November 24, 2014
While still not feeling up to running, I felt a bit better
on Monday morning. I cooked breakfast,
did a little housework, and posted to my blog.
Then I started researching my trip to Chiapas. I had intended to take the bus, but there
were no bus lines that went from Puerto Vallarta all the way to Chiapas. I would have to change buses (and bus
stations) in Mexico City or Puebla. The
trip would take nearly two days in each direction and would not be much cheaper
than flying. Eventually, I gave up and
booked a flight, even though it meant that I would not be able to bring the
$200 worth of teak oil and cleaner that I had purchased for Fool’s Castle.
Searching for a cheaper alternative, I had somehow (via
Kayak, maybe?) ended up on the AeroMexico website, where flights (in pesos)
were about $60 US cheaper than on US sites. It seemed to accept my payment and I thought
I had succeeded in booking a flight until I saw a notice that said I had made a
reservation, but needed to call them before the flights could be ticketed. Panic set in.
Speaking Spanish on the telephone was the least of my problems when
trying to place calls in Mexico because dialing is fairly complex (different
rules for land lines and cell phones and
even differences between cell vendors) and I could never hear well enough to
understand the messages when I inevitably made an error. For this reason, I had never succeeded in
even setting up the voice mail on my Mexican (or Panamanian) phones. Of course the notice didn’t give me a number
to call, but I eventually found the numbers for customer service on the
website. The first number I tried
failed. The second number looked like a
US 800 number but, surprisingly, I got through.
I couldn’t navigate the menu on my first attempt (the mute button on my
phone was on), but I eventually determined that was user error and spoke
with the ticketing folks. The problem
seemed to be that I was trying to use a foreign credit card. They eventually took the card, but not before
changing the price to US dollars and the same amount as seen on all the US
sites. I wasn’t entirely surprised, as I
had tried and failed to purchase plane tickets on French and Turkish sites in
the past. At least I hadn’t lost my
reservation because there were only a few seats left. By the time I got my travel plans squared
away, it was 15:30.
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| My New Blender |
My original mission for the day had been to go to Walmart to
buy a coffee cone, cheap blender and some speakers for my iPod. Even though it was getting rather late, I
headed down the hill and caught a bus to Walmart. I debated whether or not to buy a blender
that I would, no doubt, end up leaving behind, but decided that three months’
worth of smoothies, margaritas and daiquiris would be worth the price. I found a cheap Osterizer that looked like it
would chop ice for 299 pesos (about $22.)
I also found a fairly nifty set of computer speakers (with sub-woofer) for
349 pesos (about $25) that would not only let me listen to my iPod, but would
also make it possible to watch Netflix on my computer without straining to
hear. Those would not be a waste as they
would eventually make their way to Fool’s Castle, where Scott and I had been
watching movies by sharing one set of earbuds.
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| Makeshift Coffee Maker |
I had already looked for a coffee cone at the market and
plastic vendor in La Cruz and at the Mega in Mezcales. While the Walmart carried the filters for a
#2 coffee cone, they did not carry the actual cones. It had never occurred to me that a furnished
apartment would have no means for making coffee or that I wouldn’t be able to
buy a cone if I needed one. I scoured
the store for a substitute that wouldn’t melt when I poured boiling water on it
(like the soda bottle I had tried to use.)
Eventually, I settled on a sieve that would, at least, be useful to
strain seeds out of lime juice.
Taking a collective with four shopping bags and a 6 liter
bottle of water could have been challenging, but I lucked out and the first one
to come along headed in the direction of La Cruz was extra spacious and had a
seat open on the aisle in the front where there was plenty of room for my
treasures. I made it back without
incident and was happy to discover that I was sufficiently recovered to be able
to lug everything up the hill without gasping for breath. I put everything away, fried up some spicy
marinated chicken wings (Man, do I miss those when I’m not in Mexico!), and
settled down to watch a few episodes of The
Walking Dead, my latest Netflix addiction.
November 25, 2014
The cruisers’ radio net began at 8:30 and I always tried to
be up in time for that. Usually, I was
dressed by then, but sometimes drank coffee in my nightgown while I
listened. My position on the hill gave
me good reception on my VHF radio, even though I only had a handheld. It was easy to while away the mornings,
reading my email, working on my blog, keeping up with my friends on Facebook,
and playing games. Other than to run, I seldom
left the house before early afternoon.
Sweeping up the daily harvest of dead gnats was another occupation. My new blender and the frozen strawberries I
had purchased the day before made it possible to resume my habit of drinking
smoothies for breakfast.
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| My Dog Friend |
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| Abandoned CrossFit Gym |
There was a collectivo waiting when I got to the bus stop
and I took it to downtown Bucerias.
Giving the aggressive vendors in the Bucerias Flea Market a wide berth,
I sought out the address where the CrossFit gym had been. There seemed to be two separate numbering
systems operating on Avenida Lazaro Cardenas, but I eventually found the spot
where a CrossFit banner hung from one corner and weeds filled the yard. Clearly, the gym had not succeeded. I was disappointed, but not surprised.
Feeling like I needed to get some real exercise after my
days of illness induced idleness, I decided to see if I could walk back to La
Cruz along the beach. While it was a
much longer drive by the road, it looked to be less than four miles via the
shore. My only concern was that I was
looking straight into the sun and couldn’t tell if the sand stretched all the
way around to the marina. I kicked off
my flip flops and set off across the sand, figuring that the worst thing that
could happen would be that I would have to return to the highway and take the
bus back.
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| The Beach in Bucerias |
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| Rocks at Pelican Point |
Between Bucerias and La Cruz, Pelican Point juts out into the bay. A fancy condo complex covered the side facing Bucerias. There was a nice beach fronting the condos, but the going got rocky as I started around the point. The rocks extended far out into the bay, but the tide was low, so I had no trouble pressing on. On the La Cruz side of the point, there were a number of nice resorts occupying sandy coves. They didn’t look like they wanted strangers on their beaches, but there was no one around, so I walked purposefully on towards the marina. Pelican Point was clearly named for the many pelicans that hung out there, fishing among the rocks. Several kinds of egrets and herons fished there, also. It was a great place to watch birds and I paused to take a few photographs. Eventually, I cleared the resorts and relaxed as I reached the familiar public beach next to the marina where fishermen were launching pangas using a pickup truck. I climbed onto the breakwater and circled the marina to drop in on Don and see if I could induce him to go out for tacos.
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| Heron Eating a Crab |
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| Spectacular Sunset |
When I reached Comet, I
found Don scrap-ing the patch that we had so care-fully applied off of the
dinghy. It had held for a couple of days
and then begun to leak. I couldn’t
believe that a four inch diameter patch couldn’t contain a pinhole leak, but it
appeared that, not having a brush, we had applied too much glue and the air was
able to escape from between the lumps.
Don cleaned all the rubber cement off the dinghy and I helped him apply
three new layers, this time using a brush.
The glue went on much more smoothly, so we hoped our second patch would
hold. Don clamped it between two steel
chain plates, just to be sure that it adhered properly. We were hoping to go sailing to Punta Mita
and Yelapa over Thanksgiving and wanted to be sure the dinghy would be
operable. The sun set while we worked on
the dinghy and the colors were stunning.
Once we finished working on the dinghy, Don and I walked up to town and
at tacos at our favorite street taco cart before I headed up the hill to my
apartment.
November 26, 2014
Wednesday was a relaxing day. I spent the day puttering around the
apartment and working on my blog. Before
I knew it, it was time to head down to the Gecko Rojo for Mexican Train
dominoes. We played a couple of games
and I won 60 pesos in the second game.
After dominoes, I went with Dani (a local woman who was involved in local
animal charities) to catch some homeless puppies in an empty lot in La
Cruz. She had a home for one of them and
wanted to take the others somewhere they could be cared for until they were
adopted. It was dark when we got
there. The puppy that had been spoken
for was wandering around by herself, so we grabbed that one. When we approached the others, an adult dog
growled at us. A female dog (not their
absent mother) had adopted them and was nursing them. We took the one puppy and decided to leave
the others for the time being, since they were being well fed and had round
little tummies. I held the puppy while
Dani drove us back to the bar. She
snuggled up to my chest and fell asleep.
She was precious.
November 27, 2014, Thanksgiving
Don and I had decided that we wanted to sail to Punta de
Mita for Thanksgiving. I packed enough
things to go sailing for four or five days into Scott’s military duffle (with
shoulder straps) and tossed what perishable food I figured wouldn’t last until
my return into the ice chest Don had left at my place when I moved in. I carried the whole load down the hill and
met Don at the market in La Cruz where we picked up a few items to round out
our provisions and then headed down to the boat.
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| The Anchorage at Punta de Mita |
We left the marina just after noon. It was only about eight miles to Punta Mita
from La Cruz, but we sailed almost the whole way, so it took us nearly four
hours of tacking back and forth to finally reach the anchorage. It was a gorgeous mild day and we both felt
extremely thankful to be where we were on that Thanksgiving Day. We anchored close to the beach and then took
the dinghy in behind a small breakwater where there was a sheltered spot to
land. The sand was very soft and the beach
steep, so it was a chore to drag the dinghy up above the tide line, but we
succeeded. We stopped at El Coral for a
celebratory margarita and then walked around the main drag of Punta de Mita. Private homes and golf courses occupy the
actual point. Hotels and restaurants
line the beach as far as the stream.
Further east, on the other side of the stream, there were more homes and
condos.
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| Margarita's on the Right |
After checking out our options, we opted to eat at
Margarita’s, on the far eastern side of the beach. They were serving a turkey buffet, but we
decided that it would be safer to order Mexican food if we wanted a delicious
meal. We started with a shrimp
cocktail. I ordered beef fajitas and Don
got a chile relleno. The waiter brought
us some complimentary ceviche.
Everything was very good. We ate
in the restaurant where there was enough light to see our food, but there were
candlelit tables set up out on the jetty with twinkling rope lights outlining
the seating area that made for nice ambiance. We ate a leisurely meal and
quaffed a couple of more margaritas in honor of the holiday. I missed spending the holiday with friends
and family, but could hardly complain about where I was. We really did have a perfect evening.
November 28, 2014
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| Frigate Birds Chasing a Panga at Punta de Mita |
There still wasn’t any wind, so we motored the rest of the
way to Yelapa. We saw a pair of whales
frolicking in the bay. When we got
close, a fellow in a panga zipped out to offer us a mooring. The water in Yelapa was very deep, so it was
difficult to anchor there. We rented a mooring
for 100 pesos. It was 140 feet deep
where we were moored. A baby humpback
whale flipped his tail at us a few times. We never spotted his mother,
which suited us just fine. Yelapa was
very green and tropical looking, with lots of palm trees sticking up out of the
jungle. Our first night there, we didn’t
leave the boat. We sipped cocktails and
admired the scenery while I prepared pasta with sauce I had made previously and
a big salad. A chill breeze blew out of
the mountains as soon as the sun set.
Even inside the boat, I needed my fleece jacket, which I hadn’t worn
since Bahia Santa Maria. Having left my
warm sleeping bag back in the apartment, I slept in my fleece and woke up cold
several times during the night. It was
definitely cooler than it had been the previous year when I spent my time in La
Cruz madly constructing a shade structure to keep us from baking in the
heat. Without so much as a boom tent,
the temperature aboard Comet stayed quite pleasant.
November 29, 2014
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| The Beach at Yelapa |
November 29, 2014
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| Comet at Yelapa |
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| The Main Street of Yelapa |
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| Don at the Waterfall |
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| The Ford at Yelapa |
Once again, I scrounged dinner and a salad in the boat. It was just as cold as it had been the previous night. Don broke out the pair of sleeping bags he had brought along for emergencies. I slept cozily with a blanket pulled up to my chin for most of the night.
November 30, 2014
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| The Anchorage at Yelapa |
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| Entering Marina Vallarta |
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| Empty Slips in Marina Vallarta |
Being self-sufficient, the lack of amenities didn’t disturb
us overly much. The security folks were
very helpful and directed us to Victor’s restaurant where we had a tasty
Mexican dinner and every beer and margarita came with a free shot of
tequila. After dinner, Victor stopped by
our table and sent us complimentary Kahlua and creams. We took a stroll along the malecon to
counteract some of the alcohol and then slept well, happy to be out of the
chilly Yelapa air.
December 1, 2014
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| Marina Vallarta in the Morning |
Marina Vallarta was quiet in the morning. We sipped our coffee and listened to the
net. Then we went to the office to pay
for our slip. While we were out, we went
for a walk to Zaragoza Marine so that Don could get a new fitting for his
outboard motor fuel line. Many marine
parts are quite expensive in Mexico, but that fitting cost about a third what
it would have in the USA for the exact same thing. We took a side trip up the road to an ATM and
stopped at a drugstore on the way back for deodorant and popsicles. By 11:30, we were underway again.
Don had never been to Nuevo Vallarta, so we motored over
there and took a cruise around the Nuevo Vallarta and Paradise Village marinas. It was fun to see some of the boats we had
been hearing on the net every morning.
It was a beautiful day, but there wasn’t enough wind to even bother
raising the main sail. An hour or so
after leaving Nuevo Vallarta, we pulled back into Marina La Cruz, feeling
satisfied that we had explored all the options and had selected by far the best
location. Upon our return, Don was
disappointed that he was not assigned the same slip. His new slip was on Dock 4, which was on the
other side of the marina and a long walk from the office and restrooms,
although much closer to town. His
disappointment soon turned to happiness, however, when he discovered that he had
a strong Wi-Fi signal from his new location and could finally connect his
computer to the internet.
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| My Building |
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