We headed into Marina Ixtapa on the morning of Feb 4th as the boat needed a good wash and general maintenance work. First on the agenda was to buy a 50ft garden hose, so off we went into Zihuantenajo to see what we could find, the first place we went had sold out so they referred us the the local hardware store just up the road. Off we trecked to the local hardware store but no luck they did not have any, they lady that served us was very nice and referred us to her brothers place just down 2 blocks. Off we went again, no luck yet again!. We were standing waiting for a bus to take us to another large store where we were sure they would have a hose when along came the lady who had served us previously, she asked if we had had success and we advised her that we had not, she asked us where we were going next and we told her and to our surprise she offered us a ride to the store. We have found people here to be very helpful and friendly and this is yet another example of that. We found the hose at the larger store and headed back to the boat. Now it was time to clean the rust off the stays, etc so off Ken went up the mast for his first time (not good with heights)! He cleaned the rigging all the way up to the first set of spreaders. We also gave the boat a much needed wash.
The next day Carole headed up the mast all the way to the top and cleaned the rest of the rigging, we used a vinegar, dishsoap and water solution to clean the rust off...works fantastic and then we applied a 3M wax to keep it cleaner longer. This tip was given to us by a rigging surveyor in La Cruz. We have had a busy couple of days.
The plan tomorrow is to finish cleaning the boat and doing some other odd chores and then we will move to the anchorage in Zihuantanejo.