SAN VINCENTE, Nayarit, Mexico - Move over public storage, here's the Mexican answer to high priced storage units.
We rent one half of a bedroom in this home about three miles from Paradise Village, sharing space with several other cruisers who wanted to get things off their boats - usually because the boat is up for sale.
When we stopped by the other day (when this photo was taken) several neighbors came by and said if we provided the paint, they would paint the house. The grafitti on the side of the house apparently says some pretty foul things.
But the price is right $20 per month.
mjf
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Violinist makes a big splash in PV and on the Net
PARADISE VILLAGE MARINA, Nayarit, Mexico - Most nights, in the small shopping mall next to the marina, we have music of one kind or another. And this young lady played wonderfully for several hours two nights ago, serenading the hundreds of Mexican tourists who have filled the resort for 'Semana Santa,' Holy week.
This morning, when I uploaded the photo, I received 23 hits within the first five minutes it showed up on my photo website, 'flickr.com' - more than the photo of Paris Hilton.
Hard to believe how many music lovers are lurking out there, cruising photo sites.
Today I head out of Paradise and back to Sacramento for a few weeks. I have a pit stop in San Diego to drop off a cable at the rig shop and to have dinner with amigos at the Silver Gate Yacht Club.
And there will be a little politicking, too, as I hope to land a slip for Sabbatical at the Yacht Club - where the rates are about one-third of commercial marinas.
It will be nice to be back in Sacramento zip codes, but dang, I will miss that violin music.
mjf
This morning, when I uploaded the photo, I received 23 hits within the first five minutes it showed up on my photo website, 'flickr.com' - more than the photo of Paris Hilton.
Hard to believe how many music lovers are lurking out there, cruising photo sites.
Today I head out of Paradise and back to Sacramento for a few weeks. I have a pit stop in San Diego to drop off a cable at the rig shop and to have dinner with amigos at the Silver Gate Yacht Club.
And there will be a little politicking, too, as I hope to land a slip for Sabbatical at the Yacht Club - where the rates are about one-third of commercial marinas.
It will be nice to be back in Sacramento zip codes, but dang, I will miss that violin music.
mjf
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Just turn left at the Whale's tail and you are there
29 March 2005
MARINA VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - There are whales and there are whales but outside the entrance to Marina Vallarta, located mid-way between Paradise Village and the Zona Romantica in downtown Puerto Vallarta is this life-size sculpture, high above the pedestrians and autos.
You can see it for miles as you approach.
We took a sojourn yesterday to Marina Vallarta and a boating supply store called, quite appropriately, Desperado Marine, to find some chemicals and other assorted outrageously expensive stuff for Zephyrus and Sorsha (Ever pay $35 for a gallon of oil?). Sabbatical is out of the supply market until son Dustin (aka 'Polvo') returns from his Baja bash. He's currently at anchor off the beach at Cabo San Lucas waiting for a good weather window to move north and help deliver Serendipity to San Diego. On the ham radio a few minutes ago, I heard that Wednesday they hope to leave.
Next to Desperado Marine is the Opequimar Boatyard, a very modern facility under the watchful eye of the beautiful yard manager Anjelica (pronounced An-hel-eee-ca) who unfortunately was taking her siesta/lunch break when we came by to check on prices for dry storage for Zephyrus. But I'll make another trip by today. Any excuse to visit Anjelica...|
In the meantime I'm closing down my Mexico office and will return to Sacramento and smog this week where writing assignments and mi amigos await. Work on all writing stalled on the tracks but will go better when I have fewer distractions and no boogie board calling to me. But then back in Sacramento, it is kayak season now on the fast-flowing American River which is right out my back gate. With all the rain, the dam keepers (as opposed to the damn keepers) are letting out a vast volume of water, turning the normally placid American into a boiling rage of of a river, complete with rapids. And my kayak just needs a quick clean up, a little wax on the bottom and I'm ready to rock 'n roll on the river.
Could it be? Could it be?
You bet.
Surf's up in Sacramento.
Cowabunga!!!
mjf
MARINA VALLARTA, Jalisco, Mexico - There are whales and there are whales but outside the entrance to Marina Vallarta, located mid-way between Paradise Village and the Zona Romantica in downtown Puerto Vallarta is this life-size sculpture, high above the pedestrians and autos.
You can see it for miles as you approach.
We took a sojourn yesterday to Marina Vallarta and a boating supply store called, quite appropriately, Desperado Marine, to find some chemicals and other assorted outrageously expensive stuff for Zephyrus and Sorsha (Ever pay $35 for a gallon of oil?). Sabbatical is out of the supply market until son Dustin (aka 'Polvo') returns from his Baja bash. He's currently at anchor off the beach at Cabo San Lucas waiting for a good weather window to move north and help deliver Serendipity to San Diego. On the ham radio a few minutes ago, I heard that Wednesday they hope to leave.
Next to Desperado Marine is the Opequimar Boatyard, a very modern facility under the watchful eye of the beautiful yard manager Anjelica (pronounced An-hel-eee-ca) who unfortunately was taking her siesta/lunch break when we came by to check on prices for dry storage for Zephyrus. But I'll make another trip by today. Any excuse to visit Anjelica...|
In the meantime I'm closing down my Mexico office and will return to Sacramento and smog this week where writing assignments and mi amigos await. Work on all writing stalled on the tracks but will go better when I have fewer distractions and no boogie board calling to me. But then back in Sacramento, it is kayak season now on the fast-flowing American River which is right out my back gate. With all the rain, the dam keepers (as opposed to the damn keepers) are letting out a vast volume of water, turning the normally placid American into a boiling rage of of a river, complete with rapids. And my kayak just needs a quick clean up, a little wax on the bottom and I'm ready to rock 'n roll on the river.
Could it be? Could it be?
You bet.
Surf's up in Sacramento.
Cowabunga!!!
mjf
Monday, March 28, 2005
Big melons and assorted produce stories
MEZCALES, NAYARIT, Mexico - The fruit stand in Mezcales, a few miles north of Paradise Village Marina has fantastic produce, including this pile of melons.
The local grocery stores have good - and cheap - vegetables and fruit, too. But these outside markets get the stuff right from the fields, sometimes picked within an hour of showing up on the shelves.
The odd thing is that many gringos are leery of buying the fruit from these places, preferring to go into an air-conditioned supermarket, where all the fruit looks like a magazine advertisement (and is sometimes actually shipped in from the U.S. and isdays old).
Go figure that one.
Here vegetables all get soaked in an iodine solution (when you get them back home) to sanitize them. It might not be a bad idea in the states, too, but we somehow trust that the stuff is clean when it comes out of a Safeway.
But there's an irony in that, too.
A lot of the produce in U.S. stores, particularly in California, comes from Mexico.
So there...
mjf
The local grocery stores have good - and cheap - vegetables and fruit, too. But these outside markets get the stuff right from the fields, sometimes picked within an hour of showing up on the shelves.
The odd thing is that many gringos are leery of buying the fruit from these places, preferring to go into an air-conditioned supermarket, where all the fruit looks like a magazine advertisement (and is sometimes actually shipped in from the U.S. and isdays old).
Go figure that one.
Here vegetables all get soaked in an iodine solution (when you get them back home) to sanitize them. It might not be a bad idea in the states, too, but we somehow trust that the stuff is clean when it comes out of a Safeway.
But there's an irony in that, too.
A lot of the produce in U.S. stores, particularly in California, comes from Mexico.
So there...
mjf
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