The Road to Oaxaca

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Neko

Huatulco Beach

We arrived in Hualtuco to find long stretches of empty beaches, a nice marina, but a sterile town.

This is one of Mexico’s planned tourist areas, trying to make up for the sins of Cancun and Ixtapa by thinking things out before slapping up high rises on every square inch of land.

La Crucecita, Hualtuco

They succeeded in avoiding the spring break blight, but forgot about history and culture, resulting in a charmless town with quaint neighborhood names like sector A & sector C and, oh yes, everyone’s favorite sector T. Most boaters hole up here waiting for a favorable weather window to cross the infamous Gulf of Tehuantepec (Click here for that post). Amazingly when we arrived there was such a window and several other boats we knew were going. So what to do: do a quick turnaround and take the opening or stay for an inland adventure? After our fun stop in Acapulco, we were itching to see more sides of Mexico, not just beach towns, and Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka) was at the top of our list. Many warned against the long journey and torturous roads, but after researching and hearing that our NY pal George and his wife Laura had just had a fantastic trip there, so we couldn’t resist. Besides Lucy had already rented a car 😉

Oaxaca please

So we drove about 250 miles from Huatulco to Oaxaca. We will do a longer posts about the trip, but first we had to get there. Many folks warned us that the drive would be a horrible one on a bad road in very mountainous terrain. We had a lot of experience driving in mountain switchbacks from our time in Northern California and thought, “how bad could it be?” Well, the road was VERY windy and long (6.5 hours), but it is pretty well maintained.

Road to Oaxaca

The countryside is absolutely stunning – very hilly and largely unpopulated, with many agave fields and roadside mezcal factory.

Agave field

Roadside Mezcal factory

Whenever you’d approach a small town, sometimes just a couple of buildings clustered near the highway, there would be a speed bump, or several, spanning the highway, called a “tope”. Now, mind you, this was a highway that several seconds

Catus

earlier you were traversing at 70 mph. We only failed to see and slow down for about two of them and those we bounced over Dukes of Hazzard style, thinking we’d have to buy the rental car company a new exhaust system.

But, apart from those instances, the trip was fine. We arrived in one piece and can report that it’s not the road that makes the trip tough but the crazy drivers down here. There seemed to be a memorial at ever other turn.

Road side memorial

This is a truck chassis being dragged 500ft back up this hill from where it went over the edge. May whomever was in that vehicle rest in peace.

Oaxaca accident

Click on photos to enlarge or click here for photo gallery

A Fabulous Trip to Sunny Acapulco

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Mary

I first learned of Acapulco, in the 1970s, home sick from school, the overzealous Price is Right announcer declared the final showcase prize as “A Fabulous Trip to Sunny Acapulco!”. The Love Boat pulled into port more times than I could count and I’m pretty sure the Flintstones took a trip to Rocapulco. Sadly, in recent years the media’s main focus has been on the city’s episodes of drug gang violence, thus the demise of Acapulco’s tourist industry. Because of the latter, many boaters don’t stop here, but damn it, I’ve been waiting to see cliff divers since the 2nd grade. So cliff divers we saw.

We decided to go to the night show, which is great for the drama, but not great for our camera, so sorry for the grainy photos.

FYI, there are many ways to watch the clavadistas (divers); free from the road, pay $4 for the viewing platform or pay a $15 cover fee for a table (fee includes two drinks) at La Perla bar at the El Mirador hotel. Guess which option we picked?

Peter and I had the place to ourselves and watched the divers from the best seat in the house. From our vantage point you could see the whole spectacle; the divers parading down the stairs, jumping into the narrow cove and swimming across to scale the steep jagged cliff wall (which in hindsight seemed like the most dangerous part), praying to the Virgin of Guadalupe, to the big dives from as high as 130 feet. Pretty spectacular, but there were only 4 divers and 2 of them dove in tandem. Don’t get me wrong, it was impressive, but for some reason I thought the show would last longer. Luckily there was another dive at 9:30pm, so we decided to move down to the viewing platform for round two. Here you are right where the divers hop over the wall to enter the water, making you feel part of the action. The one thing we noticed was that after 80+ years of this tradition, how simple and old school of an event it is. The divers walk down by themselves, no handlers, no cheesy music, no corporate sponsors, no “senor y señoras please direct your attention” kind of announcement. It is just the divers and their bravado.

This time there were six divers and with each one the height of the dive and difficulty increased, culminating in the final diver landing into a ring of fire in the waters below. “ooohhh, awwww” We loved it.

VW Bugs, official Acapulco taxi

Since it was late we jumped in a cab back to the boat. No yellow cabs here, another charming part of Acapulco is that almost all the cabs are VW Bugs. No, not the brand new, plenty of leg room Beetles, but the old ones that they thankfully refuse to let die. Since our family had a 1964 Bug in my youth, they are near and dear to my heart and it was great to ride in one again. The city is much like San Francisco with its many hilly, curvy streets, so the driver’s stick shift ability was almost as impressive as the cliff divers.

With over 1.5 million people Acapulco is a real city and a much needed contrast from the many small beach towns we’ve experienced. We need that balance or it all starts to seem the same and god forbid we become jaded 😉 On the approach to the harbor you have a great view of how large of a place it is, sprawling up the hillsides and around the enormous bay. This is a house divided as the mega rich live and vacation on the North side in areas like Diamante. We stayed in a rather nice newly

Pool at Acapulco Marina

renovated marina on the South side and decided to stick to this area and explore the older historic part of town. As we walked around you could definitely feel the character of a city that once was and glimpses of it trying to come back.

Zócalo

The traditional main square, the Zócalo, is lined with banyan trees, cafés and pedestrian only streets.

Nuestra Señora de la Soledad cathedral

At one end of the square is the Nuestra Señora de la Soledad cathedral, with a surprisingly non-Mexican architectural style of blue onion-shaped domes and Byzantine towers.

We stopped for a bite to eat and people watch in the square. Although I have never been somehow I feel like this is what parts of Cuba look like.

A little lunch and people watching

Shoe shine stations all over the Zócalo

Then with map in hand we set out on a walking tour of the city and to hunt for the “La Casa de los Vientos” (House of the Winds). So up and down and around the streets we went seeing one beautiful view of the city after next. The hilly streets really reminded us and our leg muscles of San Francisco.

We couldn’t get over the stunning grand old stone homes that have been abandoned, but our itch to buy up investment property was left unscratched. I’m sure we will be kicking ourselves in a few years when this place is booming again.

Exterior of empty house

Interior, shot through the broken stain glass window

Empty house

For sale

Another abandoned grand home

65′ snake tile mosaic depicts the Aztec god of rain Tlaloc

Dog detail in mural

Frog detail. The frog was Diego’s nickname

42′ feathered Aztec god Quetzalcoatl

Finally, we arrived at the “La Casa de los Vientos”, where the famed artist Diego Rivera lived out his final years and although the home is now a private residence, you can see his tile mosaic mural depicting Aztec gods on the wall outside.

This was a terrific payoff to a strenuous, hot hike up and down this residential neighborhood.

click here for more photos

About a 6 ½

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Mary

We anchored in Manzanillo in front of the “Las Hadas” resort where they filmed portions of the movie 10.

Las Hadas anchorage

Nice enough place, but it is getting a little long in the tooth and far from our perfect stop. It was a combination of things; being stuck for a week in a place in which we would rather have spent only a few days, lots of loud BAD music playing until the wee hours of the night and the only real way to shore and into town was to go through the resort. Although they do have a marina at the resort, they were not overwhelmingly welcoming to the riff raff coming from the anchorage.

Las Hadas poolside

They charge 200 pesos a day to park at the dinghy dock – about $18US a day. Most dinghy docks are free or only a few bucks, so this seemed a tad pricey. However, that fee did allow us to use the resort’s decaying pool and a dip in fresh water is always a plus, so who were we not to take advantage? And, no, I didn’t get Bo Derek cornrows 😉

Lucy was perra non grata here. Now, I completely understand her not being allowed in the resort proper, but you’d think you could take her up the service road. One time after we walked out the guard would not let Peter back in with Lucy, even though it was the only way back to the boat. Unfortunately, this service road was the only way to get the local bus, which was the only way to town, so we cajoled and demanded and played dumb to get her in and out.

Another one rides the bus

Once outside Las Hadas, we were back in action and Lucy boarded buses and walk the streets without anyone batting an eye.

The reason we were “stuck” in Manzanillo was we were waiting for our infamous package of boat parts to arrive from the US. Shipping anything to Mexico has the distinct possibility of being hung up in customs, misplaced by incompetent shipping companies and a whole host of other issues too ridiculous to bore you with, but the frustration definitely hung over us like a black cloud.

Manzanillo ship yards

We had been trying to get this package shipped to us in several different cities, but with each new and devious snag, we moved on and had it shipped to the next city.

After many days of this craziness, we were hoping to celebrate Peter’s birthday with the arrival of our new watermaker pump (yay! He says), but it was not meant to be.

Bar Social

Apparently Peter’s day of birth is cause for rejoicing not only in our family but also in the shipping company’s office, as they decided to take the day off for no apparent reason, except of course to fiesta por Pedro. So we turned our attention to historic downtown Manzanillo to try and salvage this blessed day.

Manzanillo is Mexico’s largest cargo port city so it is a real working town. It was interesting to see a place where tourism isn’t #1. The city is a little rough around the edges, but that is what actually gave it some charm. We met some real characters and had a ball at Bar Social, a famous cantina in downtown Manzanillo.

Bar Social regular

It has been there since the 1950s and hasn’t changed much, including some of the clientele and tradition of free botaneras (appetizers) with your drinks. The bartender brought plate after plate of delicious nibbles from guacamole to ceviche to my favorite -fresh jicama with lime and chili powder. Let’s just say we sat there drinking long enough not to need dinner 😉

A few days later, the package finally arrived, the black cloud lifted and we sailed off to Zihuatanejo. Since we didn’t find our perfect 10 in Manzanillo we hope Zihuatanejo delivers all that Andy Dufresne dreamed it would be behind the bars of Shawshank. (click here for more photos)

Day Trippin’

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Mary

Sayulita lunch counter

Sayulita surf dog

We rented a car for a couple of days for a road trip to Sayulita and to see what had changed in Puerto Vallarta since the last time we were there. Our San Francisco pals Don and Paul discovered Sayulita years ago and it had always been on our “to see” list. So we took the scenic drive through the hilly countryside and one-horse towns and amazingly didn’t get lost.

Chicas in Sayulita

Sayulita street

What once was a secret oasis is now a happening surf town with a sturdy base of local charm filled with ex-pat retirees and young hipsters “dropping out” from the bourgeois capitalist society back home to start their own here in Mexico LOL. (Take note Portlandia this place is a sketch in the making.) Here they’ve opened restaurants, galleries, coffee bars and cool but overpriced gift stores.

Hip, happening Sayulita shop

street performer in Sayulita

The beach here is enjoyed by local families, vacationers and surfers, as the easy break is an ideal place for the novice rider to hang ten, or just hang out. We explored the town and had a dynamite fish dinner at a little place called Jakal. Check it out if you are ever in the area. It was a toss up between here and the delicious smelling pizza from the wood-burning oven next door. I don’t think you can go wrong with your dining options in this town. All in all, it was a wonderful day on dry land, but, sorry to say, the secret is out about Sayulita. Still, it is well worth the visit.

Next we were off to Puerto Vallarta, a mid-size city with everything from time shares, resort hotels with alligator shaped slides to deluxe private villas with your own infinity pool overlooking the ocean.

Regardless of your accommodations, the town itself is definitely worth exploring. The malecón (promenade) takes you along the beach in front of the older part of town, which is much more interesting than the suburban sprawl around the edges.

Lucha libre mask for sale in Puerto Vallarta

You’ll find an open plaza with families listening to music and dancing as well as vendors hawking souvenirs. There are a lot of restaurants, shops, churches and interesting architecture, especially in the older section of town known as Zona Romantica. Here the cobble stone

Streets of Puerto Vallarta

Street sign

streets climb from the beach up steep hillsides, and buildings with wrought iron balconies line up to snag a part of the view. This section of town is extremely gay friendly, as PV is one of the gay centers of Mexico. Even with our memory from previous visits we had a hilarious time trying to wind our way up and down the one way streets in search of a water filter store (yes, we are living the life). Street signs, if there are any, are beautiful tile signs embedded in an upper corner of the buildings. This of course adds to the charm of the area and is fine when on foot, but we were driving and had a hell of a time locating the little street signs before passing them by. We went round the same streets 3 or 4 times and felt like Chevy Chase on the roundabout in European Vacation until we finally found the place, only to learn that the store was gone. Oh well, we still enjoyed the sense of accomplishment from finding a needle in a haystack among the one-way, cobble-stoned, dusty, chaotic, maze-like streets of this town. Sometimes, completing even the most banal tasks is satisfying.

Upscale dining with Lucy

Delicious dinner at Coco’s Kitchen in Puerto Vallarta

Afterwards, we parked the car, took a few deep breaths and enjoyed strolling around old-town PV. We were pleased to find one of our favorite restaurants (thanks to Tom & Andre), Coco’s Kitchen, still alive and well and happy to seat our party of 3.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to Crocodiles

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Mary

We had a jam packed week moving from the Baja peninsula across the Sea of Cortez to Mexico’s mainland. We started with a quick 11NM sail from La Paz to Espíritu Santo, a beautiful 7.75 mile long island full of marine life and quiet coves. Because it is part of the national marine park system, the island is protected and uninhabited by humans apart from a handful of fishermen.

Neko in Espíritu

We’d stopped here in Partida Cove on our way to La Paz and wanted to return to check out another one of the quiet coves. Our friends on “Celebration” were the only other boat in Raza Cove which made for a perfectly peaceful evening and lovely way to say, “hasta luego” to Richard and Audrey. We look forward to seeing them again later in our travels.

Sidebar: Our first time to Espíritu Santo; was with our first “hitchhiker”. What the what, you ask???!!! Yes, I felt the same way. When we were anchored in Muertos Cove on our way to La Paz, Peter took Lucy ashore to get some land time. On the beach Peter met Alex, a young Canadian traveling around Baja on foot after his mountain bike suffered repeated flats from the tough terrain. Peter radioed me to say that he had invited Alex to travel on our boat back to La Paz. I of course thought this was nuts and we would be killed in our sleep, tossed overboard and the latest sensationalized murder story to fill up the cable news shows.

Lucy, Mary, Peter and Alex

But the moment Alex stepped aboard I could tell all would be fine (isnt’ that how all those stories begin LOL). He had never been on a sailboat, but immediately jumped in to help, learn and could not have been a nicer guy.

Espíritu by land

He wanted to see wild Espíritu, so we stopped there one night before dropping him off in La Paz. Oh Canada, you raised him well.

So back to Espíritu part two, you could spend a week+ here exploring all the coves, but after only one night, the positive weather report was the ticket for us to start the 300 NM crossing of the Sea of Cortez from Baja to the mainland. The winds the first day were perfect for sailing and we buzzed along day and night. The second day, the winds died down, so we had to do some motoring.

Mary off the clock

Luckily there was a full moon, making it much easier to spot the odd boat and sea turtle swimming by on night watches. We do 3 hour watches, which means I am on duty for 3 hours while Peter naps and then we switch off and I try to get a little shuteye. After 2 days of this your sleep pattern is off and you catch zzzzs whenever.

After 50 hours of sailing, we were thrilled to see the stunning island of Isla Isabel and happily dropped our anchor behind the picturesque Las Monas rocks.

Las Monas, Isla Isabel

Soon after we were hailed on the radio by “Heavy Metal”, another sailboat nearby inviting us over for sunset cocktails. Peter, Lucy & I dinked over and met Rigo and Deborah who were our link to meeting several other boats who welcomed us into their band of merry pirates.

Isla Isabel was the perfect place to catch up on some sleep, chill out, snorkel and see something I haven’t seen before – blue footed boobies. I’m not much of a birder, but these little guys were so comical I couldn’t help but laugh. And yes, they really do have bright blue blue feet.

Blue footed boobies

The males do this funny “dance”, swaying from side to side lifting their feet to attract females. It is so damn cute, I can’t believe Pixar hasn’t made a kid’s movie about them. (more Isla Isabel photos)

Matanchén, was our next stop and first official mainland port. We traveled the 42NM within the small fleet of boats we met in Isabel and spent the next few days getting to know them and exploring the area.

Matatchén Bay, Mexico

Matanchén is a large shallow bay perfect for easy anchoring and dinghy landings on the beach. The only downside is the infamous Jejenes (“hay-hay-nays”) which are tiny no-see-ums that inhabit the beaches especially at dusk and really throw a wrench into sunset happy hours. The restaurants burn coconut husks and the smoke somewhat helps to keep them away, but those annoying little bastards loved me and almost a week later my legs still look like I have a case of the chicken pox. Oh, the price we pay for living the life of leisure.

Matanchén is just a short drive away from San Blas, a charming little fishing town of Longfellow’s famed poem “The Bells of San Blas” (never say I didn’t teach you anything in this blog). Luckily the fleet of boats we met back in Isabel had given us the inside scoop on taking the early morning panga tour through the mangroves for first crack at seeing the wildlife. And we joined the crews from “Heavy Metal”, “Destiny”, “Sand Dollar”, “Cat2Fold” and “Ayla May” for a jungle tour.

Crocodile on the banks of Rio Tovara

It was absolutely beautiful (thankfully bug free) and full of birds, iguanas, turtles and crocodiles. Even this Florida Gator was impressed with the size of these suckers. At the end of the trip down Rio La Tovara you end up in a fresh water spring that is fenced off so you can take a dip without being lunch for the crocs you just saw. Everyone knows rusty chicken wire will keep out even the most determine croc 😉 We all had a great time swinging out into the river, showing off our best cannonballs, back flips and belly flops. (see more photos)

Peter swinging into La Tovara Spring

Fish monger in San Blas

Next we went into the town center to tourist around and hit the markets for fresh produce. But what seemed to be the highlight of the day was our ride back to the beach. Now it was our turn to be the hitch hikers. As we waited for the bus a local family pulled up in their pickup truck asked, “La Playa?” and motioned for us to jump in the back. So ten of us along with two locals already back there jammed onto wooden benches and held on for dear life while we whizzed down the road. I don’t know what was more dangerous swimming near crocodiles or riding in the back of a pickup going 70mhp, but I do know they both were a blast. (click here to ride with us)

Hitching a ride back to the beach with crews from Sand Dollar & Cat2fold

Kitesurfing La Ventana

Posted on December 14, 2013 by Pete

We rented a car (ridiculously cheap at $14/day) and drove about an hour SE of La Paz to the small beach town of La Ventana so I could do a little kitesurfing and Mary and Lucy could do some beach walking.

Kite Guard

La Ventana is a funky little town plopped down on a desolate and beautiful piece of Sea of Cortez beach. Its anything goes and there is a large camping area right on the beach where people stay for the entire season in everything from tents cobbled together from tarps to lux RVs.

Camps at La Ventana Kite Beach

For those familiar with 3rd Avenue, its got the same side-on wind attitude, very similar waves and an L-shaped layout. But its much bigger, the water is clear and warm, the launch is a wide-open sandy beach, there’s no mud in sight and the downwind shore is more sandy beach and not unforgiving rip-rap. Other than that, its the same.

I hadn’t kited much in the last year so it was good to scrub some rust off. I got two good sessions in and had some fun in the waves. Now I can’t wait to get to the next kite spot – probably Bucerias in Banderas Bay.

close up

See more photos of our La Ventana trip

Sailing on Neko

Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think

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