SailingKnitter

"Welcome to the yacht Niki Wiki"

We had this handpainted ceramic plaque made for us here. Our boat needed a little "Mexicanizing" as our friend Joanne from the trawler Kalinga told us. We'd been so busy outfitting the boat as far as utilitarian stuff went, that we'd neglected to personalize her with cool stuff. No, Jonesy doesn't think that cones & balls of yarn and baskets of knitting projects hanging around the salon constitutes "decorating". I'm sure many of us would disagree.


Good-bye Zihuatanejo - our favorite Mexican town. It is late in the cruising season now and most of the other sailboats have either headed north to hide from the hurricanes this summer, or have set sail for the south seas of the Pacific. The anchorage here in Zihuatanejo has only 11 boats left (Jonesy just counted for me) -and I know that two of us yachtistas are leaving tomorrow morning to head north.

We'll miss the fishermen in their small boats who come by each morning to throw out their nets for bait fish, the clean paved streets, and the friends we have made at the local businesses. But it's not such a sad farewell as we know we'll be back next year and we're planning a much longer stay.

Today we finished up the last of the provisioning for our trip north, hauled our booty back in a taxi to the beach, then aboard our dinghy, and then finally up onto the boat.
We had already topped of the fuel on our way back from Isla Ixtapa last week by stopping in at the Marina Ixtapa. What a scary entrance to the harbor!! There were big swells at the narrow opening in the jetties and they were actually breaking into waves at the sides. Jonesy aimed for the dead center of the channel and we had no problem getting in, and then out. But we were really glad we had a big, heavy boat!

Here's a picture of Jonesy and the Niki Wiki taking on a few hundred litres of diesel inside the marina.

Yesterday, we took a local bus out to the town of Petatlan which is famous for their gold jewelry. No, no bling-bling for me. I only bought some hand-embroidered cloths to line my tortilla basket and keep the toritillas warm (about $2 each). The bus ride was our favorite part of the day! We drove by groves of avocado trees, banana and coconut plantations. The bus was amusing too, with shiny purple fabric decorations and various decals. This is the view from our seats on the bus. We don't usually sit up front - it's just too scary to see how these guys drive, so we go towards the middle and just concentrate on the view outside the windows (if they're not spraypainted over with black paint for shade that is!)
On the ride back to Zihua we were entertained by a guitar player/singer. He was actually really good - which isn't always the case with these impromptu musicians on the busses. We're a captive audience and sometimes I want to get off at the next stop - anywhere - to get away from the racket! But this guy was good. He sang a few mexican ballads and had the man behind me singing along for a while. Hey - this is Mexico!




And in Mexico there is truth in advertising. Check out this sign painted on the wall outside of a local restaurant - SLOW FOOD. Yep, you'll get what is promised. Here in Mexico, the service is generally very leisurely (that's a positive word for slow). You just gotta relax and enjoy the scenery and not be in a hurry.


But, if you do want a quick snack, there are many of these little carts around town selling cut-up fruits & vegetables, drinks, nuts, candies, whatever. If you buy a drink (fruit juice, sugar & water) then you will get it served in a plastic bag that you gather at the top and then sip your drink thru a straw.

Knitting: I'm plodding along on the pair of Big Black Socks (BBS) for a friend of my son who is in Iraq. Also, the 4th pair of leisure socks for the Socks for Soldiers Yahoo! group is coming along. This is from some more of the sock yarn that my dad brings back from Germany for me. Very nice stuff.

So long for now...we're going to Isla Ixtapa for a couple of days, then up along the coast with a final destination of Puerto Vallarta in about 6 weeks. I'll blog whenever and where ever I can!