Daily Life in La Cruz Awaiting our Visas

At least some decisions have been made.  We decided to apply for our FM3 visas (received them yesterday) which allow us to stay in Mexico for at least another year if we so choose, and we've decided that we will be spending the summer in the Sea of Cortez (or at least I've decided, but Michael is just not quite there yet - however, we are proceeding as if this is our plan).  Whether to continue another year or not is still up in the air, but we don't have to decide just yet.  It will depend on how we are doing with all this 'togetherness', if the economy suddenly and miraculously turns around, which way the wind blows, and who knows what else.

In the meantime, as we awaited our visas, we've had our day-to-day routine.  We've been late risers, as we've been going to sleep rather late - it's tough when the sun goes down after 9 p.m.  The kids get to their schoolwork, and some of the mornings when the sea is calm, they have gone wakeboarding first (thanks to our friend Dave on Lady Lexi and his 25 hp dinghy motor).  The kids and Michael have gone hobee-catting with our friend Forrest (who is only in town on Wednesdays as he's the Chief Medical Officer for Carnival Cruiselines) - the hobeecat goes 30 mph, a bit too fast for me.  We've has our teeth cleaned (about $95 for the four of us total!). We've been doing a lot of re-provisioning with the help of Sally (she's the one who hosted the Friday night dinner back in January).  We've become quite close with Sally, who as you may remember lives on land in La Cruz in a beautiful open-air house surrounding a gorgeous pool - the house belongs to her brother Forrest (see above) and his wife.  Sally has a car and has been so generous driving us around to Costco, Mega, and other stores on her way to pick up her son from school in Puerto Vallarta.  We've been spending many afternoons in Sally's pool.  And this week has brought the Patron Saint festivities to La Cruz with rides, cannons going on at 5 a.m. and into the night, a rodeo, parades, fireworks a la Mexicana, and tons of fun.  We went zip-lining one day with the kids also getting a dip in the river located at El Eden which is the former set for the movie Predator. We've gone to hear live music, quite good music at that, at the local bars (adding to the late nights).

I have so enjoyed living in La Cruz and the Banderas Bay/Puerto Vallarta area for so long this season.  You may recall that we spent nearly 2 months here in January and February, and now we've been here another 3 or so weeks.  We've made 'land-friends'. We've gotten a real feel for the people, the pueblitas (little towns) and the issues facing them, and life in Mexico.  It really feels like home, very familiar and comfortable. I look forward to returning in the future.

On the other hand, there are not any kid boats left around here, so we've had a lot of together time.  At times it's clear we could use some personal space, but we are still managing okay.  We are planning our departure for points north later this week. Sally will be crewing with us and we're excited to have her join us.  We're heading first to Isla Isabella, which is a marine sanctuary, sort of a mini Galapagos Islands, for a few days.  From there we'll head to Mazatlan, and then to Topolobampo for an inland trip through Copper Canyon via train.  After that, we'll be heading north into the Sea of Cortez for the summer.

Onto the next leg of our trip.

-Signing off from La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (perhaps for the last time this season),
Barbara