Over the border

The peaceful La Paz malecon

Chris and I have spent the last few weeks in La Paz preparing for our big sail north to explore the Sea of Cortez this summer. But in between all of the cleaning, provisioning, fixing and scrubbing, there's been some fun as well.

We both bought matching unisex hiking sandals (18 US at Mega) and Chris came up with a novel way to quickly tell whose shoe is whose:

Typical morning in La Paz

paddleboards and cactus

La Paz is the state capital of Baja California Sur, and for some reason they have these cardboard goats on the sidewalk in front of the governor's building. Meaning? (Too deep for me to understand, I guess)...

A local child showed me her play-money "Frozen" pesos

The TV in "Super Burro," our favorite local hangout, was playing an episode of Friends the other day. The subtitles of Joey's words translate as: "Where the hell have you been?" I think this is the one where the gang is in London for a wedding. Anyway -- everyone around the world loves Friends, apparently. 

Marina La Paz, where we moored Espiritu during our 

short flight north to renew our Mexican visas

Weekly music jam at Club Cruceros at Marina La Paz

This fellow cruiser's t-shirt says "I never though I'd miss Nixon." As with the goats in front of the governor's mansion, I'm confused by this message as well. I'm not sure if he's a disgruntled Republican, disgruntled Democrat...or simply disgruntled. Anyway, this photo shows the amazing selection of books and DVDs for exchange -- all four walls are covered floor to ceiling.

 Color me dazzled. :-) 

Speaking of politics, check this out.  Now that Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee for president, well, he's certainly the hot topic of the day, to say the least.

Someone, apparently anonymously and under the cloak of darkness, pinned up a celebratory photo of Donald Trump on the Club Cruceros bulletin board.

The next morning, someone rearranged the push pins, leaving the photo like this:

Donald Trump, muzzled

If I ever look like this lady on the left, you have my permission to put me out of my misery

8yo Oliver of s/v Alert mans the outboard

Major provisioning for sailing north means stocking up on those little things you love that you probably won't find in the tiny tiendas, like canned chicken,

 black olives, green tea, and sugar-free jelly. 

Bret and Marne of s/v LeaHona relax with Chris during our one big splurge of the last couple of weeks:  $4.50 US to go to the super-fancy recliner movie theater in La Paz. A waiter comes and takes your order. Wow. Life is good in Mexico, I'm telling you...

We saw "Eye in the Sky" starring Helen Mirren, which I strongly recommend.

 Powerful, suspenseful  

and sad.

It's  been awhile since I've found a good candidate for my ongoing series: "Mexicans unknowingly wearing inappropriate donated English t-shirts." 

My question about this t-shirt which says: "Single and Disease Free!" is -- what is the possible scenario where this t-shirt was printed? Who would wear it? Once again, as with the goats and the Nixon t-shirt, I'm purplexed. Me being confused is, apparently, the theme of the week.

La Paz worker takes a smoke break

5yo Emily of s/v Alert. Note the tiara on top of her little hat

Our 6 month Mexican visa expires this month, so Chris and I had to "step over the border" in order to obtain a new one. (Don't ask me why they do this -- once again, I am (surprise, surprise)...confused).

We took a $96 US flight from La Paz to Tijuana, just south of the US border.

Volaris gives every jet in their fleet a name. Charming, I think -- just like boats! 

Our flight north was aboard  flying vessel "Felipe."

The view from "Felipe" flying over the La Paz anchorage. Espiritu is down there somewhere.

Flying a Mexican airline in Mexico was pretty much exactly the same as flying a US airline in the states. Except...

...immediately after take-off this stewardess instantly went to sleep. It's a 90 minutes flight -- we weren't exactly flying over the north pole to Minsk (where the staff of course needs to take naps). Anyway, I'm pretty sure she was violating Volaris policy. As long as the pilot is awake...

After renewing our Visas at the airport in TJ, Chris jumped back on a plane south to return to Espiritu while I crossed the border to spend a few days with my family. 

The overcrowded shanty-shacks cover the hills at the TJ border

Graffiti at TJ border

I passed the words "Fuck you, Donald Trump" written in spray paint.

Someone died when they plowed down this TJ lightpost

I took two trains north to visit my family in the OC.

A group of Amish boarded the train in San Diego

Super-excited preteen girls skip past the Amish at the train station. Perhaps they were anticipating their upcoming visit to Sea World? 

The "Novelties" sign at the old San Diego train station is itself a novelty

First stop, my Dad's house in the OC with his lovely wife Michele

Dad and his sign by his desk which says:

"I'm at that awkward stage between birth and death."

He's an existentialist. I remember him reading Sarte 

when I was a little girl. Pretty cool dad, huh? 

It felt like old times reading the morning Los Angeles Times with my 82 year old dad. He's a traditionalist and continues kickin' it old school subscribing to the news-PAPER. 

After reading the paper and discussing the issues (especially the sad state of the Angels baseball team), dad and I went for a walk. 

He keeps quite the pace.

As I stopped to take a photo, Dad waves his hand 

impatiently and charges on

This sign was posted in front of a million dollar home in Dad's OC neighborhood. 

The OC is traditionally one of the most conservative counties in the country.

Later on our walk we passed this old tin mine. 

Weird, I know -- old mines in the OC!

After our walk, we looked through some old photos. Here are some of my favorites:

Grampa Ralph feeding baby Gerry (my dad) a bottle.

North Dakota, 1934

My dad in his letterman's jacket with his sister Barb.

North Dakota, 1951

My sisters Kirsten and JoAnna

Newport Beach, CA 1975

My sister Devon, her daughter Grace and our niece Emily

California, 2014

Grampa Ralph with (L-R) my sisters JoAnna and Kirsten, my cousin Julie and me

North Dakota, 1967

The next day, Michele babysat my 6yo niece Emily for the afternoon.

Emily and I swam together for 2 hours! I taught her how to blow air from her nose when underwater -- obviously a skill of major importance in adulthood when you grow up in California.

After swimming, Michele and I did some yoga. Dad supervised.

After two amazing days catching up with Dad and Michele (thanks, guys!), it was on to my Mom's apartment in Costa Mesa (also the OC).

Mom is also old school, also subscribes to the daily LA Times newspaper, and we also discussed the issues of the day, including (again) the sorry state of the Angels. (Both Mom and Dad are ardent fans)

She bought me a beautiful birthday cake -- from world famous "French's Bakery," no less. 

She also threw me a little birthday party. I'm a lucky girl. 

But don't let the birthday cake fool you. My 81 year old mom hasn't been to the doctor in years and is as healthy as a horse. 

Mom: "Here, have some seaweed to help counteract that birthday cake!"

Me: (cringing) "No, thanks."

Mom: (gleefully) "More for me!"

She's run the LA Marathon like 30 times and was in the top 10 in the senior category several times.

She also famously does not eat after 3PM. "Just like the Dalai Lama," Mom says. Hmmm. So she watched me while I whipped up a salmon filet for myself for dinner. That's my mom. Ya just gotta bow before her greatness and know that you will never be at her level.

Mom's very proud of her cool new finch feeder.

Just watching them happily eat and flit about joyfully 

really is a sweet thing -- #tweet 

My niece Lauren came to the party. She's 8 month pregnant, so I figured the 

best gift I could give her is a good foot massage. She's gorgeous, healthy and calm. 

I could not be prouder or happier for her. 

My baby sister JoJo and her new husband Alan also popped by.

Sisters

Thanks so much, Mom, for your amazing hospitality. As always, just basking in your glow is a joy and privilege. 

It was an amazing trip. Literally everyone in the family is happy and doing well. Sigh. You know what that means...just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

We all have good times and tough times, so ya just gotta be grateful when the good times are rolling.

We're back in La Paz, and the plan is to sail north tomorrow morning to begin our summer in the Sea of Cortez. What will the summer bring? For you -- for me -- for any of us?

Time will tell...meanwhile, make hay while the sun shines!

New Photo Round-Up: La Paz, Mexico

La Paz sunset

The official government mailman delivers his mail by bicycle! Isn't that cool? 

The city is flat for the most part, so bicycles are the way to go. 

street scene 

They have free line dancing classes twice a week at the La Paz marina: count me in!

Laurie of s/v Trovita, me and Jenn of s/v Orca 

-- being total goofballs

This sparrow stood just outside the open door of our line-dancing class 

 and sang along to the music for 30 minutes! I'm not kidding. He totally 

      loves Kenny Chesney and The Oak Ridge Boys. Maybe all sparrows love 

country music? Someone should look into it. #newtheory

Bless his achy-braky little heart! 

 Mexican boys hang out and skateboard on one of the few hills in La Paz

Just bought this shampoo with "chili" essence.

 Hmmmm. Welcome to Mexico! I'll report back after using it...

We were thrilled to find one afternoon that the Baja 500 car race (a little brother to the more famous Baja 1000) would be starting in La Paz the very next day! 

Baja-style offroad racing -- in Baja! How cool is that?

When in Rome...

We cancelled all of our plans (OK, OK -- we had no plans) and headed to the starting area the next day to see the race.

Chris chats with one of the drivers

Practicing for my future occupation of "Car Show Spokesmodel"

Hundreds of people lined the street for the race start. It was really scary, because as you 

can see there are no guardrails protecting the viewers from the cars screaming 

by at close to 100MPH. And many of the fans just stood right out in the middle of the street, as visible in the photo. #muyloco

Check this out: the dad insists on holding his toddler (plugging his little ears -- the cars were LOUD) and standing out IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET as the cars careened toward him and barreled by only a couple of feet away. His wife off to the right looks on, powerless. 

Mark of s/v Trovita and Chris stood right on the curb as the cars sped by only a couple of feet away. Notice Laurie, s/v Trovita first mate, smartly standing 5 feet behind. Also notice that I took this photo from 10 feet away from the curb. I may be a Wimpy Cruiser, but sometimes that translates into being a SMART cruiser. :-} 

Shade is a hot commodity (pun intended) in Baja, so it was pretty cute seeing this family smartly using every little bit of available shade to their advantage to watch the race start.

La Paz main beach

I try to swim every day in the anchorage, even though the water is getting COLDER as summer approaches (it's now 70 degrees, down from 71 last week). Weird, huh? Anyway, the current in the anchorage is crazy strong. It's like we're anchored in a rushing river. 

I'm a strong swimmer, but the threat of being swept out to sea is definitely there, so Chris made me a "Chez lifeline" to hold onto as I swim and bathe.

Me holding onto the Chez lifeline as the water barrels past 

Captain Chris and La Paz plumage 

In other news, I awoke one morning at 3AM and popped into the cockpit to look around. I looked up and saw 2 or 3 shooting stars hurtle across the sky. I found out the next morning that Planet Earth is moving through the tail of Haley's Comet, so what I saw was bits of the comet's tail entering the atmosphere.

#wow

Chris ponders his lime-flavored Fritos -- the only variety available in Mexico. 

I miss the American ones myself...

We loved this cute group of scouts down at the beach. Notice it's both boys and girls -- 

do they have unisex scouts in Mexico? #hmmmmmm #kindacoolIthink 

lampost sunset

Our buds Bret and Marne of s/v LeaHona introduced us to this cool local hangout where they make the most delicious fresh pork tacos right on the street.

                  Bret of s/v LeaHona observes as his fresh pork taco is prepared (notice the flames shooting out onto the meat and the quickly slicing-and-dicing machete-like knife). 

Speaking of food, you may be asking yourself:

Whatever happened to Mr. Bill?

Now kids, you may not know what I'm talking about. Mr. Bill was a much beloved recurring character on Saturday Night Live back in the 1970's. 

Mr. Bill, last seen in New York City, circa 1979

To find out how beloved he was, try this experiment: go up to your parents, put your hands on your cheeks, open your eyes wide, and in a high, shrieky voice cry:

"Oh, no, Mr. Bill!!!!"

I promise you -- mom and dad will burst out laughing, give you a big hug and immediately take you off of restriction forever. 

Try it, and report back. 

Anyway, noone's seen Mr. Bill since 1979. Noone knows where he is.

Until now.

Thanks to me, the mystery is solved!

I found Mr. Bill, apparently a fugitive in hiding deep in

 Mexico, as so many Americans are.

Mr Bill -- FOUND on a slice of WalMart pizza in La Paz, Mexico.

Sort of a crappy disguise, but he was easy to find, if you're looking for him

Speaking of "Oh, no, Mr. Bill!", a few days ago I was alone aboard Espiritu one afternoon while Chris ran errands in town. I tinkered in the galley and enjoyed a rare bit of solitude aboard. Suddenly, the watermaker started up ALL BY ITSELF, making horrifying noses:

"Shreeeeeeek! Click! Moooooaaaaaaaannnn...." 

The lights on the watermaker panel began flashing and blinking.

Oh, noes. The watermaker is Chris' thing. I know nothing about it, except that it pulls in water from the ocean and brings it into the boat.

Were we sinking? Was the watermaker about to explode?

I looked at the watermaker mechanism -- no smoke or flames were coming out, and seawater wasn't filling the boat. 

Quite scared, I called Chris on the VHF, (no answer) and then our friends aboard s/v Trovita (also no answer) and finally, Derek aboard s/v Interabang, who talked me down.

Together, we concluded that this was merely a normal fresh water cleansing of the mechanism that the watermaker performs every 5 days between making water. 

Whew! This Wimpy Cruiser decided that maybe I need to become just a tad bit more knowledgeable about how our new (used) watermaker works.

Speaking of the watermaker, which we purchased used from our friends Allen and Patricia of s/v Nauti Nauti -- they left La Cruz for the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific 36 days ago, and have still not reported in on facebook.

s/v Nauti Nauti said on facebook that their voyage to the South Pacific would take 3 weeks. It's now 5 weeks and they haven't check in yet. We also haven't heard from s/v Batu and s/v Yellow Feather, who left La Cruz at around the same time.

I'm sure they're all probably fine -- we're assuming the wind just died. Hopefully they're all three bobbing in the same vicinity and can toss canned goods to each other across their bows...

Anyway...in other news...

This waterfront pearl statue commemorates the fact that pearls used to be the big export from La Paz, until they were all cleaned out. Captain Chris pointed out that the shell in the sculpture is actually a clam, not an oyster. But I guess clam shells are prettier.

I love this ultra-modern houseboat in the La Paz marina

La Paz dive shop

This La Paz local does not read English, so he doesn't know that his t-shirt 

says: "I'm not a hipster." The thing is, though...he kinda IS. 

Cuddling with a fellow cruiser's little King Cavalier Spaniel, a sweet flashback 

to our family's dear departed spaniel Chloe. 

Beach sunset

On Mexican Labor day, thousands of workers held a public protest along the malecon. Their concerns are similar to those of workers in the U.S. and around the world: declining salaries and benefits, worsening job security and an economic future that looks increasingly grim.

RIP Democracy

There's a nice local place where we went to have coffee with friends. It wasn't too far after April Fool's Day, so I truly thought I was being punked when I walked into the nice ladies room and saw THIS:

I swear to God, I thought it was a rubber bug someone placed there as a joke. I mean, the placement was just too perfect, right? But as I crept closer, his little antennae spinning around all hurly-burly came into view.  #holycrap 

I truly think that the cockroach thought the toilet paper roll was a sweet little soft, white, 

clean bed that someone had set up there, just for him! 

I turned off the light and ran back to Chris, who did his captain's duty by 

"taking care of" the issue for me. 

Needless to say, I removed the top layers of the toilet paper roll before proceeding to do my business.

Welcome to Mexico!      :-) 

Anyway, Good Lord, this blog has gone on long enough!

No more photos, please! Enough about me!

What's new with YOU? Send me an e-mail...I really want to know...

XOXO

lizthatgirl@gmail.com