Christmas starts in La Paz - Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe and Noche Buena

12 December - Dia de la Virgen de Guadalupe

When I used to watch telenovelas to help myself learn Spanish, I was frequently confused by the characters constantly praying to the Virgin of Guadalupe. Not being Catholic I had to wonder, was there more than one version of The Virgin?  

I finally got around to researching La Virgen de Guadalupe, and discovered that nope, it was the one and only Virgin who, in 1531 (more or less) appeared to Juan Diego, a native Mexican, on the hill of Tepeyac.  Long story short, she spoke to him in his Nahuatl language asking him to build a church on that site. These things are typically easier said than done, and after a few days of running around, tending to a sick uncle, and trying to convince the local archbishop of the verity of his vision, the Virgin assisted Juan Diego by imprinting an image of herself onto his tilma (cloak). The archbishop became convinced on December 12th and the church was eventually built. That very tilma (supposedly) is now kept at the third most visited religious site in the world, the Guadalupe Basilica which was built in her honor at Tepeyac, north of Mexico City.

The original tilma with the supernaturally imprinted image.(from Wikipedia)

The Virgin of Guadalupe's nickname is La Virgen Morena, The Brown Virgin, and she proved to be an important and convenient liaison between existing native religions and the conquering Catholic church. She was named the patron saint of Mexico and the Americas, and her feast day of December 12th is one of the most important religious holidays in Latin America. La Virgen Morena is seen as the champion for the poor and downtrodden, and is available to all her "children" (all people) who pray to her and ask for her help. That's why she is the most accessible and popular saint to many Mexicans.

The Dia de Guadalupe is the official start to the Christmas holidays in Mexico, and on this night all of La Paz was out in in force; numerous tianguis (open-air markets) had set up shop all over the city, and the Christmas village across the street from our marina was packed with families.

Noche Buena

For the Cinnabarbarians, the official start of Christmas is the release of Bohemia's delicious, limited edition, amber beer. It's called Noche Buena, which is also the name for the poinsettia plant as well as Christmas Eve. Turns out that Noche Buena is cheaper than water! Recently, a new, local brewery started coming to our marina on Wednesdays to sell their beers, which includes a coffee chocolate porter. So Noche Buena for Tom and a tasty porter for me. The porter is called Energía Oscura, or Dark Energy. And yes, it's definitely expanding my universe.

Holiday Amber and universe-expanding Porter

I think we are ready for the holidays!

Adios California - ¡Feliz Día de Acción de Gracias! (Happy Thanksgiving!)

Our last days in the U.S. consisted of cramming in visits with friends and family, and madly ordering boxes of boat parts and supplies to carry back down to Mexico.

Our annual N. Coast AbDab with the McGuires and special guest dive legend Lee Walton (right).

Our annual Bacchanalian weekend and clambake in Inverness with the Warrens and the Bentsens.

Army of Darkness? Nope, we visited my cousin and chopped down trees and brush for four days.

We finally left San Jose on November 15 in the pouring rain and checked in our four, huge (and now soggy) bags filled with boat parts, 40 yards of Weathermax fabric, and numerous other items we are unable to purchase in Mexico. We met the challenge of arriving to the airport on time and making our flight. The next challenge would be to go through customs in Mexico and avoiding paying import tax on all our stuff. If customs happened to question our import of gear, we were prepared to legitimize it (and no duty payment) with the Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for our boat. But we hear stories all the time about people still having to pay import tax on expensive items, including some folks who brought boat fabric into MX still on the roll. Which is why our fabric was folded up tightly into a suitcase.

We arrived in San Jose del Cabo and while waiting to retrieve our luggage a cute little inspection beagle became interested in one of my bags, not sure if it was the Clif Bars or dirty socks, but I got the dreaded yellow tag signifying my bag should be inspected. Drat! But as soon as security moved on Tom casually put my bag on the cart, then placed his suitcase on my bag, thereby covering the tag. So far so good.

Because of our mountain of luggage we were directed into the x-ray line. Double Drat! But luckily there was a delay while the inspectors were all gathered around somebody's box, so Tom and I sidled into the next line, in which you press a button that shows a red light (stay and get inspected), or a green light (free to go without inspection). I pressed the button and...GREEN for GO!!! Hooray, no inspections! We hurried out of there, found our shuttle, and after a cold beer loaded up our bags and began our long ride from San Jose del Cabo to La Paz.

When we finally arrived at the marina that night we opened up the boat, unpacked a few items, and went straight up to our favorite bar for a giant Margarita and to get re-acquainted with some of our friends. 

Even though we had a terrific summer and enjoyed the hospitality of many of our friends, it was wonderful to be back in our own space. That, along with being warmly greeted by so many people in La Paz really made us feel like we were home.

The only down side to our departure from the bay area is that we would miss Thanksgiving with family and friends. 

We missed the Belton/Seaberg annual turkey hike.
(Rancho San Antonio, CA)

We especially missed the munchkins Ava and Kellen mugging and munching their chocolate turkeys.

Tom missed his annual hog jog run, but he hiked up to the top of Mount Palmira with boat neighbor Manny. (our marina is in the background)

The hog joggers back home in Los Gatos, CA. For 24 years, a 5 mile hill run in the AM followed by pints at The Black Watch pub before resuming familial celebrations.

Every year our marina (Palmira) hosts a huge Thanksgiving pot luck, so I signed up to help with managing one of the food tables. 

It was a large but civilized crowd.

The award for Unclear On the Concept: "In all my years of doing this, this is a first!" says Jeannie of Eagle. Somebody brought bags of instant mashed potatoes, unprepped! 

Even though Tom helped clean and set up chairs and tables for this event, he had no intention of enduring enjoying Thanksgiving in a crowd of 170 people, so when our dock neighbors invited us to join them on their boat we jumped at the opportunity. 

I had a long day of cooking in the morning (including making homemade onion strings so we could have the infamous green bean casserole), working the pot luck until everyone was fed, and then joining Tom and our friends aboard their beautiful, air-conditioned boat. (It was a hot, windless day.) This year's Thanksgiving was different from how we usually celebrate it, but it was still a great holiday for us. 

Amber and Richard of Vagabundo invited us to a lively and delicious dinner. 
(We met 3 years ago in P. Vallarta racing our boats in the Banderas Bay Regatta. Home-based in Portand, OR, they've been coming to Mexico for 30+ yrs.)

Since arriving we have been working on the boat, repairing/servicing systems and getting her seaworthy. But we've also found time for some fun. We've had many days of strong winds, and Tom and his friend Rob on Shindig dinghied out into the bay to do some kiteboarding.

Tom ripping it up (w/Rob's kite) with La Paz Ctiy in the background.

(our marina is just left, out of the picture)

I know it sounds like all we do here is hang out with friends, go kiteboarding, and drink cold beers and Margaritas, but of course that's not true. More later on some of the work we do to get Cinnabar ready for living aboard and for sailing.

Album: Adios California - Hola La Paz

Where did we stay while we were in California this summer? Here are the stats:

39 days - house-sitting Palo Alto
25 days - house and kitty-sitting San Carlos
17 days - staying with M and T in Sunnyvale 
11 days - aboard Windjammer in Nova Scotia
9 days - camping CA and OR
8 days - Marblehead, MA
7 days - sailboat Alchera in Alameda
5 days - Gualala AbDab
5 days - Rich's in San Jose
5 days - sailboat Eyrie in SF
4 days - cousin's house in Feather Falls
2 days - Inverness
2 days - Airbnb Portsmouth, MA
1 day - Dayna's in Salinas (driving home)
1 day - Chico, Hotel Diamond (cousin's wedding)
141 days Total

East Coast and Sailing Nova Scotia - Lobster and Rappie Pie

I've taken some time the past few weeks, (amidst the mad packing before heading back to La Paz), to catch up on our photo album of our wonderful trip to the east coast (Marblehead MA) to visit our friends Jay and Jacqui, son Quint (whom we met for the first time!) and their two puppies Chili and Pepper. 

Jay, Jacqui and son Quint

Tom with Chili, Jay with Pepper

We spent a jam-packed week with them: visiting Jay's museum the Peabody Essex which is world-class...

Jay is the Chief Marketing Officer of this fabulous museum

...touring Salem, Boston, Marblehead, 

I loved the gravestones at the historic cemetery by Jay's house.

... the seaport of Rockport 

Sylvia, Tom, Jacqui and Jay on a ferry tour.

...working out with Jacqui, walking the dogs, picking up lobster pots...

Their veterinarian Dr. Jeff takes us out on his lobster boat.

...and even helping them stage their house to sell it. 

After visiting Marblehead we drove to Portsmouth NH where Tom lived for a few years as a child. We visited the first Condy home and Tom's first school. We toured the U.S.S. Albacore which is a wonderful submarine/museum. People are allowed to climb all over it and get a feel for how submariners spent their time. It was fascinating.

The old basketball hoop looks a lot shorter than it did when Tom was in 1st grade.

Touring the U.S.S. Albacore. So cool!

While in Portsmouth we were contacted by our Aussie friends Ashley and Cathie aboard the beautiful schooner Windjammer. We raced with them in Antigua last April. Turns out they were sailing in Nova Scotia and invited us to join them for a week. This was an opportunity we couldn't pass up, so we spent a full day figuring out if we could change our flights and get to Halifax within 24 hours...and we could! And we did. Twenty-four hours, a plane flight and a taxi ride later, we rolled into the world heritage town of Lunenberg where we rendezvoused with our friends. 

Reuinted with Cathie and Ashley in Lunenburg.

Lunenburg as seen from the water.

We didn't have proper sailing gear, but we figured our friends, having sailed around both Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope, would have gear if we needed it. The day we arrived Nova Scotia was in the midst of a heat wave, and we didn't even need to put on a jacket for a few days. Lucky us. In our first anchorage after Lunenberg, in Mouton Bay, we even went swimming in the water.

The beautiful schooner Windjammer at anchor.

We spent a glorious 10 days visiting numerous beautiful anchorages and towns. Nova Scotians are a wonderful and friendly people, and we absolutely loved getting to know as many locals and fellow cruisers as we could.

When we were in the historic town of Shelburne, "founded" by loyalists and freed slaves during the revolutionary war, we actually ran into some friends from the SF Bay Area. Turns out one of them has a house in Maine and for the past few years Stafford, Todd and Liz have sailed Stafford's boat around Maine for a few weeks. This was the first year they went to Nova Scotia. We spent a fun day and evening hanging out with them and visiting the hospitable Yacht Club for dinner and live music.

Proud of its loyalist roots.

Bay Area sailors in Shelburne. Liz, Todd, Syl, Stafford and Tom in front. (photo by A Kerr)

They left the next morning to return to Maine, but we wanted to spend a few more nights in Nova Scotia before heading across the gulf to the states. We made plans to reconnect with them in Maine.

Cathie and Sylvia think it's starting to get chilly.

We spent the next few nights anchoring in the remote anchorage of Point Negro and then up to the fishing town of Pubnico, where our arrival caused quite a stir. After lunch at Dennis Point, where I tried the local special of Rappie Pie (recipe says "boil 2 chickens and grate 20 lbs of potatoes), we were visited by numerous locals, including an Aussie couple who had just purchased a local home, as well as the harbormaster Floyd who serenaded us that night on his "geetarrr" with his favorite songs from the 70s until we were nodding into our drinks.

Windjammer tied up to a fishing boat in Pubnico harbor.

Ashley inspects the fishing gear.

I went into a Carb Coma after trying the Acadian Special of Rappie Pie, Fish Cake, Fish Chowder and giant wheat roll.

We headed up to Yarmouth for a couple of days to sight see and prepare for our crossing to Maine.

Tom and I bicycled out to the famous "apple core" shaped Yarmouth light station. 

We had a very pleasant sail across the Gulf of Maine and arrived in Northeast Harbor around sunset. Todd, Liz and Stafford could see us from Stafford's home on Great Cranberry Island.

After we broke out of the fog we had a wonderful sail across the Gulf.

We arrive in Northeast Harbor, Maine.

For our last couple of days on Windjammer we toured the town of Northeast Harbor, hiked up to the botanical gardens, and hooked up to Stafford's guest mooring on Great Cranberry Island.

View of NE Harbor from the botanical gardens.

 Stafford and crew made dinner for us at his house, and we returned to Windjammer Ashley pulled out some very special cactus fruit liqueur that they got on St. Helena island in the middle of the Atlantic. (This is the island where Napoleon was imprisoned in exile.) 

We celebrate our farewell with Tungi (shaped to resemble the 1,000 ft high Jacob's Ladder staircase) and Cape Horn beer...very special!

The next morning we said our farewells to our gracious hosts and Stafford was kind enough to pick us up in his skiff and then drive us to the airport. What service! 


Here is the album of our trip: East Coast and Nova Scotia


Here is a link to our route: Sailing Nova Scotia

What a great trip!! Acadian and Canadian flags.

Redwoods and Lighthouses - Camping in California and Oregon

So what did we do when when Asaf, Amy, Rachel and Joseph returned from Italy and wanted their house and kitties back? Why, we moved in with their relatives, of course! 

We've known Mati and Tova since the early 1980s, when Tom, Mati and I all played on the same company soccer team. (Oh man, I wish I had a picture of us back in the day.) We've watched their sons, and now their grandkids, grow up over the years. Mati, Tova, and doggie Henry were kind enough to let us crash at their place. In return Tom would manage the repair and repainting of their front trellis. It was a big job, and Tom and Mati did hours of repair, priming and painting. 

Shortly after we returned from Mexico Tova mentioned that they were planning to go on a 10-day camping trip into Oregon. By the time we ended up at their house we had somehow managed to include ourselves in the plans. Tova had a basic itinerary and had already made a couple of reservations, but we still spent a couple of afternoons with maps of state parks, working out our itinerary and making reservations for a trip through northern California, up into Oregon, and then back again. It was slightly challenging as many of the prime campgrounds were already full, but with a little bit of searching to find some more out-of-the-way sites, and with a couple of lucky cancellations, we firmed up our plans. Mati and Tova recently adopted Henry, a 7-yr old Havanese mix, so we also had to make sure that our choices were dog-friendly. 

As soon as Henry realized we were going somewhere he jumped in the car and refused to budge.

The day finally arrived and we put down our scrapers and paintbrushes, loaded up the cars and started driving north.

The Tundra is once again ready to roll.

3 August - 200 mile day. Lunch in beautiful Healdsburg, CA. Must go back to visit sometime. Arrived Van Damme State Park before sunset. We used to come here years ago for spearfishing meets. The campground and park are just as beautiful as we remember. At the beach there were kayakers, divers, and people fishing. At Van Damme we established what would become our routine: park the cars on level ground (we slept in the cars), walk Henry, set up the camp kitchen, Happy Hour, make campfire and dinner, relax some more, snooze. It appeared that Henry didn't like to leave the car unless he was on his leash. Separation anxiety from his past life? That was OK by us, as he was the perfect little camper, never trying to run away or sniff around other campsites.

Sylvia, Tova, Henry and Tom getting comfy amongst the oaks and redwoods.

4 August - 110 mile day. Packed up, drove north, and visited Point Cabrillo Light Station. As a child I was always fascinated by lighthouses, and thought it would be cool to grow up to be a lighthouse keeper. Point Cabrillo Light Station is still an "active duty station", and houses its original Fresnel (fray-nell) lens. The grounds are large and beautiful, and contain the lighthouse, 3 restored keeper's houses, a restored blacksmith shop, and several other restored buildings that have been converted into rental cabins. Highly recommended!

Continued north to Humboldt Redwoods State Park, home of the giant redwoods, Avenue of the Giants, and the Rockefeller Forest, the world's largest remaining contiguous old-grown coast redwoods forest. This campground was much bigger than Van Damme and, like the previous night, was completely full. Although we don't love crowds, we were glad to see that so many people, including many internationals, were enjoying and learning about this spectacular natural resource. (We just wished that some of them weren't so darn noisy about it.) 

5 August - This was one of our 2-night campsites, so we spent the morning learning about the area at the excellent visitor's center, more like a museum really. We also went down to the Eel River to check it out, not much water as you can imagine during our California drought, and went for a hike. We drove along the Avenue of the Giants, and visited the Rockefeller Forest (named for John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was active in the Save-the-Redwoods League and donated much of the money that helped purchase this old-growth redwood grove). 

We are dwarfed by a huge old-growth redwood tree.

For movie buffs, this area was transformed into the moon of Endor for Return of the Jedi. Remember Luke and Leia chasing stormtroopers and skimming over limbs and downed trees? Yep, this is the place.

6 August - 220 mile day. We drove through Eureka and Arcata, stopped for lunch in Crescent City, then headed inland toward the Oregon Border. We arrived at our next campground, Valley of the Rogue, in the early afternoon. Goodbye to the coastal overcast and hello to the HEAT. This campground is very close to the highway, but it is immaculately clean. 

Shortly after we arrived we were somewhat startled to hear a good deal of racket, huffing and puffing, from the tent next to our site. After a few seconds we realized nobody was getting beat up, it was merely our neighbors enjoying a bit of strenuous "afternoon delight". Did I mention that this campground wasn't very private? 

Henry does his best to ignore the noisy tent behind him.

Mati and Tom went off on a blackberry picking expedition and returned with a bucket of sweet berries. Yum! And that night we treated ourselves to some sauteed NY strip steaks (Tova ate vegetarian), sauced in a beurre rouge. Hardly roughing it!

7 August - 110 mile day. On to Crater Lake. This was a first for Mati, Tova and me, and we were all impressed by this natural wonder.

The blue of the lake was stunning!

After sightseeing around the lake and a pleasant tail-gate picnic, we continued on to our next campsite, the rustic Thielsen View campground located on Diamond Lake. This was the one site that didn't have showers, but even Tova declared that it was so beautiful and pleasant she would have stayed another night. 

Fishing on Diamond Lake

Mati is a keen fisherman, and actually got in a  bit of fishing on this beautiful lake. Henry was completely bored by the numerous chipmunks running through the campsite.

8 August - 175 mile day. On our way back to the coast we stopped at the Toketee Falls for a hike and a sightsee.

The falls, part of the Umpqua River, are 85 feet high.

We stop farther down the Umpqua so Mati can get in some fishing.

As we approached the Oregon coastline the temperature dropped from the mid 90s to the low 60s, quite a difference. Also, the clouds and fog closed in on us and the smell of rain was in the air. As we drove through Florence, Oregon, we stopped at the Krab Kettle fish market to check out the fish situation. The clam chowder was advertised as being excellent, so we picked up some containers for dinner, along with some smoked halibut. 

Our campground for the next couple of nights would be an RV Park, not our first choice for accommodations, but we were lucky to find a space and it turned out to be rather quaint and more private than most wide-open RV parks. Luckily we had a big tarp in the truck and Tom and Mati managed to cobble together a very serviceable shelter over the outdoor kitchen. 

Our jury-rigged shelter.

Somehow we always managed to eat well regardless of the situation.

Hot chowder, sourdough bread, smoked halibut, and Mati's home-smoked salmon (he caught it) made for a gourmet meal.

9 August - A beautiful morning with clean skies and some wispy clouds. Our neighbors came by to tell us they were very impressed by the speed and agility with which we constructed our tarp. We got a big laugh out of that. 

We drove to the Heceta Head Light Station, which is a beautifully restored lighthouse and grounds. 

Tova was delighted with all the flowers that bloomed along the pathway. She has been a student of Ikebana for over 30 years, and holds the highest rank of Shukan. She has been teaching this art for years and really knows her plants. Turns out that many of the flowers and plants she uses come from Oregon, and now she could enjoy them blooming and growing all over the hillsides. It certainly expanded our enjoyment to have her ID-ing the variety of plants around us.

The Montbresia were in full bloom.

After the lighthouse we drove into Florence for the Farmer's Market and to grab some lunch. We bought some delicious-looking fruit and veg for dinner later that night, and then enjoyed a patio lunch. Tova and I indulged in the restaurant's specialty, fruit Margaritas. Yum!!

Strawberry

Blackberry

More flowers in front of this stunning art-deco drawbridge over the Siuslaw River.

10 August - 245 mile day. We drove along the coastline through Coos Bay and into Bandon, OR, which was recommended to us by some friends who, years ago, had sailed into the harbor for repairs. What a great harbor! People were setting crab traps off the docks, and some fishermen had just come in with a load of tuna. There are also numerous statues and educational plaques, and there was even an art contest on display.

Mermaids were a contest theme

Beautiful wooden seahorse

As it approached lunch time, the smells issuing from the various dockside restaurants became irresistible. We settled on Tony's Crab Shack and indulged in some extremely fresh oysters, crab and fish.

These beautiful oysters had just arrived from Coos Bay. Delicious!

Our last stop in Oregon was at Gold Beach, where the river mouth was filled with skiffs fishing for salmon. Mati was beside himself seeing all the fish activity. We stopped at the local fish-cleaning station to admire the day's catch. It was very impressive.

A couple of successful locals breaking down their salmon.

We crossed the border and pulled into Patrick Point State Park. Our campsite felt buried in redwoods and ferns, with the highlight being that it was overrun by banana slugs dining on the foliage. Naturally, being a graduate of UCSC, I was absolutely thrilled to be surrounded by the mascot of my alma mater.

Go slugs!!

Although the campsite was somewhat gloomy in the afternoon, it turned out we had a very clear sky that night, and while the fire crackled we enjoyed watching the stars pop out overhead. It occurred to us that this might be our first clear night.

11 August - 160 mile day. We were originally scheduled to return home today, but the consensus was that we should add one more night of camping if we could find a spot. Damn, Van Damme was full! But just north of Fort Bragg we pulled into McKerricher State Park and, as luck would have it, they had just received a cancellation for their group site. Being a group site it was not very secluded, but we were happy to find a place. Also, we were close to the showers which was always a plus in our book. The park has a nice boardwalk hike and a walk to the beach that was perfect for watching our last vacation sunset. 

We arrive just in time for the sunset.

12 August - 225 mile day. Boo hoo, we had to go home. Yes, we really did because Tom and I had plane tickets for Boston leaving the next day! So we loaded up the cars for the last time and enjoyed our final, leisurely day of road trip. We arrived back in the Bay Area much more educated about redwoods, bridges, plants, lighthouses and some wonderful state parks. Henry had a good time but he was very happy to be home. A thorough grooming session would be in his future.



Album: Camping with Mati, Tova and Henry.

Our route

Coming soon: Visit to the east coast and an unscheduled trip to Nova Scotia.

Tom eventually finished the work on the front of the house. Looks great Tom!