03/03/2009
We, Rob and Sue on Joyeux and Tom and I, caught a late night bus for the trip to Oaxaca and left Hualtuco at 11:30 pm. Within the first five minutes I looked at Tom and the curvy road signs and thought maybe we'd made a big mistake going at night. The shades on the bus were all pulled and I felt like I was on a roller coaster in the dark longing for seasick pills. After about 20 minutes the ride got better or maybe I fell asleep. The 7 ½ trip ended up going quickly. Upon arrival we took a taxi to a hotel not far from the Zocalo. It had 8 rooms, a little courtyard and a continental breakfast for $34 US. We checked in at 8:00 a.m. and were off for our first day's adventure.
After breakfast at a nearby restaurant we headed to the Zocalo (main plaza) and a celebration for Flag Day was about to take place. The army marched down the street with a huge Mexican flag and two different military bands played. Numerous school children were in attendance for the speeches and festivity. Our adventure was off to a great start.
Oaxaca has numerous churches and one we definitely wanted to see was Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman built in 1529. It is stunning! While there we sat in a pew and watched the gold leaf being applied to one alcove. You could have dropped a pin it was so quiet yet it was filled with many tourists. It was the most ornate church we've yet to see.
Next to the church is an archeology museum which is housed in part of the old convent. It was interesting not only to see the exhibit but also the architecture and gardens. It gave us a good history of the region before we went up to see the ruins at Monte Alban. Oaxaca is known for its textiles and Sue and I found ourselves in numerous stores looking at the clothing. Women were weaving while sitting at their stalls on the street selling blouses and we found one store where men were weaving rugs. Tom purchased a Oaxacan rug for me last year in Guadalajara so I wasn't tempted this year. Oaxaca is also known for chocolate. We went into a chocolate shop where they were grinding the beans and adding cinnamon, sugar and almonds. Yum. We had samples and had to make purchases.
The highlight of our second day was the tour to Monte Alban. Like most religious temples, it sits on top a hill overlooking the valleys of Oaxaca. We toured the museum and acquired a guidebook so we would not miss anything. Then off we went to climb the many stairs to get the best views. It was an amazing experience. Hope you'll check out some of our pictures under "picture gallery."
On the way back from the tour bus, we walked through the Mercado (market) and then went into a bar that had a sign outside advertising 2 for 25 pesos. It was the Casa de Mezcal which was ornate and until recently had a section just for men. We women still didn't go into that section but stayed closer to the front door. Rob, who has a great handle on Spanish, struck up a conversation with a local (big guy). Before long we were seeing pictures of his daughter on his cell phone and we were all laughing and arm waving. The guy next to him was a gringo from Michigan. He is an importer and has a shop in Michigan and winters in New Mexico. He was on a shopping trip with his wife. I mentioned I'd met an importer in Tonala two years ago from Annapolis and he said" oh, yes that is Steve, I know him well." Small world. By the time we left, Sue and I got kisses on our cheeks from Paco and we knew we'd experienced an incredible hour. Then it was off to the Zocalo for a free concert.
Our third day found us exploring shops, churches and peaking in museums we missed. Rob and Tom sampled Mezcal while Sue and I shopped and we also tasted our first grasshoppers. That evening we met our friend, Faith, that resides year-round in a colonial nearby. She took us to a Italian restaurant and we poked our heads into a few of her favorite stores.
Too quickly we were back on the bus heading back to Hualtuco. Rob and Sue stayed an extra day, but our engine was calling and we left at 9:30 a.m. on Friday arriving in Hualtuco at 6:30 p.m.
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02/23/2009, Hualtuco
We arrived in Marina Chahue (Cha-way) at 9:30 am, Monday, February 16. We left Acapulco (Bahia de Marques) at 2:30 pm the previous Saturday and had a quick trip of 43 hours. We were able to sail a good portion of the trip and were making such good time that we could see we would have to motor very slowly once the wind stopped in order to enter the marina in daylight. While sailing we went through a large group of dolphins, not hundreds, but thousands. They jumped, spun and had a wonderful time. We had five of them jump in unison right next to the boat. Again, we saw several turtles with many of them having their own bird perched on their back. For some reason they submerge their heads and ignore us when we approach, but do not swim away. The unusual wildlife were the two sea snakes that glided by the boat. Yuk!
Hualtuco is a new town having been built in the 1980's. We understand the plan was to have a Pacific "Cancun." The town has beautiful park boulevards, reverse osmosis water and is extremely clean. The marina is small and, surprisingly, quite full for being so far from the Gold Coast. It is not completely done and there are the normal issues of the shower doors are like western bar doors so best to wear a swim suit when showering, the electrical boxes don't work at all slips so power cords are strewn every where and no fuel dock. Tom went yesterday with three other skippers in the back of a pickup with all the jerry cans.
Most of the boats that come this far have either come from Central America or on their way there. Few come this far for the "fun" of it as we are close to the Gulf of the Tehauntepec. We met with Enrique, the Harbor Master, and he will assemble all of the Central America bound cruisers when he sees a safe crossing. Then he and all of the skippers will take their ship's papers and go over to the Port Captain to sign for their Zarpe. He said our Zarpe is like an award certificate proving that we sailed the entire coast of Mexico and we should keep it and be very proud. There is excitement in the air with each new arriving vessel as we are now getting to know new crews and sharing plans, e-mail info and gearing up to buddy boat.
One never knows when a miracle is going to happen and we had one this week. We've been fighting refrigeration issues for years. Just before we left Mazatlan we had both units working. Within 24 hours vibration through the floor boards cut us down to one and by the time we arrived in Hualtuco we didn't have anything. Tom quickly was able to replace a belt and get the 110 up and running, but that wasn't going to do it for being out cruising. We decided to explore and see what we could find in town. We'd been told we would have to replace our evaporator box with a part from the U.S. But, off we went in a taxi ($2) and after several stops - no luck. The next day one of our friends said he was sure he had seen one sitting on a shelf somewhere. So off to town again and after going up and down several streets, we found it. Not only did they have it for a third of the cost in the U.S, but he called a technician and he showed up on his motorcycle and followed us via cab back to the marina. Next thing we know he is crawling under the floor assessing and testing the situation. After much Spanish/English and arm waving, we decided to replace the unit and not take a chance on a fix. This all began at 11:00 a.m. and by 4:00 p.m. we sent our technician home with the cash to pay for his labor and all the parts (his friend delivered them) and a six-pack. We are up and running better than ever and the total cost was equivalent to $115 in the U.S. WOW! You should see the grin on the Captain's face.
Next adventure is by land and we will be leaving Monday at 11:00 pm on a bus to Oaxaca. Have mixed feelings about the night trip. The road is so full of curves that supposedly it is best not to see, but then maybe we'd feel better being able to see? We will spend 3-4 days exploring the city and going out to the ruins. We will be packing jackets, jeans and shoes as it is at a high elevation. Brrrr.
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02/11/2009, Zihuatanejo
We've put a few miles under the keel since we last updated the blog. The time came to have the bottom of the boat cleaned, retrieve the semi-dry laundry (dryer ran out of propane) and do one last vegie, fresh cookie and flattened BBQ chicken run. We had a final adult beverage and gave hugs around on Perpetua's "patio" before bailing out on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Bright and early we pulled anchor and headed out of the lagoon, carefully negotiating our way through the 20 plus pangas that were fishing in the dredged opening. They parted like sheep as we approached and I told Tom they were probably worried about the gringo woman at the helm.
Had a short 27 nautical mile motor trip to Santiago Bay. If some of you oldsters remember the movie "10" we were anchored near where it was filmed in Las Hadas. We stayed two nights and didn't even put the dinghy in the water. One afternoon we spent hours watching a mother whale with her baby playing near the boat.
Next stop was 190 nautical miles to Isle Grande/Zihuatanejo area. Again, we started out early, the seas were calm followed by offshore breezes wherein we started sailing along with big grins on our faces. About an hour later concerned frowns had replaced our grins as the seas kept building and the winds got stronger. Finally, we realized we were going to be toughing it out and it wasn't getting better so we found a place to drop anchor called Cabeza Negra which in all the sailing guides is termed "marginal." It looked darn nice to us. The marginal part was trying to sleep with Ahwahnee doing the two-step on a sideways swell. Oh, yes, we could have put out the flopper stoppers but that would have meant digging for them and we were only there one night. One long night as Tom had to sleep on the floor so I could be sideways in the bed.
Anxious to get underway, the next day we headed out and the day started out similar to the previous with the exception that the winds seemed to settle more in the 15 knot range. Ahwahnee loved the conditions and was like a dog with a bone in her teeth. We sailed for several hours and when the wind died in the evening had to resort to motorsailing. We had almost a full moon and is so nice to be out at sea when it is possible to see at night. I always have a difficult time with the Midnight to 3:00 am shift but have found that music from Chicago, Irish Chieftains or Chocolate keeps my toes tapping and I'm wide awake. Tom just asks that I don't sing along too loudly. AND, when a ship is coming up the stern, I become very alert. We arrived early morning at Isle Grande which is very close to Ixtapa and put down the hook for two nights. Did some exploring by dinghy.
Now we are in Zihuatanejo and have been here two nights. Last evening the crew of Rosebud (Portland based) had us over for sundowners and today we followed them into shore with our dinghy and they introduced us to Nathaniel that helped us ashore, watches the dinghy and will even wash it for $l. Checked into the Port Captain's Office, went to he local mercado, the dollar store (green beans and cookes) and Chinese lunch. They showed us where to get a taxi and for $2 got a ride to the shop where we are having a part welded and to the grocery store.
Tomorrow we will wait for the local fuel panga to bring back our diesel cans, order some water (the bay isn't clean enough to make water) and take another taxi ride to go get our part. Tom will be doing some plotting and engine maintenance for a scheduled departure on Thursday.
We've pulled our latest weather fax and it looks like Thursday works for a run to Acapulco. We will stay there one night and then it is off to Huatulco where we will do some inland touring. The next update should put us 350 nautical miles further south.
We have met three other boats headed to the Panama and two of them are from Oregon - Jammin and Equinox. We plan to buddy boat as much as possible.
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