Friday, January 15

We just returned from a five-day trip to Guadalajara. We rode a first class bus with our friends Earl and Francie from Le’Zarder to Guadalajara where we spent three nights at the Hotel Frances, a first class hotel in the center of the old town. The hotel was built in 1610, and though restored, is still quite elegant with crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings and a piano player that entertained in the lobby bar area each evening. The hotel was right across the street from the old Governor’s palace, currently full of government offices. It is another grand old building, but its best feature was the two large ceiling murals painted by José Orozco. One covered the entire wall and ceiling of the stairwell and depicted pre-World War II politics as viewed by the painter. The second was on the round ceiling of the Congress Chambers. We visited the Museum of Cabañas the next day and viewed many more of Orozco’s murals, which filled the walls, and ceilings of the old chapel there.

The rest of the first morning was spent visiting the many churches and plazas in the old city. We even got to view the inside of the grand old Theater Degollado as a kindly guard allowed us in. Monday afternoon we spent in Market Libertad, the large old-style market in Guadalajara. The market contained many more manufactured goods than I remembered from 35 years ago but the lower level still contained a large quantity of artisans’ wares. Francie and I spent about three hours wandering through the many stalls before we were too tired to continue. I did purchase a few gifts but saved most of my gift getting for our visit to Tlaquepaque a few days later.

Tuesday was museum day. We actually only visited two before we were too tired to do any more. We spent the morning wandering through the old patios of the Instituto Cultural Cabañas and viewing artwork in the museum there. This is where we saw more of Orozco’s murals and some of the pre sketches and line drawings for the murals. In the afternoon we visited the Guadalajara Regional Museum which contained historic artifacts as well as artwork. It contained lots of stuff but was not as well labeled as it could have been.

Wednesday morning we checked out of the grand Hotel Frances and took a city bus to the suburb of Tlaquepaque where we found a shortage of hotels. There was one in the center of town, a "hotel normal" or lower class hotel. Not a classy joint, but it was clean and the bed was ok and it was cheap. Our first stop in town was to the glass factory where we watched with great interest the blowing of glass bottles and drinking glasses as well as the making of the large decorative balls. They swirled the coating inside the balls by hand to form the shinny mirror look. We ate lunch at one of the many restaurants in El Parion, in the center of town, while listening to mariachi music. After eating, Francie and I took off shopping along Calle Independencia, which now carries only foot traffic. The quality of the artisans’ works was much greater here than in the Market Libertad and there were moderately priced stores as well as elegant shops along the mall. I found many gift items that I purchased to take to family and friends in the states next week when we visit there.

By Thursday we were all worn out, so we spent the day people watching and enjoying the town plaza as well as El Parion and its life until it was time to check out of the hotel and head to the bus station for the long ride back to Mazatlan. We rode on an Executive class bus with only three seats across, lots of legroom and a seat back that went back far enough to sleep comfortably. We arrived back in Mazatlan at 4:00AM in the morning and were asleep on the boat by 4:30.

Monday, 18 January

Tomorrow we head out north. We have spent the last two days resting up from the last trip and getting the car ready for the drive to Arizona where we will catch a plane to Oregon. To keep us out of trouble with Customs the car needs to cross the border every 6 months.

Later: We just discovered that we have import papers for the car for a year but since everything is already planned we are still going to drive north in the morning heading for Tucson.

Thursday, 21 January

We had an uneventful Tuesday driving to Guymas where we found a nice hotel for the night. Wednesday we got underway early and managed to avoid the center of Hermosillo, finding the route that passed through the outskirts of the city. We continued to the PGR inspection point at the village of Benjamin Hill, about half way to Santa Ana, where the car gave up. There is a small service shop there with a mechanic and he spent an hour dismantling the car to discover that the timing belt was losing its cogs. Being a Honda, the part is not available in Mexico, so Bill and I boarded a bus for Nogales with plans to bring the part back with us when we return in 2 weeks. In Nogales, we boarded another bus that took us across the border and on to Tucson. We arrived in Tucson after dark at about 7:00PM. An airport shuttle picked us up and took us to the airport where we rented a car. After finding a hotel and some burgers for dinner we spent the rest of the evening just relaxing in the hotel room watching TV in English.

Today we spent the entire day at the Sonora Desert Museum here. It is more like a zoo of Desert life. Many of the cacti and other plants that we see all throughout Baja are exhibited here and named. The exhibits also contain many of the animals of the desert. Some we occasionally have gotten to glimpse in the wild but many others we have not seen at all before. All in all it was a great museum and a great day.

Monday, 25 January

We are now in The Dalles trying to accomplish a month’s worth of visiting and chores in one week. We arrived in Portland on Friday afternoon and after the required stops at West Marine and Computer City we spent a nice evening with our friends Wayne and Jean. They live on their boat tied up in the Columbia River where there is good quick water flowing past their slip this time of year.

Saturday we drove east to The Dalles for our marathon visit. We spent most of the weekend with our youngest daughter, Gretchen, and granddaughter Emily. Emily is now 1-½ years old and loads of fun to play with; she does have more energy than grandma does though. Gretchen is still trying to complete the divorce but seems to have everything under control. Saturday afternoon we had a short visit with Doreen’s sister Linda and her husband while gathering up the last three months of mail. Since then Bill has been busy typing bank statement numbers into the computer in his spare time and installing the new software purchased Friday in Portland.

Saturday night was the annual Commodore's Banquet at The Dalles Yacht Club and we had a wonderful time visiting with old friends and also had a quite nice dinner.

Wednesday, January 27

I have spent the last two days playing with my 18-month-old granddaughter, Emily, and sewing uniforms for Gretchen, who just got a job at the nursing home. Emily is a good child and is trying to talk though not quite succeeding yet; she entertains herself quite well as long as there is someone else present. The big surprise was that she accepted Bill and me right off and did not seem afraid of the two strangers that had bounced into her life for a few days.

Bill has spent these days running through the list of errands that we wanted to accomplish while in The Dalles. The "after work" times of the days were spent making the many visits that a quick trip "home" requires. We sure feel that we are "burning the candle at both ends" but we are accomplishing our goals in the process.

Saturday, 30 January

Friday, Bill and I stopped by the travel agent to start forming plans for our trip this next summer, to visit our oldest daughter Ginger and her husband in Germany. Our hope is to take a freighter from somewhere on the Pacific Coast through the Panama Canal and to somewhere in the Mediterranean.

These last three days we have done more relaxing and Bill has found more time to surf the web as our essential chores have been accomplished. Bill signed us up with AOL and has figured out how to download our mail and upload web pages to Gorge.Net through this AOL connection. Since AOL has local numbers worldwide this should cut our eMail costs down quite a bit. I have also managed to catch granddaughter's cold; my first is several years so it has slowed me down some.

Tomorrow we are off to Montana and hopefully, a more relaxing time and a little skiing.

Tuesday, February 2

We arrived here in Bozeman Montana on Sunday night, after a day spent in planes and airports. Yesterday was a day to unwind and relax and Bill got all the IRS and Oregon tax forms filled out through the use of the computer. He plans to print them up after we return to the boat and send them back north to the U.S. Mail with friends that will be visiting Mazatlan.

Today we dusted off the cross country skis and spent an hour skiing around the golf course which was a nice flat run but necessary to get us used to exercise at this high altitude.

Sunday, February 7

Thursday, February 11

We are back in Mazatlan on Lanikai but the car is still broken down at the checkpoint north of Hermosillo. The new timing belt installed just fine but the car now has no compression, so some damage was done when the belt gave way. We left the car and returned via bus to Mazatlan. Bill plans on returning to the car next week to explore what damage really exists and the possibilities of repair before we junk it.  Since we no longer feel the need to have an automobile here in Mexico, it is hard to get too excited about repairing it. If it is really dead he will discuss with the aduana (Customs) in Hermosillo what to do to clear the temporary import permit from it.

Carnival is starting here and that is much more exciting. We have already scheduled to attend the Saturday fireworks and the Sunday parade with the group from the marina.

Sunday, 14 February

The fireworks display last night was spectacular. Fireworks were shot off from three positions along the shore, one on top of a tall hotel and another from a ship offshore. They were shot right overhead and the flashes and showers surrounded the viewers. The flashes and bursts lasted for slightly over a half-hour and the smell of black powder permeated everything. The crowds were large and dense by the time the fireworks display started. We were up above the masses on the balcony of a restaurant, which had been reserved for us cruisers from the marina. It was great to look down and watch the throngs of flowing people. We did have to enter the crowds to work our way back to the buses that returned us to the marina. It was after midnight and people were still coming to the closed off section of the Malicon for the street dancing that went on all night. Lots of stages with loud bands were set up about every half block along this stretch of closed roadway.

Monday, February 15

The parade last night was wonderful, but the crowd control before the parade was totally lacking. So the parade got a slow start while pushing a plug of humanity ahead of it. Both sides of the road were packed at least ten deep with people and so there was no place for those folks wandering the street to go except forward along the parade route. The streets finally cleared and the parade continued at a reasonable rate for about 2 hours. The floats were fantastic with lots of glitter. Most had young, costumed girls riding on them and waving. Mario (our harbormaster) had set up great seating for the marina residents. We had front row seats but just as the parade was statring, we had to "fight" to keep them; the view was worth it.

Bear from Oceanea is working on our engine today. He removed the injectors and had them cleaned and serviced last Friday and now is reinstalling them. Next summer when we leave the boat here we will have more work done but this is enough for now.

Sunday, February 21

Bill returned last night from his great paperwork shuffle in Hermosillo. The car was towed to Hermosillo where the head was removed from the engine and the car declared dead. Two of the pistons had been damaged by hitting their valves; one was crumpled just enough to score its cylinder wall. Then it was off to the Aduana to complete the paperwork to remove the car form the temporary import status. The customs official agreed that the car was dead but then it took two days of paperwork and a bit of Mexican style finagling to figure out the best way to handle it. Bill ended up leaving the car with the helpful mechanic in Benjamin Hill and he has promised to turn the paperwork over to the border aduana when he visits his family in Benjamin Hill next weekend.

Thursday, February 25

Bill spent his first two days home updating his computer and sending off e-mails and faxes. He is starting to gather information for the parts needed for our engine rebuild this summer; and then there were just lots of eMails that needed answering. The last few days we have spent installing more of the parts brought south in our last two trips to the north. We now have three electric fans that vent air from the cabin ceiling out the dorade vents. They will be very useful when it gets hot in a few months. We also had some divers clean Lanikai’s bottom. The paint, where it is not worn off, is still inhibiting growth but it is getting thin. We have purchased new paint, but we are hoping that with monthly cleanings while the boat is tied up here, we can stall off the painting until next November when we can go to Puerto Vallarta for the work.

Monday, March 1, 1999

After a break in the activities following Carnival, activities are again on the rise. Friday afternoon was spent catching up with news from The Dalles with friends from our yacht club that are vacationing in Mazatlan this week. Saturday night we took them to the Shrimp Bucket restaurant for a delicious meal. We then sent our tired friends back to their hotel while we wandered off to "Pedro and Lolas" restaurant, where we spent the rest of the night listening to great music and enjoying a few piña coladas. Last night a hot dog vendor came to the marina and for 2 hours cooked hotdogs while many of us waited in a long line that was made to seem shorter by the chatter we enjoyed with each other. This was followed and overlapped by entertainment provided by the musicians among the fleet here.

Tuesday, March 2

Today we said good-bye to our friends from The Dalles that had to go back to the rain and cold. We are sure lucky to get to stay here. Last night was their last night so we enjoyed a long, late dinner at a restaurant near to their hotel. We had a wonderful time although we ate and drank too much. Tonight we made up for it by eating a lighter meal, home cooked on the boat.

Saturday, March 6

Another margarita party was held at the marina last night. It was followed by some singing accompanied by two guitars in the expert hands of some fellow cruisers. Wednesday morning Bill and Bear figured out what parts we need to order to rebuilt our engine. Bear is going to do the work while we are off exploring Europe this summer. Bill sent off parts lists to stateside distributors and our planned inland travel is on hold until we get answers back. We need that paperwork so that the paperwork for the parts importation can be accomplished.

Sunday, March 7

We started out today by helping Wayne and Judith put Savili’s rebuilt engine back into her home on the boat. The engine has been sitting on the dock for 2 months being completely rebuilt and is now shinny green and clean. The weather appears to have turned to spring as the days are now quite warm and the nights are just a comfortable cool. Boaters who had gone south earlier in the year and are not planning on heading for the Panama Canal or to the South Pacific are beginning to return north. Some are already even crossing back to Baja and the few that only came down for the winter are getting ready for their trip back up the coast to San Diego.

Thursday, March 11

Bill finally received word about our parts order and it looks like it will all be finalized tomorrow. It looks like we will be off on the bus Monday to explore various cities and towns in inland Mexico. Today Bill spent the afternoon wiring switches for interconnecting the GPS, radar, autopilot and the computer running the navigation chart program. He connected it together with switches so that we can interconnect only the instruments that we want at anytime.

Monday four of us ladies went shopping. We started off downtown at the fabric stores where I picked up fabric for another pillow (doubling as blanket storage) and cheap muslin to cover the black floatation foam in our port-a-boat. The foam has oxidized in the sun and flakes of black are everywhere; since it provides some stiffening to the boat we decided to cover it instead of removing it. We (the girls) then visited Nede-Art where the current art project is tiny clay figurines that are dressed in small bits of leather. The artist herself brought out a tray of them, not quite finished, for us to choose from. They were only 2 to 3 inches tall; faces, hands, etc were all very detailed. I picked up one to give as a gift and we perused the rest of the shop while we waited for the finishing touches to be applied. Our last stop was the grocery store as stocking up on food was the real reason for the trip. Both Savili and Touché are planning on heading west this season and are therefore stocking up on food.

Saturday, 13 March

Bill checked the eMail late last night and the final corrected parts order was there.

Monday, 15 March

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