Early this morning before dawn we awoke to firecrackers and an oompah band. Apparently there is some celebration taking place in the small fishing village of Perula which is in the north end of Bahia Chamela near where we are anchored. It wasn't too bad and we fell back asleep and slept in until 9:00am. This is probably the smoothest anchorage we've been in yet.

While we were having breakfast and running the engine to charge up the refrigerator, the engine temperature alarm went off. We went down the list of what could be causing the engine to overheat. Raw water strainer? Nope, it's clear. Clogged hoses? Nope, clear. Water intake clogged? Nope, we dove it and it was clear. We let the engine cool down and tried again. Lee then noticed the alternator/fresh water pump belt was broken. The belt wasn't worn at all, it just broke. They think they might have tightened it too much when they were making other repairs with the heat exchanger. Okay, no problem, we have spares. But then Lee noticed that all the spares were for the refrigerator compressor and were too large for the alternator. Lee had asked for one of each at the Napa auto parts store but they gave him two of the same. Lesson learned, check what you buy.

Now what to do. It's Sunday and we are in this tiny fishing village. We can't use the engine. There were 2 other boats anchored close by so we went over to talk to them. Turns out one boat were having some issues too, much more serious than ours, and included a leaking transmission, watermaker not working, and generator not working. So we all went into town to get some help. We found an ex-patriate that runs an internet service and he gave us directions to a hardware store. The store was closed, not surprising since it was Sunday, so we just walked around the village. We ran into some other gringos (all the gringos here are from Canada) and then another Canadian stopped by with his golf cart. His name was Louis and was quite a character. When we told him we needed a fan belt, he said get in his cart and he will find the local auto mechanic. We told him it could wait until tomorrow but he insisted. We jumped in, and low and behold, he found the mechanic at the central plaza hanging out with oompah band and the rest of the local men. We went to the mechanic's shop, which actually was his house, and he had some belts that looked like would fit. Bob and Lee just finished installing the belt and we're back in business. The whole day was quite an adventure and we truly got to experience the local life. And the belt was 1/3 the cost Lee paid at home. Priceless.

Unfortunately, the other boat wasn't as successful. He wants to go back north to Mazatlan (about 250-300 miles) to get the repairs made but we suggested he go south to Manzanillo which is only about 50 miles away. He seems only to trust one mechanic and he's in Mazatlan so I don't think we convinced him to go south. He is buddy boating with another boat so that other boat is in a dilemma. They don't want him to go alone but they don't want to go north either.