Some of you may remember the sad tale of our bucket "Mendoza". Storage space of a boat is always limited so we hang a bucket off the stern to hold empty beer cans that take up so much space in our garbage can. Every few days we crush the cans and that way we can get two or three weeks worth in this one bucket. Three years ago our bucket was lost overboard between Cabo and Puerto Vallarta in some rather large seas. We watched the wave roll up behind us thinking it would break into the cockpit, pooping us. It broke behind and a little to port, right on top of our bucket. Needless to say the bucket lost its grip on the boat and was never seen again. After we arrived in Puerto Vallarta we began the search for a new bucket. Buckets here in Mexico represent a way to make a living. You can open your own automobile window washing business, use it to carry your masonry tools to the job site, or simply use it to hold all of the aluminum cans you find on the side of the road. It took two weeks of searching to locate one for sale. It was a white bucket that originally contained lard or manteca. Lard is used in the manufacture of tortillas, tamales, carnitas, and other tasty goodies. This particular bucket contained lard made by the Mendoza lard company, and featured their mascot, a smiling pig. We named the bucket Mendoza and he served us well for two seasons. Last year Mendoza was lost in a 50 knot wind gust in Bahia Conception. We watched Mendoza take flight and land 100 feet away in the water. I jumped in the dingy and sped to his rescue, but before I could get there he drowned. We were devastated. This summer we purchased an ordinary white 5 gallon bucket at Home Depot and tied it to the boat. We thought we were done, but the ghost of Mendoza would come back to haunt us. While underway from La Paz to San Blas last week we were again struck by a big wave. Despite the line that lashed the white bucket to the boat the wave grabbed it and swallowed it whole. We looked at each other and said "not again!" When we arrived in Puerto Vallarta we began our search for another bucket. Several hours were spent in a fruitless search. We were sad. Yesterday while walking through La Cruix, Julie pointed to a tienda and said "do you think they have any buckets for sale?" We walked over and to our amazement we saw a smiling pig staring up at us.
Mendoza had returned to us.