Tues. – We hopped on a bus and headed to the cruise ship docks in PV and the little restaurant we had picked to meet the folks. They were on the lovely Sapphire Princess ship, which my Dad says was just completely renovated inside and beautiful! We all hopped on a bus and went back to our Marina/Resort. We showed them all round the beautiful grounds, including the tigers & birds. We had a lovely time sitting in the cockpit chatting, opening my birthday presents (early) and watching all the activity that goes on in this area. Then, we had lunch at the Vallarta Yacht Club, which overlooks the estuary and the marina. We had a lovely time, but had to send them back to get on the ship. Both my Mom & I forgot to take pictures we were so busy catching up. Got some pictures of the ship though :--), even got pictures of the ship leaving the bay, from the breakwater wall at the entrance to the estuary and from our beach at the resort. We met two really nice couples that were vacationing at the resort together while we were on the breakwater wall. After talking with them for a while, they were interested in taking a tour of Journey, so we had them over for some snacks, beverages and a tour. We’ve been eating out so much, we decided to eat simple aboard tonight.
(The bus trips with Mom and Dad remind me that I wanted to say a few things about the buses down here. The short and sweet of it is that they are a wonderful, inexpensive and efficient way to get around. They come in all sizes from vans to big highway buses, ages and states of repair, colors and personalities. Most common are the medium size – about a small school bus size. Everybody and their grandma rides the bus. It’s a wonderful tapestry of people. Occasionally, musicians get on and play for tips, sometimes just for fun.
Fares here in the Banderas Bay area are based loosely on distance and range for a short trip – 6 pesos { $.50} to the longest – 16 pesos {$1.35}. Taxis for the same trips would range from $15 to $40. The driver decides the fare, I’ve had the same trip range from 8 to 13 pesos. They drive with great zest and at times with what seems like wild abandon. My personal favorite is going completely into the oncoming lane to avoid the speed bump on their side of the road. Tailgating, sudden lane changes and rapid start/stops are the norm. Stand up at your own risk. They stop anywhere along their route to let you on or off.
By the way, they love their speed bumps down here. They are everywhere, from highways to dirt roads. Made from steel domes, concrete, heavy ropes and wood they will pop up at you at any moment, sometimes singularly but many time in groups as high as a dozen or more.
It took us a while to get into the buses, never used them in La Paz, got slowly introduced to them in Mazatlan and have embraced them fully here in Banderas Bay. We seldom use any other form transportation, including for picking up the parents, bringing them to the marina and their return to the ship. They are that reliable and timely. Reliability and timeliness comes from frequency, we have seldom had to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus and if one dies you just hop off and get on the next one. – D)
Wed. – Since this is a resort and we can use it, we decided to “do in Rome as the Romans”. We spent a lovely day at the pool reading and swimming. Nice and relaxing! We had been told about this restaurant in the mall called the Brasil Steakhouse. There really wasn’t a menu here, which we were confused by at first, until we experienced the service. They put bowls of various condiments & salads on the table with an empty plate in front of you. Then they come around with hunks of meats of different kinds on skewers (chicken, sirloin, filet, ribs, arracherra and more - with a new one showing up every few minutes - D) and slice off a hunk for you to eat. What an interesting concept which, we were told was quite common in Brazil, but since we’ve never been to Brazil we haven’t experienced. Super yummy!
Thurs. – Back to La Cruz anchorage for us today. Yay! We love the anchorage here. After being at “the dock” for a couple weeks, it is nice to be back out here. It is much quieter, peaceful, cooler with the afternoon winds and more private. We got situated here within the fleet of boats, had some dinner and waited for the afternoon winds to die down to take the dinghy into town. Tonight is karaoke night at Café de Huanacaxtle! You know what that means ;--)………….. Yes, I got to sing! Oh Boy! Oh! I won the contest this week! I get some kind of light I have to go back and pick up later. Woo Hoo!
Fri. – Oh Boy! My birthday! Dick is studying for his General Ham license test which comes this Sunday, so I spent the day alternating between cleaning the boat, reading, playing computer games, talking to friends and family on the phone, responding to e-mails & Facebooks well-wishes, and getting ready for my dinner celebration tonight. I had a nice surprise from my Sissy Yvonne & her husband Tom, who gave a gift to Dick in November when they visited to give me on my birthday. So, I got to open that and two cards from them while I was on the phone with Yvonne. I will wear the beautiful amethyst necklace and ring to dinner tonight. We got together with our friends on “ShantiAna”, Bill, Keene & Shanti, to go back to the restaurant we went to on Valentines Day, Pacifica. When we got there Mizzy & Brian, the brother & sister couple from the boat “Alegria”, were sitting at the bar waiting for us and wanted to “crash” the dinner party. So, we were a party of seven for yet another FABULOUS dinner. Shanti made a cake for the occasion too, so the restaurant was kind enough to serve us all pieces of it with a candle to blow out. The same fabulous trio of guys was playing beautiful flamenco music too! We stopped by “Anna Bananas” to see if they were having decent music, but it wasn’t that great, so we went on back out to the boat. It was late anyway. It was a lovely birthday.
Sat. – Dick is studying furiously for his test, which is tomorrow. So, another day of various tasks and self-entertainment for me. Really, a nice quiet day on the boat.
Sun. – Today is the big day for testing and Dick is sharing a ride in a van to the Vallarta Yacht Club with a few other folks who are also taking their tests. I took him to the marina on the dinghy at 7:50 a.m. to catch the van at 8:00. So, I had one of those rare mornings on the boat to myself. I also am going to visit the Sunday market again so I can get some more of that Peach jalapeno jelly!! I had to return the cake pan to Shanti, so I took the dingy over to their boat at the dock. They are preparing to go back to Seattle for a week on this coming Tues. We will miss them! Dick got back from his testing and passed with an almost perfect score! Congratulations to him! He is now an official hamster! (Yeah – D) We chatted with the “ShantiAna” folks for a bit and then went to the market. We also made reservations for next Sunday to take an overnight tour to a small, old mountain mining town called San Sebastian, with about 600 inhabitants. We’re going with a group from Philo’s, at this point about 85 people and includes the house band. They take over the town. The trip includes lodging, dinner and breakfast and a fire light jam session with the band. Should be great fun! Stay tuned…….
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