January 21, 2019
 |
| Miss Aly's in Vallarta |
Monday was a busy day. Scout
finally managed to leave La Paz when the port opened on Monday. I went to the gym after the net and then
rushed home to meet Cherie. She and I
had plans to go shopping in Puerto Vallarta.
We were both looking for good quality, 100% cotton clothing in basic
colors and Karen had introduced me to a shop called Miss Aly’s in Vallarta
that fit the bill.
 |
| The Church in La Cruz |
Traffic was heavy and it took us an hour to get there. I managed to locate the store again and we
both did some shopping. I bought a blue
dress and a white pants outfit, along with a necklace I had admired the first
time I was there. Cherie found a couple
of things, too. After shopping, we ate
breakfast for lunch at a spot called Freddy Toucan’s in downtown P.V. They had good crepes and all kinds of breakfast
items. I settled for a spinach, bacon,
and cheese omelette. We headed towards
home after lunch, stopping to shop at La Comer along the way.
It was 17:00 by the time we got home and I had a busy
evening ahead of me. I took a short
nap. I had really wanted to go see Lobo
and Esau at the Octopus’s Garden, but I had promised Katrina that I would bring
my guitar to the full moon bonfire that evening. I also had a dance class scheduled and I just
couldn’t do everything. I went to the
first hour of the dance class and then headed for the beach.
 |
| Full Moon Bonfire at the Beach in La Cruz |
I had packed my guitar into the car before I went to my
dance class, expecting that Cherie would arrive at the bonfire ahead of
me. She was not there when I arrived
around 20:15. I borrowed a guitar and
played a little bit but it was the first time I had ever felt old in La
Cruz. All the other musicians there were
younger and were playing songs that I did not know.
Cherie eventually arrived with my guitar and we played music
for a couple of hours, but I did not play much because I didn’t know the songs
and it was too dark to follow visually.
Still, it was a lovely night and a nice bonfire. My only real complaint was that some sort of
insect was biting me and I itched for days afterward.
January 22-23, 2019
 |
| Paradice, Vegan Ice Cream |
I went to a seminar on weather on Tuesday afternoon and then
stopped at the vegan ice cream store because scoops of ice cream were two for
one on Tuesdays. I had pineapple ginger
and a coconut milk turmeric one that was quite rich and delicious.
I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening going through
Victor’s music and typing up anything that I wanted to keep. I meant to go to the Brittania but ended up
staying home. I knew that I was about to
be on a boat full of people, again, and I was savoring my time alone.
 |
| Ankle Bracelet from Guitar Strings |
 |
| Clam Shell Gift Box |
I went to the gym, as usual, on Wednesday and got a ride
home with my friend, Fred. That gave me
a little more time to relax before dashing off to the Poolside Deli to play
guitar with Rick and Marilyn.
Marilyn had brought me an ankle bracelet she had made from the beads at the end of used guitar strings. It was a thoughtful gift for a guitar player
Marilyn had brought me an ankle bracelet she had made from the beads at the end of used guitar strings. It was a thoughtful gift for a guitar player
and was presented in a lovely gift box made from a gold
painted clam shell. It was always
disappointing when no one new showed up to play with us, but we still had a
good time playing for a couple of hours.
 |
| La Cascada, the House I Would Have to Buy If for Sale |
I carried my music and guitar back home and had time to get
off a blog post before rushing to my dance class. Greg, from Scout, called about 16:15 to let me know that they were rounding
Punta Mita and would be arriving within a couple of hours and would call later
to make plans for the evening.
I still had not heard from Scout by the time I left for my class and, by the time the class
was over, they had eaten dinner and we were all exhausted. We agreed to meet in the morning to listen to
the net. I grabbed a couple of
indeterminate (but delicious) meat tacos from the cart by the bus stop on my way home and
attempted to go to bed early.
January 24, 2019
 |
| Morning on the Malecon |
I got up early and ran around the marina a couple of
times. No one was awake when I arrived
at Scout, so I sat in the cockpit,
playing with my phone, for forty-five minutes until everyone got up. We lounged in the cockpit, drinking coffee
(electrolyte solution for me) and listening to the net. Greg went up to the office to check in at
9:00. When he returned, we walked up to
town and ate a lovely breakfast at Café Shule’l.
 |
| Fishing Boats Decorated for the Blessing of the Fleet |
I left Greg, Bill, and Susan at the fish market and walked
home where I spent the afternoon writing, doing laundry, and practicing the
guitar. I needed to get everything in
order before sailing south where I might be out of contact for as much as a
week.
 |
| Geo Playing with the Band at La Cruz Inn |
Thursday night was movie night and the La Cruz Inn had live
music. The crew of Scout agreed to meet for dinner at the Inn before the movie. I got there first and grabbed the last
available table on the street where the musicians were set up. I never caught the name of the band, but they
were pretty good. They had a good lead
guitarist and a female singer. They
played standard Mexican and Spanish songs.
Geo (of Luna Rumba) was sitting at a table near the band. When my friends commented that the band was
good, I told them, “Yeah, but the best musician in town in sitting there in the
black hat.” After a few numbers, Geo went
to his car and got his violin. Soon, he
was playing with the band. After a
display of virtuosity that left everyone dumbfounded, the guitarist turned to
him and asked, “Have you ever played that song before?” With Geo, it just didn’t matter. Everyone was suitably impressed.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t hang around because we needed to
get to the marina to see that night’s feature, Baby Driver. It wasn’t a
great film, but it had some fabulous stunt driving and nobody was tempted to
fall asleep. I had accidentally left my
bicycle at the La Cruz Inn, so we walked back to fetch it and then I stayed the
night on Scout, rather than risk walking
or pedaling home in the dark.
January 25, 2019
 |
| Dawn from Scout |
I left Scout early
and went home to go to the gym, finish packing, and close up the house. We were planning to leave very early the next
morning, so I needed to join the boat that evening. At 16:30, I walked down to the taxi stand by
the highway and picked up a taxi. He
drove me home to collect my gear and then delivered me to the marina.
Once I stowed my gear on the boat, we enjoyed a cocktail and
then set off to Enrique’s for dinner.
Somehow, in all his years of coming to La Cruz, Greg had never been to
Enrique’s before. We ate coconut shrimp
and shrimp stuffed fish roll and everyone enjoyed the food immensely. Enrique’s was one of my favorite spots. It wasn’t the cheapest restaurant in town,
but the quality of the food far exceeded the price and the service was always
good.
 |
| Bill and Me, Friends of Friends |
The more I learned about Bill, the more I became sure he had to know my friends, the Markmans. Finally, I just had to ask. It turned out that they had been neighbors and friends growing up. I got a kick of messaging them with a picture of the two of us together. The world is small and the sailing world is tiny.
After dinner, we rushed back to the La Cruz Inn to watch the
dancing horses. There had been dancing
horses in La Cruz for as long as I had been coming there, but they had suddenly
become very popular. The La Cruz Inn was
now featuring them on Friday nights from 18:00 to 20:00. They had an even bigger crowd than they had
had the night before for the music. All
the tables were filled lining both sides of the street and many people were
standing in the plaza to watch (including us.)
They were pretty to watch, but I always felt guilty, knowing they had
suffered a great deal in the training process.
The riders still cued them with cruel spurs.
We had arrived late and only caught the end of the
show. Then we strolled back to the Mar y
Sol market and bought what provisions we could for our trip. They had all the produce, dry goods, and
beverages we needed, but nothing in the way of meat for entrees. We would have to make do with the roasted
chicken Bill and Susan had bought and what was leftover on Scout until we got to Barra de Navidad.
We retired as soon as we got back to the boat because we
planned to rise at 3:00. Remarkably, we
were all yawning and had no trouble going to sleep.
January 26, 2019
 |
| Sun Rising Over Cabo Corrientes |
We rose at 3:00 and security was already at the slip to take
our keys. By 3:30, we were dressed and
underway. We motored across the bay
towards Cabo Corrientes, arriving there at sunrise. While we had some wind, it was dead behind
us, so Greg elected to continue motoring, although we did raise the main and
gybed down wind to some degree to get some assist from the sail. It was a cool day and I stayed in leggings
and long sleeves nearly until we reached Chamela. About noon, Greg made us an egg casserole
with hamburger and onions.
 |
| Anchorage in Chamela |
We saw some dolphins, turtles, and a few whales, but nothing
spectacular. We pulled into Chamela just
in time for happy hour. There were only
five or six other boats in the anchorage.
We enjoyed our drinks and then devoured the roasted chicken and fixings
that Bill and Susan had procured in La Cruz.
The rotisserie chicken places in La Cruz sold a complete meal (chicken,
rice, potatoes, salsa, and tortillas) for 140 pesos. It fed the four of us with enough chicken
left over to put in the pasta sauce the next night. It was a beautiful night with no bugs and we sat in the
cockpit eating and chatting.
January 27, 2019
 |
| Dawn in Chamela Anchorage |
I got up early to watch the sun rise. We were in no big hurry to leave on Sunday
morning, but did head for Tenacatita before breakfast. I cooked banana pancakes as we headed
south.
 |
| Departing Chamela |
There wasn’t much wind to begin
with but soon it picked up and we had a nice sail all the way to Tenacatita,
arriving early enough to have a nice swim while the sun was still high enough
to dry us afterward. The water was
pleasant and I picked up where I had left off in my swimming regimen in La Paz,
doing four laps around Scout. I was still challenging myself to swim
one lap further each day, but Scout was
a lot longer than Comet and those
laps seemed endless.
 |
| The Copa del Sol (Cup of the Sun) |
No comments:
Post a Comment