Back in Bandaras Bay we anchored out at La Cruz for a week, until March 5, when we moved into the marina at Nuevo Vallarta to be close to "race central" that is the Vallarta Yacht Club and more importantly Sirocco and the condo that Lee and Cathy rented in the condos next door to the yacht club. But, before we go there we have to take you back to the week at La Cruz.

The La Cruz anchorage is just outside the marina and has good access by dinghy to all the amenities of marina life. At the top of that list would be long and sometimes hot showers, laundry service, markets (abarrotes) and restaurants, but without the cost of the slip. It's especially nice when you have friends inside! We enjoy life in the anchorage or "on the hook" even though it can get a little rolly. This week was one of the "rollier" ones, but we spent so much time off the boat that we only had to deal with it at night. Fortunately the wind we were getting was the typical diurnal's, that is land and sea breezes, which typically die at sundown so that by bed time most of the rolly chop is gone. We treated ourselves to a couple of nights at "Tacos on the Street" which we have previously reported on as well as a few other local spots. Sunday is Street Fair in La Cruz and we did some shopping and purchased fresh fruits and vegetables, candied nuts, Mexican coffee, fresh baked goods and a few trinkets to bring home. We found a young lady selling tamales in plantain leaves. Yummy! That's her picture above. It was time to move to the marina in Nuevo Vallarta and a good thing too, the winds were projected to be 20 knots on the 5th.

Marisa, Cathy and Anne (Blue Rodeo) took a cooking class taught by Amanda and held at the La Cruz Marina. There they learned to make "sopes" and Marisa has posted a few photos of that event in our album. On Thursday we joined up with Mike, Lee and Cathy and caught a bus to Sayulita, a small artist retreat and surfing community about 25 miles north of here that is not accessible by boat because there is no suitable anchorage. The bus ride there was interesting in that it took us through some of the areas damaged by last summer's disastrous rains. These hills received about 19 feet, that's right feet, of rain in a month resulting in serious run off that took out most of the highway bridges and seriously damaged many of these communities infrastructure. Sayulita is picturesque, has a beautiful beach with a good surf break and plenty of places to rent a board, take surf lessons or ride a horse on the beach, but without the big hotel scene. Of course we found a great place for lunch, SFT or Sayulita Fish Tacos.

The bus ride to Sayulita in itself was an 'adventure'. Perhaps by our standards this will seem strange, but they have a way to make things work. An example is their bus system. We have been taking buses everywhere down here for these past four months. The bus that goes to Sayulita can't be caught from La Cruz directly, but by catching the bus from La Cruz to Busarias, the next town several miles south of here. You get off the bus there and cross the street to catch the Sayulita bus which passes by the exit to La Cruz, La Cruz being on a spur road. We told the driver in Sayulita we were going to La Cruz and he said sure, get in. We were on the main highway when we got to the spur that exited to La Cruz. The driver stopped on the 'freeway', opened the door and said this is your exit! We found ourselves walking off the highway and down the off ramp onto the La Cruz road where we could flag down the La Cruz bus! Simple, but can you imagine a bus stopping on a freeway in the States and dropping you off to walk off the roadway? Even funnier was when we were walking down the off ramp we saw a Federal Transit Police car coming with his red and blue lights on. He crossed the road and drove the wrong way up the off ramp we had just walked down. It seems the police office is located under the highway overpass up that off ramp and there is no exit for it from this side. To get there they simply drive up the off ramp and cross over the curb to get into their yard. Amazing how that well it works and far cheaper than building another off ramp!

I'm working on getting caught up now that we have wifi again; Bandaras Bay Race Week next time.