Mainland Mexico
Sailing south
across the Sea of Cortez to Mazatlan,
the air starts to feel moist. Nearing
the land, green foliage and palm trees appear on the horizon. A stark contrast to the red and sand
colored desert of the Baja Peninsula, it feels as if it’s another country
instead of mainland Mexico. Touristy Mazatlan packed with taxis, bars,
restaurants & shops bursting with trinkets is not the Mexico preferred,
instead a bus ride to Old Mazatlan is more to our liking; with a brisk walk
up the steep hill to the brochure toted, “tallest manned lighthouse in the
world”. Viewing the city from this
point is worth the hike for the white beaches and mangroves that line the
shores are lush and beautiful.
Another site
worth the 80 mile trek is Isla Isabela.
An overnight sail south from Mazatlan,
we arrived in the wee hours of the morning.
Just north of the island, four large grey whales were constantly
breaking the surface for air, moving closer towards Moorea, instead of the
normal behavior of submerging when they are close and moving away from the
boat. As the grey giants moved past
us, the comparison of the boat size to their length and bulk surrenders
feelings of respect and awe for this creature.
Anchoring on the
east side of the island, next to the two spiral rocks that give added
protection from the ocean swell, there are millions of birds that habitat
this island, according to our cruising guide.
Frigate birds, Blue Footed Boobies and Pelicans are the rulers of this
land. An abandoned bird conservatory
building, a mass of decaying cement, sits on the south side of the island and
provides refuge to the few biologists camping next to the structure. Also sharing the living space with the
birds is a fish camp with red tinted metal shacks, housing the
fisherman.
Stepping onto
the island, one realizes this is bird territory with paths surrounding it for
easy access to bird watching. Walking
along the trail, spotting huge amounts of white bird droppings across the
path, we look up to find three nests in a short shrubby tree with fledglings
staring down at us and their squawking mothers. At this point, I am very happy that hat is
on head. In fact the birds are so
numerous, there wasn’t a place we could look and not find a bird. Fascinating to watch these Frigate birds
and Blue Footed Boobies in their habitat, reluctantly the time had come to
leave for another destination. Puerto Vallarta was our
next stop, with the goal to meet more cruisers planning to head towards the
South Pacific.
Sailing across
the Pacific for the Marquesas Islands is
known among cruisers as the “Puddle Jump” or “Crossing the Puddle”. A 2700 mile passage to the islands from
Puerto Vallarta is a common jumping off point and cruisers set up seminars to
provide a wealth of information on radio net “check in” frequencies, best stores for food
provisioning, etc.., but the best part of the seminars will be meeting other
cruisers making the same passage. This
will give us reassurance that Moorea will not be the only boat on this
massive amount of blue water. This
crossing will be our longest passage to date.
Leaving our
cruising grounds of Mexico,
we are accustomed to the lay of the land and will be introducing ourselves to
French Polynesia and all the new rules and
languages entailed in the Polynesian culture.
One can get comfortable with the known and can find it difficult to
break away, but the desire to cruise and experience the differences is
stronger. Since our passage may take
30 plus days, we will spend our time in Puerto
Vallarta preparing for the voyage. I also have a friend, Cyndi visiting us
this week and we plan to play around the bay before we get down to work for the trip. Our expected departure date is
Mid-March, at that time I will send out an email of our departure.
Take care and I
will leave off with our corny motto:
“May the tide be
with you.”
La Kelly
Some
experiences and thoughts on Mexico:
While in Mexico
I have been diligently studying Spanish from my Barron’s Learn Spanish book
given to me by a co-worker. (Thanks Bill!)
Having taken beginner Spanish in high school & college, the vowel
pronunciations and verb tenses come back quickly. Most mornings spent reviewing chapters
like, “How to get a hotel room” or “How to catch a bus”. Concentrating on words and phrases until
the accent is mastered and the speed is perfection. Now ready to try a sentence or two on some
real Spanish speakers, we go to shore armed with a Spanish phrasebook for
Latin verbal reference. Eager to
practice my new linguistic skills, the first opportunity (victim), is a woman
working at a beach side café near our anchorage. Blurting out, “Podemos aqui nuestro panga?” which I hope came out as “Can we
keep our dinghy here?”, but what I most likely said was, “We can here our
dinghy?”
Of
course I should back up a bit. Before
torturing a local with my lingual gift, I give them a BIG smile and a
greeting just to indicate no malice, only good intentions to their language. Surprisingly my victim nods and said, “Si” (yes). Now that I know I can be understood. With more confidence, I brace up for the
next linguistic assault.
Needing
to know where the bus will pick us up to go to town, I spill out the words as
rapidly as possible, attempting to sound more authentic and fluent. Upon completion, there is a puzzled look in
here eyes. So now I desperately repeat
my previous sentence but slowly and with hand gestures flying around my body
to communicate my needs. She was
intelligent and because she picked out a few comprehendible words and gives
the directions to the bus stop. From
her sentence I was able to pick out bus
and road as she pointed toward the
east. Again thankful for her
assistance and exhausted from the verbal exertion, we purchase two cokes, sit
down under the palapa (palm lined
roof) and look over the anchorage to Moorea.
Sitting there I contemplate which Spanish phrases I will test on the
unsuspecting bus driver.
Besides asking
for directions, another talent acquired has been shopping for food. In the larger towns there are decent sized
supermarkets, but in smaller communities there are mostly mercados, similar to farmers markets
or tiendas, small grocery stores
which mainly supply the rural areas.
Since a tienda is tiny and
only offers a limited variety, one would find many tiendas through out the
town and some are homes with a room acting as the store front. Some stores will specialize in fruit and
vegetables, another may offer staple items.
The stores are so specialized here that to find a paper envelope; I
had to hunt down a Papeleria (Stationary store). If we are craving meat, the best place to
purchase a steak would be a Carniceria (The
butcher shop), which don’t be surprised to see a pig or heifer’s head in the
window.
Other oddities noticed
have been the eggs. They sit out in
room temperature and sometimes the price is by weight, not by piece. Believe it or not, but most cruising
boaters prefer their eggs not to be cold since refrigeration space is
limited. I keep my eggs in a cool spot
on the boat, which is near the water line.
Cheddar cheese is very hard to find, so when at port in large cities
like Puerto Vallarta
we stock up on items like this from the newly opened Wal Mart.
Walking around
the towns there is a glimpse into the lives of the locales. Most homes are very small, some are
maintained well with bright vibrant exterior colors of orange or yellow and
others are drab squared shapes with tin roofs and cinder block walls. Graffiti appears on many buildings and dirt
roads are the norm. Very common to see
abandoned, decaying buildings and litter in the streets. Wondering how much labor is paid, we heard
the minimum wage was going to be raised to 48 Pesos per day which is roughly
$4.80. I have not noticed homeless
people sleeping in door ways here like I have in Seattle.
But in the larger cities, there are pan handlers just like in any
major U.S.
city. Families are important here and
are often found walking around town together, gathering around their patios
for dinner or playing at the beaches.
Witnessing the lifestyle, I know I am blessed being born in the U.S.
with all the opportunities available to me.
I am more aware and appreciate these advantages but also I am learning
to be content with my wealth in comparison to the less fortunate.