Say "Good Bye" to Mazatlan

Well, we have been in Mazatlan for a whole month (and a couple) and have had a good time. We met some awesome boat crews (like "Ascension", "Perceptions/Kainoni", "Cat-and-about", "LadyHawke", "Liquid 8", "Shamu", "Full Shell", "Firefly" among others), managed to hook up with our friends off "Ocean Blue" (who's kids are really lovely), and ate some awesome food.

First off, I would like to say that I have found a community that I truly, truly love and fit in with. When another mom says to me, "We don't make the kids take showers everyday" in a hesitant voice and I can say confidently "Oh neither do we!". All of us women have some common concerns: How do we provision? Where is the best produce? What bus do we take for that? How do you keep your hair from flying in your face constantly while under sail? What do you do with your hair everyday? What are the bugs like there at that anchorage? What do you use to keep the bugs off you? How do you pack, so that you can still find things in your food locker but the food is not squished? Where can you buy dog food (or cat food, or baby food)? Where are you doing your laundry? What is a good price for doing that here?

I love it that so many of us have the same questions. Sometimes, I can answer. Sometimes, I am asking the questions. Don't we all like to be in a group of people where most of them are helpful? I can truly say that here at Marina Mazatlan, almost all the people have been helpful and nice.

Life has been good to us here. The engine got fixed (yay on that one, it was the alternator that needed to be replaced, and then one of the wires had a short in it), our kids got to play with their friends, Steven and Skylar, our kids had a sleep over on the boat (!), we have been healthy (sometimes too healthy, we have been having some great meals here in maz), the weather has been wonderful (OK, the fog has been kind of creepy-interesting), we had a visit from our relatives (Hi j-mom! Hi Gwyn!), we got to stay at our time share and be treated to a hotel room, and finally the kids and I got our hair trimmed!

Great meals have been had at "La Tramoya"(at the head of dock 3, in Marina Mazatlan), "La Mona"(beside the Marina Mazatlan offices), "Senor Leonoso" at Bruja's Beach, "Beach Burger" at the Plazuela Machado. We always recommend our friends to go to "Pedro Y Lola's" even though we had no chance to go this year.

We went to "Serenity Spa" for our hair cuts today. 100 pesos for the kids, each, and 200 pesos for me (400 pesos ends up being about $33 U.S.). And a pedicure would have set me back about 200 pesos, but I didn't have the time for it. Too bad, because the last pedicure I did is kind of old. And tired. Oh, well. Don't look at my feet, if you don't want to see the last centimeter of old wine colored polish chipping off.

We rediscovered "Emperadors" (think oreos, but chocolate filled instead)& Bohemia/Negra Modelo, discovered Zuko (think tang, but bettah!), and drink the Pacificos by the 8 pk now.

We are so looking forward to the next part of our trip, sailing to Puerto Vallarta. We plan on staying in about 4-5 different little anchorages on our way there, then staying in La Cruz for a few days and then onto Paradise Village outside of PV. I am not looking forward to the no-see-'ums, but we are now armed with a non-toxic bug spray and Skin-So-Soft (yes the avon standby). Looks like the wind will be with us and we are hoping for not as much swell as predicted, but we look forward to meeting new boat crews and other families as we explore this part of the coast, that we know so well by road, now by sea.

Good bye Mazatlan! Hello adventure!