The Mexican Parthenon
OCEAN DANCE
The ceremony
The happy couple at the 50th wedding anniversay ceremony aboard OCEAN DANCE
Julies Triffle
A typical crusiers meeting
Roy and Winona's first 50th wedding anniversary dinner
A massive wood sculpture one of the villages around Patzacuaro is known for
The monastery, come convent, come resturant/hotel where we had breakfast in Patzcuaro
The alter in the church built in 1540 - Patzacuaro
The Pyramid
One of the island cities in the middle of the lake by Petzacuaro
Monday - 16 February 2009
1020 - Depart PV for Barra Navidad. Skies clear, wind and seas calm. Marina fee $309.00 US for 14 days.
1200 - Catch a nice current to Cabo Correntes: increase’s our speed to 6 knots.
1400 - Round the cape and pick up fresh northern breeze. Run out the headsail: 8.5 knots sliding down the backside of the wave.
1700 - Skies clear; wind directly off the stern at 25 knots. Furl headsail.
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
0030 - Wind has decreased but the waves are really rolling in. It’s a clear night and visibility is excellent. The waves don’t look that large, but they are. Huge rollers travel beneath the boat lifting it eight, ten, twelve feet. We’re rockin' and rollin’. All around us we can hear the crash of the waves cresting on themselves. I was just about to change course to give a little better ride and a huge wave crested just off our aft starboard quarter. The spray curtain stopped most of the wave from entering the cockpit, but it sure tossed the boat around. Two big rolls, sizeable enough to tip over the Engle refrigerator, which sits on the cabin sole in the lowest part of the boat. Julie hollered up “What’s going on up there!” as if scolding the waves and I for roughhousing.
0910 - Anchor Barra de Navidad: engine hours 716. The harbor channel is fraught with sand bars. I touched the putty a wee bit, but was able to back off immediately. JAKE came out in his dinghy and led us in. Visited with JAKE and ate fresh croissants from the French baker who was making his rounds in the harbor: into town after a bit.
1800 - Out to dinner with JAKE and HOOLIGIAN and stopped by the Canadian baker for pecan pie and chocolate cake.
Wednesday - 18 February 2009
Barra de Navidad lay day. Swimming and email at the Sands hotel pool and bar.
Thursday - 19 February 2009
1020 - Depart Barra de Navidad for Santiago Bay. We actually weighed anchor at 0930 and slowly picked our way over to the fuel dock. There was a sailboat refueling on one side of the terminal and a huge, permanently moored powerboat, end tied to the other side of the fuel dock. The powerboat effectively blocked any boat from getting diesel (what an ass) and the sailboat took his sweet time fueling up, including washing his boat down. If I haven’t mentioned this before, cruisers are a microcosm of the rest of society. There are good guys and bad guys, and good guys that sometimes behave badly. We filled with 92.5 liters (23 gallons): 716 - 660 = 56 hours / 23 gallons = .41 gallons/hour. Filled the two six-gallon diesel jugs for a total fuel capacity of 62 gallons, which makes our total estimated running time between 120-155 hours: total estimated distance 850 miles. We’re good.
1600 - Anchor Santiago Bay in 12 feet of water. Slow trip, only four to five knots: wind and waves on the nose, swells on the stern.
Friday - 20 February 2009
0400 - Weigh anchor Santiago Bay for Zihautanejo, skies clear and fresh NW breeze.
0704 - Sunrise. Winds NW 10-15 knots, seas choppy, long period swells. Flying jib only.
1200 - Skies clear; winds steady NW at 10-15 knots: seven knots under jib only.
1400 - Notice definite leak in the brand new engine’s raw-water cooling-pump. I am pissed! And pissed!! Winds on the stern, furl the headsail as I’m unable to keep course and headsail full.. Slow down and wait for JAKE.
1858 - Sunset. Winds 15 - 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots: big rollers coming on the stern pushing the boat around. JAKE on the horizon in front of us.
2200 - Julie wrenched her broken ankle: no more watches for her. I get the all-nighter. Increase turns to 2400 rpm: speed 6.5 knots.
Saturday - 21 February 2009
0200 - See lights occasionally off to the port but unable to pick anything up on radar. Unable to raise JAKE on the radio and I’m not sure if I’m ahead or behind him: maintain speed, course and heading.
0703 - Sunrise. Skies clear, seas calm with long period swells
0900 - Catch JAKE … dead ahead. Went all night without seeing or hearing from him and 14 hours later come up directly on his stern.
1200 – Pass Ixtapa Bay on approach Zihautanejo Bay.
1330 - Anchor Zihautanejo in 13 feet of water: engine hours 755.5: fuel gauge indicates we’ve used 3/8 tank from Barra (33 hours); SAUCY LADY and 12 other boats here.
1800 - Into town for a walk about. Pizza and beer for dinner with JAKE and SAUCY LADY.
Sunday - 21 February 2009
Zihautanejo - day spent emailing Total Yacht Works about pump problem.
Monday - 22 February 2009
Zihautanejo – SAUCY LADY (Roy and Winona - cruising friends from Washington) dinked over for a visit after the morning net. Discussed going further south toward the canal. Roy and I removed the water pump. We discovered the brand new impeller I installed in Mazatlan had a broken paddle, the pump drive belt was shot (cracked and shredding), and the pump bearing seal is leaking and unable to be fixed. I did a fresh water wash on the engine and Roy scrapped all the salt buildup from behind the pulleys, around the alternator and underneath the pan. We replaced impeller, installed a new drive belt and reinstalled the old pump (I need the pump, to cool engine, that charges the batteries, on the boat, that Hunter built.).
1200 - Into town to check in with port captain and have lunch. The port captain won’t check us in because we have no paperwork from our last port. In Mexico, the rule used to be foreign cruisers had to check in and out of every port, which involved finding the ports’ captain and providing current vessel documentation, proof of insurance, passport’s and visas. Several years ago the government changed the law allowing cruisers to check into the country at their first port of call, and check out of country at their last port of call. All the time we’ve been in Mexico, no port captain has required us to check in. When we’ve tried to check in, it’s been met with indifference and no documents have ever been stamped. This port captain wants something official though. One of his lieutenants took us down the malecon to an agent who will forge the needed documentation (for a small fee). We send a flurry of emails to TYC concerning the water pump.
1800 - Bus ride to Ixtapa (with JAKE and SAUCY LADY) to speak with BRENDON (a 37-foot Shannon owned by Steve and Denise Pepper) who did the Baja with us last year. Steve is up in the States and may be able to bring a water pump back when he returns on Friday.
2000 - Return to Zihautanejo and have a street hamburger for dinner.
Tuesday - 24 February 2009
0930 - Into town for southbound cruising seminar where we met half-a-dozen boats going south. We discovered some great cruising guides (that we didn’t know about) with detailed charts and information on Central America; we want/need them.
1200 – We strolled about town getting the lay of the land. Wandering into the street markets which are a huge conglomeration of individual vendors selling fresh cuts of beef to order, chicken legs, clothing, toys, back packs, curios of all manner of sundry items. It’s their Fred Meyer, but we’d call it a flea market.
1300 - Returned to agent. Twenty-four hours later and $20.00 poorer, we had official documentation verifying that we had entered Mexico at 1330 hours 23 February 2009; helluva way to run a country. Heard from TYW and they can get the parts but are unsure of the waiting period.
1800 - Little vittles on ITCHEN with SAUCY LADY and JAKE.
Wednesday - 23 February 2009
Zihautanejo – Water pump parts are available from Boatswains Locker (in Newport Beach, CA). They are willing to give the parts to BRENDON and bill TYW. For something I didn’t think had a snowball's-chance-in-hell of seeing fruition, it has come together nicely.
Thursday - 26 February 2009
Zihautanejo – We rented car at the airport for trip into Patzacuaro. Patzacuaro is city near Morelia and much like Morelia except smaller. Additionally, it has several communities that live on four small islands in the lake that is adjacent to Patzacuaro. After a three-hour drive and $20.00 in tolls we arrived in Patzacuaro, a 16th century city (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1tzcuaro). We drove around one of the plazas and made our way down to the embarcadero, where long shallow-draft water-taxis ferry residents and tourists to and from the islands. We were unable to catch a taxi out to the island due to the time of day, so we drove part way around the East side of the lake. Each one of the ten or twelve little villages surrounding the lake has a craft claim-to-fame: basket weaving, stone sculpting, wood carving, furniture making, beadwork, etc. One of the towns has an historic archeological site. It’s a pyramid of sorts (rectangular in shape, not real tall and with steps). The pyramid sits on an elevated piece of ground at the end of a grassy arena. The surrounding area, in fact all the way around the lake, the countryside is divided up with stone fences. I’m not sure, but I think the stone fences are part of the ancient history of the region. The site had three plaques. Each plaque’s narrative was written in three different languages (English, Spanish and a local native dialect); not one of the languages did anything to enlighten the visitor about the area. The plaque’s said something like ”…this area was inhabited by an earlier people. The pyramid is at the end of the field. This field is believed to be used for ceremonial events, perhaps some sporting events and even market day.” After visiting a few more villages we returned to town and stayed in a traditional Spanish architecture open-air hotel on the plaza.
Friday - 27 February 2009
Patzacuaro - Up early to explore the city by foot. We wandered down to the main plaza that consisted of a beautiful central grassy gardened area with fountains edged by the old buildings with their massive porticos. We walked up the street away from the plaza to the cathedral and two smaller churches. The churches are actually quite large and within blocks of each other (sometimes right across the street). One of the churches had a plaque declaring it to be the oldest church in Michoacan (the State the city of Patzacuaro is located in). The church was built in 1540. Columbus discovered the new world in 1492. Busy bees these Spanish missionaries were!
We had breakfast at one of the hotels in the plaza. The dining area was the central, uncovered patio of the hotel, surrounded by rooms on the floor above. As I looked around, the number of religious artifacts present struck me. In fact, all the decorations were religious pictures or icons of some sort: unusual for a restaurant. It seemed like we were in the center of a small church, with the altar at one end, arches on the side and a small drainage ditch surrounding the patio on which we ate. The character of the patio was vibrant. On talking with the manager, he said that the building was very old (circa 1500’s) and was originally a monastery, then a convent and now it’s a restaurant.
We walked through another huge market place where the fruits and vegetables were terribly inexpensive. Julie purchased a pound (medio-kilo) of oranges for fifty cents. We also purchased green beans, small yellow bell peppers, a string of garlic (the kind you use for vampires), roma tomatoes, and two other bean/pea pod and pomegranate-looking things, that I will die a happy man if I can remember their names.
1300 - Depart Patzacuaro. We drove up the other side of the lake a bit and then turned around for home. We return via the city Urupan to visit the Parq National. Traffic was heavy and slow going to the park, so we bagged it.
2030 - Arrived back in Zihautanejo.
Saturday - 28 February 2009
Zihautanejo - Out to Ixtapa to see BRENDON and pick up the water pump, impeller, drive belt and rebuild kit. The new pump was installed, we return the rental car and had lunch with SAUCY LADY.
1800 - JAKE and us take SAUCY LADY out to dinner. It is their 50th wedding anniversary.
Sunday - 01 March 2009
Lay day - Julie baked goodies. I let out some anchor chain and cleaned the bottom of the boat. Every other week or so, if we are anchoring out, I‘ll let out an extra scope of chain so the catenary that has been hanging in the water falls to the sand below and gets cleaned. I leave it for 24 hours and then pull the chain back to its original scope.
Preparing to clean the boats bottom is a matter of putting on my mask, gloves and fins, grabbing my wire and nylon bristle brushes, a scraper, and a suction cup handhold. I carefully tuck the scraper into my Speedos and go over the side of the boat, just like Mike Nelson did in Sea Hunt. I can hold my breath for 30 to 45 seconds in which time I press the suction cup to the hull, hang onto it and submerge to scrub the barnacles from the prop with the wire brush. Cleaning the prop and diving on the keel are the two hardest parts of cleaning the bottom. The rest of the hull is fairly easy to scrub with the nylon brush. The whole process can take up to two hours, in 30-45 second intervals. Without the suction cup, the job is nearly impossible to do. Many cruisers carry dive tanks or Huka’s to do the job. A Huka is a floating electrical compressor that creates an on-time oxygen supply delivered to the diver via a long breathing hose. Both dive tanks and Huka’s take space and power requirements I’d rather use for other things (another compromise). Those boats with divers/tanks/Hukas’s will clean your bottom for a dollar a foot, which is reasonable (and necessary in colder waters).
SERENDIPTIY (Alan and Rosie Ralph on a 51’ Islander) anchored behind us. The couple is from Southampton England (Julies home town) and they had called earlier wondering about ITCHEN’s name. One thing led to another and an impromptu cruiser's meeting was initiated at the Sunset Bar and Grill. Ten boats wound up attending; DECADE DANCE, ITCHEN, JAKE, MISTY SEA, NORTHERN DREAM, OCEAN DANCE, SAUCY LADY, SERENDIPTIY, and SUNBOW. Later, SAUCY LADY and ITCHEN had desert and a movie aboard JAKE.
Monday - 02 March 2009
Z-town - JAKE departed for PV. We filed taxes, did laundry and invited BRENDON aboard for dinner. Dinner (Supper) is prime social time. We rarely eat alone as we either have guests or are guests aboard another boat. Julie tries some new food group almost every time she cooks. Her meals are always different in an adventuresome sort of way. She, personally, never first tries the menu; that's what guests are for. The following is one of those accounts.
While in the Patzacuaro market we came upon some miniature yellow bell peppers. We thought it might be cute to stuff them and maybe some roma tomatoes for an appetizer or the vegetable portion of the meal. We were having BRENDON over for dinner, do we thought we’d barbeque some steaks and Julie would stuff these miniature yellow bell peppers with a little dollop of mashed potatoes. While preparing the peppers that afternoon, the skin on Julie’s hands started burning and then wiping her eyes, her eye’s immediately started to burn. After quite a bit of irrigation we got her eyes cleared up, but her hands continue to burn for the next 24 hours. To a couple of average intelligence that would’ve been a clue. We finished the dinner preparation as BRENDON arrived. We had a couple of drinks, cooked the steaks and Julie prepped the plates. I dove right in and cut a nice slice of pepper off and chomped down on it. WOWEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! IT WAS HOT! HOT! HOT-HOT! SPICEY HOT! How hot was it? I was so hot, insects burst into flame as they flew past. The heat from the peppers had even permeated the potatoes. Plop, plop, plop-plop … plop; in an instant all of us pitched the peppers overboard (let the fishes eat them). We wound up eating the steak and drinking lots of fluids. The peppers are called habaneras and even though they look exactly like a miniature yellow bell pepper, they are not; and they are hot.
Tuesday - 03 March 2009
Z-town; still at anchor; I filed …re-filed … the taxes; they were rejected because I entered Julie's birthday incorrectly. We retrieved the laundry and it was dirty. I don’t believe the lavanderia washes the clothes … at least not with soap. Every time we’ve taken the clothes in to have them laundered they come back just as dirty as when we when we took them. I’m not talking about a little ring around the collar or some obscure stain; I’m talking obvious dirt and grime that is removed during a normal wash. The unlaundered clothes smell nice and are folded neatly in a plastic bag, but they are dirty. When I take the laundry in and use the same machines the lavenderia uses, add my mixture of soap and bleach, the clothes come out much cleaner (just like home). It costs about $10.00 to have the laundry (not) done and about five dollars to do it ourselves. SAUCY LADY aboard for dinner
Wednesday - 04 March 2009
Z-town - Julie is attending a cooking class, in which the instructor takes the class into the mercado and teaches them about the assortment of foods and spices found there. The class then returns to the instructor’s house with their booty and taught how to prepare the food. For example; preparing Mexican marmalade, filleting the fish from the spine as opposed to gutting it from the belly, and using Bamboo leaves in grilling.
On the boat, I started the engine and let it run for one and half hours to recharge the batteries (I do this twice a day and try to space it 12 hours apart). Most boats have alternative sources of energy such as solar, wind, and/or gas/diesel generators. They still need to run their generators/engines in the morning to recharge their batteries after the night with no sun. I’ve seen only two boats get by on just solar and/or wind alone. I trade the fuel cost and wear and tear on the engine against the cost of solar and wind generators. I had a little Honda 1000 gas generator, which put out about 8 amps/hour. I sold it in La Paz last year because I was dissatisfied with its output and I hadn’t spent a lot of time at anchor. It was dumb and now I’ll need to find another one. I dinked to shore to meet Julie where we ordered water, spoke with Brigid on Skype, and checked Space-A flights to Europe. We had dinner aboard SUNBOW with OCEAN DANCE (59’ Cheoy Lee Trawler - Jim) and JICARANDA (38’ Allied - Chuck and Linda).
Thursday - 05 March 2009
Z-town - Change propane tanks and take the empty in to be refilled. The water we ordered yesterday arrived. When water is delivered, it’s delivered in five-gallon plastic containers via a panga. After transferring fifteen bottles aboard (from the panga), we get a funnel (a two liter plastic pop bottle cut in half) stick it in the deck plate (a capped receptacle on the boats deck), hoist the five-gallon (40 pound) jug of aqua and carefully poor it into the funnel. Repeat this eleven times and the port tank is fully provisioned with fresh water. The other four jugs I put in the starboard water tank to top it off. I have two five-gallon collapsible water containers I can fill, as well. Fuel comes in 50-liter vegetable oil containers (we’ve seen nothing like them in the States) and the fuel is transferred from vegetable container to fuel tank via a siphon hose (much easier and less back breaking than the water, but slower). I have yet to get fuel here, bet we’ll need some prior to heading north.
We had dinner aboard OCEAN DANCE with Jim and his crew Bob and Roz. Bob is a retired orthopedic surgeon and took a look at Julie’s ankle x-ray. It’s too early to tell if the fracture will remain a non-union. We’ll get it x-rayed again in PV at the end of the month.
Friday - 06 March 2009
Z-town - We remain in Zihautanejo continuing with the daily routine of a cruiser.
0600 - The night sky is just beginning to brighten as the sun lurks over the horizon. In a sleepy daze, the deep rumble of the fishing fleets engines are heard as they race out to sea. The boat jostles a little as the wake slaps against the hull, but it’s nothing compared to the swells (coming from hundred of miles out in the Pacific) that roll us around. Adjust. Adapt. Sleep.
0800 - 0830 - Tumble out of the rack and bounce around the boat until we get our sea legs. Julie is up first; she turns off the anchor light and prepares for the morning net. I usually have a cup of instant iced coffee. I know instant iced coffee doesn’t sound very encouraging, but everything done on the boat is geared toward simplicity and convenience. Heating hot water produces both heat and reduces power. I’d rather be cool and suffer a little with the taste. One of us will wipe the deck down, if enough dew is present; then drop the dinghy off its halyard where it’s been lifted all night for security purposes and to keep the bottom clean.
0830 - The local morning net begins. I’ve explained the net before, but just as a recap: The net is the radio communication network used by cruisers, a party line if you will. There are regional nets (Greater Pacific, Gulf Coast, Caribbean, etc.) that carry exotic names like Pacific Seafarer, Chubasco, Southbound, Bluewater, Amigo, etc). These regional nets are very large and may encompass an area thousands of square miles. Communication is conducted via a short-wave radio (HAM or SSB).
Local nets (conducted on a VHF radio) are just for a particular bay or marina in which a group of boats are anchored. All nets start at an appointed time and follow usually the same specified format, which allows each boat to identify itself, needs they may have, their relative safety, and (for vessels underway) their position. The nets are hosted by a controller and follow fairly rigid rules of order. Even so, they can be as long as 45 minutes, depending on the number of boats involved, weather, traffic, and messages that need to be passed along. After the local net there is usually a flurry of radio traffic for vessels wanting to communicate with each other to coordinate activities. It sounds like this; “ Gaia – Gaia, this is Sans Cles. Over.” “San Cles this Gaia, switch and answer 21.” Or, it may sound like this; “Third Day - Third Day - Third Day, this Isle of View.” “Isle of View, pick a channel, over.” Isle of View “mmmmmm, lets go to 68, over.” “68, Isle of View.” In a busy marina there may 15 or more boats hailing each other.
0900’ish - Breakfast for the crew and coordinate the day's activities: who needs to go ashore and when? What projects need to be done, when do they need to be done, and what is needed to do them? Is a trip to shore required and can it be coordinated with crew liberty? When do supplies arrive from shore (water, diesel, laundry, food, all manner of things can be delivered to the boat via the panga’s)? We may then check the boats we’re babysitting in the anchorage (if any), which usually involves charging the batteries or feeding an animal. Daily, on our boat, we check fluid levels, engine spaces, the bilge, the head urinal (which requires emptying every couple of days). Every month and half to three months we’ll need to empty the solid portion of the head. Never a fun job, but no one on a boat escapes it. Most boats have to weigh anchor, go offshore and pump out either electrically or via a hand pump, rinse the head with salt water, add the chemicals, then return to the anchorage to re-anchor. While our experience is a little more up close and personal (even though standard marine heads need to be rebuilt periodically and holding tanks and sewage lines need to be replaced), it’s just a matter of pulling the top off the head and dumping the used peat moss (which smells like dirt) into a plastic bag and taking it ashore to dump in the trash. We then refill the tank with peat moss, reassemble the head and secure to the cabin sole. Supper on ITCHEN, just the two of and we watched a movie on the computer.
Saturday - 07 March 2009
Zihautanejo - Go over and check on BRENDON (38’ Shannon Pilot House). I recharge the batteries for an hour using his generator. Brendon’s solar panels keep up with his energy needs during the day, but after 12 hours of no sun, he needs to run his generator. Return to the boat and begin again on the endless tasks that need attention. I need to rig up an anchor chain cleaning brush, so I used a toilet brush and cut the wire loop that hold the bristles in place. I temporarily attach the brush to a boat hook and I can sort of clean the mud from a chain when we weigh anchor.
Sunday - 08 March 2009
Zihautanejo - Over to charge batteries on BRENDON. Julie and Rosie (SERENDIPTIY) organized a British afternoon tea party for the ladies of the anchorage, on SERENPIDIPTY. All the ladies are required to wear hats. Some of the guys went ashore for a beer and from that vantage point we could clearly see ladies hats bobbing about on the 51’ ketch.
Julie and I returned to the beach later that evening. The zocolo is the small, centrally located plaza on the malecon (walkway along the beach) with some seating, which can be converted into amphitheater, ceremonial stage and basketball or volleyball court. It is the place to be on Sunday night as all the locals come out to mill about and socialize. They bring crafts, food, or any number of curios to sell. We had a hamburger from a street vendor and milled about.
Monday - 09 March 2009
Zihautanejo - The dinghy outboard started to make noise last night so I went to the beach this morning to work on it. It turns out the spring clip located on the bottom of the starting pulley was broken. A mechanic happened to be walking along the beach and after surveying my problem he took me for a little walk: through a parking lot, over a bridge, up some stairs, through a back yard, and across a street to another fellow's house. The beach mechanic showed the house mechanic the broken spring clip and 10 minutes later, after passing in front of us a couple of times, the house mechanic returned with another spring clip, smaller, but functional. I paid him 200.00 pesos ($16.00 us) and departed. My mechanic felt he deserved a beer after escorting me around and so he took me to a tienda where he got two beers, one for himself and one for me. He then instructed me to pay for them (25.00 pesos). We sat on the curb outside the tienda and he jabbered at me in Spanish as though I understood him. I was polite, finished my beer, thanked him for his assistance and returned to fix the outboard. I thought while I was there I might as well change the spark plugs, but I’m unable to find the plugs this engine requires, so I filed the old ones off and reinstalled them. To OCEAN DANCE (55’Choey Lee two-story Trawler: Five staterooms, three bathrooms, two caterpillar diesel engines; two Onan 20KW generators and a 7000 mile cruising range) with SAUCY LADY for dinner. Julie did the cooking and OCEAN DANCE provided the venue.
Tuesday - 10 March 2009
Zihautanejo - Went for a sail on FEET (a 42’ custom catamaran). Bill (FEETS master) built the boat in San Francisco in the early 1990’s; it took him about four years to complete it. This is Bill’s fifth year in Mexico. The boat is 42 feet long and 26 feet wide and has a 25 hp outboard motor for auxiliary power. Electrical needs of the boat are very small and his solar panels keep his batteries charged up. Even so, he has electric winches and an Engle refrigerator. The boat sailed flat (no pitching or yawing) and nearly at the speed of the wind. We had eight to ten knots of wind and we were sailing as fast as eight-and-a-half knots. Julie spent the whole time in the forward trampoline (net), four feet above the water doing yoga with Av (another crewmember). FEET and WILD ROSE (Laurie and Ava) over to ITCHEN for dinner.
Wednesday - Sunday, 11 - 15 March 2009
Zihautanejo - Life at anchor continues in much the same pattern. Jump up, turn off the anchor light, let the dinghy down, wipe down the decks and check out any new arrivals. Listen to the morning net, visit other boats, go to shore, take short day sails, or shift to another anchorage for a night. Clean the bottom in the afternoons. Sunday I added the extra fuel I was carrying for going south (12 gallons) and provisioned with drinking water; 4 jugs starboard (20 gallons) and nine jugs port (45 gallons). I also cleaned the composing portion of the head.
Sunday - Saturday, 16 - 21 March 2009
This week SAUCY LADY celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. A potluck hosted by the cruising community was held in their honor. The happy event was held on OCEAN DANCE and the vessels master performed the renewal-of-vows ceremony. Everyone in attendance brought a useful gift. The vessel’s bow was tastefully decorated with white tulips and crinoline skirting. The bride had a bouquet of five genuine red roses with baby’s breath. She wore a white cotton dress, flip-flops and a crinoline veil attached to a rhinestone tiara. The groom wore a white dinner jacket, black bow tie, clean shorts, and sandals. The iPod, MP3, and the vessel ISHI provided tasteful music from a bygone era; the music was not played loudly. There were nine boats in attendance. Even though alcohol was present, guests conducted themselves in a mannerly fashion. Laughter and merriment were reported.
Sunday - Saturday, 22 - 28 March 2009
Zihautanejo is hosting The International Guitarfest (for which we are volunteers). Guitarfest is a local charitable event that runs the entire week. The community solicits top-drawer guitarist from around the globe to participate. Locals donate time, transportation, and living accommodations while restaurants donate venues. We have a dual role as volunteers: one is to sell tickets and the other to bounce gatecrashers and lurkers. Sunday was the opening day of the festival and it continues at different restaurant venues throughout Zihautanejo. As volunteers we are able to visit any of the venues free (on our off nights) and subsequently took in quite a few acts. We especially liked Doug Towle and del la Tierra (Canadian new age classical/flamenco guitar), Drew Wright (Canadian singer), Anna Burceiva (Ukrainian classical guitar), Eric McFadden (American new age folk), Pat Guadango (American all around entertainer), Roger and Valeria Scannura and daughter Angelica (Canadian/Spanish flamenco guitar and dancers) and Los Pistoleros. Los Pistoleros are three individual guitarists (from Texas) who joined to form the group six months ago. They absolutely rocked the house. I’m unsuccessful in listing the web sites, but if you go to youtube and type in the above names or Zihautanejo Guitarfest you can see the perfromances
Sunday – Saturday, 29 March – 4 April 2009
Zihautanejo – Exhasuted and partied out after a week of guitarfest. We’d start each evening with cocktails and a meal on one of the boats. There were usually about four couples getting togehter and not a light drinker amoung us. At 1830 we hopped in our dinghies and made our way to our scheduled resturant venue, where we had more drinks (because they were free) and started selling tickets. For those patrons already in the resturant, we’d ask them to pony up the six dollar admission fee or leave. We had a couple of malcontents, but nothing serious. OCEAN DANCE, BRENDON and ITCHEN made one side trip over to one of the grand hotels in Ixtapa where we snuck in and used their pool for the afternoon.
There is a private residence here that ressembles the Parthenon. It is a cold, gray cement building sitting high on a hillside, presiding over the bay. We hiked our way along the beach, up a half dozen fights of stairs, through a couple of resturant/hotels, and up the dirt road that ended at the imposing gates of the Mexican Parthenon. A older mexician gentleman, in shorts and t-shirt, was sitting with his little dog (osso negra) on one of the cement banisters. He identified himself as the guard and for a couple of bucks he unlocked the gates and took us on a tour. Understand the place has no maintenance and is in pretty shabby condition. The entire two story structure is open air. The floors are imported Italian marble and the walls are covered with fading fresco’s (some a little diviant in their nature). A bar, kitchen and a huge marble dinning table occupy one-half of the bottom floor. The upstairs has five bedrooms each with its own mirriored ceiling and full bath. The rooms are dirty and broken down and currently serve as nice homes for bats … lots of bats. The front of the parthenon (the portion that faces the bay) has 20 or steps that decend onto what was a large open courtyard complete with pool and disco dance area. The grounds were littered with greco-roman statues and had a built in tunnel that led to the beach 10 stories below. Now for the rest of the story …
ZIHUATANEJO, Mexico (Reuters) - A replica of the Greek Parthenon stands decaying on a cliff above a Mexican Pacific resort, a gaudy monument to graft and brutality that neighbors long ago dubbed the Palace of Corruption.
It was built as a vacation retreat by the late Arturo Durazo, "El Negro," a notorious Mexico City police chief who got rich on official misdeeds during a heyday of corruption in the 1970s. Legend says he murdered a couple of house guests in the Parthenon's lagoon-sized pool, now half filled with slimy, green water. The caretaker fears the ghost of El Negro himself haunts the deserted grounds. He prefers to hang his hammock outside the towering front gate, keeping watch from a distance.
"Definitely, that Parthenon is a monument to corruption," said Zihuatanejo Mayor Amador Campos. "However, it is a beautiful place worth a lot of money that can be rescued as a cultural center or theater for the people." Guerrero state has claimed the property, and now towns people hope to turn it into a community treasure.
… Durazo, whose opulent taste once was described as "early Nero," ran the Mexico City police force as his personal Mafia, acquired a string of race horses and reputedly had his enemies killed at will. He was convicted of racketeering and other charges and died in 2000. The Parthenon's decadence still stuns, although it is softened by dusk and time. Murals fade on the walls and the seashimmers below. Broken statues of Greek gods stand forlorn.
… His boyhood friend, Jose Lopez Portillo, became president and rode an oil boom that fed some of the most blatant graft, nepotism and excess ever seen in Mexico. Economic crisis ensued, and a disgraced Lopez Portillo died last year.
The following is one of the many websites with pictures of the Parthenon: parthenon zihuatanejo
