SailingKnitter

Is this perhaps our future - bagging groceries for tips in Mexico? Given the scary economic situation in the states & worldwide, I certainly hope that our cruising kitty continues to allow us to live our unique lifestyle. Heck, living on land would be a lot more expensive anyway! We're expecting to live fairly cheaply in Central America this coming fall/winter.

In Mexico, the baggers at the larger grocery stores do not get any wages. They all work just for tips. During the day, when the kids are in school there's a fleet of older folks who do the bagging (old baggers?)


When it is not their "turn" to "get" to bag your purchases, they wait on the special benches. All dressed up in uniform, eyes forward, ready to jump up when it is their chance. At least they are experienced enough to put the cold items in with other cold stuff and not put my milk on top of the fresh warm tortillas!

Last time I posted, I wrote about my Beaded Lattice Socks and showed a close-up photo. Today I'm sitting in the Vallarta Yacht Club which has FAST internet so I can show you another photo - the full sock.

No, that's not my leg. I used a body-double - a foot model for this photo (thanks Michelle on sailing vessel Coastal Passage II who has nice legs!). Also, released this week to the Holiday Mystery Gifts Yahoo! group are my Yipes! Stripes! Baby Socks.

These little guys aren't for the faint-of-heart mamby-pamby knitters as there are mucho, mucho, mucho yarn ends to weave in when you are done with the knitting. But isn't it worth it to spend that extra time when you can control the color stripes and end up with a great little sock? I think so.

Oh crap. There I was being a good little firstmate and taking the dirty laundry up to the laundramat when the dock cart lost one of its two wheels. Yep. Major dock cart failure. And this was the only cart I could see. It was 96 degrees and humid and I had already gone on a long exercise walk with Jonesy in the morning.

So, off I went to find another dock cart. Why are there never dock carts when you need them? I walked, walked, walked down the docks of the marina. Finally, over 1/4 mile away I found TWO carts. Grabbed one. Turned around. Walked back 1/4 mile to the scene of the accident. Re-loaded and walked up to the laundramat. Life on a sailboat isn't always fun.

So, how do I reward myself? PEDICURE! Yep, Michelle and I spent the afternoon getting our toes gussied up (see? I told you she had nice legs). We even got matching polish on our toes. Just because we live on sailboats doesn't mean we don't want to look nice sometimes!

Last week we walked down the beach in the evening to participate in the release of the baby Olive Ridley turtles!


Here they are, freshly hatched and entering the warm seas for the first time! Jonesy launched a couple close to the water's edge.

They are so cute! We could see their little heads bobbing up for air as they struggled against the waves trying to swim out to sea. Very few will live to adulthoood. We hope to see some of these guys in a few years all grown up! As we are cruising we often see these big giants floating along, sometimes with a bird riding on their backs.


Bye-bye baby turtles!