Still in Barra de Navidad

When we arrived at our dock and saw Solastra, she was a sight for sore eyes! She looked better than ever! So clean and shiny… thanks to the help of a boat caretaker named, Pancho. He’d been keeping an eye on our boat while we were gone for the summer. He opened it up occasionally to let fresh air flow through the boat…in attempt to prevent mold, he cleaned the bottom when needed, and he washed and waxed  the boat and polished the stainless before we returned to the boat. He also retied and tightened her lines when a hurricane was expected. He did this all for a mere $30.00 a month. Such a deal! I was especially happy to see the stainless polished because this is usually always my job which is my least favorite thing to do….especially after being away from the boat for months! 

After getting inside the boat we were happily surprised to see no mold only minor signs on the hatches and no signs of cockroaches! We did have a leak in one of the portholes in the salon and a bit of water damage just under the window. But not too much of a surprise since there had been some real wet rainy and windy storms over the summer and even a hurricane or two! 

The weather seems to be quite a bit hotter and intense than we’ve experienced so far and very humid! Not much of a breeze at the marina. But the upside is this Marina is connected to a beautiful resort, The Grand Isla Navidad that has been around since forever and has a gorgeous outdoor pool to cool off in!  

Since we got on Solastra, we have cleaned the inside of the boat and have done the usual putting together what was taken apart at the end of last season. All has gone fairly well, except for two of our heads. Both needing new pumps. Seems like every year we are replacing toilet pumps. And, they are not cheap!

As everything was shaping up and we were pretty much done organizing and ready to leave, we saved the best for last, putting up the new sail! Rick pulled out the crinkly crisp new sail out of the bag, which looked amazing. FX sails did a very nice job. (We had ordered this sail over the phone). As Rick started to attach the sail to the halyard, he realized that the headboard was on backwards! When he told me I was taken aback, wait…what?! He confirmed that the headboard was indeed backwards and we could not use the sail the way it was. So, he tried a few different things trying to fix the situation using a drill, but he did not want to make matters worse and stopped. So now what do we do? We could not mail it back to the states and have it fixed within a short amount of time or with little expense! So we frantically looked online for a sailmaker or sail repair place nearby. We found two in the Puerto Vallarta area (a 4-5 hour bus ride). PV Sails was one in La Cruz, which our cry for help by phone and email was never returned, so we scratched them off the list. That left us down to Ullman Sails in Bucerias. We had received positive feedback about Ullman when asking around, so an email was sent explaining the situation. Same evening I received an email back saying that they could "absolutely" help us and they would have a one day turn around. Hallelujah! Sailing was back in our near future! So we rolled up our crinkly crisp new sail and put it back in it’s sail bag, put an overnight backpack together and went to PV the following morning. We had planned on taking the Primera Plus bus to Puerto Vallarta, but Arturo (Pancho’s brother in law) just so happened to be going to PV to pick up some people at the airport the next day. So, he said he would go a day early to take us for a fee and to pay for his hotel. We agreed and went with him.

The car ride was great. I was initially thinking I would have rather sat on the bus not having to really talk to anyone except Rick and just enjoy the scenery instead of having to make conversation and struggle with my Spanish. But it was actually quite enjoyable! Arturo was patient with me while I practiced my Spanish and he would practice his English. It was especially cool because I found myself remembering more Spanish than ever before, not just the words for things, but actually putting them into sentences. Rick was in the back seat enjoying the scenery mostly and not interacting in the conversation much because for one, he is hard of hearing and two his Espanol is a little limited. A few times he would try to enter in the conversation and Arturo would look at me with a puzzled look on his face wanting me to translate. 

We talked about many things…the usual, how long have you lived here, how many children etc. But he mostly talked about how excited he was for his daughters upcoming 15th birthday. The Quinceanera, which is a celebration basically marking her passage from childhood to womanhood. It’s a big fiesta in Mexico and in other Latin American countries! First there is a mass and then an elaborate party. Arturo explained that he has invited 400 people to attend. He has already rented the space for the event, tables, chairs, etc. His wife is preparing the decorations and flowers. There will be lots of food…many courses, music until 2 a.m…first with a DJ and then with a band or visa versa. Then there is a many tiered fancy cake. The cake alone is very expensive he said. The daughter wears a big “poofy” dress which is also an expensive item. Arturo proudly showed me a couple of pictures of his daughter wearing her special dress. She looked like a princess! He even extended an invitation to us if we are around in February on the 15th (which is also the day they celebrate Valentines Day in Mexico…not the 14th like in the U.S.). 

While Arturo was telling us about this event, all I could see were $$$$$! So, I asked him if he had to have a similar party when his daughter is married? He said, NO! In Mexico, the husbands family pay for everything when the daughter is married. But, he said, he has two sons which he will have to pay for their weddings!

The drive from Barra to Puerto Vallarta is a gorgeous ride, driving through lush jungle terrain and occasional glimpses of the ocean. Once we got to Puerto Vallarta, we had to go a bit further into Bucerias…maybe thirty minutes longer to get to Ullman Sails. Google took us on a wild goose chase through dirt roads and farm land. Finally we found the place around 5:00pm. and they close at 5:15p.m.  Jason at Ullman sails greeted us and had his crew get right to work on fixing our sail. He said we could pick it up around 10a.m. the next day.

From there, Arturo drove us to Zaragoza (marine supply store) where he needed to get a few items and we picked up a couple zincs. We made a brief stop at the bus station for the next day to purchase our tickets ($41.00 for both of us, including a sack lunch…such a deal!). Next stop was taking us to the hotel where Arturo was also staying. It was inexpensive, clean, had air-conditioning, and close to downtown. No sooner did we get into our room we were out the door to find something to eat. We had gone all day without eating so whatever was the closest was going to be where we would have dinner. After a mediocre meal, we decided to take a long walk, which we did. We walked a long way until we reached the Malecon. Once on the Malecon we walked as far as we could go. The Malecon was lively as usual…lots of people out and about! After getting our fill we walked back to our hotel, which seemed a lot further away than when we first set out. Once our heads hit the pillow we were out, despite having our room balcony overlooking the loud and busy main street below. 

Bright and early in the morning we joined Arturo for breakfast in the restaurant downstairs right next door to the hotel. Very good! Rick said it was the best breakfast he had had since we first arrived in Mexico. We were excited to get back on the road and to go pick up our sail. So off we went back to Bucerias. We needed to get there, pick up the sail and get back to the bus station by 10:30, mostly because Arturo had to pick up his next passengers who had just flown in from Texas the night before and then drive them back to Barra. 

The sail was finished and fixed when we arrived at Ullman Sails. The price to fix the sail was unexpectedly high…$280.00 U.S to be exact. But at least it was fixed and the turnover time was immediate, and we could now sail sooner than later.

Arturo

Getting our sail back

Happy campers

We were dropped off at the Primera Plus Express bus station around 11:00a.m., said goodbye and thank you to Arturo and waited for departure to Melaque at 12:30p.m. Just before boarding the bus, Rick plopped the very heavy sail down and made sure it was loaded onto the bus, next we approached a woman employee from the Primera Plus handing out free snack bags along with a soda or water before we got onto the bus. Inside the bags was a croissant sandwich and a chocolate cookie. Rick chose an orange soda and I, a water.  Upon climbing up into the bus which was near empty, there were plush velvety seats, with lots of leg room. A tv screen, headphones and a place to plug in your computer or music of your own were on the back of each seat in front of you. I could not get over all of the space between each seat. You could recline it all the way into a sleeping position if you’d wanted to. Except for the tv on the back of your seat might wind up on the person’s lap behind you. There were bathrooms at the back of the bus which was comforting for me to see. Funny thing about the bathrooms were the toilet seats. The seat was in an upright position (as a man would leave it…lol), so you had to lower the seat before sitting down. But if you let go of the seat which seemed to be spring loaded, slammed back to it’s upright position into the wall. So imagine trying to get your pants down with one hand while keeping the other hand holding the seat down. It took me several tries and a few slams. I would giggle to myself each time I saw a woman walking down the isle towards the bathroom oblivious to what was awaiting her. And I would giggle again as I would hear the loud slam coming from the bathroom envisioning their confusion and frustration. 

Primera Plus Express Bus

Plenty of leg room

The bus ride was very comfortable and I stared out the window the entire way enjoying the scenery. It was nice to be able to look out of a window that you didn’t have to duck or weave around someones head to be able to see out of a tiny window, as you would on an airplane. The window was the full length of the bus!

Almost 5 hours later after a few stops picking up and dropping off passengers, we made it to the bus depot in Melaque. Once off the bus, Rick drug out the large sail bag from down below and I hailed a cab. We took a quick 10 minute ride to the water taxi in Barra. Next we hopped on a Panga over to the marina. 

Next morning, before doing anything, we hooked up the sail, put in the battens, greased the cars and raised her all the way to the top. It was very exciting. Everything went smoothly. This is the first time we have ever had a brand new sail in the 10 years we have been sailing on any of the three sailboats we have had. We will be curious to see how much better Solastra will sail with a crisp new sail.

Our friend Jeff and his crew had Ziva in the slip docked next to us arriving the night before, while we were away and they left later that afternoon. They were headed straight for Zihautenejo where they will spend a couple of months. It was nice to have a friendly group next to us where the catamaran previous to theirs arriving, was more like a battle ship. The couple on the boat were fighting loudly at least two times a day. Mostly the loudness was coming from the man. He was very rude and would tell his wife to “shut up” in every octave there is. Shut up…SHUT UP…shut up!!!….shut up shut up shut up! He called her an idiot and told her how she had ruined every minute of every day. Blah blah blah! At first we were a little startled and were waiting for the woman to jump ship immediately. She never did! Each new day she was still there, head down looking miserable. At times they talked softly to each other without arguing and we would think things were on the mend, but there would still be the screaming matches with the same rhetoric later that night. I managed to strike a conversation with the woman one evening while taking a walk. I was hoping to be someone she could open up to and share her grief. She was soft spoken but friendly and she told me her story of living on the boat continuously for 5 years, how frustrating it was and that she was “done”! She and her husband were going back to Puerto Vallarta to possibly sell the boat. I was surprised she talked at all after having someone telling her to “shut up” for who knows how long. The last morning they were here, as I was getting off of our boat and I saw her in the cockpit of her boat, I blurted out a friendly hello using her name. She barely looked up and a little bubble of “hi” floated out of the side of her mouth almost as if she were afraid her husband would know that she had spoken to me. Later that afternoon, Rick and I came back from a walk, and they had gone.  

So in the afternoon of January 16th, after getting our sail raised and taken back down, and covering it with the sail cover, we decided to take a swim in the pool (our first since we arrived in Barra) and eat lunch poolside. It was a nice afternoon. Later that night we took the Panga into Barra for dinner. We met some very nice folks on our ride who we ended up eating dinner with along with about 10 other people we didn’t know but were introduced to. We ate at a place called Miriam’s which is a little restaurant set up on a side walk with plastic tables and chairs, where a man is barbecuing meat in an old rusty hubcap, blackened from years of being cooked on. Whatever he was grilling smelled delicious. We had walked by several times before always telling ourselves we should try it some day. Well that someday came and the food was as good as it smelled. We also enjoyed talking to the couple that invited us along listening to their stories of traveling places that we were interested in going.

Miriam's

Back at the boat, I talked Rick into playing Dominoes out in the cockpit with me. He won and kept reminding me he was winning throughout the entire game. I didn’t lose by much though! A couple of hours later after getting into bed, Rick complained of cramping in his stomach and of not feeling too good. A few moments later he told me I’d better go sleep somewhere else because he was going to be sick (the bathroom is connected to our bedroom right next to the bed and the only privacy that can be had is by a shower curtain). Say no more! I jumped up and out of bed, grabbed my pillow and attempted to sleep on the couch in the Salon. Poor guy! The sounds that were coming out from the bathroom were haunting. I lay awake shuttering waiting for illness to strike me, since we had had the exact same thing at dinner. A lot of praying went on through out the night asking God to “PLEASE don’t let me get sick!” (Of course I was praying for Rick to get well but definitely being selfish asking not to get sick as well). God was good, and the sickness did not attack me. He wasn’t as gracious to Rick who was up all night sick as a dog. I was up as well trying to sleep but my mind was racing with what if I get sick too or how am I going to handle things with him being out of commission for a while. And sometimes when things got quiet I went to a really morbid place and went over Rick’s eulogy in case he didn’t pull through from the food poisoning, dehydration etc. All of the thoughts left me restless…sleepless.

The next morning, we had made plans to get a ride to Manzanillo (1 hour away) to get provisions with Arturo. So I went solo without Rick. After telling Arturo Rick esta enfermo, he offered to take him to the hospital. But I declined knowing Rick would be ok in a day or two and knowing Rick would NOT want to go. So on we went to Manzanillo. Again, I practiced my Spanish along the ride. I was sort of running out of Spanish words since I think I used them all up on our four hour ride to Puerto Vallarta, but somehow I managed a few more. 

Arturo took me to Sam’s Club, Walmart and Home Depot. Then we came straight back to Barra with quite the car load. The trunk and back seat of his car were jam packed. 

Back on the boat Rick was still hanging in there, one eye opened as I climbed into the boat, still lying in bed out of it and still having some residual sickness from the night before. But at least no more vomiting. He did manage to help me bring all of the provisions from what I put at the companionway, down into the boat and brought them into the galley. He then slithered back into bed and back to sleep. I had to force him to drink water or electrolytes. He did so begrudgingly. Fortunately, I mentioned to a couple that we know on a boat docked here that Rick was sick and they gave me some Fast Acting Immodium to give to him. This did the trick! His stomach settled down and he was able to sleep all night long without any trips to the bathroom. 

This morning I awoke from the other room and went to check on Rick. I was pleasantly surprised to see both of his eyes were open and he had a little color back in his face. He was hungry! He had already snuck out of bed and grabbed a banana while I was still asleep and asked for a piece of toast and he would try some peppermint tea. Coffee was definitely out of the question! He climbed out of bed and actually sat up for a while to eat. Then his energy vanished, he went back to bed and back to sleep. He got up again an hour later, took a shower and sat on the couch next to me while I was on the computer. Finally the sitting up was too much, so back to bed and back to sleep. He’s just wiped out! But I AM seeing progress and so planning a burial at sea is not necessary anytime soon! 

After a few delays since being here, we only have an idea of what we might be doing this season. One idea is to head south, make as many stops as we can to Zihautanejo and Ixtapa, maybe Huatulco? We just don’t know. Hopefully we can get out of here soon. Stay tuned.

Barra

The View Restaurant in Colimilla

Sunset at the Marina looking out onto the Lagoon