In La Paz

As we walked around town trying to find the Dia de los Muertos celebration the day after we arrived, Tim kept saying, “We live in Mexico.“

It is certainly a weird feeling that requires us to stop and think about it. We still don’t know quite what to think, though. It can be a bit overwhelming at times, especially since Gary left. Yet other times as we watch the sun set over palms and reflecting off the water, it seems just fine.

We have begun working on projects for the boat and exploring the town a bit more. Every morning the cruisers get together for coffee and chatting near the marina. We have joined a few times and made a couple of friends already. Everyone is so willing to help us with everything. If we have a question (which we have many), there is an answer or two floating around for us. One in particular – how do we actually sail? Funny to think we have come all the way here and even lived on are boat for 2 weeks now, but we had to borrow the Sailing for Dummies book from our broker!

We have reconnected with a wonderful couple we had met when we were here in September looking at boats. Yazna (sp?) and Rick are experienced sailors with a great sense of humor and a willingness to share. They have offered to teach us on our boat. Yanza being a sailing instructor and Rick has lived aboard for three years; they could show us a thing or two. Rick, unfortunately, has been rather ill since we arrived, so we are waiting until he feels up to getting out. I made some chicken soup from scratch and took it over to them in our dinghy yesterday. Nothing wrong with a little southern hospitality in the Sea of Cortez.

A couple of days ago we went exploring with a new friend, John on the motor yacht Storm Bay, to find the local farmers’ market. It was really a different experience. We sat at a vendor’s stool and had lunch before we dove into eggs, produce and tortillas. I was happy the selection was fresher than the super markets. We have discovered about eating in Mexico: You have to soak your fruits and vegetables in a special solution before eating them because of their less sanitary handling processes, and that there is an amoeba that you can get if you don’t drink a preventative. It takes a little getting used to, but we have heeded the warnings just in case.

Today was another reminder why we are here. John picked us up and we all went around the corner of the beach to go see the whale sharks. They come to this area this time of year. We were motoring around on a 9-foot dinghy just hoping to come across some when we decided to follow the crowd of tourist boats, and there they were! They were two young whale sharks. Tim and John took turns snorkeling with them. I was a bit of a chicken to get in the water, but I was really close on the boat. They were just babies, but much bigger than our little boat.

We played a bit of Frisbee on the beach and everything seemed simple once again.