Hatch Covers Completed and More Bread

I finished my sewing projects yesterday.
Amazing - something has actually been finished around here in my lazy state...These will be put up in the main salon while I am gone again, have to protect that wine stash from too much heat to keep the boat cooler and when it gets way too hot for us and we are running the air conditioners.

Also bought some sourdough bread from our friend's new gourmet food shop "Tienda Gourmet Sapore".This was made by "The Bread Man" who I have a link to "What & Where to Eat in La Paz".
Only a bite or two left of this...

Happy Birthday Dad and Happy Birthday Chumbo!

Today is (was) my Dad's birthday.
It is also Chumbo's birthday.
Chumbo is our friend Ricardo's son (his real name is Juan Francisco and if you ask him his name, he will say "Juan Francisco", not just "Juan").
Chumbo is 8 today.
My Dad would have been at an age where he wouldn't remember his age or admit to it, so we will pass on saying how old he would have been.
I did find some fun pictures of my Dad, but unfortunately have none of Chumbo.
Maybe next year Chumbo...
Did they let kids fly planes at the age of 12?

I always liked this one of the two of us.And the one of him totally exhausted after marrying me off to Jim.I miss him dearly!
And hope he would be happy with what Jim and I are doing with our lives.
La Paz and Baja were a couple of his favorite places and he always wanted to come here "one more time".
Some of his ashes are in the bay here, and some are in a little vial on the boat, so HE IS HERE!
Now I have to find some fun pictures of my Mom, because her birthday is next week on June 21st, BUT I will be back in Ventura then, so will have to give her an "early birthday post"!
Am flying to LAX on Thursday, 06-19-08 so see some of you then!

The Garage Bakery

My goal this week is to become 100% self-sufficient (while Jim is gone) without ever having to get into my truck.
I have the vegetable purchasing down.
And now the fresh bread!Conveniently located about 5 blocks away is "The Garage Bakery"!
It's literally in a family's garage.
With no signs or any type of advertising.
You just have to know where to go.
Three fresh "torta" style sandwich breads and one cream filled pastry thing (donut?) for around $1.25 US.
I can live on vegetarian sandwiches no problem.
Now if I can just find a mayonnaise store within walking distance...

Sidewalk Hazards #1

In Mexico you must always be looking down and looking up at the same time.
Sidewalk hazards are numerous...
Holes in the sidewalk.
Air conditioners at forehead level.
Loose cement chunks.
Low tree branches.
Fourteen inch steps.
Signs that are at eyebrow level.
Planters in the middle of the sidewalk (the main sidewalk was the lower one).Trees in the middle of the sidewalk.It is a lesson in taking some responsibility for yourself...
However with my insurance background, it is quite hard to not let it bother me!

Bravo Mercado

To replenish my avocado, tomato, cucumber and lime supply, I walked up to the Bravo Market today.
The market is about 11 or 12 blocks away with a few of the blocks being uphill.
So in addition to getting my fresh vegetables and fruit, I get exercise.
The market has individual owned stalls with fish, meat, chicken, fruit, vegetables, and my favorite ~ fresh squeezed juice!
Orange juice is supposed to be good for my kidneys, so I usually get one and drink it before I head back to the boat.
The juice is wonderful!


I have only been to the market 3 or 4 times, but I think the juice lady recognizes me ~ there aren't a whole lot of gringos in there shopping...

Translations #2

"No Fumar" means "No Smoking"...
Something I thought everyone knew.
Apparently not.
This is in one of the women's restrooms at Marina de La Paz.
Check out the ceiling...
Actually the fire was from an electrical box on other side of the wall, but the message is still good!

This One is For You Stan!

These are some of our neighbors in Marina de La Paz.
If Stan was here, he would be friends with both of these guys.

The Cause of It All!

"Capricorn Cat" ~ our first real "catamaran exposure" eight, nine and ten years ago!
This boat used to be owned by a wonderful couple, Blair and Joanie (they have since sold the boat).
In Zihautanejo, they would take groups of cruisers out for a daysail and snorkle trip.
We got to go!
We also did some "Wet Wednesday" races and Jim raced in the Banderas Bay Regatta one year on this cat.
Blair was kind enough to "lend" his Multihull magazines to Jim, with me protesting as I knew a monster was being created.
After the monster was fully created, we took "Thistle" back to Alta California and Jim the monster researched and searched for a catamaran.
Four years of searching brought us to "Meerkat".
The monster was happy.
So this boat started it all!
Thanks to Blair and Joanie for sharing their boat, magazines and knowledge!We love this boat!

P.S. "Capricorn Cat" is fine ~ just being moved into her summer slip by the awesome marina staff!

While Jim is Away...

No, I do not "play"...

I started some sewing projects, one being individual sun shades for all the hatches.
These will be velcro'ed up in place of the bug screens while I am in California to help (hopefully) keep the boat cooler mainly so I don't lose my wine stash and when we have the boat closed up and the air conditioner on.I had to get creative by sewing Sunbrella scraps together for them, as I didn't have any large pieces of material.
The ones going in the main salon are quite creative as well...
Using extra towels!

Another project took up a half hour or so this morning.
Jim had home roasted a batch of coffee beans.
You can almost smell them, can't you?For the last few days, I didn't have much trust in the Ziploc bag they were in.
But did I change the bag or place a second bag around the original faulty, piece of crap bag?
Nooo....
So this morning when I picked the bag up, half the beans spilled out into the cupboard.
So I spent the next half hour picking them up and then mixing them all together, so each cup of coffee would have a little of whatever was in the bottom of the cupboard in it.
What fun!

I also eat "Non-Irish" (even though I am Irish).
Meaning no "meat and potatoes"!
The awesome bakery several blocks away provides the bread.
I provide the veggies!
My favorite is mayo, cream cheese, avocado and cucumber.
I do experiment with red bell peppers, tomatoes, red onion - whatever is on sale and looks good!Pasta salads with all these vegetables work too...

On a non-healthy note, I am working my way through our last box of Cheese Itz by myself!

Found some chick flicks in the book exchange and am enjoying those.

And today, I got to talk to and see the entire family on skype as they were doing a Father's Day Brunch together!
I tried to get them all in front of the camera at the same time, but then just settled on Jim!You try getting 20 people to stand together for a minute at one of my family gatherings...
Not going to happen!

Oh, I'm going to scrub the floor and heads while he is gone too, but not til I watch the rest of the chick flicks hope I can find a bunch more movies then I can always use that excuse...

Jim Heads to SoCal

Jim flew to Alta California (in lieu of Baja California) this afternoon, from LAP to LAX!

He will be in Ventura for a few weeks doing a few projects (one of which will be to clean out his truck...), doing a little visiting and shopping of course!

Speaking of shopping...
I had three successful shopping adventures in just the last 24 hours!

One, VELCRO!
An entire roll - 20 meters for 56 pesos!!
Less than $5.50 US.So I can work on some of my sewing projects while he is gone.

Then a visit to the fancy one price "dollar store" called "Waldo's" (we call it "Where's Waldo"), where I found 12 toothbrushes all for the low, low price of 12 pesos!
What a bargain!Then today after John and I took Jim to the airport, John took me to a small bakery up the "Rancho Viejo Street". The bakery is in a family's garage next to their house. They have a wood oven behind the garage where they bake the most wonderful bolillos AND IT'S IN WALKING DISTANCE FROM THE MARINA!
I'm set!
I can fend for myself while Jim is gone as long as I don't have to drive anywhere.

I will fly up to meet Jim in a week or two, so I too can visit and shop and help decide what goes into the truck.
Then we will drive his truck back down to La Paz, taking a few days on a Baja roadtrip!

Monks on The Malecon

The other night we watched a ceremony on the Malecon conducted by four monks from the Gashar Tawon Khangtsen Monastery in southern India.

Per the monks blog (yes, they have a blog!):
"The original Tibetan monastery was destroyed shortly after the occupation of Tibet and only 9 monks from that monastery managed to escape. Once in India they set to rebuild the monastery and it has grown since. H.H. the Dalai Lama recognizes this monastery as one of the cornerstones for the effort to maintain the Tibetan culture and traditions alive while in exile".

As part of the "Tibetan Monks 10th World Peace Tour" they spent some time in Baja and ended their visit to La Paz with this ceremony “to help eliminate negative forces in the environment in which we live.”

I'm all for eliminating negative forces, so talked Jim into walking a mile down the Malecon to see this.












The ceremony consisted of chanting, praying, a little drum and bell playing and the most heartfelt thank you speech in English for the hospitality and friendship the local business people provided to them.
It really was lovely and not something you see everyday!I also enjoyed watching the reactions of the locals, especially some of the kids!
This boy got a little sleepy towards the end...but the girls in crocs (shown in previous post) were mesmerized the entire ceremony.

For more information, see their blog at:
http://monksinbaja.wordpress.com/

And You Thought Crocs Weren't Fashionable...

As Crocs are the only shoes we wear...
We are fashionable here in La Paz!Or at least we are with little girls from the age of 3 to 12...