Not a lot has been happening here - mainly work when it's not too hot in the boat. I finally opened up the cockpit enclosure all the way to get just a bit more breeze down below, but marinas are not the place to be if you want to stay cool. I should be out at anchor. La Cruz was a fine anchorage, with plenty of wind all day long, but I left that to come here to Paradise Village Resort and PV-Proper, and I'm not making the use of the property or PV that I should be. I've only gone into PV once, and that was this past Sunday for the Chivas/America match. The rest of my time here I've spent working on the boat or working inside the boat (on real work stuff) when it's cool enough inside, like from 10pm to 3am and whenever I wake up till noon. :-/
My trip into town was a great 24-mile bike ride, round trip. As I rounded the curve from Nuevo Vallarta where it joins Highway 200, I passed another guy on a bike; I was flying. A minute later I felt his presence right on my wheel. He was drafting on me. So I ignored him, but at the next hill I hit it. "Let's see if he can handle me now," I thought. I was flying up that hill in like 12th gear, and he stayed right there. Another mile later, on flat ground, I just turned around and smiled at him, like "I give up," and said "How's it goin'?" because I thought he looked like a gringo. Well, he wasn't; he didn't speak much English, but we ended up riding and talking for the next 20 minutes. He even helped me get a bit more speed by adjusting my seat up a bit to make my legs more efficient. He was a fifty-something Mexican man, a vet, a Doctor de Veterinario. That was a great encounter, but I couldn't understand his name. It wasn't a simple Mexican name, like Francisco Rodriguez. It was a name like an Aztec. Ticho Loquillo Quatl, or something like that. Well, nothing like that, but you get the idea. Anyway, I know where his office is and he told me to stop by if I ever had a sick animal or wanted to just get a beer.I'm having more and more of those interactions - Mexicans who speak very little or no English, and we sit there for an hour and have a conversation with my horrible Spanish - which must be getting better if I can have 20-minute bike-riding conversation along a busy Mexican highway, or an hour-long conversation with a waiter. Last night I met Samuel. He served me at the Brazil Churrascaria. It was my second visit there this week, and they turned on the democratic debate for me. After I ate lots of meat and had a couple beers, Samuel and I started talking about futbol, boats, fishing, tequila... and he brought me a nice tequila "en la casa." Obviously, the restaurant wasn't crowded. This whole place is pretty empty.I leave here Saturday am and will probably head back to La Cruz just to sit at anchor and use the better wifi there to continue working until Monday. Then I'll head more north, my exact direction again depending on the winds. If it makes sense to cross to Cabo, I'll do that. Or, if the wind isn't favorable, I'll just motor north along the shore to Jaltemba, Chacala, San Blas, Isla Isabela and maybe Mazatlan before hopping across to La Paz or Cabo.TT
