Well it's been an awfully cold couple of weeks here in La Paz. Not what you expect from a Mexican winter. The locals say it's pretty darn cold the coldest winter in a long time. Everyone is walking around bundled up in coats, shoes, scarfs and hats. There has been a 'cruiser' driven blanket drive to get some blankets out to the poorer neighbourhoods and they collected quite a bit so it's nice to know a few people will sleep warmer tonight.
Of course the 3 day 'Norther' that we are having right now dose little to help with the temperatures. The port has been closed to boats that are smaller than 500 tons because it is a bar crossing and things can get rough out there.
The day before the blow hit, we had decided it would be a good time to do some engine maintenance and not wanting to be at anchor without a working engine we took a week at the marina. We are really happy to be here as we listened to the vhf radio on the first day of the blow when lots of boats at anchor were dragging or had boats dragging down on them. Mostly it is the boats that no one lives on and some of them are considered derelicts. Unfortunately they are out there so the best thing is to try not to anchor downwind of them if possible.
Ian has been helping out with some volunteer stuff around town and one of the project he will be working on is painting some tables and chairs at a school that feed the kids every morning before school starts. I am slated to start some volunteer stuff but until I actually do there is nothing to report.
Today I had a good chuckle. I was at the massage therapists getting my neck worked on (it's been really bad), and the music playing was the typical flutes and jungle bird call sounds that you would hear while having a massage. After about 15 minutes all of sudden there was in the background the sound of a rooster from outside, mixing in with the birds on the soft music. I started laughing it struck me as so funny and I had a hard time with my limited Spanish to explain why in the middle of my massage I had the giggles. I ended up having to make a rooster sound to help explain. Just one more reason I love Mexico...