WAITING FOR OUR TRANSMISSION IN SAN JOSE DEL CABO

June 8, 2020

Deserted Strip Mall in San Jose del Cabo

Leslie and I planned to walk to the grocery store, so I did not get up to walk at dawn. Leslie finally got up about 8:00 and we left the boat at 9:00. It was a three-mile walk over a steep hill to the Soriana. All the shops and restaurants were closed. First, we stopped at the Scotiabank to get cash. I had not withdrawn money for almost three months and still wasn't broke. I did, however, want to have plenty of pesos to take home with me so that I could pay for cabs going and coming and not have to rush to a bank immediately upon my return.

Scotia Bank

After we went to the bank, we went to the grocery store. It was nearly deserted. We were required to wear masks and were met at the door with hand sanitizer. We didn't need a whole lot because we would have to return before setting sail. We just needed enough to get us through the week or so until that time. Three big bags of groceries only cost me about $55. It would be a shock when we returned to the United States. Even with my much reduced income, I was making ends meet in Mexico.

We took an Uber back to the boat with our haul and returned before noon. Leslie and I spent a large part of the afternoon in the boatyard office, using the internet, because the boatyard wifi didn't reach the dock. I managed to finish a blog post.

Dry Storage at Puerto Los Cabos

Back at the boat, I read for a while and then made some twice-baked potatoes to have with the tri-tip we planned to grill for dinner. Then I paid some bills and did a little writing before dinner.

The tri-tip was grilled to perfection and the potatoes and carrots made a great accompaniment. We watched a Star Trek movie with dinner and then retired to our cabins. I watched the last installment of Narcos Mexico. I would have to find good internet and download more Netflix if I wanted to watch anything else.

June 9, 2020

I got up early to run. This time, I started by taking the long route to the cross on the hill and then continued around to the levee and down to the beach. From there, I climbed through a few barbed wire fences until I got back into the marina and found myself face to face with a security guard. I wished him a good morning and kept running. He seemed okay with that. The complete run covered about four miles.

View from the Overlook

Where the Breakwater Meets the Beach

I took a nice shower after I cooled off and ate breakfast and lounged until the others got up. Jack called to check on our transmission and discovered that it was stuck in customs and not expected to arrive until Thursday or Friday. It seemed like we might never get out of Puerto Los Cabos.

Leslie's sourdough starter finally seemed activated after the addition of the whole wheat flour we had purchased the day before. She spent most of the day watching the dough rise and finally baked her first loaf in the late afternoon. It turned out fairly similar to the “French” bread I had baked in La Cruz. Not very airy, crispy, or sour, but tasty enough. I practiced the guitar and then spent the afternoon dozing and listening to podcasts. I eventually got up and walked over to the Oxxo for some Diet Coke to wake up. A local woman was selling housewares by the side of the road and I bought a fly swatter. I still couldn't find a whisk broom or any dish towels.

Leslie's First Sourdough Loaf

I made chicken in green mole over rice for dinner and we tried to watch Amadeus but discovered that we only had the first half of the film. I had seen it many times before, so I knew how it ended. I still enjoyed the music and then had time to sit in the cockpit writing. It was a beautiful, calm night and the temperature was perfect.

The Harbor at Night

June 10-11, 2020

I started Wednesday with a walk to San Jose del Cabo's hotel zone. The beaches were closed and all of the big hotels were surrounded by hastily constructed barricades. I wouldn't come to Mexico to go to an all-inclusive resort, but it did look like a nice area if you weren't interested in local culture. Everything was new and glitzy.

Barricade Around Closed Hotel

Our day on the boat was similar to every other day on the boat. We were still waiting for the transmission to arrive in San Diego. We learned that it was hung up in customs. Jack forwarded copies of Magic Carpet's documentation to prove that it was a used one going for repair and we hoped that would dislodge it from customs.

Leslie made chicken parmesan for dinner and we tried to watch a movie but the HDMI port in my computer had died. Since my computer was the only one with an HDMI port, we could no longer play the wide array of movies stored on Jack's hard drive. We were then limited to watching DVDs played through the ship's stereo system which remarkably included video.

Thursday, I got up and took a run into San Jose del Cabo itself. I wanted to see if anything had changed. It hadn't. The place was still deserted. Being early, it was even quieter than the last time we went there.

An Artist Had Decorated the Letters

Detail of Letter

Empty Plaza

 After breakfast, we took an excursion to Walmart. Leslie and I walked the four kilometers, taking a different route than we had previously. Jack took an Uber. We followed the main highway and discovered that the businesses that were open were all along that road. There were even a few restaurants open for takeout. If it hadn't been so hot, I might have stopped for coffee.

We met Jack at the Walmart and shopped for all the things we hadn't been able to find at Soriana. Jack stocked up on bacon and breakfast sausage. Leslie and I managed to find dish towels, but still failed to find a whisk broom and dustpan. They only stocked full-sized brooms and the kind of dustpans that one can use without bending over. Neither was going to fit under the sink on the boat. We did get a squeegee to wipe the condensation off the windows in the morning.

The breakdown in our video system caused Jack great concern. We spent a long time in the electronic department of Walmart but couldn't come up with a solution. In the end, Jack and Leslie purchased a few more DVDs. Unfortunately, it turned out that we couldn't play BlueRay discs, either.

Jack had called Gabriel, the Uber driver that Leslie and I had used to return from Soriana a few days before. He picked us up after we finished shopping and drove us around SJDC looking for a computer fan. Steren was open, although they required face masks and only let one customer in at a time. The door was chained shut, but they opened it if you knocked. Radio Shack was closed. The best part of that futile quest was gettting to see where the Chedraui and La Comer were without having to walk five kilometers. We returned via the hotel zone where I saw even more barricades.

Having walked well over six miles by the time we got back, I was happy to spend the afternoon lounging. The transmission had finally reached San Diego and was deemed a total loss. Sometime in the past, it had been installed backwards and had finally blown apart, damaging even the casing. This was mixed news. Jack would need to purchase an entire rebuilt transmission, but we wouldn't have to wait for the old one to be serviced. After much hyperventilating and nearly shipping us another left hand drive transmission, we got what we hoped would be the correct one delievered to the Marine Group in San Diego to be forwarded on to us in SJDC.

Jack barbecued a hunk of arrachera and we had that with salad and the leftover twice-baked potatoes for dinner. We all enjoyed watching Dr. Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, after dinner. I expected to be disappointed, but it was actually a pretty good film.

June 12, 2020

Dolphin Watching the Sunrise

My morning walk took me past the dolphin and sea lion pens where happy tourists usually pay to swim with said mammals. Everything was closed and they just looked lonely. One of the dolphins had popped his head out of the water and we watched the sunrise together. The sea lions were swimming in circles.

Dolphin Pens

I continued along the breakwater to the beach and then parallel to the beach as far as the arroyo. I had hoped to be able to cut across the arroyo to the hotel zone, but it was too swampy to proceed. I followed the levee road up to the road, past a herd of free range horses, two of which wore halters and trailed broken lead lines. One of the mares had a very young foal. He was adorable.

Free Range Foal

I crossed the highway and then dropped down into the arroyo on the other side. I had seen others walking there and wanted to check it out. I followed a path along the edge until I reached a substantial dirt road. I turned right into the road and followed that through a local neighborhood to the roundabout near the road that went up to the cross. From there, I returned to the marina.

Walking in the Arroyo

It was laundry day for me. I washed and hung out my clothes and then spent the afternoon playing with my phone and writing. Later, I practiced the guitar. A strange inertia had settled over us. We were bored, but not thrilled with the idea of going home, either. It was strangely okay being where we were.

Sunset Behind the Cross

June 13–14, 2020

Shrine on the Way to the Cross

We spent perhaps the dullest weekend ever. I just couldn't make myself get up at 6:00 but when I did get up, at 8:00, Leslie wanted to go for a walk. I couldn't resist stopping for a latte at the marina store which was usually closed when I went by. Then I took Leslie for a tour of the area. We walked by the El Ganzo Hotel, climbed up to the overlook at the cross, and then cut through the neighborhood and into the arroyo. Upon reaching the road, we continued on down the levee road to the beach and then back along the marina to the boat.

View of the Marina from the Cross

Things were due to open up the following Monday and there was more activity at the hotel and the dolphin attraction. Possibly, this was because it was later in the day. Someone was feeding the sea lions and they were begging for fish. On the other side of the fence, the dolphins were leaping out of the water in an attempt to attract the attention of their keepers.

For the rest of the day, nothing happened. It was hot. I read and slept and played the guitar. Leslie stripped the galley of clutter in an attempt to remove places for roaches to hide. I hunted flies. They seemed to come out of the woodwork in the late afternoon.

Being my rest day, I didn't even have a walk to liven my Sunday. Leslie and I reorganized the galley to make a storage spot for the oversized coffeemaker than Jack had bought at Walmart. I dusted the louvers. By the time we got up, it was already hot enough to need the air conditioner.

Even Marina Was Bored

We did nothing all day. Jack and I took naps. Leslie watched Netflix. Even the cat looked bored. It had been twenty-seven days since we left La Cruz and we hadn't progressed beyond Cabo. This was shaping up to be the longest bash on record, eclipsing even the previous year's twelve day stint in Turtle Bay. Fortunately, the boat was large and, despite our political differences, we managed to get along. No one was sick and we had plenty to eat. The scenery was lovely and no one rioted in the streets. Everything was okay. We were taking it one day at a time.