Still Loving It Here in Topolobampo

We have been here for a couple of days now, and still really like it.  It helps to be with good friends.  Today we have a lot of work to do as we need to get the boat ready for our six day absence to the Copper Canyon area.  We have heard that it is actually going to be chilly there!  I have one pair of jeans that are likely too big now - but I do, after all, own a belt.  I almost look forward to feeling cold - I have forgotten how it feels.  After we come back, we will spend a few more days here and then head for Mazatlan. 

This feels to me like I am starting a new cruising chapter.  We left San Diego just under a year ago, and a lot has happened to us in that time.  We have endured too much wind and too little wind.  We have learned that everything  breaks eventually, usually at the worst possible time.  We have learned more about what to get worried about and what not to get worried about.  I have learned that I will not die when it gets really hot, and that sweating like a pig does not have to be uncomfortable.  I have learned to live without pedicures!  We are both much better sailors.  I can handle the helm under reasonably normal conditions.  I am a lot stronger than I thought I was.  There are so many things - I can't think of all of them.  We even get along (at least a little) better. 

Some of my new feelings are a result of the fact we will be going somewhere totally new.  I have spent a fair amount of time in Baja California over the years, and even though it wasn't by  boat, the area and the culture were very familiar to me.  This year we will be going down thePacific Coast of Mexico - where I have never been except for a trip to Puerto Vallarta twenty years ago, then on to Central American and who now after that - Ecuador  hopefully.  It all seems like a new chapter in an exciting book.  I am looking forward to it tremendously.  My nephew is joining us again soon and we are looking forward to that as well.  I think all three of us will surprize each other with how things have changed in a short time.  Not that they weren't pretty good before!

Here are Magda Jean and Sundancer berthed comfortably at the great marina here - only $18 dollars per day.

Here is the town and the local shrimping fleet

These next two are of the town itself

Here are the unusually configured fishing pangas they have here.  We have not figured out how they work or what they are fishing for with these long bamboo extensions.

Shrines are very important here in Mexico and you see them everywhere. 

And - here is Magda Jean under sail!

This is a view we never got to see - these were taken when we were sailing close by Sundancer.  We took pictures of them and they of us.  It is really hard to get a picture of your own b aot actually under sail, and I have been wanting that for a long time. 

Well, I need to get started on all my chores, including last night's dishes - we had Sundancer over for some incredible fisherman's stew Mike made - it was absolutely to die for, and our friends told us it was one of the top meals they had in Mexico.  High praise for Mike and he deserves it.  It was made from the dorado we caught on our way here, along with some shrimp we bought whild strolling along the waterfront.  Along with a nice salad, what a meal! I am not sure if I will be bringing the computer with me to the Copper Canyon - but if not, I will write again after the six day trip is over, and I am trying to be better about taking and posting pictures.  Have a great day everyone!