Puerto Vallarta

As thought, it has been a busy week here in PV. Lisa and Larry have been great giving us the low down on what has become their home. It will be hard for them to leave this place after being here for 7 months. They have met many sweet people, and I know they will be missed dearly by the community here. Selfishly, I am so glad they waited for us. It is great to have a girlfriend to hang out with again! Jack and Ben have picked up right where they left off and spend the day fishing, and hanging out. In these photos there is one of Jack and his fishing friend Tommy, who also happens to be the keyboard player in that little well known band - Santana!!! He is a very nice man, and has taught Ben and Jack so much about fishing. He lives here when he is not touring with the band. Also pics posted show where we spent Thanksgiving, high in the Sierra Madres mountains in a town called San Sebastian. It was another old town, established in 1605, and of course, had another amazing church which was built around this time. I love the sign posted outside - and think we should all drive ourselves with respect no matter where we are! The Hacienda where we feasted on a traditional Thanksgiving meal, was built 170 years ago, and had no electricity. It was breath taking being on this land. When the band came walking out of nowhere to play for us, it was a moment to remember. I spent much of the day with the water works flowing - missing my boys and sister, and family so much. This being the first holiday with my dad gone also added to the mixed emotions that surfaced throughout the day. While I love this experience, and I am so grateful for this opportunity, there is a saying - there is no place like home. For me, home can be anywhere, as long as my family and friends are around. So while we are living a dream, there are times when I am so homesick it hurts. I am just allowing it all to surface, and to feel it, and not hide or run from any emotion. In Yoga, we are taught to be with what arises, not to cling to it, but to let in move thru us. I have been clinging a bit......too much, and have now moved into a space of acceptance, once again. ( oh it is hard to be human sometimes) We leave here tomorrow and head further south. I am always happy to leave a Marina, and look forward to being anchored again. For whatever reason, things seem to flow better for us when we are away from the city, and the fast paced life in these bigger places. They do serve a great deal of purpose tho - like great places to eat, Costco - which for the record for any friends following along on our blog who are headed out soon - you can find just about everything in Mexico, so no need to go crazy on the US provisions. But things are a lot more expensive - so if you want to save some money - then stock up.

P.S. The Margarita glasses were not photo shopped!

La Paz

This photo of Jack perfectly captures our experience so far. Life is now at a slow sweet pace. We are anchored outside of the Marina at La Cruz. And to make everything even sweeter, we have met up with our sailing friends who have been waiting for us for a year, Lisa, Larry and Ben. They drove down from Puerto Vallarta and met us for lunch and dinner! It is so great to see them again. They even took Jack back to their boat to have a sleep over with Ben. Today we are on our way to join them in Paradise Village, Puerto Vallarta. We will spend the next week gearing up for our trip further south, with the Lisa Kay joining us from here on out. They have the run down on PV and have many cool finds to show us, so I am sure it will be an action packed week.

Chacala

I woke up today, and it was chilly! By chilly, I mean I had to put on a long sleeve shirt and shorts, and not a swim suit. That lasted until 9am, then it was time to change Into a suit. The chill in the air reminded me that the holidays are coming. I have not given any thought to Thanksgiving. By now I would have my shopping list made out and menu planned. Not sure what we will be doing for Thanksgiving yet, but I do have some butternut squash that is still looking good from Whole Foods Market. It is nice to be removed from the commercialism of the Holidays. No television, no malls, no toys-r-us, is actually great. It is great for Jack too. He has been using his imagination a lot. I could listen to his play for hours on end. It is not something he did much of back at home with all the distractions of video games and television. Or maybe he did, and I was just to busy to notice. It is nice to not be so busy anymore.

Ahhhhh Chacala. Another sweet spot that I could plant myself in for awhile. The beach was fantastic, and the yoga/holistic resort at the end of the beach, www.mardejade.com , was amazing. I didn't take a class here, since I am really loving practicing on my own these days, but we did take a stroll thru it, and got the Info on holding a retreat here. Anyone up for that? On our return trip back this way I am seriously considering putting one together for my students and friends, so stay tuned. Our boat will be at anchor In the bay, so it will include some day sails! If you are interested, let me know... You can e mail me at tammyfinnerty@earthlink.net and I will add you to the interest/dream list. Not sure about pricing, or timing, but it would be at least a week long retreat probably in the late spring of 2012. Oh how I would love to share a week here with you!!! That is the only thing missing from this trip, all the people I love and miss terribly.

We are still catching lots of fish. Now my favorite is the Tuna. A close second is the Wahoo. There is nothing like fresh fish. It will be hard to go back to the states and eat anything from behind a glass store front. We are soaking it all up, taking and drinking it all in, knowing that our time is limited. I read a quote last night from a book by Ohso,

"Many people come, looking, looking, looking. Few people come and see."

I am seeing, and life is good. This goodness, this amazement, is right here. Always has been, always will be. We just need to slow down and be still.....and see, and turn off the television!!!!! Beauty surrounds all of us each and everyday. You don't have to be on a boat anchored off a palm tree beach (although this does help!) to feel what I am feeling, or to see what I am seeing. Just stop looking.
Xxooxxooxxoo


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San Blas

We have reached the heart of Mexico. San Blas is far from the tourist resorts and is an authentic Mexican town. We went to shore and walked into town to the Mercado to find a few provisions. We were the only americans and very few people spoke English. The people were all, once again, very warm and inviting. San Blas was founded in 1535. Many of the buildings from the 1800 are still standing. The ruins of the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Rosario, with it's bell tower still Intact, was at the heart of the towns center. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized the bell tower in his final poem, "The Bells of San Blas". This was a worthwhile stop. We stocked up on fresh tomatoes, amazing tangerines and some other kind of citrus fruit that is like a lemon, avocados, water mellon, papaya, and peppers. We also had the best cherviche we have ever had for lunch. San Blas is notorious for it's "no-see-ums", which are nasty little bugs you cannot see that swarm and bite when the sun goes down. We did not want to find out if this was fact or fiction, and had our bodies safely back on Santosha, with all the doors closed up each night! This was another short and sweet stop. We are on our way to Chacala, which is just three hours from here. This is our shortest sail since we left the dock in Ventura almost three months ago.


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Isla Isabela

Well, we didn't hit any sleeping whales, but we did run over a local fishing line. This is a long rope that runs for miles with empty two litter bottles of pepsi, or what ever, attached about every 100 feet. Below each bottle is hook with bait. The local fishermen go out nightly, way off shore, in these little pangas setting these lines up. They are impossible to see at night, and hard to see in the daylight too. Lucky for us, the line caught our dagger board and not our propeller. Once the sun came up, we noticed we were in a mine field of them, and had to change course quickly a few times to avoid running thru them.
Once we got to the island, we anchored in fifteen feet of crystal clear water. We were surrounded by coral and tons of tropical fish right off our swim step. We jumped into the 85 degree water and were greeted by lots of little jelly fish. So we put on our skins ( very tight and extremely unattractive thin full body Lycra suits ) which kept the critters/pests off of us. After our snorkel we went ashore to get a closer look at the Blue Footed Boobie BIrd and it's friend, the Frigate Bird. This island is a nesting ground for these amazing winged things. Being the only boat there, it felt a bit like Gilligans Island. And amazingly enough, with all these birds flying over head, our boat remained poop free. It was paradise. The next day we took a dinghy ride to the small fishing camp on this island. The fishing line we ran over belonged to one of these hard working guys I am sure. I was a bit shocked at the places they live in, and felt bad that we ran over one of their lines. On our way back to the boat we noticed a huge school of yellow fin tuna, so Patrick put out the hand lines, and we hooked a huge Wahoo. It made a very fine dinner that night, and left us with two more meals in the freezer. It was very hard leaving this beautiful place. It was my favorite spot so far, and will be very hard to match. We have crossed back to the main land are are now anchored near San Blas. Tomorrow will be a full day. We need to find a few provisions, and there is another beautiful beach waiting for us across the way.........I can't post any photos on this connection, but check back soon to get a glimpse of Isla Isabla.

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