Sailing Adventures of s/v Talos IV: La Cruz

We'll, here we are in La Cruz, Mexico in the beautiful state of Nayarit. We've been here now for about 10 days and it looks like we'll be here for at least another two weeks. We did stop in Punta Mita on our way here, but only spent a quick night and moved on to La Cruz.

The reason for our extended stay is that one of the other cruisers announced on the net that he was off to San Diego for a couple of weeks and that he would be happy to bring back anything you might want as long as it fit in his suitcase. Janet and I put our heads together and found a few things we needed that you just can't buy here in Mexico. We delivered our list, gave him about $1,300 pesos (about $110 US dollars) and now we wait for his return on the 18th of January. We of course aren't complaining. First we are able to get the things we need and second La Cruz, Bucerias, Sayulita and Puerto Vallarta are wonderful towns to hang out.

We've discovered the thriving music scene here in La Cruz. Quite amazing for an out of the way small town with cobble stone and dirt streets. The bands and musicians are not recognizable to any of us, but the music they produce would rival any that professional groups in the states are putting out. All in very small, intimate settings with cheap cold beers on top of that.

The La Cruz market on Sundays is amazing as well. If you are familiar with the Ballard Farmers Market in Seattle, then you know what I mean when I say that this market is every bit as good and perhaps even better when it comes to arts and crafts. Fresh greens, gourmet tamales, Greek yogurt (not available in Mexico for some reason), fresh baked bread are just some of the things we've scarfed up. We've been to the market both of the Sundays of our stay and will likely hit it a couple more times before we depart.

Bucerias is a few miles up the road and is a wonderful town full of art galleries, coffee shops and eateries. There are two sides to Bucerias, the up scale, almost Carmel like side and then, just across the kissing bridge, a very Mexican side with booth after booth of locally made crafts, complete with sales people who do almost anything to lure you into their shop. You get very familiar with the phrase, "Almost free".

We made a run to Costco the other day with friends from sv Zoe. What was supposed to be a bus ride into Puerto Vallarta and then another bus ride right past the store, turned into quite an adventure. We ended up taking three buses and walking about a mile or so. This after asking just about every person we saw on the street how to get to Costco. The problem was that everyone we asked gave us different directions to the store. Very confusing and frustrating, but we took it all in stride and eventually made it there. The store is essentially the same as in the states and we were able to stock up some things that you can't usually find at some of the Mexican grocery stores.

We still have yet to make it into Puerto Vallarta, but it is on our list for the next few days or so. Since we are here for awhile, we may take a day to just go out and sail on the bay and maybe another couple of days to make a run over to Yalapa on the other side of the bay. There is reported to be a wonderful hike up to a waterfall and just a beautiful place to visit. And then, somewhere around the 20th of the month, we will head south around Cabo Corrientes for yet more adventure.