05/31/2012, Arm Pit Mexico
Thought we'd take a trip down to Salina Cruz (uhg 'nuf said)! So we went to the bus station and bought our tickets for yet another adventure in this life of ours. While sitting at the bus station waiting for our bus the ground rumbled and people began scattering throughout the terminal. We thought a bus had hit the building but it was actually an eathquake, 4.2 on the richter scale. Kinda freaky I gotta tell you. Then it was over and people came back in and we all still waited for the bus. Have we mentioned that the roads are a little bit curvey and windy?? Some of you that know me well, and some of you that don't, know I have some trouble with motion sickness. Hence the sea sickness that follows me along the coast while on our boat. Well it happens on land too but never where I actually throw up, just get sick to my stomache and have to get out of the moving vehicle. Not going to happen on a bus though....so I threw up in a hankie (no bathroom on this bus) until Dave got the window open so I could spray paint the bus a new color. Thankfully it was only a 2 1/2 hr ride. Glad we hadn't decided to go to Oaxaca City which is an 8 hr ride! We arrived in Salina Cruz and were sadly disappointed in this Mexican town. Every town we have been to has had something to give it charm but sadly that is not the case here. We found a hotel and checked in. We thought it odd that the hotel staff had to lock and unlock the door each and everytime we left the hotel but after wandering around town we realized it was a good thing. We ate at Burger King, yep the same, and then went to our hotel for some air conditioning. It's hot in Huatulco but the heat in Salina Cruz with the refinery near by was oppressive. After a little air we decided to take a little stroll for ice cream. Instead we sat down at one of the sidewalk eateries and had a couple tacos, not the best, but we enjoyed speaking with a young couple who wanted to practice their English and helped us practice our Spanish. We opted to go buy an ice cream at the Oxxo (7-11) and went back to our air conditioned room and T.V. The following morning we got up and went and had a great breakfast in a little hole in the wall that the sign said breakfast in English. We were a little skeptical but it turned out to be one of the better places we've had breakfast. The only bright spot was The Italian Coffee Company where we enjoyed a frappucino that compared to Starbuck's. This is where we spent the rest of our time until returning to the bus station to go back "home" to Huatulco. Oh and we did buy some medication for my ride home so no throwing up on the way home, just a sleepy ride.
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05/26/2012, Hualtuco (La Crucecita)
Well our first hurricane (Bud) turns out be to the earliest hurricane to EVER hit the east pacific (I've never been lucky). But thanks to good planning based on recommendations to be out of the water before the beginning of hurricane season we were totally safe. But it is a little errie to be this close to a hurricane, the locals say no worries. One has to wonder about the next one as this area gennerally has 6 a year!
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05/16/2012, Hualtuco (La Crucecita)
We have been here now for a little over two weeks. In that time we have rented an apartment, had a house warming party with our landlords and all of their family (fun, little english), got most of our stuff off the boat so it won't mildrew when the rain hits (and to make it easy to keep spraying for bugs as well as do work on the boat). We went to the "river" with our landlords and lots of family. Some locals washed clothes as we lounged in the river (literally). We've ridden our bikes all over town, gone to the beach club multiple times and taken a road trip to Santa Maria (elavation 2,000 feet) where it poured. First rain we have seen in a long time but none occured at our little town just went right overhead to the mountains. Our little town has not had rain since last September! Brought the ham radio up from the boat and installed an antenna on our landlord's roof (they're cool and think the radio that talks to the whole world is cool). We've watched a bunch of movies (pirated of course, I don't think I've ever seen a real DVD for sale) and in gennral just goofed and been lazy. Looking forward to our daughter Vanessa and grandson Benjamin coming for a visit. They will be here June 8th through the 16th. We've been busy finding cool places to take 'em. We have also been looking to move up to Santa Maria maybe in July (it's cooler), and take a trip down to Yucatan to see some Myan ruins! More later
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05/15/2012, Hualtuco
Only in Mexico
We have long talked about doing a blog about things we have seen and you would only see in Mexico!!!!!!!!!!!
1. Garbage: This was the first thing that hit us as we began this adventure. What at first seemed hard to understand now makes sense. If you grew up seeing garbage everwhere you would not see it as being offensive it would just be normal, no big deal. In many places (tourist locations) signs are posted to not litter and this seems to be effective.
2. Bathrooms (Bano's): It was a bit shocking at first to walk into a bathroom that for one was filthy, toilet seat missing, no toilet paper, used toilet paper in a garbage pail (or the floor) and finally having to get a bucket of water as you come in to pour in the toilet to flush it. We have Bano's but these are few and far between. Public restrooms are extremely rare and almost always at a fee albeit only 5 pesos (30 cents). Going out requires some advance planning expeically for Leiann.
Buses and Taxi's: This a long subject so I'll try to be brief. First taxi's in Mexico are very cheap. But this comes at price (no pun intended). Some have holes in the floor, most are small ( VW bug or Nissan Sentra). Tires often bald, seatbelts rarely used or present. Plentiful, one needs only stand at curb a few minutes and one will come along. Actually when you walk down the street taxi's will honk at you to see if you want a ride, some buses do this also. Speaking of buses, again very cheap (6-9 pesos). Buses come in three basic varities: Very nice and air conditioned, Ok and no air and the most common that are used by the locals, UGLY in poor repair, independently owned. The latter will have names of destinations written with white shoe polish, difficult to make out at first (we have gotten much better). We get a kick out of riding the beater buses as it puts us with the "people", usually we are the only gringo's.
4. Sidewalks:Very early on we figured out that there must not be many lawyers in Mexico. We later found out that the recovery of lawsuits is limited to $800 and the lawyers gets most of that. It was quite a change from the US. You have to constantly watch your step, as the side walks often don't match height from one property to the next business. Or they may be a hole with or with out a plywood lid! I have seen small tree's growing in the sidewalk, so it is just cut off not quite below grade. Or because of poor construction methods or earth quakes, sidewalks are often cracked, buckled and broken with edges sticking up to trip on. We have learned to look down just like the locals do.
5. Shops: On the average block of businesses you will find 2-3 Tiendas (small grocery store) ,1-2 salons, a couple of launderies, meat store, clothing shop selling skin tight pants (modeled by manicans on the sidewalk), lots of lingeree shop's, a couple resturants or toco stands and a couple DVD salesmen (of course of the pirate variety.
6. Bootlegger on Burro: We were walking on a trail and what do we see? Yes, this guy who looks like the Folger's Juan Valdez coming down the trail. Asked him what do you have in your bags, fruit? He pulls out a white plastic jug, smiles with his few teeth and says No Ricilla! Ricilla is the local bootlegger tequila brew. Not to mention he had his trusty machete with him which we later found to be common, even on a bus!
7.Loud music and street noise: We soon learned that the locals love music and seem unable to listen to it at low volume. This becomes a problem at times when we have to anchor close to shore in town or in some of the marina's. Now in the casa it's something else. The place we have now is very quiet (compared to our place in san Blas, which could have music until 3am) except in the mornings when we wake at 8am sharp to multiple vehicles making lots of noise. It is common in Mexico for people to make a living driving around with speakers on the roof annoucing something for a fee. This goes on all day at full volume and is normal. In addition to the gas trucks (propane) that come around all day with the same speaker arrangement you have the water trucks (selling 5 gallon jug's), tortilla guy, the tamale guy, more tortilla guys. I guess you have to be here. Did I mention it is quite common for the neighbors to have roosters who start their salute at 5am?
8.Dichotomy: I suppose this will not be an only in Mexico, but I can never quite get over it. One will be walking next to homes jammed together dirt ,floors subsistence living yet, will have a satellite dish on the roof and it's owner will have a cell phone . Multi-million dollar homes and businesses next to these subsistance dwellings. Very nice clean tourist areas next to garbage strewn empty lots. Buildings either never finished or in slow motion construction. Speaking of construction another sight one sees constantly is this unfinished construction. Most buildings have re-bar sticking up from the roofs, we were later told taxes do not have to be paid until a building is finished, 'nough said. In the mist of this are palm trees, banana plants, flowers and other beautiful plants. Not to mention colorful costumes, Mariachi bands, lovely weather and happy kids running around with smiles.
9. Festivals: It may seem that some of the above is demeaning to the Mexican people, it's simply what we have observed. But in addition to these norms for down here we have seen many positives. It seems that two weeks can't go by that there is not some festival. Day of the dead, Relolution day, Christmas, New Year's, King's Day, Valentines, Carnivale, Good Friday, Holy Week, Easter, Cinco De Mayo, St. Patrick's Day, Mother's Day and Children's Day. I told Leiann I think they just make em up for an excuse for another party. Many of these involve large gatherings (like at the whole town at the square), fire works (the unsafe and insane variety), music, music, Cerveza, cerveza, food and more food, late into the night.
10. Food: Tamale wrapped in banna leaves. Goat tamales, Iguana tamales, Iguana or goat taco's. Rice water, Jamaica water, Limon water (not lemanade) and several other "water's" you'll see the locals drink. Papa's Locas (twice baked potato, arrcahera meat, la crema, cheeze, salsa. Of course lot's of octopus, shrimp, fish and lobster. Tripe, brains, pig with head attached (the man of the house eats the eye's). Fish deep fried fish with head attached. Most candy has very hot chilies in them. Shaved ice with chilie sauce. And many things that we have to identify.
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05/09/2012, Hualtuco
Our trip from Acapulco was uneventful and pleasant, our last two overnights at sea for the season. Ok there was that one unpleasant moment when Leiann got sick and we decided to go into Puerto Escondido for the night. It seems strange to be thinking of moving off Chrysalis for 5-6 months! We were at the entrance to the harbor at 4am in the dark, so we stood off until day light. Going into an unknown harbor in the dark is something I try to avoid, although sometimes it can't be avoided. We got tied up at the marina, happy to find nice new and clean floating docks. In many places in the world floating docks are not used, rather concrete quays that the boat has to be protected from as the tide rises and falls. We checked in and we again we're happy to find the daily rate for us to be $24 a day! After getting checked in we caught a taxi to town only about a mile a way but we did not know how to get there and the taxi's in Huatulco are flat rate 25 pesos ($2). We found the town square (our routine) and found a nice little place with side walk seating. Another day in paradise. After brunch we walked around the little town, got the lay of the land, enjoyed the square and then returned to our little boat. The next day the plan was to work on getting the boat out of the water for hurricane season. I had called down from Zee-Wat with an interpertor trying to determine if one could get hauled out in Huatulco. I knew they had a dry dock yard and I had been told that there was some guy with a large trailer who could haul you out, that's all I knew. So we called the marina and asked about the guy with the trailer. Got his number and called him and the interpreter said he wanted 24,000 pesos ($2,000) to haul us out, let us use his jacks and put us back in the water in the fall. This was outrageous. We paid $600 to be hauled and put back into the water and stored for a month(including jacks). I thought maybe it was a language issue. So I asked for a price to just pull us out, reply $1000! When I planned on hauling out for the year I sure didn't plan on this. I figured I would check out hauling out in Acapulco (turned out to be even more expensive). As a back up I knew I could go back to Zee-Wat and put the boat in the Marina for $360 a month and it would be relatively safe from hurricane. Still I thought I could come up with something in Huatulco. I went to talk to the guy with the big trailer after we got there. I told him that I could not afford $2000 and that I had built my own trailer at home and maybe I would need to do this here. We left each other and he said he would check on a few things and I said I would do the same. The next day we looked all over for a trailer I could buy and modify. The following day I again went to talk to the guy (Arcadio). He said to come look at a trailer with him. At his shop he had a Albin Vega 28 on an old trailer that he said he had inherited at the marina. He asked if I thought my boat would fit on it. I told him it would. He agreed to take his boat off the trailer and put my boat on it for 5 months and put back into the water all for 6,000 pesos ($550). I said deal. I could not put a trailer together for that. So two days later we worked for three hours getting Chrysalis out of the water on this rickety old trailer pulled by a tractor with a long chain so the trailer could get far enough into the water to get under the keel. Slowly we got her to her spot in dry dock and got her blocked up securely. I wanted to get the boat emptied out so I could fumigate it every month to keep the la cucarachas out and also to prevent mold and mildow during the rainy season. So over the last two weeks we have been making taxi trips to and from the boat. Luckily our apartment is large and we have room to put everything in the spare bedroom. As you can see in the photo Leiann is happy to be able to hang at the nearby beach club pool. We look forward to being able to do some inland exploring during hurricane season and our daughter and grandson will visit us in June!!!!!!!!!! Check out our photo gallery of Hautulco on the river with the locals and at the Cico De Mayo parade. More later.
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05/08/2012, Acapulco
The next day we were off to explore again. Leiann wanted to ride one of the local buses which in Acapulco are something in themselves. Here the first class buses are with air conditioning but they are not for local travel. Then there are the second class buses which are privately owned. These buses in Acapulco compete with each other for customers. Many are painted in loud colors with accessories like flourescent lights, chrome wheels, spoilers and what ever they can come up with to look cooler than the other busses. So Leiann saw one of these all lit up the other night and wanted to ride but we rode in one that was plain on the outside and ugly. I tried telling her they were the same on the inside, she did not believe me.(Later we rode one of the fancy ones and it was pretty much plain on the inside except for some handpainted ceilings and walls). We got off at the square, walked around, had something to eat then walked to the beach. After finding a palapa (grass roofed building) we relaxed with a cold beverage in the shade. While at any beach in Mexico one is constantly bombarded with peddlers of one kind or another. You simple can't keep buying from every cute little kid with chicklets or trinkets, but it's really hard not to. We gave in and gave a little girl (10) ten peso's but told her we did not want a hat she was selling. It was nice to see her go over a get an ice cream as the money we gave her was hers not the person's whom she was selling for. Anyhow that brings us to being nearly abducted. Sitting at the same table along comes a fellow selling tee-shirts. This guy spoke English and looked like he needed the money. We told him that we did not need another tee-shirt but would be happy to buy him a beer. He did not drink but accepted a pop. We talked about his family, five boys and no mom. We told him one of the things we like to do after arriving in port is to rent a taxi for an hour to just drive around and see some of the town that cannot be seen by just walking the beach areas. This tee-shirt salesman says hey I have a friend with a taxi he will take your anywhere and not charge much. We were apprehensive but felt like this guy would probably get a little kick back out of the deal so we agreed to go to his house and meet his friend. We had to take a taxi which took us up the hill, further and further up the hill until the homes got poorer and poorer. We (me) are always wanting to see "real urban Mexico" and by God here we were. We walked with him down a street, then down a concrete stairway that got narrower and narrower as we went. Finally we were on a dirt path that ended at a large ravine filled with garbage and smelled of sewer. He says heres my place and compells us to squeeze around a locked gate into a dirt (and I hesitate to say) yard, where a home of sorts stood. The "house" was made of odd lumber nailed together with a corragated (rusted steel) roof. He asked us inside where he offered us a seat on an uncovered mattress. The floor was dirt, dirty clothes everywhere and the room had two mattresses but was only 10 x 14. This included the "kitchen"and "TV room" and he did have another room walled off that was for the older brother, as the story went. Our guy told us to sit and watch TV while he went to get his friend. We must have looked worried because as he was headed out the door he looked back and said "don't worry". This did worry us, as we sat in filth looking at each other, wondering how the hell did we get here! After we waited for a few minutes images of gun's, knives, stories of abductions and muders ran thruogh my head. I told Leiann I think we better get the hell out of here. She did not need much convincing. We hurriedly headed back up the "trail", constantly looking over our shoulders. We got back to the main road spotted a taxi jumped and said go! Looking at each other we said we'll laugh about this later, but both feeling pretty stupid. The taxi driver was nice and we propositioned him to drive us around for two hundred pesos ($18). We drove all over and went by Sylvester Stallone's home on our way to look at the next bay south which we were planning to visit. Another highlight of the Acapulco vist was getting our FM-3. This is temperory citizenship (renewable every year).We had been told horror story's from fellow cruisers regarding getting this done. We found it only took us two days and a little fibbing. We are now offically Mexicans (and I would appreciate it if you stopped telling jokes about stupid Mexicans!). We have not given up US citizenship, but have dual citizenship now. We did some walking on the beach, shopping for food, got ice and headed out for the next bay south, Puerto Marques. We spent two nights there. After getting the hook down we headed for the beach to explore. On a chart a back water lagoon is shown with access to the ocean. On the chart it say's African Queen. I assumed this meant the location that the famous film was made. Predator had been flimed in Puerto Vallarta and also Night of the Iquana. So why not African Queen. We walked on a dirt road along this bayou looking for something (not sure what). As we went along it became more and more desolate. Leiann was not wanting to go further and I said it's daylight what can happen, you stay here and I'll come back. She then agreed to come along (not much for staying by hereself, I would not have really left her, really!) We walked about four miles then came to a little village out of nowhere? We walked through the village that looked I a tourist trap and said how strange to be here. As we walked futher we came to a foot bridge crossing where we found many tour buses and much tourist activity. We had come out at the North each of the Hotel district! We walked along the beach as now we were back out along the ocean. Walking by huge new hotels, Mayan Pricess, etc. This is the new part of Acapulco. Hotels have sprung up further south of Acapulco along the ocean and are continuing to be built further and further south. We grabbed a taxi back to the beach near the boat, had dinner, relaxed by a little pool and watched the sun set. The next day we headed out for our final destination for the year Huatulco ,250 miles from Guatemala.
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