It's so weird preparing for Christmas in Mexico with 80 and 90 degree temperatures! Yesterday we bought a 3' Christmas tree for the boat, and decorations, so we're getting in the spirit.

Christmas shopping is difficult, most stores carry products for people who earn five dollars a day.

This morning, I took a taxi at 9 a.m. from San Blas to Tepic, the capital of the state of Nayarit. The road there was beautiful, going first through lush jungle, banana, coffee, and clove plantations, and then to higher altitudes in the volcanic mountains of the regions. Finally at Tepic, we arrived at a machine shop that had every sort of lathe, mill, drill press, etc.

To extract the two bolts whose heads had broken off, they welded nuts onto the bolt shafts, so they could be turned out. For the aluminum stripper piece, they welded on a new base. All this was expertly done. The bill for services: 200 pesos (about 14 dollars).

That being done, I returned by taxi to San Blas (a one hour drive), and upon arriving, set to work reinstalling the windlass and reconnecting the heavy duty wires. This was finally completed around 5:30 p.m.

After this, we went to town to have dinner.

We had dinner in a very fancy colonial era hotel built in 1883, delicious prawns with chipotle cream sauce, for only 140 pesos (about ten dollars).

Tomorrow morning early, we are going to take a guided tour up the estuary, to see the jungle, tropical birds and crocodiles. We've heard from reliable sources it's one of the best guided tours in all of Mexico.