29 January 2006
Punta Perula, Bahia de Chamela
This morning we put our 50 gallon/hour water maker to work. Yesterday John worked it out with Guillermo at one of the tiendas to have 10 garrafons (five gallon water cooler jugs) of water delivered to the far end of the beach where we land our dinghies. At 8:15 AM he paddled in to shore with the kayak to wait for the 8:30 delivery. Aldo arrived with the water truck at about 8:45, and John called me on the radio to come in with the dinghy. We anchored it in about 4' of water outside the surf break and, wearing our swimsuits, carried each garrafon from the beach to the dinghy. When all 10 were loaded up John helped launch me in the kayak before he jumped in the dinghy, and we returned to Nakia to fill one of our water tanks. We use a siphon pump to get the water from each garrafon into the tank, carefully pouring the last drops from each jug into the first empty so that we get it all. We completed the process at about 09:30.
After a nice breakfast of eggs and potatoes we loaded the 10 empties, tied in bundles of five, and went around to the remaining boats in the anchorage to say hi. There were 12 boats here last night (including three big power boats), but by the time we got out and about only four besides us were left. We had an uneventful dinghy landing (one boat got dumped badly trying to get off the beach yesterday evening; they managed to recover their expensive glasses, but the outboard was completely submerged so they were rowing back to their boat), dumped our garbage in one of the ubiquitous blue barrels behind a palapa restaurant, and began our walk to the other end of town. When John made the inquiry about a water delivery we were returning from a walk along the beach, and he started at the far end of town because he noticed the tienda had a water truck parked right behind it. Next time we'll probably start at the dinghy landing and work our way down until we find someone who can deliver to the beach.
The town was about as lively as it gets around here since it's Saturday. People were lined up at the carniceria for something fatty looking in a huge steel pot full of fat - maybe fresh carnitas? We bought water and a soda and sat on a shady bench in the zocolo (town square) watching the birds and butterflies in the bougainvillea. There was a small street market set up nearby selling new clothing, cosmetics, hair doo-dads, and house wares. Not many other shopping opportunities here, and business looked brisk. Still no sign of life at the only panaderia in town. Last time we were here the woman doing the baking looked like she should probably retire soon, so maybe she's gone to Guadalajara to live with her family.
Everyone agrees the fishing hasn't been very good on the gold coast so far this season. One of the best things since we've been here is the school of two dozen or more crevalle jacks in the anchorage. They aren't good eating but John says they're a lot of fun to catch. He had one yesterday that fought for half an hour, and was three feet long. He hooked a second one which took out 50 yards of line before bending the hooks straight, releasing itself.
We recently had a discussion with another boat regarding being "sophomores" this year. We all agreed that although we're still enjoying Mexico very much, the bloom of first year excitement has worn off and now, instead of it being all adventure, all the time, we feel as though life is a bit more routine. So we apologize for not keeping up the blog on as regular a basis as we did last year, but now you know the reason why.
Linda and John