February 13th (2009) – Bahia Santiago – Jim’s Blog #79

Current Location – Bahia Santiago – Lat: 19°10.32’ N / Long: 104°42.45’ W

Last Saturday we were invited on a trip to the city of Colima by Stan and Mary Joe of “Solmate”, who have a car here, and Jim and Susan of “Windward Bound.” The ostensible reason was to support the local soccer team, The Manzanillo Picudos, at an away game there, but we took the opportunity to see some of the country and the city before the 4PM game.

A statue of the indian defender of Colima from the Spanish and a view of the park in front of the cathedral

Colima is the capital of the state of Colima and the largest city in the state. On the way we passed a brick-making region, where we saw temple-like structures of brick that were filled with firewood inside and plugged with mud. We saw a couple of these smoking heavily and learned that this is how they fire the bricks after they have been formed and dried. At the same time we saw long rows of bricks laid side by side drying in the sun.

Workers next to a pyramid of bricks to be fired and long rows of bricks drying in the sun before firing

As we got there the workers were taking a break, and were more than happy to show us the operation. One if them took us to the brick-making area and put down a form for making four bricks at a time. Beside him was a wheelbarrow of “mud” for the bricks and a pail of water. He picked up two handfuls of the “mud,” plopped the goop into the four open windows of the form, packed them down with his hands, wet his hands and smoothed the top, and then pulled the form off to reposition it in the next spot. In five minutes he created about 40 bricks, each of which will sell for approximately $0.15 apiece – that’s $6 of product in 5 minutes or $72 of product in an hour. Of course this doesn’t count the digging and creating of the “mud” nor the stacking and firing process. But it was interesting to see how fast a purely manual operation can take place.

The entrance to the pyramid of bricks where scrap wood is thrown in before the fire is started and the door sealed and a young worker

This particular individual had his son with him that day, a little boy of 4-5 years of age, who worked with a small shovel and a toy truck in the dirt next to his dad but out of the way. He was a bit overawed by the gringos with their cameras, but was intent on moving dirt from one position to another.

Twin girls and their father on horseback and a young boy on a burro waiting for the parade to start

When we finally got into Colima we found ourselves in the midst of the Fiestas Charrotaurinas (Cowboys/Cowgirls), which is a celebration in honor of the patron saint of Colima, San Felipe de Jesus. This lasts several days and involves rodeos, cockfights, concerts, and other activities. The cockfights don’t seem to be politically correct from our point of view, but they are viewed as a betting activity that is very popular here. In particular we walked into the town square in front of the Cathedral and found dozens of horses (later the number grew to a couple of hundred) preparing for a parade that was to proceed to the town of Villa re Alvarez, about 2-3 miles away where the rodeos would be held.

The "Mojigangos" and the lovely Sheilagh

As we waited in the square for the parade to start, we noticed two large 12’ tall figures covered with what appeared to be clown outfits. We later learned from the “Chamber of Commerce” literature that these were “the famous ‘Mojigangos,’ large effigies made of reeds and cardboard that caricature local and international public figures.” We couldn’t see that the faces on these figures looked anything like any public figures we know.

Two princesses and a model of the bull ring complete with toy animals and humans on the back of a truck

We also saw horsemen and women milling about on their horses. There were two senoritas sitting sidesaddle on their horses and dressed in full Mexican dress with large sombreros and sashes indicating that they were princesses of some sort.

Most of the riders were dressed in standard cowboy shirts and jeans, as they would dress in the U.S. Sheilagh was impressed with the beauty of some of the horses – Andalusians and Arabians, which were very well trained. One cowboy pulled his horse out of the line up and into an open space where he had the horse dance to the music that was playing. The horse was magnificent to watch, with several different prancing steps the owner put it through, and then the owner backed it into line when he was through. Sheilagh rode horses as a girl and was very impressed with the way the horses were trained.

"Tuba" vendor

We also got a chance to try the local “Tuba” drink, which is carried around in a hollowed-out gourd. It is a mild lemonade-like drink, but it is pink in color and has small chunks of apple cut up into it. After the vendor fills the glass with liquid, he drops in a tablespoon of peanuts, which float on the top. As you drink the liquid you also eat the small apple pieces and the peanuts. It was very refreshing and full of protein with the peanuts.

Jim, Susan, Sheilagh, and myself in the Amazon Bar

After the parade we walked around a few of the shops and were pulled into the Amazon bar by Jim and Susan of “Windward Bound” where we were introduced to the “finest Michelada in all of Mexico,” according to the proprietor. Michelada is a local beer concoction that includes Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, Soy sauce, and some lime juice (in addition to the beer), topped with a salted rim like a Margarita. The drink was served in a large glass stein that held a liter of liquid, so Sheilagh and I split one. The bar itself was wallpapered with jungle scenes and had paper mache heads and bodies of jungle animals on the walls. Quite a colorful place and the bartender was an equally colorful older man who owns the bar and touts the world famous nature of his concoction.

Alas, the soccer team we were supporting lost the match, but it was a good game where the local team outplayed ours in the second half. We were in the minority in the bleachers, but we “visitors” made plenty of noise. I just wish I could translate some of the shouts to see how colorful they were. We made it back after dark and took it very easy the next day.

On Monday we took a little cruise beyond the 3-mile limit from land to dump our holding tank (called a “courtesy trip”), while the sailboats “Batu” and “Coastal Passage” combined their courtesy trips with a movement across the bay to Las Hadas. We stayed in our original location because of the crowded nature of Las Hadas and did the usual lying around during the week and listening to Sirius radio to see how bad the economy is doing. Our daughter, Kimberly, reminded us that we were approaching the 500th day of our “vacation,” which put our experience in a little different context.

On Wednesday we hosted a cocktail party with Jim and Susan of “Windward Bound” and Lou, Lydia, and their guest, Maggie, from “Shiloh.” Now a cocktail party should be a simple event to bring off on land, but here’s what it takes on a boat. The party was to start at 5PM but all of us were a bit late in getting started. At 4PM Lou and Lydia passed by in their dinghy on the way to the store to get avocados for their promised guacamole dip. They agreed to buy some ice for us, which we were short of. After they had departed we found that we were missing the Philadelphia cream cheese required for Sheilagh’s red pepper jelly dip; so she called Susan on the radio to see if she had any. Susan did have some and promised to bring it with her.

Lou and Lydia returned from the store and together we dropped the bag of ice in the bay as we were passing it across. Thankfully the bag of ice floated and we pulled it out, dried it off, and put the contents in the ice bucket. Lou and Lydia found no avocados at the store, nor did we have any. We soon heard Lydia call Susan, who had the needed avocados. Lou made the trip to “Windward Bound” to pick up the avocados to get the guacamole dip prepared before they came to our boat. The party finally started at 5:30PM with Susan supplying most of the raw materials for two different dips and bringing along some mini pizzas that turned the cocktail party into a full dinner. I said earlier that we hosted the cocktail party, but it was really Susan who should receive the credit.

One of the problems with holding cocktail parties on boats is that it is difficult to maintain a liquor cabinet that will contain everything a guest might want. Another problem is that guests may be departing the next day and be unable to reciprocate a party of their own. So the typical approach to these parties is to bring something to drink as well as a snack to share. That way you bring what you want to drink, you don’t strain the resources of the host, and you leave no obligation in your wake. In our case we furnished margaritas, rum and cokes, beer and soft drinks, and our guests could take their choice with accepting our drinks or imbibing their own. So much for the problems associated with cruising and vacationing full time.

More later . . .