La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Nayarit, Mexico
Merry Christmas and Feliz Navidad from the Baker Family
What a week! I need a vacation from my parents' vacation. We have been going non-stop since G-ma and G-pa arrived on the 17th.
After the first couple of full days, we decided to try the weekly market in Bucerias. I unfortunately had a small accident with the rental car as we were getting ready to catch the bus. Everyone was fine and it ended up being one of those situations that was basically solved with some money and an hour of our time. We continued on to Bucerias and found the first chicken barbecue where we dined on bbq'd chicken and tortillas before tackling the market. We saw everything from produce to electronics and everything in between.
Monday meant that we took care of business that needed to be done before the holidays. We also took a quick trip to the tourist market at Bucerias. Since it was the Solstice, we decided a bonifre (or two) would be appropriate. The kids tried out Mexican sparklers which are about three times the size of American ones. We observed the tradition of writing down a regret from the previous year and a hope for the coming year and threw the piece of paper into the bonfire!
The next day we got all the way into Puerto Vallarta to check out the Malecon and Our Lady of Guadeloupe cathedral. On the say back to the condo, we figured out where Costco was located and did a preliminary provisioning trip along with a final quick stop tourist market back in Bucerias.
All the way to the other side of Puerto Vallarta on Wednesday, we trooped south to check out the Zoologica. It was an interesting zoo, not necessarily what we are used to seeing, but remarkable in its own right. Our frend Ron, treated all the kids to the experience of a lifetime: holding a month old baby tiger. The kids were beside themselves!!! A lazy lunch in one of the hill towns wore us all out.
We celebrated Christmas in our traditional way: on Christmas Eve. G-ma and G-pa's flight was Christams afternoon, so we just figured it would be easier. Our celebration included the Austins, the Bakers and the Giffords and consisted of presents; champagne, steak and eggs brunch; swimming; card playing; and movies. We left the condo for packing and preparation for departure.
Santa visited the boats and then we retrieved G-ma and G-pa from the condo. Behan cooked us up a most excellent French toast brunch complete with tropical fruit salad and egg nog lattes. We lazed away the next several hours until it was time to leave for the airport. The boys even got their G-pa playing X-box. We returned to the marina for an impromtu Christmas dinner with crews of Evergreen and Totem. The kids ate through dinner in ten minutes flat and headed for Capaz, so that the adults could enjoy a leisurely dinner all to themselves.
Hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays as much as we have! Feliz Navidad!
Solstice Bonfires on the Beach
Niall, Bryce and Austin holding month old baby tigers
G-ma and G-pa preparing brunch
Steak, Eggs and Champagne Brunch
Adults playing cards after brunch
G-pa and G-ma watch the pinata festivities from the beach wall.JPG)
Bryce smashes the bottom of our Frosty pinata
Bryce and Mairen like the pool at Christmas
As for Christmas here on Capaz, it is beginning to take shape. When we were packing to move out of the house and on to the boat at the end of December last year, we put aside a special box of Christmas stuff to bring on our adventure. I have always enjoyed decorating for the Christmas season and I am glad that we had the space available to bring our box, but more for the kids than myself. I am relishing the very toned down holiday season that we are experiencing here. We have had a tropical Christmas season when we visited the Harang family in Australia, but this is, of course a little different from the laid back celebration there. Anyway, when we were in Cabo San Lucas, Mary and I found a big fabric store, where I purchased an entire spool of white tipped evergreen colored garland for less than $10. The boys, with the help of the kids from Totem, have strung this from the headliner in the main salon and then hung our few ornaments from it. Austin took the remaining garland and wrapped it around a paper cone that he constructed making our little Christmas tree. He and Bryce have hung this little tree over our table. The final touch will be the lights which the boys have not quite gotten to yet is that they plan to wrap lights around our drogue (a piece of safety equipment that is used - hopefully never needed- during stormy conditions at sea to help slow the boat and prevent it from over-running big waves) which will be hoisted on the fore deck using the spinnaker halyard. Depending on how easy this last piece is to take up and down, we may not assemble and erect until a little closer to Christamas.
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