One of the nicest things about not working is not having to go to meetings. I can remember that the work meetings all seemed to start about the same way, get up early, rush off to the meeting place, eat some stale donuts while waiting for the people that didn't get up so early to arrive. Most of the thousands of Mortgage and Real Estate meetings I attended in my 30+ years in the industry had about the same content and I always wondered why we had to be there in the first place.
Today there was a meeting for an up coming cruiser rally to El Salvador. Sharon and I had been looking forward to this meeting since we arrived in Mazatlan. We woke up super early (7:30), grabbed a cup of coffee, put on our freshly shined crocs and headed out to Marina Mazatlan, which is about a 30 minute walk. The meeting started the same as the business meetings in that we sat around waiting for late people and eating stale pastries. We were able to reconnect with some of the friends that we've met along our way and catch up on what everyone's been doing, so the wait wasn't totally wasted time (like what do we have to do anyway).
"The Cruisers Rally to El Salvador" is now in it's 5th year, unlike the recent Baja Ha Ha rally, you do not all go together to El Salvador, but instead the participants meet in El Salvador sometime between March 10 and April 29. The sponsors put together activities and parties and help you get somewhat acquainted with the lay of the land in El Salvador. Because there will be 50-75 other cruisers heading that way we are hoping to buddy boat with a few others, something that I feel is important once leaving the safety of Mexican waters. In order to get into the estuary where the rally is held it is necessary to "cross the bar", this means that you have to take your boat across a sand bar and through a surf zone where they say you will surf at least one wave on the way in....cowabunga dude! The rally sponsors send out a pilot on a jet ski to guild you across the bar...definitely another BIG plus.
Unlike the old Real Estate meetings, this meeting was very informative, we learned many things about El Salvador and it's neighboring Central American countries. We talked about land excursions and safety, about the visa requirements and transportation choices, and of course they pointed out all of the fun adventures and parties that we would be able to attend. As a cruiser you don't like to plan to far ahead, so we still have not fully decided on wether we'll sign up for the rally or not...stay tuned for a future blog on our final decision....subject to change of course.