

The one thing we didn’t get to accomplish before sailing north was having someone clean the bottom of Abracadabra’s hull, which was extremely dirty as a result of our few days in Bahia Zihuatanejo and the less-than-pristine conditions at Marina Ixtapa (there was some oil leaking issue with a local boat that the workers kept trying to find).  It turns out that one cannot get the bottom of one’s boat cleaned in Marina Ixtapa because there are crocodiles in the water!  And we’ve got some (not very clear) pictures to prove it:

Marina Croc -- And We Don't Mean Shoes

Northward Ho!

On May 1, with a grubby underside, we departed Marina Ixtapa minutes ahead of our Australian compadres, watching them head due west as we turned to the northwest.  Next post:  our trip north to Banderas Bay. 

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.

Yoga Musings

As most of our friends know, we have practiced yoga (off and on) for the last decade.  It has always been a joy, even though we have not always been faithful practitioners. 

Now, however, living aboard has made it even clearer that we should foster whatever flexibility we can in our aging selves.  Becoming stiff and sore is not practical in a life that involves too little space "at home" for even normal movement (think having a bed that one must crawl into; a front doorway that is up a ladder; and vegetables that are at the bottom of a three-foot deep box!).  Fortunately at the same time we have reduced our physical space, we have decided to claim the gift of time resulting from our unemployed status!

When we left California, we brought one yoga mat with us, hoping that we would be disciplined enough to use it to stretch from time-to-time.  What we didn't count on was that yoga practitioners are everywhere!  In Mazatlan we found two separate places to share our practice.  One was a beach-side group lead by a lovely, young expatriated Canadian who had obviously had some formal teacher training and was only slightly hindered in her practice by the fact that she was five months pregnant.  The other was a short-term group lead on a volunteer basis by a delightful older (even more so than we!) Alaskan with the appropriate name of "Perk" Perkins who, when he's not on vacation, flies search and rescue planes in Alaska. 

In La Cruz, we practice with a gentle woman that has lived aboard at the marina for a year or more.  She is so passionate about her practice that she shares it on a volunteer basis for an hour, six mornings a week, with anyone that wishes to join her.  And with the assistance of members of this informal group have found a fabric store that sells yoga mat material by the meter, so Bryce finally has a mat long enough for him!  [He was really drawn to the pink Hello Kitty material, but settled on plain blue thinking it better fit his dignified yoga personality . . . ]

We have yet to find true teachers of yoga comparable to those at It's All Yoga and The Yoga Solution, in Sacramento -- those who gently and patiently lead us starting with our very first creaky downward-facing dogs.  But what we have found is that those teachers gave us enough of a base that we can take our practice on the high seas (yes, we've even done some postures while on night watch!), and join others that are willing to share their practices with us.  Thank you, Yogis Jennifer, Madeleine, Alicia and Bob.  Namaste!           

We now hope that we will be able to find other yoga practitioners as we travel further on Abracadabra.  At our next stops we will be on the lookout for the international sign of yoga practice -- someone carrying a yoga mat -- maybe even a pink Hello Kitty mat?