For the past week we have led a very boring life down here in paradise. We both got absorbed in reading and laying around doing nothing; so we have nothing to show for our non-labor. We skipped a cruisers’ pig roast put on by a businessman/mechanic who wants the cruiser business in Barra de Navidad. We just didn’t feel like putting out the energy to meet and greet dozens of people whose names we would forget until we met them one-on-one in an anchorage somewhere. So we slipped into town to a restaurant (Los Arcos) with some outdoor seating and internet service. As Sheilagh called our daughters on Skype ($.02 a minute through the computer), I caught up on the news and politics we hadn’t been up on for awhile.
It turns out that Sirius radio only advertises to cover the continental United States, and in reality we found that it doesn’t extend south much beyond Puerto Vallarta. So we don’t have much in the way of real news unless we are on the internet. As we sat there on the sidewalk we were entertained by several young children putting on a show with their skateboards for us. They were skilled, particularly with the new style that has the skateboard split into a front and back with the ability to move each separately. After awhile some older kids, noticing the audience we provided, came up and commandeered the two skateboards and did their own showing off for us. I guess every kid wants to be noticed for something.
A fishing shack in the Barra lagoon next to a fish farmOn Sunday we did more lazing around, planning to visit John and Kathy on “Batu” for some Mexican Train later that evening; so I could earn back some respect for the drubbing I suffered earlier in the week. A strong wind sprang up in the afternoon and continued until about 8:30 that night. In strong winds we’re not eager to leave the boat 1) in case the boat starts to drag the anchor and 2) because the trip in a dinghy from boat to boat can get very wet. We therefore cancelled with “Batu” and watched a movie that we had traded from them for one of ours. In fact we traded a number of movies with “Batu” and had looked forward seeing some of them.
We elected to head south on Monday morning to Bahia Santiago, which is about 20 miles southeast of Barra de Navidad. It is about a 4-hour journey and it provides access to two beautiful beaches that many visitors come to visit in the winter. We anchored off Miramar Beach and can look across at Santiago Beach. Bahia Manzanillo is the next bay to the southeast, which has the Las Hadas Hotel, where the beach scenes for the movie “10” were filmed. We visited Las Hadas last year and didn’t see a single gorgeous blonde female with corn-rowed hair running in slow motion down the beach. The resort looked like a dowager who had lost her bloom and we had no desire to return there this year. It also has a crowded anchorage, which doesn’t appeal to us.
That bay also has the large port of Manzanillo, where numerous freighters stop to drop off or pick up freight. On that side of the bay, in sight of our anchorage, we can see three large smokestacks that spew smoke and ash day and night. The prevailing winds keep the smoke at a distance, but the particles cause some cloud development that often obscures the sky in the southwest direction. Nothing like relaxing on a beautiful beach and looking across the bay to large smokestacks obliterating the sky! It points out that the third world needs its industry to build an economy as much as it needs tourist dollars. Until a country has its basic needs met, it certainly won’t be saving the quality of the air.
The nearest beach in Santiago Bay and a close up of the Oasis Beach Club with two drinks for the price of one during the 5-6PM Happy HourWe are enjoying the beaches here in Santiago Bay. Yesterday we noticed a line of floats in the water as we dinghied into the beach. We avoided running into them and then noticed two groups of men pulling on two lines attached to each end of the floats, with a net hanging below. It took them a long time to bring in the net, hooking themselves into the line and walking backwards about one step for every wave that broke on shore. After they had backed up a ways, they would run forward and tie themselves into the lines again and continue pulling them in.
By this time a crowd was gathering on the beach and we all watched as two posts were pulled in attached to the top and bottom of the net on both sides. We later noticed rocks in the bottom of the net to keep it on the bottom; so the fish couldn’t escape. After about an hour of work they brought in a fairly large net full of fish, all of which were squirming to get away. At the same time pelicans, frigate birds, and other types were swooping down to grab a fish only to find that the net covered them up. While most of the birds stayed airborne, the pelicans landed on the sand and followed the net up the beach, constantly pecking at the net. They knew they would be rewarded with the remnants when the fish were finally cleaned.
We then walked up the beach to the main road and grabbed a bus that had a number of stores marked on its window as destinations, including Soriana, Wal-Mart, and Comercial. For 5 pesos apiece ($.40) we rode the bus to Wal-Mart and stopped at a Starbucks across the street. There the internet was free; so Sheilagh caught up on the mail while I walked five blocks to Soriana to find a barber. Later we did some shopping at Wal-Mart for some supplies and caught a bus back to Santiago. The driver of this bus must have been late for something, because he slowed down only to pick up passengers or drop them off. Regardless of the potholes he rushed along at way over the posted speed, timing the lights just right and swerving to other lanes to jump in front of vehicles who hadn’t accelerated appropriately. Sheilagh likened it to Toad’s Wild Ride from Wind in the Willows as interpreted by Walt Disney in the ride of the same name. I just called it “my kind of driving.”
On our way back down the beach we were hailed by some new cruisers who had come into the bay and were situated at the Oasis Hotel and Restaurant enjoying happy hour. We joined Roger and Di of “Di’s Dream,” Steve and Gary of “Sea Biscuit,” and Chuck and Judy of “Finale” for a couple of margaritas and felt no pain as we dinghied back to the boat as the sun was setting.
That night I finished one of the two books I want to recommend to you now. Normally we read a lot of light novels, mysteries, and spy stories, although we try to include some non-fiction, history and biographies, too. I just finished two very good books by anyone’s standards, I believe. The first is called Ship of Ghosts (by James D. Hornfischer) and is a history of the heavy cruiser USS Houston that was defeated by an armada of Japanese ships in the early days of World War II off the island of Java. The capture of the crewmen and their mistreatment by the Japanese in the jungles of Burma is the true story of the “Bridge on the River Kwai,” which movie doesn’t begin to tell the whole story. I found this book fascinating, but I must warn you that I was in the Navy; so it may have more interest for me than for most.
The other book I recommend is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. This is a true story of Greg’s effort to build schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan with an emphasis on educating girls, not just boys. The story is remarkable and moving, and may change your thinking about how to deal with Islamic fundamentalism.
The sunset at Bahia Santiago - it never hurts to include a sunset - and the evening is warmThis evening I stole off in my kayak to the entrance of a river emptying into the bay and had a great time riding the waves into the mouth of the river and then riding the current back out – saves a lot of paddling. Apparently the water coming out of the river continues to fill the incoming wave with water; so it doesn’t break into a foamy curl. It just keeps a nice glide slope that allows my kayak to stay on a downward trajectory without causing it to turn into the wave. Now all I have to do is find a river wherever I go if I want to surf with my kayak.
More later . . .
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