2010 Hola Mexico - Missive 6

December 19, 2010: The big activity of the day was attending the cruiser's swap meet at Club Cruceros, a non-profit organization that serves the cruisers/boating community and helps support many activities/charities in La Paz. We managed to connect with several other cruising couples we have met along the way and catch up on their stories. And last but not least, we caught up with Lisa Caruso, a fellow PSCC member, who recently lost her husband. It was very special to surprise her with our presence along with Mike and Nita on Odessa.

Today was also a first for me, both Nita and I deposited our 20 days of dirty clothes off at a laundry mat (referred to us by another cruiser). By early afternoon, we had fresh clothes nicely folded and wrapped in plastic bags. For 4 ½ loads, I paid $17.60 or 220 pesos. Yahoo ... was that a treat! But I must admit I did have some separation anxiety from my clothing.

December 20, 2010: It didn't long to settle into the routine of the community. The La Paz radio net starts the day at 8:00 am. We get weather, tides, community events, Club Cruceros activities, swaps and trades (for coconuts), mail call, rides, who needs help, etc. and then it is coffee hour on shore. Our task of the day was getting the gingo internet access via a USB stick from Telcel.

Half the battle is finding the appropriate business place for us gringos to sign up for this service since we need to present our passports. It took awhile to navigate thru the streets, around the street vendors only to find the place we were referred to empty. Okay, now plan B. Thankfully, a very nice young woman who spoke English stopped to help us and get us pointed to another Telcel location. It was pretty obvious we needed help since all of our noses were glued to our visitor's map discussing our options.

We found an authorized distributor and started the process of explaining what we wanted thru our very poor Spanish. Thank goodness for computers and programs that translate. We typed in our conversation in English and it translated it into Spanish and then vice versa; it worked really well along with hand gestures and writing out numbers. The technology part was interesting to watch, actually the lack there of, our customer service gal had to walk next door to fax copies of our passports to the main Telcel office. She didn't have the ability to do that from her office. Then we waited ...

Finally we got to leave with a written note to wait an hour (or so), then our registration and activation of the device would be ready to install on the computers. Mike's worked and ours didn't. Now I knew what Tuesday's number one chore would be.

Saturday and Sunday nights were just wild with extra loud music downtown along the waterfront (malecon). These Mexicans are a festive bunch and music continued until around 4 am. Just since we have been in Mexico they have celebrated several holidays; Christmas and New Years are yet to come!

December 21, 2010: It's amazing how you can piddle away a whole day just trying to accomplish one or two items on your "to do" list. We had to go back to the Telcel office and that took awhile to resolve. Then we checked out the "pharmacia" for purchasing our medicine. Then we walked around town just to find out where to go and what we could find. This must be a guy thing to check out every marine part and repair shop ... I just want a grocery store, a laundry mat and bank.

Finally we came back to the Marina de La Paz & Club Cruceros for a seminar about the rules and regs for checking in with Port Captains and how the Mexican system worked. In a nutshell, it doesn't work well but we got a lot history on how the system developed to this point and that gave us a better understanding.

It was now time for nachos, beers and margaritas on the beach - we had a very full day. Oh by the way, our internet connection did not work; can't scratch that off the list just yet.

December 22, 2010: Remember Robin Williams in "Good Morning Vietnam" and he's waking up the troops on the armed services radio each morning ... well that's the La Paz net at 8 o'clock. It's like being news junkies to find out what is happening in the neighborhood. Our task once again is getting the "Banda Ancha" internet service working which requires a hike to the customer service building about a mile away. But we had success and I am not complaining ... although the system is screwy the people are wonderful to deal with which makes the process more bearable.

Later we wandered thru the open market Christmas bazaar which went on for many city blocks. What an incredible amount of junk! How disappointing since I was looking for some kind of treasure that had my name on it.

Each time we get back to the boat I feel hot, sweaty and gritty. The sights around town are hard to describe; needless to say we aren't in Ballard anymore. But I don't feel threatened especially with all the local police and the Navy strolling the streets and marina docks.