Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Family Visit..part 1







Can you believe how lucky we were to have everyone here. I feel truly blessed. My Dad and Stepmom, my uncle and their friends. Even my brother flew in from LA for the weekend.
Sailing and partying. Thanks to all of you. Again to those reading this...when are YOU coming to visit?

Family Visit....part 2






These blogs are going to be out of order but I must do them seperately because there are so many photos to share. Puerto Vallarta...wow. We are leaving in the morning after 3 weeks and I wish I had time to tell every great story but I guess it can be told by all the fun pictures. 3 weeks with a large portion of my family and lots of fun friends. And not one spare moment. I can't even remember what book I am reading. The above pictures are of my Mom and my Stepdad. The last one is of my Mom and her cousins who just happen to be in Puerto Vallarta too. How come you weren't?

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Guadalajara






Guadalajara .. Colonial Downtown , Revolution and insurgency in the squares. Tequilla in our veins... A new experience for Liz and a revisitation for me who lived a year on these paseos 26years ago!!! Oh how she has grown and changed over the years and yet .. why is it that the downtown cathedrals and palaces , the squares and plazas , seem always to be frozen in time in antiquity....Mark

Since practically my whole family was on their way to Puerto Vallarta to visit , Mark and I arrived in Marina Vallarta and only two days later hopped on a 5 hour bus ride to Guadalajara. Amazingly enough the bus was plush with reclining seats and movie in English with Spanish subtitles, so not only could I understand but I was learning as well. The trip went quick and before we knew it we were smack dab in the middle of the huge bustling city. The downtown was beautiful if not a bit loud and polluted. We found an really cool old hotel that had just been redone. Hotel Morales was at least 100 years old and used to be thee hotel for famous bullfighters and Mexican and Spanish movie stars of yesteryear. After our night in the city we jumped on the city bus to Telacapaque for two night at two different bed and breakfasts. They were wonderful. You walk up to a cement wall and behind it is a little wonderland with beautiful gardens and colorful art. We loved it. Because we live on a boat we did not take much advantage of all there was to buy but it sure was fun looking!! 3 days later we were back on the bus to Puerto Vallarta. I am way behind in the blog but I will get to those pictures soon. liz



Friday, February 03, 2006

San Blas Nayarit

Tovara Springs swimming hole





Well we made it to Puerto Vallarta. I will get to that, but first I must retrace our steps and write a little about our first experiences in the jungle. After Isla Isabela we went to San Blas ,a small town where the jungle meets the ocean. Known for it's bugs and it's birds, both were plentiful. The first thing of note was anchoring in a river surrounded by mangroves. Pretty exotic for Scholarship since she has been a California girl for many years. The city is known for the famous poem "the bells of San Blas" by Longfellow (check out Mark's rebuttle to Longfellow below) and so we did visit the old fort and the old cathedral affording us an amazing vista of the whole city, the river and the ocean. The other don't miss part of San Blas is the Tovara Springs panga tour. We spent 3 hours going up the river through crocodiles, iguanas and hundreds of different birds. If you are a birder, this place is paradise. At the end of the river there is a crystal clear swimming hole complete with a trapeze to swing on. What about the crocs? Well I can tell you I did not linger long in the water!! And if that doesn't sound like enough fun we also enjoyed the many new cruisers we met in San Blas. The stay was topped off by a huge party complete with Alaskan salmon and Mark teaching people in their fifties and sixties to do tequila body shots. I will spare you the pictures but after all this is Mexico.


The Bells Of San Blas


The Bells of San Blas upon the steep
Hills above the town asleep
Ring no more , no time to keep
For the Men-o-War of the Spanish fleet
With hearts of oak and decks of teak
Thy Spanish blood proud hearts did beat
For the armadas of her majesty
In search of cities of golden streets
In search of heathen souls to teach
The words of God , the true belief
But the ignorance of the century
Gave us untold loss to humanity
by her cancerous spread of Christianity
When rightious men become the beast
who torture and kill insensibly
Those who didn't share their creed
The Bells of San Blas upon the steep
Hills above the town asleep
Ring no more , they're history
I hope we never think to repeat...


January 16th 2006

M.V. Haley