Home on the range....

Eileen preparing the feast for the 6 cats, of which the one on the floor managed to eat as often as we were not looking.  Koa is on dinner restriction when the cat food goes down.  Robert on the phone looking for car parts - he had saved some upgrades, repairs, for the US and did everything in Eileen's driveway.  The HOA and the neighbors think the white van is loaded with Clampetts.



George and Gail in Green Valley and tired Bobbie.  When they left Az., we really missed them and have kept in touch through emails.  It was wonderful visiting with them- as if the time between had not happened. 



Carolyn, Robert, Eileen, and Debbie:  I kept wondering why the plates looked familiar and the salt and pepper shakers.  Seemed we had a lot of garage sales here.

Part of being in Arizona is seeing friends and sleeping in the best bed ever at Eileen's house.  The dog and cats have a truce of sorts, with Cleo and Sammy thinking that Koa is a big play toy.  Catching up with friends helps rid me of the ache of missing them when we are wandering around on the ocean.  I asked Robert what did we do when we lived here.  Carolyn quietly responded, "you did this" as we sat around our old table, eating at Debbie and Harold's house.  Yes, we spent time with friends.  And church.  It is difficult to feel patriotism when the wars are in places like Afghanistan and Somalia and such, when we hear words that the newly dead died for our freedom.  Ok, they support our freedoms, but what the hell are we doing in Afghanistan? Yet, hearing the Navy hymn sung at the end of the service yesterday brought goosebumps.  We need reminding sometimes that our young are being sacrificed to support freedoms, whether or not we agree with the foreign policy.  I was miserable at Arlington, thinking that we don't seem to learn from history, and seeing all the graves, thinking of all the sorrow.  I would hope that we will learn, soon, that the transformative love we hear about in sermons can help heal our world.

Photos from on the road.....

Walking down to Laguna Santa Maria from the house we were given ---it might have been great to stay but the resort was loaded with kids, who were unstoppable with noise.



The giant banyan trees around the lake



We arrived in Mazatlan in the afternoon and were looking for the trailer park that was listed in our tour book - nada, but found this one empty and noone around.  We found bathrooms, a building with chairs on the ocean and settled in, thinking we had found paradise.  The "owner" showed up at 10 pm and wanted $35 - drunk.  We paid and left the next morning, thinking that paradise had a price.



Enormous surf in Mazatlan - could not get beyond the first break.

Laguna Santa Maria

We are now in Scottsdale at Eileen's house where the best bed is located.  We are doing boat projects, legal projects - irs, and medical...and having some fun with all the cats.  But as my camera decided to go south and not open the lens, we have had to transfer photos via chip to retrieve the shots taken from Laguna Santa Marina to Mazatlan.  And we will probably be shopping for another camera.

Still on the road.............

The church at Laguna Santa Maria - a bell to call to service is hung in the giant   banyan  tree.  The lake is protected by the actions of a local hotel owner who managed to get all the property owners around the lake on the same page- it is clean and clear water.   Pretty astonishing - we felt we could have been anywhere else in the world than in Mexico.  More photos when my camera gets fixed.  The road down to the lake, which is in a caldera, is for macho types who don't whimper at thousand foot cliffs at the side of the road.  Fires had been set by the locals to clear underbrush so it was smoky and hazy.  A school group was at the hotel grounds, rioting until midnight - we left the next day. Not that we don't love children, but that they distoibed the peace, doncha know?



In Hawaii, this is a Royal Poinciana - in Mexico, Tabuchine.  Beautiful. And made me homesick for that avbsolute curve in the road in Kailua where the turn down towards Lanikai is dressed with the flame trees.  We are at Rancho Acosta in Alamos, where we had been years ago - this is my fourth time here.  It is peaceful, lovely, beautiful pool, and outside the silver town of Alamos.  Many Americans have moved to the town and renovated the historic buildings, some from the 1600s.  Buildings, but from the look of some of the residents, perhaps them, too.  We were beset with flies as the Rancho, while a lovely place to stay, also is a working ranch and the field next door was full of cows.



The buildings are built up above the street - can't walk around looking up as you would trip over the different levels and  get hurt.  This is pretty typical - the doors open into courtyards - great fun to explore.  Walls along the street are interspersed with ancient doors, wonderfully carved or beat up slabs of wood.  There is a sense of  delightful things hidden inside those doors, or simply life lived out of sight.



Alamos has two squares, and instead of proper names, they refer to them as the "other square"....and you don't know which one they refer to.  The more restored part of the town is around this square.



More Sayulita



nature paints Main St.



We really did think we were leaving today to do some exploring in the mountains, but are having too much fun.  We manage the buggy nights by spraying down with "Off" and hope that the critters leave us alone.  Our morning beach walk had Koa racing around with the local pack, except for a rude Sharpei who decided that his wrinkly self was going to be the boss.  He didn't understand English, but decided that Koa was biggger than anything around and he kept his pride and took off.    Right now it is very peaceful as the season pof all the desperate cold northerners has ended and until July, when the Mexicans are out of school, we have peace and tranquility....until the French Canadians decide to play volleyball.  We walk the beach eat wonderful fresh food, read, and swim in the not too wild waves.   The vendors thought we had dropped from the sky - so we helped the local economy a bit.  Next week, peanut butter.



Sunset surfing



The guy who threw a net from the beach caught a lot more than this fellow - it may be possible that the surfers were out there 24 hours



Panga central - this area used to be an inlet where I got twisted, thrown and dumped by huge waves ten years ago



Sunset



A new beach town---on the road again

we say goodbye here to Pedro - the man at the harbor whose family we adopted; to Fidal, whom we would run into at Walmart and various places in town; to the family of our diver -----it means we were part of a community.  And it felt wonderful - there are other cruisers who never make the lovely connection to the residents of this lovely place - the people make this country wonderful.  Their work ethic, friendliness, helpfulness, and laughter really make our trip here something wonderful.  Not to mention the food - cocnut shrimp, ai yi yi.  We are right now in Sayulita - we made a great 40 miles north of NV and found a lovely shady camp/bungalow development on the beach.  Walking the beach last night was magic - dogs running free and what looked like a mob of sunset worshippers -The village has grown since we were here ten years ago - houses sell in the same range as in the US, but what a place to be - flowers everywhere, and some suspect plants, from the looks of some of the surfers.    We will be heading north, slowly - recuperating from the awful work of putting the boat to bed for a while.  We may be camping or staying in resorts, but are playing it by ear - or eye, if we find something fascinating, we will stop and explore.  Our friend Jon and some philosopher said that the journey is the destination.  Ok, but we still are looking forward to seeing friends and family.....but life is made adventurous with that attitude.

Sunset - Sayulita



my new office



De Colores



Wonderful tree - looks like an exotic hibiscus



Part of a hotel in Bucerias where the architect had a great deal of fun



A wall cover in Bucerias, the suburb north of Nuevo Vallarta



The real colors of Mexico - Pedro and his gang.  Not one damn PFD aboard, either.  Hosea is the one with the hat, and Adolpho (El Toro) is in front of him.  The older part of our marina in the background.



More Bucerias Hotel



A local river trip

Part of Pedro's family:  Adolpho -we nicknamed El Toro, Rosacrystal,  Natalie, Sebastian, & Daniel.  Hosea was trying to round up things for the trip to the river.  The kids just crawled in the car with Koa and decided, "let's go."

We had complained to Pedro about the heat and he said to come out to his house and he would take us to the river.  It was out in the country, fairly good unpaved road, and we drove through part of the river in the van to get to where there were swimming holes.  Koa instantly became an idiot, trying to round all the people up in the river, whimpering that they wouldn't cooperate.  While he loved the swimming, he was very frustrated that all his pack were in different directions.  The other Mexicans in the river just ignored his trying to herd them.



Looking upstream:  there was a huge current where  we entered the river, enough so it knocked me down and Pedro had to help me get to safer rocks and the deep spot.  The kids managed just fine, as did Koa - while I crawled the rest of the time.



La Familia - Hosea was divng off the rocks...seems that Vallarta adventures goes out there as there is a zip line overhead.

 The family has very little - yet they are quite happy.  It was wonderful seeing such open, happy kids - though dad works 12 hour days for about $18/day.  He is a great help on the dock and we will miss him when we leave, as well as the joy the kids express.

Tenacatita Dreaming



La Manzanilla - the little town of Tenacatita Bay

We had a great invitation to see Jon &and Lisa and sail south on MollyJ after a few days in Tenacatita Bay.  The priest and his wife  from our church snickered when we told them where we were going, saying, we would be stuck there for years having too much fun.  A week, and not stuck, but a wonderful  fun and a good break from  work  on our boat.  We went up the jungle trip and found a large lagoon, and what looked like a south seas village movie set in front of a beach.  We didn't go ashore as there seems to be some conflict as to who owns the beach, and we turned around and  the current raced us back  2 miles to our magic beach.  The first trip in, a sneaker wave had come up as we were making a gracious landing in the surf and dumped us unceremoniously and upside down  into calf deep water. Koa was so upset, that the whole trip, (had to row as the engine was dead)  back, he cried loudly.  He hates getting caught in waves and that dumping terrified him.  He practically crawled  up the side of  MollyJ in mid air but it was a relief to have the howling stopped.  At times in the jungle trip (second effort) we had to duck our heads to avoid getting hit by the mangrove roots.  No bugs few birds, but what birds we saw were elegant egrets and strange herons.

The Jungle trip:  the mangrove grew so narrow further on  that this tour boat had to turn around



One of five dolphins that entertained us:  one was named Chippy, with an obvious nick out of his fin, and he loved rubbing his body on the anchor chain.  I looked over one morning and he was flirting.



The best anchorage - can't tell the big sneaker waves.  1/2 hour across the bay from La Manzanilla.  This seemed to be a good camp spot for locals during Santa Semana.  The jungle "river" mouth is to the left and has a fast current.  Pangas go betweemn the rocks and carefully drive between waves to get to the river.



We drove down to La Manzanilla and found MollyJ in the bay offshore and arranged for a panga to take us out with all our gear.  The waves didn't appear to be too bad, but it turned out the panga man, bless his heart, was rowing - no engine, and a big wave dunked us.   We arrived onto MollyJ like drowned rats.  Koa was a guest aboard, and having been aboard before, was more than delighted to get the hell out of a boat that appeared safe, but got waves on board.  We had great food, movie nights and a short sail to the magic anchorage across the bay.



Inside our cove in the morning - looking south.  Haze and heat...and the water was so inviting, but there were jellyfish.  I was able to swim our first day there, or try to snorkel, but the water was murky.



We had the best anchorage of any that we have found.  Two boats came in, one named Nero, from Hawaii.  I only mention that as I took a shower on the back deck, and when Nero came into Nuevo, we loaned them gate and shower keys.  Either they are gentlemen, or they were watching the dolphins and didn't see the naked lady on MollyJ.  The watermaker on Mollyj had died so I was using a camp shower- which works great if a husband holds it up.  Robert grabbed the lifeguard and his seadoo and got a ride to shore at La Manzanilla to get the car and drove south to Barra de Navidad.   We sailed and arrived to find sticker shock for fuel and slip rent:  $2.60 a foot.  I don't think  so.   We arranged that MollyJ could stay on the fuel dock as Jon was tearing apart the heads, that had died, but there were rest rooms and a great shower at the top of the ramp.    We drove home, rested, happy and ready for all the work we have to do to get the boat ready before we head north - it is hot, muggy and sometimes buggy in Nuevo, but still one of the loveliest spots on earth.