2011 Hola Mexico - Missive 9

January 5, 2011: I couldn't face another day being a tourist. In fact polishing our stainless steel dorades and railing sounded more appealing ... I must be a desperate woman. However the timing in the yard worked out for Bob to change zincs and grease the prop while I did my womanly duty and cleaned the stainless steel around the boat. The weather was quite nice - cool with cloud cover so it was quite comfortable to work outside most of the day. It is unnatural to fuss around the boat while it is on the hard. My balance is very pathetic so at least on the water I wouldn't have far to fall and wouldn't break any bones. Looking down 10 ft to the cement made me very uneasy but I sucked it up and did my chore.

January 6, 2011: Today we set out on a big adventure - going to Walmart, a two bus trip! I kid you not ... this was quite a challenge and we spent about 5 hours just getting to and from the store. And of course, it takes 2-3 times longer to shop while you figure out the product and the system. We were still in the yard, so I only wanted to buy dry goods and non-perishables. Since our new refrigerator system is keel cooled, while hauled out we had to shut the system down and use ice to keep the remaining food cold. I did manage to get 5 dozen eggs back to the boat via one bus and one taxi ride with only one cracked egg. The eggs were not refrigerated so I could leave them at room temperature until we splashed.

January 7, 2011: Not being able to cook while hauled out has forced us to wander about the neighborhood trying different restaurants and food dishes. Some meals have set real well while others have caused indigestion. Gus & Gus (pronounced Goose n Goose) has been our breakfast place and it is located at the head of dock 6 at Marina Mazatlan. They have the nicest young waiters working there in the morning; I have decided I wanted to adopt a couple of them. As I practice my Spanish with them, they practice their English. Their manners are impeccable and they so appreciate our business. In fact, they bring us little extras (like a serving of toast) while we wait for our breakfast. It has been fun to get to know them and a little about their personal lives.

Another first on this trip was a haircut in Mexico. A lovely young woman has just opened her hair salon here at the marina, she did a great job ... for $16 USD, a shampoo, cut and blow dry. I would pay $35 to $50 in the states for the same service.

We spent most of the day puttering around the boat and watching the yard crew polish the hull. Like the young lads at Gus n Gus, the crew that did the bottom paint and hull polishing were polite, hard working young men. We are so impressed by the quality of their work, in fact, the hull polish job far exceeded the same work we had done in Seattle and it cost one-quarter of what we paid up north. They cleaned, buffed and hand waxed the hull for $175 and boy does it shine! I was taking pictures and barely could get them to smile (very shy) for a picture to show off their hard work.

January 8, 2011: This morning we got to splash the boat and it was foggy! We spent the night in the travel lift sling which allowed the bottom of the keel to get painted and dry. Ponderosa is now sporting a pretty red bottom and shiny polished hull. After fueling we went back to Marina Mazatlan to the same slip - sure is easier the 2nd time around.

Although the yard was very clean and tidy, it's impossible to avoid the dirt and dust of the yard. It took us many hours to wash the topside of the boat - I couldn't believe the amount of grime, footprints and dirty water as we scrubbed and scrubbed.

Thankfully we got done in time to watch the Seahawk game at a local pub. Yahoo they won! It was almost better than winning a SuperBowl.

January 9, 2011: Sure feels good to be back on the water. Bob had an easy day watching all the football games while I polished the cockpit area. It helped a bit bringing back some shine to the fiberglass but I think it was a waste of elbow grease. Everyone is complaining how unseasonably "cold" it is down here but I happen to think it is perfect, mid-70's in the day and mid-50's at night.

The football commentators spoke Spanish so it was interesting to listen to their cadence while announcing the game. I can understand about 1 in every 10 words or so. I hope to improve my odds.

Our little dock kitty was back on board snoozing in the cockpit.

January 10, 2011: A couple of days a week, a local farmer hauls in a small truck load of fruits and vegetables to sell the cruisers and condo owners. We were planning to get our grocery shopping done today so I decided to check out what the farmer had first. He had a wonderful selection and I managed to fill up 3 market bags. It did take me, however, a good 2 hours to wash all the goodies in Microdyne before storing in the fridge.

We hopped the bus (the correct one) and made our way to the Gran Plaza (a new shopping mall) that was close to Mega Store. I was looking for the Telcel customer service center in order to deposit money on our Banda Ancha internet stick. We got there in a roundabout way and took care of our business. I had used the Google Translator and wrote out my request in Spanish; it sure helped the process. Then it was off to a bank and pharmacia before heading to the Mega Store. In order to get antibiotics now you have to have a prescription from a doctor, a new change in drug policy.

Another gringo in line checking out, struck up a conversation with us about our grocery bags. These are bags we received in BC, Canada at the Marketplace IGA ... nothing special about them but very handy and the right size. In the end, they offered to take us back to the marina since they were heading back that direction. What a nice gesture!

We are now in search for a sports bar to watch the Oregon game ... go Ducks!

January 11, 2011: What a great championship game to watch; too bad the Ducks didn't win. All the Mexican food this past week finally came back to haunt us, especially me. I was down the whole day with a terrible stomach ache and no energy. I managed to sack out for several hours huddled under a blanket so I knew I wasn't doing well. The only chore I got done was taking the dirty clothes to the lady at the laundry mat.

January 12, 2011: You never know who will drop into the neighborhood ... none other but our former neighbors at Shilshole, Bill & Sue on "Dilligaf". We were on our way to catch a bus to the Golden Zone and Bob points out the new boat on the dock. Wow we know that boat and seconds later it was hugs and handshakes all around. It really felt good to see old friends from up north and catch up on stories.

As Bill & Sue got settled in we continued our way to the malecon along the beach at the heart of the tourist district. We planned to take in a leisurely walk and enjoy the sandy beach and views. Now this is a nice flat, reasonably new, clean, wide walkway with benches and guardrails; couldn't ask for a nicer place. But I managed to find the one place to trip on and fall flat on my rear end. Aside from a bruised ego and left butt cheek, scrapped left calf, strained right wrist, twisted right knee, ankle & foot ... I am fine for the most part.

One pulmonia driver (golf cart taxi) was kind enough to stop and asked if I was okay or if I needed a ride. Thankfully I was ok just a little battered and shook up. We continued to walk further but the fun was gone so we got lunch and took the bus back to the marina. I iced my body and took a nap.

January 13 - 14, 2011: These last couple of days were spent just puttering around the boats. It's amazing how the days can fly by and nothing really gets accomplished yet one is busy all day. It must be a retirement phenomenon. We are planning to stay the weekend since the daily rates drops significantly on the 8th day ... watch some playoff games and then proceed on south on Monday. Our latest adventure is waiting patiently to get our propane tank filled. It's like watching grass grow - it takes days!