November 3, 2012

Okay... it has been months since I have updated this blog!!  I tend to think of this as our sailing blog, and as the sailing season approaches I start to think about keeping this blog up to date. So here I am.
Since I last blogged in May, the time has whizzed by.  
When we returned home in March, my niece came to visit for a week and stayed much longer, much to our delight.  She has been a world traveller and Mexico was one of her stops.  As we had not seen her in about 2 years, this was a wonderful time to play catch up.  At the same time another friend spent a week with us and took our Astro van out of Mexico.  That involved some interesting dealings as she was buying our Manitoba registered van to drive through the USA to Manitoba but her home is in British Columbia.  The biggest problem was that the people who should have known the protocol didn't.  After many calls it was sorted out and she had no problems getting it back to her home.  
We spent the month of June in Manitoba visiting family and friends.  It was great to see everyone but I did not feel that I wanted to live in Manitoba.  That was good.  We drove both cars to Manitoba and thanks to my brother were able to sell the Vibe before we returned to Mexico.  The drive there and back is not something I want to do any time soon.  We had no problems on the drive but it is long and boring.
From mid July to mid August, we took care of our friends' dogs.  Having 3 dogs to care for was a new experience, and after the initial 'break-in' period for all of us, we enjoyed having them.  Patches loved having playmates, but of course there were spats. After they went home, our house was very quiet and Patches was bored!
During the summer,  we did some work on the house.  Here if you have a lot of wood in your house, insects love you. Every few years the wood needs to be treated and we had that done while we were in Manitoba.
Finally I bought a copper bath tub and Bob installed it (which was not without some technical difficulties).  It is installed and now I am finishing decorating the master bathroom.  After buying the tub, I went shopping for bath oils, bubble bath, etc, and cannot find anything like that in Patzcuaro.  Mega  and Costco also do not carry that type of product.  Most houses do not have bath tubs so I guess there is no market for these items.
The rainy season here this year lived up to its name.  In fact we are still having cloud and some rain.  During October we had weeks of very warm weather for this time of year (28C), but we also had some storms.  Now it is feeling like autumn and the deciduous trees are losing their leaves.  Nights are getting cooler but the days for the most are pleasant.
Bob has spent a lot of time working on the boat during the past months.  I have not seen the boat since March so I expect to be surprised when I go to Maz in about 3 weeks.   He has replaced the ceiling and we have had the sofas redone.  The old ceiling was stained and impossible to clean so the new white ceiling (which I can clean) should brighten up our living space.  Bob has also oiled all the teak. 
Some of you know that Patches has allergy problems.  He developed a nasty rash and was keeping me awake with the licking and scratching.  Off we went to the vet who said that he was allergic to grass!  It may be grass but I think it is some other plant that grows in the empty lots next to us.  He was put on prednisone and that has cleared up his problem.  Now I am keeping him on a low dosage until we leave for the coast.
Another new venture for me, and not nearly as hazardous as sailing,  this summer has been learning to play bridge.  It has been interesting and a real challenge but I now know some basics and enjoy the game.  I am very fortunate as I play with a group of very helpful and kind people.  We are all in different phases and that seems to work out well. 
Now I am once more enjoying the Day of the Dead festivities.  I had an opportunity to spend the night with a family from a village near Patzcuaro.  The day was cool and as the time to leave came closer I decided that I didn't have the energy to spend the night in a cemetery.  Now of course I wish I had gone.  NEXT YEAR!
But I have been to been to the market every day and most days I have made a purchase.  I do not know if it is my imagination but I find prices lower than last year.  Last year I felt that the prices were very high as compared to the year before.
In the little street where we live, 2 houses are being built.  One is under construction now and I check every day to see what they are doing.  The construction  is so different to what  we do in Canada.  First of all it is all done by hand.  Excavating, mixing cement, moving cement...manual labour.  They did us a machine to break large rocks (which they use for a foundation) and move some dirt but that was about it.  The up side of this type of construction is that it is quiet. 
Bob is in Mazatlan and should be home tomorrow.  He has been gone for 2 weeks and it is quiet in the house.  But of course the longer he stays away the more it seems like the norm!! 
Here are our sailing plans, if there is such a thing as a sailing plan?  We hope to leave Mazatlan the  beginning of December but it is all about the weather.  Again if the wind is from the right direction we would like to spend a few days in the little bay at Chacala.  Then it is on to La Cruz (near PV).  I enjoy La Cruz and we stay in the marina which makes life easy.  Great place to walk and lots of pleasant restaurants.  Then we have to navigate the dreaded Cabo Corrientes and will likely stop again in Ipala but only overnight unless we are tired.  Then a brief stop in Chamela and then we will be in Tenacatita Bay.  There we will stay for some time and move to Barra.  Where we spend Christmas is still a question but it will be either Barra or Tenacatita. 
Our most southerly stop will be Manzanillo.  Our plan is to return to Maz by the end of January.  February and March will be spent in Patzcuaro and then we head for the Baja in April.  Yes I am planning to be on the boat for 4 months in this season.  Sometimes this fills me with dread but I have to remind myself that I usually only have have 24 hr of real dread during the 2 month sail.  That is not so different than when we travelled with a truck and trailer.  During that period I usually had an anxiety attack per day.  Sailing for the most is better as when we are at anchor, I am very relaxed.  Another added attraction is that Bob cannot speed in a sailboat.  But the reality for me will be when we are on the water!! One thing I can say is that life is not boring!!