We got a quick Spanish lesson from the waiter at a restaurant called 'Social' in Maz. He asked us our names and when I said Frank he said 'Fransico or Pancho for short'. We didn't know that.
Linda is Spanish for 'pretty, complete, perfect'. Of course we all knew that.
The picture above is from Wikipedia of Fransico Villa, more commonly known by his nickname Pancho, a prominent Mexican Revolutionary general.
You can call me Pancho and Linda is as always, linda.
It’s getting hot! The heat and humidity are going up in Mazatlan and it’s only June. Days are now in the low 90's while the humidity is in the 70's, sometimes into the low 80’s. We keep at least one a/c on 24 hours a day and sometimes 2 in the afternoon. We have three ac units on the boat but we try not to cool the areas where we are not. The heat and humidity really effect you outside so we have slowed down on our outside projects and curtailed our trips around town.
We made a run up to Tucson already to get some project supplies and see some friends. It's about an 18 hour trip and we make one overnight stop along the way. Highway 15 is fairly nice and there are plenty of places to stop for food and gas and lots of good motels. The roads in the northern half in Sonora are the worst but the highway in Sinaloa are very good. The car stopped running while in Tucson, just refused to start one morning, and we took it to a shop recommended by some friends. It turned out the 'computer' that controls all the electronics had died and because the car is 20 years old they had to get a replacement out of Pennsylvania that took 3 days, so we sat in the motel watching TV waiting for the car. We've had the car since new, 20 years now, and it has 220K miles on her. As the mechanic said "After all this time and miles it has paid for its self and she owes us nothing. Every time she starts it's a gift". It was 108⁰ (but dry) in the afternoon, so without a car we couldn't walk around too much except in the evening. We'll be making another run up north in late July for more parts and do a little house sitting for our friends Jennifer and Dean.
We're trying to keep busy inside the boat without going too mad but we're already looking forward to leaving in November.
It's going to be a long summer.
The picture is of the beach off of Paseo (avenue) Clausen with the Mazatlan skyline behind. There are statues all along the city beaches throughout Mexico.
Another morning in paradise.
We made it back to Mazatlan and have started to settle in for the summer. We’re looking forward to the 5 months of heat and tied to a dock, well, not really. We both enjoy being on anchor rather than in a marina but during the hurricane season, and the summer heat, you need to be in a marina for the protection and electricity so you can run the a/c. At least we have our car so we can explore the city and area and get to the grocery store without having to walk a great distance.
While were here we will get some projects done and order some items that we can pick up in Tucson. There are skilled workman here so we can get help with some of the larger projects and things we just can't manage on our own. We'll try to post some pictures as we go along.
Marina life seems to stifle the adventure of boating. You get to work on the boat without the pleasure of using the boat.
One feature of marina life is we now have internet via WiFi, it's a slow but functional connection. The downside of being on the internet is that you're exposed to all the sad and depressing stories of what is going on in the world. Life in the US seems to be a drag and we're glad we're here and not struggling up north. We watched an episode of Saturday Night Live the other night and didn't get most of the jokes. It just didn't make any sense to us and we realized just how out of touch we are with contemporary life in the US. It just reinforces to us how lucky we are to be doing what we're doing.
Here’s where we went during the last 6 months,
| Arrival Date | Place | Lat/Lon Location |
| 1/23/13 | Marina Mazatlan | 23.270617 N 106.454600 W |
| 2/25/13 | Punta de Mita | 20.764783 N 105.515417 W |
| 2/26/13 | Marina Vallarta | |
| 3/6/13 | Punta de Mita | 20.760133 N 105.521433 W |
| 3/7/13 | Chamela | 19.582583 N 105.130950 W |
| 3/12/13 | Tenacatita | 19.302400 N 104.835550 W |
| 3/17/13 | Barra de Navidad - Lagoon | 19°11.462'N 104°40.362'W |
| 3/19/13 | Barra de Navidad - Marina | 19.195200 N 104.682017 W |
| 3/22/13 | Ensenada Carrizal | 19.096400 N 104.437700 W |
| 3/25/13 | Santiago Bay | 19.108967 N 104.393967 W |
| 3/29/13 | las Hadas | 19.102400 N 104.343600 W |
| 3/30/13 | Santiago | 19.109683 N 104.395183 W |
| 3/31/13 | Tenacatita | 19.299217 N 104.837783 W |
| 4/6/13 | Barra de Navidad - Marina | 19.195200 N 104.682017 W |
| 4/18/13 | Tenacatita | 19.298417 N 104.838117 W |
| 4/23/13 | Paraiso | 19°28.342'N 105°03.639'W |
| 4/25/13 | La Cruz – Anchorage | 20°44.891'N 105°22.136'W |
| 4/26/13 | La Cruz - Marina | 20°44.920'N 105°22.690'W |
| 5/10/13 | Punta de Mita | 20.764733 N 105.520400 W |
| 5/11/13 | San Blas - Matanchen Bay | 21.517183 N 105.241800 W |
| 5/13/13 | Stone Island - Mazatlan | 23°10.910'N 106°24.545'W |
| 5/14/13 | Marina Mazatlan | 23.270650 N 106.454833 W |
The morning commute in Bara de Navidad lagoon.
