So I thought I was doing OK with the fishing thing…then I met this guy,
Yeah, my biggest fish so far is about 15 lbs. My first question to Marcus was “So what do you do with it!?” Being as Mexican Airlines has a weight limit of about 50 lbs, they might charge a slight overage for a 500 lbs fish and that’s a lot of fish to eat in a week. Marcus’ answer is that the sport fishing guides allow him to take as much as he can eat, then they donate the remainder to a local orphanage. So everyone wins, except for the fish. He pretty much lost when he upchucked his lungs. Which, interesting side note, is apparently normal for them when they are suffocating or so I’m told.
On less disgusting note, we went out for a little Mexican baseball. We stopped for some tacos on the way and John showed us an example of cruiser technology at its finest.
Now as for the baseball game. Look, baseball is baseball. People throw balls, people hit balls, bases are stolen, you know the drill. What makes baseball interesting (at least to me) is what goes on around the games and in Mexico, a lot goes on around the games.
Does the local dodge dealership need their own cheerleaders? Really?
The highlight of the evening though were the fans. The drunk fans. The drunk, very spirited, extremely supportive of the home team, CANADIAN fans.
Notice that guy in the back wearing the blue polo? We started cheering “fear the deer” a few minutes before the video and he called out to us
“en espanol!”
To which I replied
“but then it won’t rhyme!”
He nodded sagely as if this argument made any form of legitimate sense…or maybe he just had no idea what I said. Either way, between guacamole hot dogs, the Pacifico girls, and drunk Canadians, good times were had by all.
Having arrived in San Carlos, Tiffany and I left the ship and headed off to new adventures. This time is a bit different because Tiffany is heading to Florida and eventually the French Caribbean to teach a sailing class. Yes, people really pay people like Tiffany to do such things…never heard about this at career day huh?
(Greg got to do some awesome stuff while I was away, I’m sorry that I missed it! Although, I must say I would not have given up my trip either… Hmm, can I be in two places at once the next time? My one and only trip to Mazatlan was on the Coast Guard Cutter MUNRO back in 2001 as a cadet, and that was only for about 2 days. ~ Tiff)
So that leaves me with a month of time on my hands and all of Mexico to cause trouble in! I decided to head back down to La Cruz because that is where a lot of boats are getting ready for the Pacific crossing so perhaps we’ll find a boat to work on.
On my way down though, I needed to make a stop off in Mazatlan to see our friends on FLY AWEIGH and offload supplies. Evidently, Allan & Alison have a mild addiction to rice milk, raw walnuts and ginger candies, and asked us to pick some up from Trader Joe’s when we were in the States.
As thanks for schlepping their groceries half way across the country, they offered me the option to hang around with them for a few days. So now I have a month of time, all of Mexico in which to cause trouble AND a means of escape from local authorities…this is going well…
We started our visit with what I can only say was a truly tourist experience.
Speaking of tourist experiences, here is a popular one in Mazatlan I wish I had missed out on:
We got together with a bunch of other cruisers for a wine tasting where I discovered that John and Mary-Ann of s/v OLD MOON apparently have knowledge of Mexican wine! So I present to you our next “wine of the world”
And yes, yes I said “we decanted in a blender.” We’re on a ship. Sometimes you have to improvise and hey, now you don’t have to buy a decanter to have aerated wine at your own home!
After a few bottles of our blender wine we got into a debate on whether or not beer could be used as a life saving device. Don’t ask me how, we just did. As a former Coast Guard Officer I lent my expertise to the conversation but no one was satisfied until we established incontrovertible evidence through rigorous scientific experimentation.
At the end of our evening Rod, the guy I met in San Diego playing a ukulele, decided to entertain us with a little diddy called “the yacht club song.” Which, if you’re a sailor, you’ll either find extremely funny or highly offensive.
Just in case you were confused as to exactly in which country the port town of Ensenada is located, the local government has provided the below useful guide for your convenience.
A quick overnight transit has us back into Mexico and, oh yeah, remember how Tiffany is the captain this time around? Well, guess what being captain means…Spanish paperwork! Luckily Ben was on hand to lend some help with his amazingly portable Spanish/English dictionary. Bring your magnifying g glass.
After checking into the country and grabbing the rest of the crew’s celebratory first Mexican meal, we pulled out again and beat feet for the heat of the south as fast as possible. On our trip down the coast we encountered some new sea creatures and some old friends decided to drop by as well.
Once we had our sails set and were running comfortably Ben decided not only to step up to the plate of high seas fishing and deliver the goods, but to also do so with a striking sense of local culturally appropriate style and a little help from yours truly.
I think I’m starting to get the hang of this fishing thing. Still don’t know why anyone would want to take a whole weekend just to stick a hook in the water but the occasional excitement followed by free fresh sushi is always a plus. I am even beginning to develop my own preferences with fish handling – which led to an interesting conversation onboard.
Look, the way I see it, the fish is gonna die anyway, so why not make it quick? How about you, where do you stand? Are you the bash & slit type or do your prefer your food to strangulate to death? Kinda puts that sushi restaurant you were thinking about eating at for dinner in a different light huh?
The seas started to kick up again our second day underway which provided me an excellent opportunity to show you yet another little aspect of the sailing lifestyle: the galley strap. You may not have thought about this but just because the entire ship is leaning over several degrees and it’s impossible to stand up in the galley to cook doesn’t mean people are willing to wait for their food. This strap is one of sailing chef’s best friends.
Imagine a world where you actually have to have a plan to be able to use your kitchen when the entire world has fallen off its axis, because it often does. That is the world in which I choose to reside.
It’s not all work and no play down here though; we all manage to find some time to enjoy ourselves (as if playing dodge the anchor wasn’t fun!). First off, we held an assortment of teamwork exercises, which met with varying levels of success:
I also managed to break away for a day to spend some time with my friend Otto enjoying that most exciting of uniquely American pastimes: Disc Golf. What is disc golf you ask? Heathen! Take golf, remove the clubs (which are expensive and heavy and no one likes anyway) and the ball (which you’d probably only loose) and add in their place…Frisbees! (And not just any Frisbees, SPECIAL Frisbees… ~ Tiffany) As we demonstrate below, they are just as hard to control as golf balls, way easier to find, and overall just way more fun!
Mind your head and no dogs allowed, unless they are an established pre-agreed course hazard.
The crew went out to a dinner which led me to this new part of the blog: wines of the world.
As many of you know, I like wine and one of the things I really wanted to do on this trip is sample different wines from around the world and report back to you what I find. That way I would know what to order when I get home and you all can get some wine recommendations from exotic locals that you can pick up for yourselves. I mean, come on, how cool would it be to have some friends over for dinner, calmly stride over to your wine cabinet, and say to your friends “Shall we open the Mexican Cabernet or the Tahitian white tonight?”
See, I’m all about you looking good.
Well, so far Mexico has been a complete bust and not for lack of looking. They make beer & tequila and import most of their wines from the US or Chile. I have nothing against Chilean wine mind you, it’s just that I’d like to taste a Mexican wine in Mexico. I’ll keep looking and for now, I managed to find a decently priced really tasty red wine down here in San Diego.
I should take a moment to describe Tiffany’s and my wine tastes. In whites we heavily favor sweet over dry. Ice wines are right up my alley and personally, if they would just ferment the sugar I would drink it. Tiffany’s not as into sweet as I am, however she really avoids the dry stuff. In reds, we prefer a smooth taste with a minimum of bitterness in the aftertaste. If that didn’t make any sense to you, don’t worry about it. I don’t either. The only way to figure out what you like is to start tasting.
For this project, I will also focus my attentions on wines that you can actually afford to buy and ship and not feel bad about. I love a good bottle of expensive wine as much as the next guy and, having lived an hour from Napa valley and except for the extremes of the spectrum on both ends, I often find that the price and the quality of a bottle of wine rarely have anything to do with one another.
Finally, the day of our departure back to Mexico arrived and we made ready to get underway. As part of our final preparations, we all went out for a final American lunch. As the final meal for what could be a very long time in my native country, I believe I made the right choice.
…and Michael, don’t worry, I had Chick-Fil-A the night before for dinner.
Tiffany & I received an offer to come back up to San Diego, help prep a ship for a Pacific crossing and bring her down to Mexico. We figured an REI run would probably be a good thing anyway, so off we went!
Once again Mexican transport did not disappoint
…and we wonder why all our jobs are overseas?
Upon our arrival aboard we moved the boat to the police dock for the final on our ship’s inspection, preparations and final provisioning. Not only were we rained on, not only was it freaking COLD (acclimate to Mexico much?) and the United States seemed dead set to ensure our return did not go, to use an overly appropriate turn of phrase, “unmarked.”
For this particular voyage we have the pleasure of working with two other crew members: Ben & Jurgen. Both of them are a lot of fun and Jurgen is a native German who flew in for a few months of sailing. Now you may not know this about me, but I have a long standing love affair with the German language. Have you ever heard someone talk in German? It sounds like someone discovered the sound of awesome and just decided to make an entire language out of it! Never had the chance to hear German? check this out:
Why oh why did I study French in High School!?
We had a crew meeting and Tiffany was elected to serve as the ship’s captain because as an ASA instructor and a licensed 100 ton master, she was the one with any official paperwork (see what happens when you go out and better yourself? You get to rule over your fellow man and crush them under the thumb of oppression! Stay in school kids!)
After going over this boat with a fine toothed comb, the four of us dove into the two week process of the final preps for getting this ship ready to set sail. I could bore you with details of food inspections, EPIRB shopping, damage control kits, rigging work and sail repairs…or I could just toss up this montage that includes me finding poison ketchup and almost getting clocked by an anchor. I think we both know which option is the one you’d choose.
Our adventure with tiny busses continues with a video I called, “I guess it’s cheaper than building a gas station…”
Is it bad when you step off a tiny bus into a tinier village and immediately realize that you’re lost in the middle of a rural area in a country that you’re basically unfamiliar with looking for something that you can’t describe to locals due to your lack of higher-level language skills?
Leaving the GPS on the boat was probably not the best plan. Not that we knew the GPS coordinates of this place to start with. Good thing Tiffany speaks some Spanish. However before talking to the locals and finding out where the heck we are, she was so inspired by our recent church explorations that she decided to give us her personalized musical lyrical accompaniment to that well known Catholic tradition of the ringing of the church bells.
We did eventually find a bus that would take us up into the mountains and to the butterfly sanctuary…a transit that I would describe overall as ‘harrowing” to say the least and that answered my unasked question of “why haven’t I seen any roller coasters in Mexico?”
It was worth it though. As I said in an earlier post, I was not expecting much from this butterfly sanctuary as I had spent a few years of my childhood living in Monterey, CA. Which is a town known for its annual Monarch butterfly migrations. What I did not know is that all those Monarchs from Monterey get together with all the other Monarchs from all over North America, all over the entire continent mind you, and they all hang out on this random hill in Mexico for a few months every year. Words like “massive swarm” are not commonly applied to butterflies…in this case though, the word does not adequately describe the sheer volume of Monarchs on this quiet hill in Mexico. No one knows how many are actually here but the best estimates place the number between 7 and 20 million butterflies. Even those numbers do the place no justice in providing you a mental picture, so here is my best attempt with a video camera:
-Greg
(As we headed back toward the coast, we had yet another surprising bus experience…
What Greg has completely neglected to mention was the town of Patzcuarto (uh, I totally forgot how to spell this place…) where we could supposedly find those yummy coconut piles. No such luck. We spent a day bussing around and seeing the town and nearby area. I did have a delicious cup of yummy stuff that Greg totally did not appreciate.
We finally found the local cuisine that they’re famous for are their white fish, or Pescado Blanco. And, uh, we had it…
In order to get this questionable delicacy, we had to go to an island with a big statue in the center of it that looked like he was the main character from the movie “Undercover Brother”.
And we had to CLIMB ALL OVER! It was a crazy steep island! There weren’t any streets, just paths, and they ALL HAD STAIRS!
On our way to this mythical island, not only did we get lost (how hard can it be to find an island in the middle of a lake! An island you can see!), we got to make new friends!
I was telling Greg about why burros have a cross on their back (donkeys don’t, just burros, they’re special). These little animals were honored by God because one of them carried Jesus as he entered a town, forever earning them their special mark.
We finally got to where the ferry was, and were serenaded by a mariachi band on our way to the island. Definitely a unique experience.
In summary, here’s what I thought of Patzcuarto, the island and it’s lake:
~ Tiffany
(Two final notes we learned from our road trip into central Mexico.
1) Public bathrooms in Mexico require a certain degree of pre planning to ensure a user friendly experience.
2) Not all of Mexico is tropical, especially the parts 8 hours inland through mountains.
Making money: Morellia is a place where some Mexicans come to be tourists, which was a refreshing experience for Tiffany and I because, as you might guess, most of the tourism industry of the coastal cities we had visited up to now operated on a single premise: gringo = money. So this town included us as visitors without overwhelmingly targeting us as ripe chickens ready for the plucking. A word here should also be said for the Mexican entrepreneur. Perhaps it has to do with less industry or infrastructure in Mexico, or maybe I notice it more because I own a business myself. Regardless, I have found that Mexicans, as a people, seem far more entrepreneurial than people in the United States. By that I mean it is not as unusual for someone to make their living here by working for themselves (be it street taco stand, selling ponchos, or painting boats) as it is in the States, where the average person works for someone else. One thing about entrepreneurs, no matter what language they speak, they are always looking for an edge on the market. This guy found one that really impressed me:
Living life / culture: For those of you who have been following the blog, you will remember that I have on a few occasions encountered the giant mutant bugs of Mexico. Here, yet again, is another installment of “bugs the size of my hand.” I have no idea how these people live coexist with these things.
Also, we’re in Mexico, they do football here and Morellia has a very large student population (think like Boston, a very large town that also happens to contain a lot of universities). Apparently the local team, the Monarchs (remember why we came out here in the first place?) won a big game while we were in town:
The saying in Morellia is that “all roads lead to God.” Which is a literal truth here because just about every road in the downtown area passes about 3 churches before ending at another church. You could spend months going to daily mass here and never have to go to the same place twice. The city’s symbol is the twin spires of the cathedral located in the center of the city, which is a truly epic building. You have to give it to us Catholics, we know how to build a freaking house of God that lets people in the next tri-state area know where they can come to talk to the big man.
We managed to show up in town while a local cultural festival was in full swing and were lucky enough to catch a dance practiced by local natives (as in pre-Spanish influence) called “the dance of the old men”, where the dancers dress up as – guess what? – old men, including masks with wrinkles, and bust out some crazy tap dancing skills. I don’t know the history of the dance, and it sure was interesting to watch! (It was supposed to be in Patzcuarto though! ~ Tiffany)
(What may not be so obvious is that the 2 farthest away in the video couldn’t have been much more than 10 years old! ~ Tiffany)
It was hard to rip ourselves away from this fun town in the middle of Mexico but the butterflies are supposed to be out there somewhere and Tiffany is dead set on finding them.
-Greg
A few days between boats and nothing to do with our time? Grab your bus passes kids ‘cuz it’s time for a road trip! Tiffany heard tell of a mythical place far into the center of Mexico that held a monarch butterfly sanctuary. Now having been a first grader in Monterey, CA, I didn’t think there was much that could impress me by way of butterfly homes…I was wrong but I’ll get to that particular experience in a few posts.
Let’s start with the trip itself. Our plan was to ride busses from Puerto Vallarta (aka “PV”) to Guadalajara to Morelia (about 10 hours each way) and base ourselves out of that city as we attempted to find this mythical butterfly haven. Now coming from Northern California and with a good friend who lives in Texas, let us say I had a very firm perception of what I would experience riding Mexican busses. I was excited about filming a report that included surround sound chickens and me sharing a seat with a goat. As you will see, my assumptions could not have been farther from the reality.
Every US airline service CEO should ride a Mexican bus and when they do, they should bring a notepad. Kind professional staff, free meals, no hassles getting onboard, no questions on my bag being 0.2 kilograms over some arbitrary limit, free movies in transit…wow. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed. I mean, come on, the goat would have been cool. (Personally, I’m very glad there weren’t any goats. Chickens, now they would have been neat, or… well… at least interesting. ~ Tiffany)
I will sum up my experience of the majestic city of Morelia for you by tackling the 4 main parts of our time there: Getting Around, Adventures in Dining, Making Money, and Living Life/Culture. It may seem presumptuous to declare myself an expert in these areas after a 3 day visit, and I agree it would be. I didn’t come close to experiencing everything this city could offer. There was just so much there at my fingertips that I could walk out of my hostel and stumble over cool stuff, which is basically what happened.
Getting Around: Perhaps it’s because this city is the capitol of a landlocked region far from the United States – this town is an interesting blend of Mexican and European influence and it’s old. Because of that, the old town district has a very old European city layout, which in Greg’s book means narrow streets that won’t fit the average American car, along with big, beautiful, elaborate buildings crammed next to each other. So if you don’t own a car your two options for getting around are walking or micro buses. These little guys make up their lack of capacity present in the larger species by adopting swarming tactics.
It was not unusual to see packs of these guys roaming the roads looking for unsuspecting prey. Hopping a bus was a great way to get around but walking was also an amazing experience in and of itself. As you will see farther down this post, the real joy of Morelia is that there is something interesting around every corner and random encounters abound. The city itself is also very pedestrian friendly. They go so far as to provide you with a visual reference to let you know exactly how fast you should be crossing the street to maximize your chances for a safe arrival at your destination.
Adventures in dining: Look, as an American who can’t stand the mild sauce at Taco Bell Greg acknowledges that his particular palate may not be for everyone, but seriously folks, God did not intend for every piece of food on the planet to be spicy:
Speaking of Taco Bell, those fools have been lying to me for years…years I tell you! How might you ask? I used to tell people I like churros, much like a man trapped in a prison would say he likes the illumination that is cast from the ceiling lights of his otherwise dank and dismal cell. Take that man from the prison, place him in a sun kissed field full of tulips and baby bunny rabbits frolicking in the golden glory & radiance of God and the man’s perception on the overall enjoyability of the aforementioned florescent light fixture would likely decrease significantly. My friends, I have found that sun kissed field…metaphorically speaking. (Yeah, huh? Anyway, real Mexican churros rock! ~ Tiffany)
And should your taste buds demand a leave of absence, if only to once again experience the unrelenting rapture of that first bite from a fresh perspective…you can always switch hit with the other local desert we found:
And now let us turn our attention to the world of cruisers. La Cruz is an interesting place. A quiet little town that depended on sailing ships anchoring off the beach and the fishing industry, the town is currently going through a massive shift as condos are going up all over, a new multi-million dollar marina has recently opened its doors with over 100 slips and the quaint little town is becoming a tourist Mecca for people looking for a…quaint little town. Sound like an oxymoron? It is. The amusing part is it seems that the only people who are really miffed about the situation are the cruisers. Local business is booming, jobs abound – however all the sailors who came here are watching their little piece of Mexico become an industrialized tourist machine. So far, La Cruz has maintained some balance between old and new, but I’m not sure that will last, and who’s to say whether that’s bad or good?
La Cruz may be going big time but the spirit of the little town that was can still be found when you look in the right places. For example, the marina security system, while completely effective, also adds a certain local flair to the marina.
Needless to say Tiffany’s revived interest in water sports was hastily reevaluated. You’ll also never know what you’ll see while you’re walking the docks.
Have I mentioned most people go to bed on their boats with the hatch to the main part of the boat wide open? Seemed an appropriate time to let you know.
In addition to the wild safari adventures, La Cruz has an interesting announcement system.
These guys drive around all day broadcasting everything from political announcements to local radio to announcements that the propane truck is on its way. The propane trucks have the best music. Don’t ask me why this is.
I would be remiss to talk about La Cruz and not mention Philo’s. Pizza maker, local philanthropist, musician and former cruiser, Philo is a local deity in the cruising world, a heck of a nice guy, and his bar, named “Philo’s” is one of the main hang outs for cruisers in La Cruz. Cheep beer, friendly staff and good music make it a great time. Here is what a night a Philo’s is like when he brings in his band to play.
Leon’s up first on the washboard (he’s a retired school principal!), we’re not sure who’s playing the other stuff, and Philo’s sitting center stage with the electric guitar.
Not every night is out partying though, sometimes we stay in and cook a meal onboard. Here is Tiffany preparing a lunch and doing her best iron chef impression.
The Banderas bay is also one of the main areas that the sailing community gathers throughout the year so naturally they do races, events and what not. I could give you an introduction to this video on the race Tiffany and I participated in, but really, I think it speaks for itself.
Finally, for those of you who are jonesing for your dolphin fix, or wondering what dolphin poop looks like in the wild, we manage to meet both of your needs in this final video
