WEEK FOUR OF QUARANTINE

April 13 - 15, 2020

Very Low Tide in the Marina

Monday morning was an extreme low tide. I had never seen the water so low in the marina. The fishing pangas were barely afloat. I walked a couple of laps around the marina and then back through town so I could pick up some limes from the Mar y Sol grocery. The entrance to the marina was completely blocked off.

The Marina Entrance Was Completely Blocked

The limes I had purchased were for the purpose of making a liqueur out of tequila. A friend in California was making limoncello and I had jokingly said that if I wanted to make limoncello in Mexico, I would have to use limes and tequila. Then I decided to try it. I carefully peeled forty limes and then left the peels to steep in a bottle of tequila for a week. It took a long time to peel each lime. It was a perfect quarantine project. Once the limes were peeled, I juiced them and then froze the juice in ice cube trays for future use.

Tuesday, I just couldn't make myself get up. It was a wasted day.

Dawn in the Country

Wednesday, I went for a walk into the hills. I resolved to walk to the end of the road and see where it went. Eventually, I came to a closed gate. I was way out in the middle of nowhere, so decided not to trespass. No one would ever find me if I disappeared.

Without painting to do, my days were pretty dull.

Gate at the End of the Road

April 16, 2020

The Highway from Sayulita

I started the day with a 10K run up the highway towards Sayulita. It was much more deserted than the last time I had been there. There was a big sign pronouncing that the stands had been ordered closed.

While I was running, I started thinking about the Kink's song, Sunny Afternoon. When I returned, I wrote a parody of the lyrics referring to the current situation.

Sign Regarding Fruit Stands

Cherie and John returned to the La Cruz anchorage late on Thursday, but didn't come home that night.

April 17, 2020

Dock 4 Cats

I took some food to the feral cats in the marina on Friday morning. The marina had set up a disinfection station. A tent with fans blowing a disinfecting mist was located just before the marina office. Marina tenants were not required to use it, but all employees and contractors were required to be disinfected before entering the office complex or the docks.

The Marina Amphitheater in the Morning

Disinfection Station

Friday was laundry day. I had begun to look forward to doing laundry. It gave me an excuse to spend time outside in the sunshine hanging out the clothes and gathering them back in. I usually swept the patio while I was at it. It was good for a couple of hours diversion.

I spent a large portion of the morning teaching myself to play Sunny Afternoon and then recording my version.

Cherie and John came home that afternoon. It was good to see them, although anxiety producing to have people in the house whose hygiene, while I had no reason to suspect it, I could not control. I had been alone for almost a month. That was perhaps too long. They were bustling about, doing laundry and packing up the house in preparation for Cherie's imminent departure. I felt like I was in the way and mostly stayed in my room.

April 18-19, 2020

Sunrise on the Road to Punta Mita

After having spent the previous day hiding in my room, I decided a long run was in order. I set out up the new highway to Punta Mita, intending to run 10K. When I got to the turnaround point, I had reached the turnoff for Destiladeras. I knew it would end up being a long run, but decided to take the turnoff and run over the hill to the coast road and back that way. I really didn't know how far it would be, but figured I could walk, if necessary. It was nice to be out of the house.

Destiladeras

Looking Towards Cabo Corrientes

Fenced Off Surf Spot

Recognizable Landmark

I didn't see a soul as I ran up and over the hill to Destiladeras. There was a new fence around the parking lot and signs announcing that the beach was closed. As I ran along the coast towards La Cruz, I noticed that parking lots where I had seen surfers parked in previous weeks were now fenced off and closed. I hadn't been that way since before Semana Santa. They must have gotten serious about it in the interim.

I kept running and eventually began to recognize landmarks. The run ended up being 13.2km. That was the furthest I had run since shortly after I ran the Nike Half Marathon in 2015. In 2016, I tore all the tendons off the bone in my right ankle and it took me about three years to recover. I was a little sore after my run and spent the rest of the day sleeping and eating. That kept me out of the way while Cherie dashed around, doing chores and errands. They had originally planned to be home for a week to ten days, but had moved up their departure to Tuesday because there was a good weather window coming. Cherie felt very rushed.

Sunday was always a lazy day for me.  My sourdough starter had never risen enough to make bread out of it.  I thought maybe I had done something wrong.  I used it to make sourdough pancakes and started another one.  John and Cherie were busily preparing to depart.  I tried to stay out of the way.