THE BEAUTY AND CULTURE OF MEXICO

Marilyn and I rented a car while in Barra de Navidad and drove inland for week visiting sights and small villages. The first place we visited was Mecca. No I didn't take a wrong turn. Mecca here in Mexico also goes by another name. The name of the village is Taquila. We unfortunately didn't have time to take a tasting tour so I was limited to one place where I tasted two types which were very good. We walked around town a bit and had a light lunch before moving along down to road to Lake Chapala. This is north of Mexico city and east of Guadalajara. This is reportedly the largest lake in Mexico. A friend back in California, Bea, has a condo there that she is renting out for now as she  studys if she wants to move there and leave California behind.

We walked around one of the towns on the lake to explore a street where there was a number of art galleries and then moved on to a town south of there where we settled in for the evening. The following day we went to a Monarch butterfly reserve to witness thousand of butterflies that migrated there waiting for warmer weather before flying north to Canada. A round trip that takes them 3 years. Joanne and I and our children saw the same butterflies in Pacific Grove, California were they stopped on their trip north.

Let me share some photos that we took during our tour inland that, as the title notes, the beauty and culture of Mexico become visible.

These are photos of some of the butterflies that we saw. To get there we had to walk about 2 miles and climb 2,000 ft. The locations was at an elevation of 10,200 feet. Surprisingly i was able to walk up there with much less effort that i had expected. I had to stop several times for Marilyn to catch up.

This young boy wanted us to talk his photo.

Beautiful flower arrangements at a market that we visited.

I had no idea what she was making but it sure smelled good.

Taken near the market where there were several wood carvings

Mayan ruins in the area. They were meant to be platforms or foundations for structures that were built upon them.

There is a town named San Juan that is now called old San Juan as the town had to be moved as the result of a volcano eruption that covered the town with lava. The only structure that is visible was a church. We walked through the lava with our sandals on. Not exactly hiking boots.

This is a photo of the town before it was destroyed. No one wes killed or insured as they had plenty of warning.

This is a photo of the church which now is buried in lava.

The volcano.

I enjoy looking at the many cathedrals that i have passes in the years i have visited many countries while traveling by land or sea. They are always beautiful.

I have no idea what this is meant to be. My guess this is, what we know today as Mexico, when it was taken over by the spaniards.

Lake Chapala

She told us to take a photo of the horses butt as it was nicer than hers.

Guess who?

Cathedrals during the evening.

Marilyn climbing the hill to see the butterflies.

Time to stop for a rest.

Carnival celebration.

My favorite wood carvings. That's me with the cigar.

Photos of the earlier ruins.

Waking through the lava.

I asked this lady if i could take her photo as i very much enjoyed her tiedyed shirt.

End of a long day sailing. Finally at anchor to rest.

Another couple sailed along with me. They took this photo of my boat.

Sorry, i tried adding a couple of videos taken during the trip but it failed because of the poor internet speeds here in Mexico. The internet down here goes by the name of go-slow.

I am currently back in Mazatlan after returning from my sail south. After revisiting friends here and doing some work on the boat i am going to throw off the dock lines and sail over to the Sea of Cortez and play around there for a few months. Then i return here again to put the boat away for the summer before traveling back to the states to visit family and friends.

My son and his family are driving down to Baja for a visit and i will be able to take my Grandsons out sailing. I can't wait to show off and enjoy their smiles when i let them steer the boat.

That's it for now.

until next time, be safe out there.

THE MAN AND THE SEA

Again I must apologize for not publishing a new blog sooner. As the old saying goes, "It is better late than never".

I returned to Mexico last November 6th. Dolce Vita was waiting for me and I had hoped she was happy to see me however this was not to be. I checked all systems before I left for California and everything was working. One would think that if something is left alone and not used that nothing would change but boats have their own agenda. I found four problems when returning to the boat and bird shit on the deck was not one of them. The starter was bad, the freshwater pump was bad, two lights no longer worked and the galley sink drain hose had come loose.

So what did I do in the heat and humidity for the first week of my return? I fixed stuff and cleaned. It was not what I would call a welcomed return. Such is life on a boat.

So I stepped back after everything was repaired and questioned myself about what I may have or not haved done to upset the lady. I discovered what I hoped to be the answer after reflecting on the last nine years with Dolce Vita. She had been working hard for be in all of those years and I had not spent the time, and more importantly, enough money on her, so I decided to dress her up so she could look better than the boats near her. The hope was that after dressing her up for the dance she would forgive me and hand me fewer problems. Is this not what we believe when we do this for our wives or girlfriends? Well I am here to report that this has not been the case. Problems continue but the sweet life still continues and for that I am grateful.

Enough of me crying in my tequila.

I threw off the dock lines again near the end of January. A woman, Marilyn, who owns her own boat and docked near me is having a number of things done on her boat and she asked if she could sail with me for a few months so she could pick up some more experience. Without a moment of hesitation I said yes. We have been together on the boat for more than a month and so far she has not jumped ship so I must be doing something right.

We are sailing south from Mazatlan along the mainland coast stopping along the way in small anchorages and major ports. The photos that follow should give you some insight into the life aboard a sailboat sailing the seas and visiting areas which can be best described as paradise.

Here she is waiting for us to sail away again.

Let me first introduce you to Marilyn who is crewing with me. She lives in Seattle and is a Medical doctor specialising in internal medicine and Emergency medicine working in emergency rooms. I can hurt myself and I have my own doctor on board. I might just do wild and crazy things while she sails with me.

Friends and ourselves took a bus to a surfing town near Puerto Vallarta and spent the day exploring the area.

 Here are some of the gang hamming it up during lunch.

You ask why I have such a big smile? Marilyn took me to a restaurant in Puerto Vallarta and she and I had dessert after a great meal. Mexican fried ice cream for me.

Back on the beach or should I note close to the beach?

Entertainment near our table on the beach.

Friends of ours whom we both met in Mazatlan.They are docked on the same dock with us and other friends. We all gather at 4:00 for the daily safety meeting

We thought it would be enjoyable to visit some of these creatures during one of our stops.

This is the marina we are in. The location's name is Barra de Navidad. The photo is of a resort hotel attached to the marina where we have full access.

 This is a photo of a bird's eye view of Barra.

Photos taken around town.

They were heard to say, "go ahead, we dare you to walk under us".

At one of our anchorages we took our dinghy together with friends up a small river through the mangroves. The entrance was shallow so the skipper had to get out and push until finding deeper waters.

It becomes very narrow in some locations. We didn't see any alligators.

The great white fisherman. Caught a skipjack which is bad tasting so I returned him to the sea.

Just so there is no misunderstanding. I don't alway tie my boat up to a five star resort. This is the toilet at one restaurant we ate at on the beach. There is a separate bucket of water that you use to flush.

This is called a raft up of dinghies. Everyone brings food to pass around among the boats. We tell everyone a little bit of our history as cruisers and some play instruments and share their talent as others sing along.

Who me? I don't know what you mean. It couldn't have been me. I wasn't there.

Finally, I can not end the blog without a photo of yet another beautiful sunset.

So long until next time and be safe out there.