Letter 2
Presently heading North, we are retracing part of our route South before heading
into the Sea of Cortez. The past four weeks have been spent "exploring" the
Puerta Vallarta area. While at a local fish taco restaurant, in Marina Vallarta Bruce
and I met a lovely person, Kathleen, who lives, year round about twenty miles south
of PV in the small coastal village of Yelapa. There are no roads into Yelapa and the
only access is through small motor boats that the Mexicans use throughout the
coast known as Pongas. The ride takes about 45 min. , following the coastline,
passing as close as 50 feet, traveling at 40-45 mph, we were airborne part of the
time, it was an exhilarating way to travel. All outside supplies are brought in using
these small boats. Watching the loading and unloading of passengers and materials
in the lagoon's surf can be very entertaining, and is a favorite past time of the
"locals". Catalina, as she is known locally (Kathleen is very hard to pronounce for
Spanish speaking people) acted as our guide during our stay there. I spent four
days in Yelapa where she introduced me to life in a rural I Mexican village There
are none of the "modern conveniences" we are used to in the United States, such
as electricity, roads, sidewalks, sewer or water system. Ail materials that are too
big to be carried by the villagers are hauled using mules as there are no cars there.
The only 2 telephones in the town are supplied by the government and aren't
working most of the time. Everything is done at a much slower pace here. There is
a TV, run with a gasoline generator, that is used to show videos on an open patio
near the center of the village, in the evenings. Many people attend and sit around in
small groups and discuss what is happening on the screen. According to Kathleen
the favorite movies are Chinese martial art films, dubbed in Spanish. There are no
arguments over the volume, or remote control unit, I believe TV isn't such a bad
thing when you use it this way. In Yelapa there is a basic shortage of everything,
with the exception of patience, where flash light bulbs are worth their weight in
gold, if anyone had any. The only way to get around is to either walk or ride a mule
or horse. Most people living here walk, sometimes carrying large loads up steep,
narrow, rocky, winding paths. The paths run in all directions with no sense of
central organizing. What the village doesn't lack is warm, hospitable, friendly
people, conversation or social gatherings. The weekly softball game that takes
place between the locals and the North Americans living here is a big social event
that few miss, as is the disco dance at the 'Yacht Club" and the Monday night
bingo game. The people love to party and there is always one going on at someone’s'
house. Life is hard here, but everyone helps everyone else and can be depended
upon with an absence of TV, traffic jams, schedules, and other modern distractions
the villagers have filled their time with activities that resemble TV soap operas,
where it is impossible to keep secrets
In the evening, after the sun sets, with the
absence of electricity everyone uses the moon, when available or flashlights to
guide them on the paths. After one party I had to walk from the village along a
path that lead to the beach without a flashlight. it was dark, with an occasional
light coming from a candle inside one of the small thatch roofed huts known as
palapas. I waited for the moon rise, but in the shadow of the hills it was still very
dark and quiet. I never felt I was in any kind of danger from the locals. The path
back to the "hotel" I was staying at followed the edge of some very steep inclines,
where it wound its way down to the lagoon. The lagoon, being high tide, required me
to wade through if to get to the other side. Its an eerie feeling walking in water
that is pitch black and up to your waist, in spots, with the surface occasionally
broken by another creature swimming by. Yelapa is a place where your travel is
dictated by the moon and tides, not rush hour traffic jams or work schedules. In
the evening the restaurant tables are lighted with candles and I never had
anything but delicious food. So far on this trip I have not had any problems with
the food, except for the effect it is having on my waistline. The palapa I stayed in
had mosquito netting over the bed to protect me. There are several different kinds
of scorpions, poisonous snakes and insects living here in the jungle and some of
them live in the thatched roofs of the huts. Mark MacGrath, an old friend of ours,
who came down, spent two days in Yelapa with me, didn’t sleep too Well with this
knowledge. The oceans in this part of the Pacific are home to sea snakes, jelly fish,
and many other forms of deadly marine life. With all its hardships, it is a place I
definitely plan on returning to after completing this voyage, at least part of the
year. I've never felt so alive or so much energy as I have here. I definitely will
invest in some good flashlights next time before I return. The countryside of this
area is tall hills with lush, thick growth down to the shores, full of life of every
sort, including Macaws, dozens of different species of birds all as brightly colored
as the beautiful flowers that are found everywhere. At night the only sounds I
heard were those of creatures calling out in the thick trees that surrounded me
and the surf on the beach about 150' in front of my palapa. The palapa itself had a
thatch roof, walls woven out of reed materials, which faced out towards the The
hYo side and back walls were constructed out beach of concrete with a tile floor.
In back was a bathroom with shower and sink. It had running water that was
heated twice a day using coconut husks twice each day, once at 9-00a then again at
5:30p. The water was not recommended for human consumption, so I used bottled
water, provided by the hotel, for brushing my teeth and drinking. I kept finding
nuts in my room laying on the floor, or on the small side table every morning. When
I asked a couple of the locals where they were coming from, they told me fruit
bats, which fly under the roofs, using the large open vent holes located at each end
of the hut. The generator only runs about 4 hours a day and the room came with
candles and matches. For $20 a night it was a real deal. On the front off my hut
was a porch, with fold out beach chairs facing the ocean, which is very clean, blue
and warm, with the beaches lined with large coconut groves.
The people here all take the time to watch the sunsets. Carlos, the owner of one of
the restaurants on the beach and I became good friends. He would pull up a chair
and sit at my table out on the open sand (none of the restaurants had solid floors,
all were beach sand) and watched the sunset with me. At 3 pesos apiece, Pacifico
Beers are a great bargain, but hard on your waistline. Unfortunately, I have
developed a real fondness for them. Cocktail hour down here is a seriously taken
tradition, one we try to rarely miss, except while out at sea, underway The night
life in PV is legendary, where they have a saying, " If you didn't come to Puerto
Vallarta to party, why are you here? I went to Yelapa, after being aboard rd day
and night with Bruce for the past 2 months, besides, Kathleen was a lot more
pretty and I was enjoying the time off the boat as well as the company of the
different cruisers we have become acquainted with. If they know how to do
anything better, or at least as well as sailing, it has to be partying. Every place we
have gone we have met other people who are cruising. In most cases you will only
cross these other sailors paths once or twice because most are either in transit to
the South Pacific, going around the Pacific, off to Hawaii, in many cases they were
departing for the Marquesas, a group of islands about 30 days sailing due South
West across the Pacific, or they are planning a trip in the near future Many have
their families with them, including small children ranging in age from 6 month old
babies to young teenagers. These children have one thing in common, they are very
well behaved, polite, and very bright. it has to be a result of the close contact they
have as a family and with nature. The full moon is one of the excuses sailors have
for throwing a party. It is a much welcomed sight in the sky during night passages.
On moon less nights a person can't even see their hand in front of their own face.
Under these conditions, with only the star light to light your way it is almost
impossible to see any hazards that you might be coming up on. Therefore they have
full moon parties. Such a party was planned in La Cruz, a small town about 10 miles
North of PV with a good anchorage. We drove the boat to La Cruz and anchored
for the night, planning to return to Marina Vallarta the following morning. Sue and
Pepe, a couple who have an RV and a Spindrift 43, like Sail La Vie, and have lived
down here for 4 years were doing the music at the party that night. Several people
got in front of the microphone that evening to entertain us, all of them very
talented. With about 100 people it was a great time had by all that night. How
Kathleen and her little dog Chamin, a dog she adopted from the Florida Keys pound
and has never left her side, myself and Bruce managed to find the boat and to
launch the inflatable dingy in the surf without getting soaked in our condition is
still kind of fuzzy. After departing Puerto Vallarta we headed back North towards
Mazatlan, this time stopping in a small town along the coast called San Blass It was
originally founded by the Spanish in 1540 as a trading point. The estuary we
anchored in was a favorite hiding place of pirates, before the Spanish built a forover looking this part of the coast. Bruce and I walked through the town sightseeing.
We visited the old fort and cathedral that were built at the same time.
The cathedral known as the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora del Rosario, Our Lady of the
Rosary, is the subject of Henry Longfellows' last poem 'The Bells of San Blass". In
town is another cathedra! built by missionaries, including Father Sierra, who left
from here for Baja and California It hasn't grown much, and has remained about
the same size for 300 years. It is very tropical here and surrounded by jungle. Our
departure was prompted by the 'No-See-Ums", a term the cruisers use to describe
the small biting insects that infest the anchorage. Life aboard Sail La Vie is
starting to grow into a normal routine. Bruce is normally the first to get up. He
generally turns on the HAM radio to listen in on one of the 'Cruising Nets'. These
networks seen/e as a means for all the boaters down here to keep in touch. Many
are as far away as mid Pacific or the Panama Canal. The primary subject of interest
is the weather, what the sea conditions are, and the where abouts of friends and
schedules for rendezvous. I am primarily responsible for the cooking and Bruce
takes care of the mechanical req. u I re m e nts of the boat. I haven spent as much
time with my art work as I would like but have done some sketching. We will be
staying in Mazatlan for about two weeks before crossing to La Paz. Charlie Turner,
on FAR NIENTE was here to greet us, having just returned from crewing on a boat
that was transiting the Panama Canal. He will be crossing with us to Baja, as will
Rick and Becky on ESPRIT II, who are currently still in PV. We will be meeting
with Don and Sherry, on LUNA, who have been sailing the Sea of Cortez since 91.
Together we will head North, staying in many of the small isolated anchorage’s for
diving and fishing. I’m finding that there is a definite need down here for qualified
people to crew on boats for either short cruises or as far away as the South
Pacific. today I heard of a crew position for a boat going to Hawaii. I don't know
about taking one of these opportunities; a lot of factors have to be examined, the
qualifications of the skipper, the condition of his boat, safety gear, as well as
personalities , to just name part of the them. After this voyage I doubt life for me
will ever be as it was. My priorities are changing as rapidly as the view of the world
what I had before departing. Well, I will be might make mailing them impossible, most of the time we will be in isolated anchorages.
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