We have absolutely loved our time in Mexico. We have found the people to be very hospitable, helpful and accommodating. As many of you know, I love Mexican food. It may come as a surprise, but Mexico has the best Mexican food available 😊.
Tomorrow morning, following our final 'check out inspection' we will depart for the 512 nautical mile, approximately 4 day passage to Costa Rica.
Our last few days in Chiapas has flown by. We took the Colectivo on the 14-mile trip from the marina to Walmart. The Colectivo is a form of public transportation consisting of a van packed with people that you simply waive down at the side of the road. The van does not have air conditioning, so it is hot and stuffy.
Fortunately, our driver was the fastest vehicle on the small two lane road passing everyone and lane splitting, so we made good time. Loaded down with Walmart items, we took the taxi back to the marina.
On Wednesday, we took a private tour to visit the ancient ruins of Izapa, taste some local chocolate from a world reneowned chocolate artisan and visited a coffee plantation on the border of Guatemala.
Our eight hour tour took us through beautiful countryside, passing many small villages and mountain vistas. The cool mountain air of Union Juarez felt especially great. There we found a small restaurant for some refreshments before heading back down to the marina.
Thursday we took a short trip to the fuel dock to top off the diesel & gasoline tanks. The fuel dock is made for commercial fishing boats and not so sailboat friendly. With an imposing concrete wall lined with old tires as the dock, we carefully edged up and tied off. Although it took some time, it is nice to have 300 gallons of diesel onboard. We've heard Mexico is cheaper for fuel than places further into Central America.
From the fuel dock it was off to the "shrimp ladies", a very competitive collective of women selling various types and sizes of shrimps along with other seafood, just up from the commercial fishing dock. They all were eager to get us to buy from them and we couldn't decide so we bought a kilo of shrimp from each of them to try to be equitable. (Note one kilo of shrimp was $9...or $4/pound) I will truly miss the markets here in Mexico. The variety and energy that exists within them is wonderful.
We topped off the evening with a fabulous evening get together at the poolside complemented by a guitar, some singers and occasional cool refreshing jumps in the pool.
Today we started the checkout process for leaving Mexico. We met at the marina office at 8am to fill out the first batch of paperwork. Then back to the boat to wait for a call to drive into the Port Captain. Tomorrow morning the navy will inspect the boat and we'll be required to leave the Marina immediately, no longer being legal in Mexico.
We spent the rest of the day cleaning the boat, making bread & bagels and doing a load of laundry. Our to do list while here is almost complete. This afternoon we will be back at the pool to cool off and share more stories with the other cruisers here. There are 4 boats, including us, that are heading south in the next couple of days, so it is beginning to sound like a race!
More on that next week…Onward
Love