Life In The Sea of Cortez

11/13/11 in  La Paz: Yesterday (Saturday) was kind of a work day on the boat, but we only work for half the day because it just gets too hot! I defrosted my portable Engel freezer. It was easier than I expected; Terry gave me the dinghy pump (Kathy-remember Terry using that as a water cannon?) to suck the melted ice out of the bottom, but all I did was get water all over the settee. I couldn’t get the darn thing to hit the bucket I was using. Finally just used my turkey baster—much better. I also scrubbed the teak floors, and cleaned one of the heads. Terry washed the boat on the outside. It was caked with salt from our ‘norther’ adventure. So now all that’s left to clean is the other head, and to straighten up the disaster in our V-berth from everything stored in there tumbling down into one big heap—also a result of the aforementioned ‘norther’. I’ll do that ‘manana’, maybe. Then I was going to haul my 4 loads of laundry up the dock to the marina laundromat, but I couldn’t summon the energy. Besides, we had to move the boat to another slip in the afternoon because we found out we could pay half price if we rented the slip by the week, and the slip we were in was already spoken for. For half price and great internet, we’re staying in the marina for one more week. Love those marina showers too (except for that one dead cockroach I found in one)!

So after we got all settled in our slip, The Phillips family picked us up in a cab and we rolled into town to go have an early dinner. We went to a great place called Rancho Viejo. Terry and I had Mocajetes Arrachera. It’s flank steak cooked in a wonderful sauce and served in a Mocajete which is a sort of mortar and pestle made of lava rock, used in Mexico for centuries to grind their corn, etc. It was very very good. Later we stopped in a bar on the waterfront that had a trampoline which James and Sydney enjoyed while we had a nightcap.

Today (Sunday) was kind of a lazy day. I spent a good portion of it trying to find out what time the masses were at the Catedral Nuestra Senora de La Paz. Finally I found a Yahoo group for gringos in La Paz, joined it, asked for the info and got it! It was too late for any of the morning masses so I decided to go to the one at 5pm. Terry said he would dinghy me into town and then I could walk to the church. Well, it’s long dinghy ride to town, and then a long walk to the church, but we finally got there. We noticed a few drops of rain as we walked, but hey, this is La Paz, it almost never rains! Terry ended up going to mass with me and by the time it was over it was really raining! The wind had also picked up so we had a long, wet, windy and dark ride home in the dinghy. It was a bit scary too. We should have taken a cab--it would have been much safer and drier. Sometimes we aren’t very smart.