La Cruz de Huanacaxtle to Nuervo Vallarta (Nyarit, MX)

Sorry about the lull in updates but, we have been captive in Paradise (Paradise Village Resort, that is!). Before I launch into a narrative on the wonders of paradise, I’d like to tell you about our time in La Cruz. We spent a little over one week anchored in La Cruz with about thirty other sailboats. This is a very popular spot, especially for cruisers who like hanging out with other cruisers in a laid back, small town atmosphere where ex-patriots run the popular establishments. For some, the other attraction is the nearness of Puerto Vallarta without the expense of a marina. Currently, it costs nothing to anchor in La Cruz and you pay anywhere from $.50-.75/foot in a marina in, or near, PV. Overall, La Cruz is very cruiser friendly. Take, for instance, Anna Banana’s which is on the beach where you land your dingy. Anna is Mexican and her husband is American. You must walk through their outdoor patio-style diner/bar to get to the street. Most cruisers, of course, get waylaid before reaching the street. They may stop for coffee and/or breakfast in the morning or beer and/or lunch in the afternoon. Sometimes they just stop to chat with other cruisers congregated at one of the several round, plastic patio tables shaded by umbrellas. One thing is certain, every cruiser makes a pit stop to rinse the sand off their feet before ascending the small flight of concrete steps leading to Anna’s. This is one of many courtesies offered to cruisers by this quaint little eatery. Cruisers are welcome to fill water containers from their hose at no expense. In addition to offering breakfast (very good mind you) and lunch, they are a depot for a variety of services, i.e., laundry, filling propane tanks, filling portable fuel cans and buying 5-gallon drinking water bottles. Every Sunday afternoon is open mic and lot’s of musically inclined cruisers take their turns providing entertainment. We heard some very talented people (and one not so talented). The other popular spot in La Cruz is Philo’s. This is a fairly large restaurant and bar under a huge palapa in the middle of town. Philo is a musician and even has a recording studio on the premises along with internet services. They have live music several nights a week provided by a variety of people. We had the immense pleasure of getting to see and hear Zuma Marimba band. They are a Canadian family who is traveling by Winnebego throughout the U.S. and Mexico performing authentic African marimba music. Mom and dad are probably in their thirties or forties and the daughters are ages four, seven, ten and thirteen. They were incredible. Each one of them can play every instrument, except the four year-old plays only one. The fact that she can even play one as well as she does is extremely impressive. She looks like Shirley Temple and has more coordination and rhythm than most adults do! They were such a big hit at Philo’s that he recorded a CD for them in his studio so they could sell them to help with their travel and living expenses. Of course, we bought one so that we can enjoy their wonderful music whenever we want. Barry even had them each autograph the cover for us. Who knows, maybe they’ll be famous one day!

There are lots of other good restaurants in La Cruz and some art galleries. Aside from the large presence of non-Mexicans living in or visiting La Cruz, it is a pretty typical Mexican town. Lots of corner markets (tiendas), three butchers (carnecieras), fish mongers, taco stands and carts, a school, a church, a town square, cobblestone streets, lots of dogs and modest homes. It is not uncommon to see trees planted in front of peoples homes right among the cobblestone. It’s like they decide they want a tree in the front and just plant it in the street. A few homes have two trees with a hammock strung between them! The dogs are everywhere, even on rooftops!
Several times we took the bus to PV and towns in-between. One afternoon a group of us went about seven miles south to Bucerias and had dinner at a restaurant that serves papas (finger foods/appetizers). That was a lot of fun and the food was great, but definitely a little pricey for a cruiser’s budget. My favorite item was the anchovy-stuffed, fried green olives. Yum! Another trip about fifteen miles south was to Puerto Vallarta, where the cruise ship terminal is along with one of the three marinas in the area. And, I must not neglect to mention that across from the cruise ship terminal is not only a Walmart, but a Sam’s Club too! On one trip, Barry and I shopped at both and loaded up our two backpacks, our crate on wheels and our thermal bag with treasures to re-stock the boat. We looked like a couple of pack mules walking across the parking lot to the bus stop. Fortunately, it was a short walk and the bus wasn’t crowded so it was easy to get on without any disruption or delay. On another day a group of us girls went to PV, which is about twenty-five miles south and requires taking two different buses which can take close to an hour. We had a day of shopping and did lunch at a very good restaurant overlooking the Rio Cual that spills into the Pacific Ocean. It was fun to have an all-girl outing!

Barry and I also made the trip from La Cruz to PV, to do some exploring. One of our objectives on this trip was to check out the three marinas in the area. This mission had a two-fold purpose. One, we really needed to be at a marina for awhile to take care of a few things. The boat needed a bath, our water tanks were getting low and Barry needed to climb the mast in order to clean the antenna connection for our VHF radio. Two, we needed to make arrangements to leave Blew Moon in the area during the summer (hurricane season). Awhile ago we decided that at the rate we were traveling we’d never reach Costa Rica by April so we needed to come up with another plan. So, we decided to spend some time in the NV/PV area and then sail south as far as Tenacatita. Then we’d sail north back to the NV/PV area to leave the boat while we fly back to the states. We will travel to Costa Rica next season! There are just too many great places to see in between that we don’t want to pass up. Back to the fact-finding mission. Each of the three marinas are within twenty-five miles of La Cruz. Two are in Nuevo Vallarta which is in the state of Nyarit with La Cruz. The third is in Puerto Vallarta which is in the state of Jalisco. Interestingly, there is a one-hour time difference between NV in Nyarit and PV in Jalisco. To keep things from getting too confusing, cruisers go by PV time even when in La Cruz and NV. Anyway, we visited Marina Nuevo Vallarta first, on the day of their bi-weekly boaters swap meet. Barry loves swap meets! He was quite thrilled after "bagging" several items we needed at real good prices. After his shopping spree we looked around the docks and weren’t impressed. First, they can’t accommodate many boats because most of their slips were destroyed in the 2002 hurricane. The remaining docks are very delapidated and they don’t even feel safe to walk on. Next, we took a water taxi across the channel to Paradise Village Marina which is part of a 5-star resort. The marina is situated behind this Pacific Ocean resort on an estuary that winds throughout the area. The resort has an 18-hole championship golf course, 4 swimming pools, tennis courts, a small zoo, gym, spa, yacht club and it’s own shopping mall with a full sized grocery store. And, it has good hurricane protection! The area has lush vegetation and beautiful homes with private docks. There even is a ten to twelve foot crocodile resident. During our walk throughout the resort I got really excited about the prospect of friends and family coming to visit us here sometime between our return from the states and our next cruising leg to Costa Rica. This ended up being a "no brainer" for us. We ruled out the marina in Puerto Vallarta before even visiting it, even though it is the closest to shopping and central Puerto Vallarta. We just couldn’t resist the allure and beauty of the resort at Paradise Village! We went ahead and reserved space for May through the end of October. We were also able to get a slip in Paradise Village and made the one-hour motor cruise from La Cruz the next day. So, we have been in the Paradise Village Resort marina since Tuesday, February 15th. We have total access to the resort and all it’s amenities. The only down side to this location is that it still requires one bus ride of about thirty to forty –five minutes to get to the big grocery stores and central PV. On the flip-side, you never really need to leave because they have everything here. It’s just at resort prices!
We have been thoroughly enjoying the wonderful amenities. I’m afraid to say that we’ve been overindulging with all the great food. It is time now to move on. We will leave here tomorrow morning. Our time in paradise has been a mixture of leisure and work. I got a much needed hair cut and Barry even had a visit to the resident doctor for an ear ache. The doctor was great and Barry is on the mend. We did get a few days of rain and lots of cloudy weather during the last half of our visit. We hear there was an earthquake southwest of here. Some people in the marina said they felt it. I just hope we don’t get another tsunami in the Pacific Ocean! One thing I’ve learned though, is not to worry about something that "could" happen. That’s just a waste of energy and is extremely stressful!

Another blessing of being in the Paradise Village marina was being able to worship with other Christians on Sunday mornings. There is a non-denominational service held each week in the conference center. I have really missed being connected to a body of believers! So far, we have not met any cruisers who are Christian and almost none who are as conservative as we are. It definitely stretches you when you are always around people who think and believe completely different than you do. My hope and prayer is that those we are building relationships with will be stretched, as well, in their view of what it means to be a Christian. Hopefully, some will begin to see that it is not just about trying to be a good person and going to church. Yes, you can be a devoted believer in Jesus Christ and still be fun, smart, interesting and interested in diverse things.

The church that meets at the resort every Sunday has a ministry called Children of the Dump (www.childrenofthedump.org). Evidently, there are hundreds of families who live at the dump in PV and spend from sun up till sun down foraging through the garbage for food, recyclable items, clothes, household item, toys and anything they can use. On Tuesday we went with a small group of other Christians to the dump with one of the women involved. We were amazed and very encouraged by what we saw and heard. This seven year-old ministry is very well organized and has a very focused mission. The primary objective is to get the children out of the dump and equip them to get real work when they are of age. The ministry originated when a pastor’s wife from Washington state asked a local PV pastor to take her to a place where the Americans won’t go. He took her to the dump. She was so moved by what she saw that she began efforts to give the children hope of a better life. Since then, clean water has been brought in, the kids who will leave the dump are fed one meal each day, a day care center was built, a school was built and some of the older kids are being introduced to the work force. Their biggest challenge is convincing the parents to let the kids take advantage of what is offered. Unfortunately, the parents are often reluctant to lose the extra set of hands for rummaging through the dump. Some kids may never leave, but fortunately hundreds have. These kids are bright-eyed and eager to learn. The kids that excel are put in the School of Champions where they are taught English, computers and life skills. We got to visit the day care, two classrooms and helped feed a group of children the afternoon meal. Some of the older kids now have jobs as baggers at the grocery stores around PV. This is not a paid position, but it is customary to tip the bagger one peso per bag. The money these kids bring home is often the only family income. The kids are also taught about giving back to others from what they have and about handling personal finances. We were very impressed with this ministry. I plan to volunteer some time when we return to the PV area in September. These wonderfully caring ministry volunteers drive the kids to and from the stores where they work. They are commited to seeing these kids through the whole process of bettering themselves. They feed them, educate them, encourage them, take them on day trips out of the dump so they can see how the rest of the world lives and expose them to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of the moms have also removed themselves from the dump and are attending bible studies. If there is any food left after the children are fed, the moms get it. The dads get anything else that may be left. The kids are definitely first in this ministry! Please check out their website if you want more information or would like to support their ministry efforts in some way. Your resources will be put to tremendous use as 100% of all donations go directly to the kids! Like many other things, that experience changed me a little. Now, every time I put something in the trash I see the faces of those precious kids. I am grateful for the ones who no longer have to spend their days in the dump. I also have a mixture of sadness and hope for those who are still there or who will move there.

Till next time . . . Stacey