Sorry for the overdue update. Thanks to friends who told me to get off my duff and blog!
We arrived in La Paz a bit over a week ago, after three days in San Francisco to apply for our Long-Stay Visas with the French Consulate there. Our "interview" was easier than we had expected, and went relatively quickly. After presenting an inch or so of paperwork, getting fingerprinted, submitting our passports and answering a few questions, we were done! The most difficult part of the whole process was the pre-work. Since we're living aboard in Mexico, forfeiting our passports to the French for 30-60 days for visa processing wouldn't work. Kudos to Jody for sleuthing an obscure process within the US State Department for receiving a special (duplicate) passports. Once received, it was just a matter of spending days assembling our application package with bank statements, proof of medical insurance, a "good guy letter" from the police, and numerous certificates - all translated into French of course.
Since we rolled off the Alaska 737 in the San Jose Del Cabo Airport with our suitcases filled with a 100 lbs. of boat stuff, life has been a blur. Arriving to the boat late that night, we ate a bowl of chili and flopped into bed. In the morning we discovered another of the many "truisms'" applicable to boating. One saying goes something like this; "boats, planes and women don't like to be ignored. If they are for too long, there will be a price to pay"! And so it was with Huzzah. After a mere nine weeks alone, the refrigerator refused to run, and the forward head became inoperable. To be honest, the forward head had issues previously that I ignored. Doh! So, after chasing parts in town, replacing sanitation hose and cleaning the tanks with muriatic acid, both heads are good now. The refer was fixed by an awesome guy named Roger Wise - Thank you Roger!!
Sadly, neither of those items were on the pre-departure punch list. Of the twenty-six items that remain, each has its priority order, with safety and communications at the top of the list. We're working the list each & every day!
Besides boat projects, we've slowly learning the rhythm of La Paz. Things are relatively inexpensive here, but the metric system combined with currency conversion can play tricks on you. We bought a rib steak the market that seemed really expensive only to discover later it cost only $2.15 usd. Restaurant food is very reasonable as well. The Marina and most of the trades price in dollars however, so no great bargains there. The cruiser community here in Marina Palmira is great, with impromptu dock parties, cockpit sundowner get-togethers, and lots of fellowship with interesting people.
That's all for now. Life is good aboard Huzzah!