The Taco Traveler

I just learned today that it's pronounced "why-mas" after having pronounced the hard-G for a month. Oh well - at least someone finally told me. After getting Chemistry all set for summer, where temperatures here could get up to 120 (and hotter in the boat), I called for a cab from the Marina Seca office because I'm traveling heavy. As I was going through my clothes last night, packing, I just had too many shirts and pants (and yes, shoes) I wanted to wear this summer that haven't seen the light of day in Mexico. I've got my internal frame backpack, my regular rolling max-carry-on-sized suitcase, and my laptop backpack (thanks, Johnny G and Brenthaven - here's your blog mention for sponsoring me with a free backpack; twelve people just saw the brand name "Brenthaven" and two of them clicked on that link and are checking out your products right now). So, it wasn't until the guy on the phone said it would be 200 pesos to Guaymas that I decided I'd cram myself onto a bus for 14 pesos.

I actually started to walk towards Guaymas from San Carlos, which after riding the bus that far, would have been a crazy walk - like 12 miles or so. But as I was walking in the 85 degree heat, lugging my backpack, luggage and laptop, I couldn't help but think of Lawrence of Arabia and his desert crossings. I should be able to do 12 miles in only 85 degrees. But then the bus came, and I boarded last after 12 teen-aged boys, who all went to the back of the bus then watched me as I tried to maneuver all those bags without knocking anyone out or falling down myself as the bus started jerking along. I nearly got applause when I managed to get the backpack off and sit down (really, one of them yelled "Again!"). As the ride went on, more and more people crammed into that bus to where the aisle was completely full and people were almost hanging out the front door. And there I am with my three bags, wondering how in the hell I'll get off the bus when my stop at the Tufesa bus terminal comes. Luckily, a couple of stops cleared out most of the forward aisle-standers, and the nice girl next to me and the bus driver both took care to let me know that the terminal was coming up, so I had time to prepare a more graceful exit.

I'm sitting in a restaurant across from the Tufesa terminal called "La Palapa." Excellent food; I've had chips & guac (of course), shrimp tacos, a big glass of water, and I'm on my third Tecate Light. I have no idea how many hours it takes to get to Phoenix, so I'd better fill up. It was sixty bucks (US) to Phoenix from Guaymas. Then I hop on an Alaska Air flight tomorrow. I don't mind the red-eye bus trip, and I'll probably sleep well after barely sleeping last night and getting up at 6am this morning to raise the mainsail in zero wind to rinse the salt off and scrape all the barnacles and weeds off Chemistry's bottom before she gets put away for the summer.

There's a Scorpions Unplugged show on TV, and I almost feel bad that I hate it so much. I was psyched when it first came on: "Yeah, Scorps!" But it's horrible. It really is. The front row has been standing there, passively, twenty feet from the stage, not crossing what must be a taped line on the floor. Not rock-fan behavior at all. The backup singers, ala the Robert Palmer girls, sway along and coo "Ooh Ooh Ooh" for background texture on "The Zoo." There are sections of the audience swaying with their arms above their heads; it seems like a forced "I'm trying to have fun" compliance. Oh, and the average age of the audience seems to be about 20, and they're all beautiful. Half-way through just about any song so far, I feel like the Scorps must be thinking, "Damn, I didn't know our songs were this long."

"Holiday" wasn't bad, thanks to the rockin' island beat and the obviously paid background dancing chick with the black bra, white shirt completely unbuttoned, hopping and twirling. But when the rest of the audience started hopping, you could see the front row keeping an eye on their feet, ever careful to not cross the taped line that the producers said they couldn't step over. "And tilt your head back, close your eyes, raise your arms and clap and pretend this is the greatest thing you've ever seen, dammit, or you're outta here!"

It's only 6:30 and my bus doesn't leave until 10pm. But after sailing all this time, it would be crazy if I can't manage to productively kill 3.5 more hours.

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The bus ride wasn't too bad; it took a couple hours longer than it was supposed to due to a delay at the border, but I still arrived at the Phoenix airport in plenty of time. The frustrating thing was passing by the airport on the south edge of town, and continuing on for another 20 minutes to get to the bus station, then having to pay for a cab ride back to the airport. I shared a ride with a South African couple who were on the bus and who'd also put their boat into Marina Seca for the summer.

The plane ride seemed a lot shorter than it was because of a fortunate seat assignment that put me in a row with two gorgeous nurses who didn't seem to mind that after so much time trying to get my thoughts and needs across in Spanish, once freed to use English I was a blabbermouth and couldn't stop talking for much of the three hour flight. What's with all the nurses I've met lately? Maybe a sign I should be careful and remember that I'm... gulp... 40. No more front-handsprings on the sidewalk when I'm trashed, I guess.

So I'm here in Seattle now for a couple weeks trying to get some serious work done, see friends and family and clean up the house for sale. Then it's back to Florida for three weeks with the boys.

TT

This content is copyright Sean Anderson 2007-2010, reprinted via site feed. Original content at http://www.tacotraveler.com.

Yesterday was a very frustrating day trying to get new moorage closer to downtown Puerto Vallarta. I like it here in La Cruz, and I won't be here for the next two weeks anyway, but I wanted to be closer to stuff when I got back and save some money while I was away. The problem with a lot of marinas down here is they don't often feel compelled to answer email or their phone, so your best option when trying to get into a marina is to just go, be there in their marina, get them on the VHF and say, "okay, what's my slip assignment?" Well, it didn't work yesterday. I won't go into detail because it's boring, but it was a complete waste of a day.

So this afternoon I'm sitting here listening to Radio Lab podcasts and working, answering emails and making stuff happen. And soon I'll start packing for my trip inland, which I've decided I'll undertake tomorrow rather than tonight. I'm flying to Florida out of Guadalajara (partly because it was $100 cheaper, and partly because I wanted to see the city), and it's a five hour bus ride from PV. So no point in getting there at 9pm, paying for a hotel room and then just going to bed. The cheaper flight will end up costing me more, of course, with two night's hotel and a 400 peso bus ride, but I wanted to see Guadalajara. It's supposed to be "Mexico's most cosmopolitan city" and I'm ready for a little more culture. We don't get much culture here on the coast (tacos, fireworks and mariachi notwithstanding).

So I fly out of Guadalajara on Friday early morning, and as soon as I land in Panama City I'll get to see the boys play t-ball. R's been giving me great reports, and it sounds like they're doing great. G is great in the field and Ty hit a grand slam last week to win the game. He can also, apparently, do a backflip into the pool. Not a back dive or occasionally a back flop, which he was doing last time I was there, but a back flip, all the way around and his feet break the surface of the water. Since he's not yet 5 (2 more weeks) I can say "my four-year-old can do a freakin' backflip into the pool. From the edge of the pool." Look for that video soon, destined to be the equivalent of Tiger Woods on the Johnny Carson Show at age 4.

So on April 10 I'm back to PV and checking out of La Cruz on 4/11 and heading either to PV for a few days or more north, stopping along the way at places like Chacala, Mazatlan and Topolabampo that I skipped over before. Then again, if the weather's right, I may just float on north and save some of those places for next year. My plan currently is to do the Baja Ha Ha next year (they leave San Diego Oct 30) and give this trip another shot. But who knows....

TT

I've had this unsettled feeling for a while now. Well, that's stupid - I'm unsettled because I'm unsettled; I'm a transient in the most literal sense of the word. But this unsettled feeling had a lot to do with not knowing whether or not I was doing the right thing in continuing this trip all the way to Florida. I've felt for a few months that I was just unable to rush - I really wanted to stop, meet people, dive, fish, eat in lots of different palapas and cantinas; I wanted to cruise. And I've done that, to some extent. So I guess the unsettling feeling was that somewhere deep down I knew that now - or the next couple months - is not the right time to finish this trip. There are too many things pulling me: my job responsibilities; my need to spend a couple weeks of every 5 or 6 visiting the boys; my unsold home and its contribution to my dwindling (gone) finances; all compounded by my need to take it easy and enjoy the journey.

So, with the counsel of my business partners and R, I've decided that turning around and heading back to California is what makes sense right now. There will be plenty of time to travel, and to cruise with a more flexible schedule. My responsibilities right now are to be more accessible to the boys for phone calls, emails and visits. And to be more accessible to my business partners and our employees as we attempt to turn this business into "the next big thing." We're close on the business front, and the boys are doing great. Me being in Florida full-time would actually throw things into a blender as we worry about where I live and shuffle the boys from house to house every week.

So, back north I go. I will stay here in Manzanillo for 3 more days and attend Al and Yvette's wedding (they're on Sailfisher), and then I'll make my way back slowly to Puerto Vallarta or La Cruz by March 22 or 23. From there, I'll travel inland to Guadalajara for a couple days and then fly out of Guadalajara March 28th to Florida for a long visit with the boys on their Spring Break, and then return to the boat on April 10, where hopefully some friends will join me for a cruise north to Mazatlan, re-visiting San Blas and Isla Isabella, and visiting a couple places I missed on the way down, like Chacala.

After the hop across the Sea to Cabo, it will be an uphill slog, the "Baja Bash" all the way to Ensenada where I'll check out of Mexico, and then back to San Diego where I'll re-evaluate my next semi-permanent mooring. San Diego, LA, San Francisco... who knows? Maybe even something like Santa Barbara or Monterey. It's sort of exciting. For a while, anyway, California is my oyster.

TT

I haven't yet updated my float plan to correct all the things no longer accurate or relevant; I've just sort of changed dates. The most important factor is I'm no longer looking for a boat; I've got one. She's a 1989 Taswell 43, formerly Bonheur, which I had to rename to Chemistry because I couldn't not think of some perverted French guy saying "Oui, j'ai un bonheur." Which probably means "I have a good life" or something but sounds like something quite different in English slang.

Chemistry is a 1989 Taswell 43.

While the price was great, she wasn't very well taken care of, and had sat on dry land for 3 years. Dust gathering, water tanks rusting, decks uncovered and the teak washing away with the rain.... So now she sits, still, in Port Townsend getting her mast step rebuilt from the keel up, as the previous one had gone rotten from water ingress. But that was the only badly built part on that boat. She's solid, and beautiful. I've repainted the cove and boot stripes to a very dark (flag) blue from the original grey, though I still have some striping to do on the boot. The one solid thick stripe down there just doesn't cut it. And in truth, the whole boat needs a paint job, as the original white has lost its sheen and is pretty well oxidized.

The Float Plan, while essentially the same from San Diego onward, is completely up in the air right now on the Seattle to California legs. I really want to do the sail from Seattle to San Francisco, but we're coming into a hairy time of year to make the trip. I do not (and nobody who'd potentially sign on does not) want to make that trip upwind all the way. If we can't get a good northerly to push us down the coast by the second week of October, I may have to load her onto a truck and ship her to San Diego (I'd skip S.F. if I had to ship her). It's nice to be flexible.