QUARANTINE BEGINS TO SINK IN

March 23 - 24, 2020

Empty Pickleball Courts

Monday morning, I went for my walk in the marina, as usual. The charter boats were all sitting empty in the marina. No one was unloading food and ice as I passed by. It was strangely quiet. The Sea Shepherd boat, Brigitte Bardot, was tied up in the marina until the stay at home order was lifted. The pickleball courts were empty and the fish market was quiet.

The Excursion Boats Were All Quiet

The Brigitte Bardot

Empty Fish Market

Empty Plaza

Empty Highway

I walked home through town. A stay at home order had been issued and the beaches were closed. There were no taxis at the marina taxi stand and the plaza was empty. There was so little traffic on the highway that I was able to stop in the middle to take a photograph.

Wrapped Baked Goods

Later, I went into Bucerias to go to Chedraui for groceries. Shelves were still stocked, but all the bulk foods were then packaged in containers and the bakery goods were either wrapped or under covers. The salad bar was empty. An employee was stationed at the doors with hand sanitizer and was wiping down the carts and baskets. I bought a bag of cat food to bring to the feral cats in the marina, hoping to befriend them. I longed for a pet to keep me company.

Road Through the Hills

Tuesday, I went for a run up the road leading into the hills behind La Cruz. After passing through the colonia, the road continued through pastures where cows grazed and then climbed up into the jungle. There weren't many expansive views due to the tree cover, but there were lots of colorful flowers.

Morning Glories

Pasture Behind a Gate

Cherie and John left to sail to points south on Tuesday, leaving me alone in the house. As soon as they left, I began the process of thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing the house. It wasn't so much that I was worried about the virus, but the house hadn't been thoroughly cleaned in over a month and it gave me something to do. It took me three days to thoroughly clean every nook and cranny of the downstairs.

March 25-27, 2020

The Cat Colony on the Breakwater

The feral cats were glad to see me on my morning walk in the marina. Daylight Savings Time was almost upon us and it had become difficult to walk before it got light. Sunrise is a two-part event in La Cruz. The sun rises above the horizon somewhere behind the mountains and stains the sky and/or clouds with color. An hour or so later, the sun rises above the mountains and bursts across the water in second colorful show. Dawn was may favorite time of day and I hated to miss it.

Sunrise Over the La Cruz Anchorage

I spent the rest of the day practicing the guitar and cleaning the living room. I moved and cleaned behind all the furniture and emptied all the shelves to dust them thoroughly. The house had never been so clean and smelled of Pinesol.

Taking advantage of the empty highway, I ran a few miles up the old road to Punta Mita on Thursday morning. The only vehicles I saw were ATM buses bringing employees to the resorts in Punta Mita. They passed every ten minutes like clockwork. The beaches were deserted. The resorts in La Manzanilla were quiet and the entrances blocked off. No one was getting in.

View Towards Nuevo Vallarta

La Manzanilla Deserted

A Little Jungle Greenery

Entrance Blocked Off

Cheko Ruiz, a local musician whose concerts had all been canceled, live streamed a concert on Thursday night. Two members of his band surprised us by joining him. I watched with a friend back in Alameda while we chatted online. It was almost like we were together.

Sunrise on the Malecon

View Across the Parking Lot

Friday began with another walk in the marina. The carnival rides for Semana Santa were parked on a side street. Someone, at least, still thought that Semana Santa would proceed as normal. I hoped that saner heads would prevail.

Rides for the Semana Santa Carnival

Empty Dock Carts

Many cruisers had returned to their home countries. For the first time ever, I saw a group of empty dock carts sitting beside the entrance to Docks 10 and 11. Even the boat workers seemed to be staying home. By the end of the week, restaurants were no longer allowed to seat customers and food was available for takeout or delivery only. Many closed altogether. La Cruz began to resemble a ghost town.

I decided to use the downtime to paint the wrought iron fence around our house, something I had been meaning to do for years. Fortunately, we lived only a block from the paint store. I went out to buy a gallon of oil based paint and some thinner. The store employees were all wearing masks, the first ones I had seen in La Cruz. There was no fancy, computerized machine to tint the paint. I selected the color green closest to the existing paint and the clerk mixed it quite accurately by hand. I was impressed.

The fence was dirty and I spent the day cleaning it, rather than painting.

March 28 – 29, 2020

B Nayar at Dawn

I was getting sick of staring at the four walls of my house and walking in the marina. Saturday morning, I ran up Highway 200 for a few miles towards Sayulita. I took the opportunity to explore the graveyard that I had previously only seen from the highway. The roadside fruit stands were quiet and there was very little traffic.

The Local Cemetery

Roadside Fruit Stand

Highway to Sayulita

Front Gate Before Paint

The rest of the day was spent practicing the guitar and scrubbing the fence. It was a bigger job than expected.

Sunday being my rest day, I slept in as much as possible. I took a break from the fence and spent the day documenting all the songs I knew well enough to perform. Cheko's live stream had inspired me and I considered doing one of my own. I recorded each song to determine how long they were. It quickly became apparent that it was going to be difficult to whittle them down to a single hour.