La Cruz, Mexico -- new photo round-up

Marina Nayarit at La Cruz, Mexico

Yellow crowned night heron and seagull coexisting comfortably on the dock

Dinghy splash

Typical early evening family scene in La Cruz. Everyone's outside, the TV is on in the background, the little table is set up selling snacks, the kids are playing happily. 

The bull outside the Green Tomato is the new La Cruz mascot

We attended the event "Cruising Kids Serve Dinner" at a La Cruz restaurant. The kids did the cooking and acted as waitresses for us grown-ups. They did the work for free, but got the tips -- which I'm sure were substantial.  :-) 

The wait staff: Left to right: Presley of s/v Yolo, Neli of s/v Riki Tiki Tavi, and Emma of s/v Alert 

Could they be any cuter?

Little 5 year old Neli showed us her waitress pad, complete with drawings of fish

 and shrimp -- much easier than writing out the long words. Too cute.   :-) 

Happily, there are dozens of cruising kids here in Mexico this year.

Cruising pre-teens having a meeting -- what could they be talking about? 

Overheard conversation amongst two pre-teen cruising boys (age 10) passing by on skateboards:

CRUISING BOY ONE:

"How old is the oldest car?"

CRUISING BOY TWO:

"Um...1960?"

CRUISING BOY ONE:

"Nope. The first car was made in 1952!"

CRUISING BOY TWO:

"Wow! That's old!"

:-) 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Chris and I strongly believe in the adage that playing games really does help keep you sane while cruising. So, we take game playing (and good-spirited competition) very seriously aboard Espiritu.  Every time one of us is victorious in either Crazy Rummy, Bananagrams or Mexican Train Dominoes, we shake hands. They whomever is the loser says: "Congratulations, Champ!" and I proclaim loudly:

"To the BIG BOARD!"

I then walk up to the BIG BOARD on the wall above the nav station and, quite ceremoniously, update the running tally of victories.

The BIG BOARD!

The big change to La Cruz since we were last here four years ago is the number of gringo snowbirds. There are thousands and thousands of them, taking over the area.

This nice old guy is from North Dakota. North Dakota! Most northern plains folk (my relatives, by the way -- my dad was born there) would consider a few months in distant Arizona a grand, grand adventure.  But North Dakotans in Mexico?!?!? I think it's pretty much unheard of -- until now!

A snowbird rocks the knee socks while gettin' 

down on the dance floor at Philos in La Cruz 

Speaking of Philos, as everyone knows, restaurant owner and musician Philo Hayward passed away suddenly several weeks ago here in La Cruz. I was fortunate to get to sing and perform with him at Philos when we passed through last time. He was pretty much the heart and soul of La Cruz.

Philo may be gone, but Leon is still here, going strong at 82

Only Leon really has the style to rock the knee socks -- and the washboard! 

Leon was extremely close to Philo. When I talked to him about his death, he just shrugged his shoulders and said "Everyone here knows we just need to carry on..." He then said whistfully: "Actually, the truth is, we never talk about it..." His voice trailed off as his gaze fell to the ground and then up to the distant horizon. He turned away.

Feeling bad that I brought up the topic, I then said cheerfully: "Well, of course we know that Philo's one big wish would be to keep the music going!" 

And so we are. Chris and I have played in several open mic night events here. It's still an open question whether Irish/American Old Timey music will catch on here in La Cruz. ;-) 

That's it for now. Hasta luego!