Gabriellas G-Pa
01/31/2012, Acapulco Bay

My friends on Hooligan...Tom and Barbara joined me on the car trip to Guadalajara. The roads to and from Guadalajara were very nice and quite scenic. Once in the big city it all changed. The traffic was horrendous and was at a complete standstill. So we just stayed on the outskirts of the city because that is where Costco is located....thank God. That is one trip I don't think I will be taking again. I left Barra/Colimilla for Santiago where I spent a few nights. Then off to Zihuatanejo where I spent about a week enjoying all my old haunts. They (the city of Zihua) really spruced up the town where all the tourists visit. I decided to run down the coast to Acapulco for a few days so I can visit Costco to restock my Jelly-Bellys. I pulled into the bay at night and dropped anchor by the Mexican Navy Tallship Cuatamoc at 10:30pm. About an hour later as I was getting ready to crash a mexican Navy patrol boat came along side and wanted my papers. After awhile they gave me back my papers and told me I was anchored in a restricted area and that I would have to leave immediately. So I raised the anchor and motored over to hotel row and put my anchor down in front of tourist central. It turns out that right past the beach about two blocks up to the main thoroughfare there is a Starbucks, KFC, Burger King, Office Depot, and a Walmart. Just took the bus over to Costco today and that was a bust...NO JELLY BELLYS! I'll motor around the bay tomorrow and get diesel over by the cruiseship terminal then come back to my fine real estate and spend one last peaceful night in Acapulco.This is as far south as I will go this year and now the hard part starts.....heading uphill/north for the rest of the cruising season.

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Gabriellas G-Pa
01/04/2012, Colimilla/Barra de Navidad

The above photo is of me not getting the car in reverse when it is really important to do so. A Samurai-built Mexican lifted up on the car as I was gunning it in reverse and it plopped back over the curb. Nothing damaged but my pride. Had a nice Christmas dinner at the Sands hotel. Susan, I baked a traditional double crust apple pie using granny smith apples and it turned out to be fabulous. All the food was great...it always amazes me that the cruisers can put together such an array of tastes on their boats. It was a nice relaxing day off right in the middle of my school paint work. Speaking of which also turned out just right. It was so nice to greet the kids in the morning and wait for the Maestra to show up from her commute from Manzanillo. The kids were peering through the windows because I refused to let them in until the Maestra showed. We tricked out the school completely, including the tile floors and G I'ing the banos. We washed all the windows, fans and cleaned everything that wasn't painted. When I say 'we', it was with the great help of Jim on Murray Grey, Tom and Barbara on Hooligan, Rob and Stephanie on Red Witch, Steve on Magic, and a cruiser on L'Ange. It was nice to get all that help. I posted a lot of pictures in the gallery of the school and of the Christmas potluck. Tomorrow, Tom and Barbara and I will drive to Guadalajara to see the city and stop at Costco...I'm out of Jelly-Bellys. Then Saturday I will cruise on over to Tenacatita for a couple of days to clean the bottom of my boat and maybe Toms boat. Then later in the week I will head south to Zihuatanejo and maybe further south. I think this will end my era of volunteerism as it just costs too much in dinero and time. I'm getting too old and would like to be a full time cruiser for the few healthy years that I have left.

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Gabriellas G-Pa
12/17/2011, Colimilla/Barra de Navidad

Enriques house is finished and there are boats starting to fill up the parking lot here in the Barra lagoon. This morning I started to do my volunteer job at the elementary school. Jim on the boat Murray Grey came up to help and we got off to a good start......then....whack.....the back of my middle finger got sliced open. I was on the step ladder pulling tape and leftover decorations off the ceiling when I went after a piece of tape and didn't notice the ceiling fan was close. On top of that, the blades are rusty and dirty and sharp metal......not the composite ones we have at home. So I went up the hill to the local Salud (health clinic) and a sweet young doctor who was very pleasant on the eyes took me into her care. She did a fine job cleaning putting that iodine stuff in there. She put a butterfly patch on and told me I had to go to the Barra Salud to get a tetanus shot because she didn't have any there. I asked her how much I owed her and she told me to pay Claudia, the lady who runs the taco and lunch place next door. It's Claudias 3 month old baby, Mari-Ciel, that I play with quite often. So I went over and she said 20 pesos ($1.60US). Then I went to Barra and got a tetanus shot for 50 pesos ($3.90US). Everybody that I came in contact with were sincerely concerned and went out of their way to help.....of course in my home country I get the same inexpensive and helpful care.............NOT. This couldn't happen at a more disadvantagious time because this is the 2 week period that I have to finish all the school work. Of course it will get done one way or the other.

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