I know I have been totally remiss in not updating this blog more often. I am just lazy, no more, no less. We are in Costa Rica, basically living at the marina.
What have we been up to since the last post God-knows-how-many-months ago? A lot.
First, I had to have rotator cuff surgery. Everyone told me how painful it was ging to be, how hard and miserable the physical therapy would be, and so on. But guess what? Except for the first few days after surgery, there were no serious pain issues. I did have to keep my arm strapped tight to my torso for about a month. Then I just had a sling. I did have physical therapy, but I liked it. It felt great. There were times when it was uncomfortable, but otherwise it was not that big a deal. I now have a full range of motion on that side, and before the surgery I couldn't raise my arm to even make a pony tail. Mike had to do my hair!! Not good!! But I am pleased with the results.
It even caused us to make some new friends. One of my nurses was exceediingly kind to me, and we got to talking. About a week after the surgery, she and her husband came to visit us on the boat. We have since visited back and forth. We spent Christmas Eve at their house. They have been over here for swimming. And they are both heavily involved with horses. Antonio runs a stable, and Mike has been riding with him in some horse parades, called "topes." (toe-pays.) It is total immersion into Spanish as neither of them speak English.
Another fun thing was that my son, Steve, came to see us in September. It was a great time. (I hope he thought so too.) We spent several days at anchor and got some sailing in. He got to jump from the boat into clear water at an anchorage otherwise deserted except for us. He met some of our friends, and all in all we had a perfectly marvelous visit. I miss him terribly, and am glad to see he is doing very well and is happy.
My shoulder sidelined us from doing any sailing or much else for a couple of months. We decided to take a trip back to San Diego, to see Steve of course, but also to get some new stuff for the boat. We got new sails, and a bunch of other things. The bags coming home were really heavy, and we were worried about all the baggage overweight charges we'd have to pay. But then a small miracle happened. I discovered that we could fly first class for $100.00 more per person. And, we each got two free bags. Problem solved! The oeverweight charges would have been a lot more.
But there was more to this trip. We left Costa Rica with a good friend on his boat. He needed crew to go to Mexico with him, so we happily volunteered. He was in a hurry to get there, so we did motor most of the way. I will tell you this: watches are a lot easier with three people instead of just two.
We went with him as far as Puerto Chiapas (aka Puerto Maderas) and then caught a bus to San Cristobal de Colon, which is located in the mountains in the state of Chiapas. It is one of my favorite spots in Mexico. Mike bought me some beautiful amber jewelry. I love amber, and now have a nice collection. Most of my pieces have bugs in them that you can see.
After that, we took another bus to Oaxaca City, another favorite of mine. The food is to die for - I love mole (moe lay) and they have four different kinds at least. This is also where they regularly eat grasshoppers, known as chapalines. (chop a leen ays.) Mike of course ate a bunch of them, and even had a bag he snacked on. I have already tried them and felt no real need to chow down. They don't really taste like anything except what they are cooked in, which is usually a combination of chiles and lime. The crunchy ones are fine - sort of like croutons, but some of them are sort of squishy and I don't like that. So I left the bug eating to Mike this time. While we were there, we returned to a small town where they specialize in rug weaving, using wool they spin themselves, then using natural plant based dyes and hand looms. It is amazing to watch and Mike bought two gorgeous rugs for the floor in the cabin.
When we got back from San Diego, we were dying to go sailing and stretch out our new sails. We spent about a week getting ready, with plans to be out and about in the boat for a month or so. On the day before wwe planned to leave, Mike was going around the boat, checking to see that everything wasin sailing order. To our absolute horror, we (Mike) discovered there was a broken turnbuckle on our backstay.
For those who ae not familiar with sailboats, the back stay is one of the wires around the boat that connects from the mast to the boat itself. The job of these wires (cables, really) is to hold the mast up. The fact that this was broken meant that there was no way we were going sailing. No way, no how. Mike immediately rigged up some rope (lines - when a piece of rope is placed on a boat, it becomes a line. There is no such thing on a boat as a rope.) bypassing the broken turnbuckle to hold things in place. Theoretically, if a strong enough wind hit the boat from the wrong angle, it could result in the mast falling down. This is not very likely, but if we tried to sail her, it would be disasterous if it did happen. So we are marina bound again, at least until we go to Arkansas (for my mother in law's birthday) where we ordered our new one sent. As usual, we start our trip with almost empty bags and return with them bursting.
So right now we are just living in Costa Rica, and Mike has been making noises about wanting to stay here. I have always leaned towards Mexico, but I have to admit it is really nice here. Almost the whole country is like a preserve, or a national park, or something on that order. We have been to hotels in the mountains (we go up there sometimes to get out of the heat), and each time we go we seen new birds and animals. I have seen three different kinds of monkeys, agoutis, coatimundis, deer, and even a kinkajou. The squirrels are beautfully colored with stripes down their backs. Even here at the marina we can take a walk and see monkeys and all kinds of birds. I can't get enough of it.
We have no idea what we want to do next, or where we want to go. Mike is making noises about maybe staying here. Who knows? We have 15 months before we need to get the boat out of here, and we might be able to obtain another two years. One never knows. Mike and I have to leave for at least 72 hours as we can only get 90 day visas. We have usually taken the trip to Grenada, Nicaaragua, when the need to leave arises. Nicaragua is wonderful. It is a lot less expensive than it is here, which is always a nice change. We have plans to take a land trip to Panama, as there are parts we were unable to visit as we couldn't safely leave the boat unattended. There is a town called Bosquete (boes ket tay) up in the mountains that is supposed to be very nice. There are a lot of expats living there, or so we have heard.
Mary Ellen, I am sorry we didn't make it up to see you - we weren't there long enough and had to make the rounds of all the marine stores to get the stuff we needed. And for you if no one else, I will try and overcome my incredible laziness and work on keeping this blog up.
So for now, we are happily living in Costa Rica and loving every minute of it. Who knows what the future holds for Magda Jean and her intrepid crew of two? The present is just fine, thank you.
(Sorry, no quote this time.)
