Nativity Scene

A Mexican Christmas Tree

Well as I write this on the last day of the year I reflect back to the year that has past. We followed our dreams. It has been very exciting but with it has come some sobering events.
Just this week we learnt that a boating friend Doug Flynn from Campbell River had died in a boating mishap. Overcome by carbon monoxide while fishing. If you have followed the blog for the past couple of years, he was the gentleman with a voice like a canary. He reminded me so much of my Grandfather. The world was a better place because of people like Doug.

As usual Christmas came and went quickly. Alanna arrived on December 20th. To celebrate her birthday the next day we invited some fellow boaters over and had dinner. Afterwards we dingied into town where Santa and his very young, sexy looking elves were in his sleigh on top of a Coca Cola lit truck. Santa was throwing candy out to the children chasing the the truck.

We wondered around the busy streets observing the locals picking up Christmas gifts. We wondered up to the Cathedral to find out what time Mass was on the 24th. My espanol was not great as I could not get the word Mass across. The pronunciation AGAIN! Finally they figured out what I was trying to ask. It was fun but I'm sure they were thinking GRINGO. I am trying to speak the language while giving the locals great admiration by not bursting out with laughter at me.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Mike, Julie, Mike and Jacquie. We had a delicious Lobster dinner than a long game of Mexican Train. ( A domino game ) We did not make it to Mass after all the effort trying to get the information on times. Tequilla was making its rounds and a few people felt the effects, but fun was had by all.

Christmas morning we opened our stockings and gifts, missing RJ but proud of the man he has become. He spent his Christmas working for a fellow firefighter so he could spend the morning with his young family.

Christmas found us hosting Christmas Dinner. The dinner was a pot luck meal. 8 different boats attending. 16 people in all.

We decided to take a road trip and rented a car. Alanna, Ken, myself, Jacquie and Mike ventured out out to Ciudad de Constitucion then Magdelaina Bay.
Constitution city is located 211km north of La Paz, in the heart of the agricultural valley of Santo Domingo. City Constitution comes with colonization of the valley in 1940, in what was a ranch called "The Cruise", seated at a crossroads. Around it, gradually settling families were to become the hub of trade and passage of the settlers in the valley.Thanks to this agricultural prosperity and formed the city, which for many years, people continued to call "The Cruise."
Now I finally found a person that enjoys Cemetaries as much as I do. Mike. We found the cathedral of the city and then searched out the cemetary. Wow! They do take their cemetaries seriously. But then again they do celebrate The Day of the Dead. We saw a Moluseum that gave us quite the insight to the people who died and the people that survive them. There had been 4 family members that had died. Grandparents, young boy and a 21 year old who had won many Baja Car races.
We had comida (lunch) at a road side restaurant. Pollo(chicken), salad, drink, fries for $3.00 each.
The town square was decorated for Christmas. A nativity scene that was unbelievable. All lit up in the evening. A gathering place for the locals.
We stayed in a very nice motel under construction.
The town is bordered to the west by the Pacific Ocean. The next day we continued to Magdalena Bay. San Carlos, the large port height Comondú, is a site of great natural beauty and excellent climate. Receives the annual visit of the gray whale, and hundreds of tourists from all over the world come to watch this unique spectacle. The islands of Margarita and Magdalena, with its white sand dunes, which can be seen simultaneously from the sea and the bays of Santa Maria Magdalena are open to ocean. The island of cormorant ducks with their resident and migratory colonies from Canada were quite the sight. The estuaries and mangroves are hurricane holes and also where we picked up our panga ride for the day. We spent 3 hours touring the bay. We went to a sea lion rockery, examined whale bones, walked on sand dunes and just had a great day.
The following day Ken and Alanna took a snorkeling tour where they swam with the sea lions. Alanna saw the Dorado's her Dad is catching and was quite pumped. The sea lions come right up to you to be petted.
This evening we are going out for dinner with other boaters then coming back here for a game of Dominos. We want to be inside at midnight as the custom here is fireworks and GUNS! They shoot their guns in the air. I do not want to be near live amo.
Tomorrow we take Alanna to the airport. The following day we will be heading South across the Sea of Cortes to Mazetlan. It will be a 40 hr. crossing.
The pictures have been added to the photo album. A new album will begin for the South Mainland Portion.
We have many friendst hat wish to visit once we are on the mainland.
Happy New Years to all and may your lives be filled with joy this coming year.

Celebremos la Vida. (Celebrate Life)
Every day there is a fiesta in Mexico! It is a very rich culture with colourful traditions, rituals and ceremonies that never fail to amaze. On December 12 the festival day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated. It is a national holiday. Unfortunately like us the mighty dollar is taking over and all the stores were open taking over the importance of the day. This date celebrates the apparition of the Virgin Mary, with brunette skin, to a native Mexican boy name Juan Diego. The faithful gather at the churches to sing a traditional song dressed in native wear. There is much dancing, singing and fireworks. This is the beginning of the posadas. (Parties)
The practice of posadas began as an effort of the Spaniards to eliminate the customs of native Mexicans to worship their pagan gods and to substitute their traditions with catholic celebrations. At the winter solstice, with the mass, there were representations of the nativity of Jesus on earth. These celebrations grew outside the church substituting popular songs for the religious ones.
Nowadays, between Dec. 12 and Dec 24, families and friends gather to honour this tradition. The people sing carols, break a piñata in the shape of a star with seven points (one for each original sin) and celebrate with much music. The music begins around midnight and goes until sunrise. There are fireworks going all night long.
We decided to get a little bit of quiet and headed over to La Paz’s Islands. Isla Espiritu Santos and Isla Partida. These scenic islands are close to La Paz and contain a variety of popular and picturesque anchorages. They provide excellent diving and snorkeling. The islands are volcanic in origin. They are a designated park site so the wildlife has been maintained here. We made the decision to go to Ensenada de la Partida (Partida Cove). This cove is a volcanic crater between the two islands.
Red lava boulders dotted with cordon cactus circle the white beaches and turquoise shoals. Very beautiful. There were several panga shacks along the beach. Caves are seen throughout the rocks.
We were taking in the sights when Ken noticed a splash. As we observed, it was a sea turtle about 2 feet in diameter. I am now starting to question going into the water. I have seen flying Manta Rays, sharks, sea turtles, and urchins. The cruisers net the morning we left informed all us newbie’s to watch out for baby sting rays when in shallow water. We are to shuffle our feet not just step down on the ground. This scares them away and prevents the sting! Should you get stung you are to put the body part in the hottest water you can tolerate. If a sea urchin gets you find a guy and pee on it! Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyways.
We took the sea kayak down and I spent time checking out the shore. During high tide you can go though a reef and get over to the other side of the island. The swells on the other side seem to be more of a challenge than I wanted so I turned back. Julie and I enjoyed our kayak trip together without the guys just talking. It is nice to have a couple with similar tastes. They dive and it would be nice to be able to do that as they see so much down in the water.
We have now come back to La Paz getting the boat decorated for Christmas, doing last minute shopping and anticipating Alanna’s arrival. We have ordered a chocolate cake for her birthday. No piñata however.
Our plans are to attend a Christmas Eve pot luck with other cruisers then attend a church service. We won’t understand what is going on but we don’t in Canada either so what difference does a language make? We really want to experience their traditions. Christmas day will find us opening our gifts then having several other boaters here for a Christmas pot luck dinner.
The next post on the blog will be after Christmas so we wish everyone a wonderful Christmas with your families and friends.

Life in Paradise has its ups and downs. This week would prove to be ours.
We arrived in La Paz with water as flat as glass. We picked a Virtual Marina. What this means is that the marina has no docks. Just a dinghy dock. There is wi-fi (sometimes, if you sit in the corridor of the building), washrooms and showers (which we don’t need as we have on board) and an advertised swimming pool (not). Now we decided to stay when we arrived because it was cheap (retired you know), and it is downtown therefore easy to get around without taxis. We grabbed a mooring line and attached. We just hope the mooring anchor is in good shape.
Well the anchorage is so close to downtown that we have stayed up until 0400 hr every night listening to the disco, bad mariachi bands and the occasional good group. It seems when the music is done the roosters begin to crow, the dogs begin to bark and finally the church bells begin to ring. Who goes to church at 4 in the morning? After 7 days of this I resorted to ½ a sleeping pill that was given to me by a fellow boater. If you know me you know I do not like taking any pills. I figured when I wanted to stand on the top deck and yell NO MAS NO MAS, POR FAVOUR, not to mention jump into the water, it was time to take some measures. I slept well only to be awoken by approximately 15 vehicles with sirens and a new boat for the Port Captain being shown off to the locals. It was a parade.
Ken proceeded to wash out the dinghy as it was coated in sand from the previous locations. It was about at this time paradise decided to give us a few tests. Ken fell and hit his chest while twisting his upper body at the same time. It knocked the wind out of him and the colour left his face. I grabbed ice and put it on the chest then radioed over to Mike and Julie to come over. Julie is a nurse and brought her blood pressure machine. Luckily, Ken only got bruised and not broken ribs. It reminded us all just how easy it is to get hurt and it might be in a remote area.
Next came the boat Issues: the battery charger packed it in. This means that the batteries are not recharging therefore the inverter can not be used (unless the engines are running) and it is our main form of keeping the freezer frozen. The generator now needs to run to draw down the freezer. It is very noisy inside the boat. So … the next thing to act up is the generator. Ken now has to climb in and out of the engine room so the sore back is not getting a chance to heal. West Marine is sending us a new battery charger and it should be here by Friday.
Our flat seas turned into Northers. This is a strong north wind of 30 knots, too bumpy to take the dinghy to shore, unless you want to get real wet. We rode these out for 4 days.
We got wet as I had decided to attend Spanish school with some other boaters. So every morning off we went. Ken was in pain getting over to the dingy dock but he did it.
There were 11 of us taking classes. We were split into two classes, ours having 5 persons. This was a good refresher course for me but I didn’t really learn anything new. I am just hoping it helped my pronunciation. Practice is what is needed. I may take classes again but I will have them evaluate me first as it is expensive to not learn new material.
Ken and I have not really had any time to go explore as he hasn’t felt up to it but he is now on the mend so off we will walk and the next blog should have some information in it.
Now we have heard that the temps in Calgary will reach -30. They are +30 here. Its just the mas or minos.
Until the next blog.

Americano Home Mexicano Home

We will sorely miss Wendy and Wayne, their company was treasured. We learnt lots from them and enjoyed the entertainment.
Away from the marina we went……. Traveling in weather to date the worst since leaving Vancouver. We had heard that the winds would be 15 knots from the south which would give us a nice push. Actual fact we had 30 – 35 knot winds on the nose, north winds causing 10 – 15 foot seas for a short time. It’s not dangerous just uncomfortable. We lost our tarp and hatch cloth cover. Ken had to go tie a rope around the anchor to stop it from coming off its holder. A bungee cord just would not work. All the time I’m praying a 15’ wave wouldn’t come and knock him off the boat. Practicing man overboard in those type of seas are not something I really want to attempt.
Even under these conditions we fished. Ken was rewarded with his first Dorado. The Dorado is a beautiful fish in the water. They are blue, green, yellow coloured with dots along it. As soon as it is out of the water it starts to lose its brilliant colours. They taste wonderful.
When we were planning this adventure many years ago we were dreaming of sunny days, warm nights, white sandy beaches with us snorkeling and swimming in the warm crystal clear waters. Well we have fulfilled that dream.
We arrived at Punta Los Frailes and we’re the 2nd boat here. Julie and Mike from Crystalys left a day ahead of us and will remain here for about a week with us. We hid behind Punta Los Frailes to stop the wind from hitting us. It worked well. The following day the anchorage filled with more boats complaining about the sea conditions.
We finally did our first dinghy landing in the surf and the dinghy wheels worked like they were suppose to.
Ken, Mike and Julie went snorkeling along the large rock and coral. Ken said it was like being inside your own private aquarium. The fish would come right up to his hands. Mike and Julie swam along side 2 sea turtles. I on the other hand played in the surf. I don’t think there was an orifice I did not get sand in. The back deck of the boat looked like a gravel pit when I took my bathing suit off.
We walked the mile long beach and looked at the existence of the Mexican people. Concrete shacks. Then we observed the opulence of the Americans, Canadians and Europeans homes. Most of these fancy, large homes used for a very limited time a year.
We are now swimming in the water and enjoying the weather. This is what we miss being Canadian boaters.
After 4 days the boats that have been on our daily SSB net began to arrive. Many were just names until now. Many left Canada at the same time as us. It looks like we will all be in La Paz for Christmas.
We continued to Ensenada de los Muertos (Cove of the Dead). The Canadian boaters all got together and went in for dinner. We spent just the one night here. We have reached far enough up the Sea of Cortes that the swells of the ocean have subsided. This allows us to land the dinghy without the surf.
The next morning the flotilla of boats continued up the sea. We had a wonderful day in the flat calm seas. We are the only powerboat amongst this group. We have to keep reminding them that they too are powerboats 90 % of the time as they have no wind.
We have arrived in La Paz and plan to spend the month in this area checking out many coves and awaiting Alanna for Christmas.