The News

Hello there.  It's been a while.  Almost 3 months!  That's got to be close to the longest time between posts we've ever gone!  We've been busy, I guess.

We had a wonderful Christmas Holiday in Whistler, BC with my family.   The skiing was incredible.  We had a couple of clear, icy days to start, but then the clouds rolled in, bringing with them several inches of fresh snow.

Apres Ski at Merlin's.
Clearly, we're not having any fun.

We ate good food, saw the Hairfarmers play, and watched the snow fall while we opened gifts on Christmas morning.  Good times were had by all.

Now, we're in Salt Lake City.  I'm writing from our little house on 1300 South.  Yep.  We're renting a place, I have a couple of jobs, working at Cucina Deli and Caffe Niche,  and we're settling down for a little while.  Hard to believe, I know.

But while we're here....

Over the last few years Beth and I have had an awesome time, climbing, surfing, traveling and just avoiding work and responsibility.  We now feel the need to do something not just for the instant or short term satisfaction.  I think this is a natural progression of people our age.  Most of my generation are starting serious careers or having children, which is great, because that is what they want.  Beth and I are not ready for either of those options, so we have decided to fill our desire to be productive another way.  We will be building sailboat.  This is a dream that both of us have talked about for years.  The talks have been getting more and more serious and now it is time for us to start what will be the biggest undertaking of our lives, thus far.

I designed this boat while living on Bainbridge with the help of my then boss Dave Sutter.  I have been revising the design since then and have come up with what you see here.  The boat is not designed for speed, not to say it will be the slowest boat around, but it certainly will not be the fastest. It is designed for comfort and everything in yacht design is a trade of (comfort for speed).  I compromised again while looking at the ease of construction vs beauty.  The hull looks as though it is round and flowing above the waterline, but below it has hard bends that you don't see most of the time.  This will make much of the boat fast and easy to build, but the bow and stern will be a little slower to allow the curves to be formed. It will be built of plywood covered on the outside with fiberglass and epoxy.  I could go on and on, but the boat amounts to a sturdy classic looking cruiser.

The boat is Cutter rigged, with the staysail directly in front of the mast and the jib farther forward

Having no engine inside opens up enough room to have large aft berth.

This is a remote control model I built of the boat.  The boat is built to a scale of 1"=1', so the model is about 35 inches long with the bowsprit.

Here are most of the numbers for the boat. 

LOA (Actual Length)			29.500 ft
Beam (Width)			9.000 ft
Draft (Depth)			4' 6"
Sail Area			525 Sq Ft.
Total Displacement			10701.13 lbs

If anyone is interested in seeing a more complete list of specs, send me a message and i'll email them to you.

There and back again.

   It was a sad farewell to San Pancho.  We patted Mats on the head, took one last dip in the warm pacific waves, and caught a bus to Puerto Vallarta.  We touched down in rainy, dark, chilly Seattle late that night.  It was a bit of climate shock!  We stayed a week with my family on Bainbridge, helping my folks move furniture around, while they repaid us with good company and delicious food.  

Keep Boise Cool, I say.  

We headed to SLC, stopping for the night in Boise on the way.   We climbed at the Front Boise in the evening, and the next morning shopped at the Farmer's Market, took in some art, and were on our way.   

Standard Overhang, V3.  

It felt wonderful to be back in SLC for the fall season.   We headed up to Little Cottonwood Canyon the first afternoon there, and had a good time pulling on the familiar granite holds.  We weren't the only ones taking advantage of the beautiful day and fall colors in the canyon.  While we were there, we saw a couple taking  engagement photos, a troupe of girls with a chandelier and a bag overflowing with clothes (presumably conducting a photo shoot), and we saw another couple sneak away into the boulder field with a bottle of Martinelli's Cider (this is Utah, after all).  

What a cutie!  

We stayed with our dear friends PJ and Sarah Mannion, and their darling little girl, Fisher Bell.   It was so nice of them to have us, and such a treat to play with Fisher, who is 5 months old, and can now hold her own head up, eat pureed apples, bananas, and rice cereal, and, most fun of all, smile!  We celebrated Halloween with them, and helped to hand out candy to all the trick-or-treaters.  Halloween is easy to forget about when you grow up, but it is a fun holiday when you have kids around!  

Morning light on the Grand Canyon

We drove South, headed for Tucson after a week in Salt Lake.  We had been offered jobs with Vertical Solutions, the climbing wall company there, and decided it would be nice to make a bit of money before the holiday season began.  It was a beautiful and eventful drive through Southern Utah and Arizona.  We stopped at the Meadow Hot Spring, one of our favorite spots between Salt Lake and many destinations to the south.  Usually we share the spring with a group of boy scouts, but this time, we met Leif, the steward of the Spring.  He loves to scuba dive, and the spring, so in his spare time, he dives to the bottom of the spring- about thirty feet down, and filters out the silt and trash that collects there.  He offered us a scuba lesson- which I eagerly accepted.  Cody would have as well, but we had to go one at a time,  and with a long drive ahead of us, he declined.  It was a wonderful and surreal experience- breathing underwater, in a dimly blue cavern, watching the bubbles collect in the dimples of the rocks above.  Very cool.  We thanked Leif with a jar of our homemade blackberry jam, and reluctantly got back in the van.  

Such lovely views from the top windows of this rimside tower.

We made it to Page, Arizona that night, which is just across the border from Utah.  We heard on the radio while we were driving in that the local community college was celebrating it's 20th birthday with free pizza and cake, and were racing to get there in time for dinner, but alas, when we arrived, we could see a sad, half-eaten cake through the window of an empty room, and found the door locked.   But, it was for the best.  We stumbled into a great little BBQ restaurant and had a great meal, accompanied by music from a cute old couple playing Willie Nelson hits.  We camped out in the Wal-Mart parking lot, surrounded by other camper vans and RV's, and the next morning, pointed the van towards the Grand Canyon.  

The Grandeur of the Grand Canyon!

I had never been to the Grand Canyon before.  Everyone always says it, but photos cannot capture the scale, the presence of the place.  The flat, beige desert plateau drops away, sheerly and suddenly, into blushing sandstone, then again, into a verdant river bed.   The clouds cast shadows that roll into the abyss and back up the other side.   It had snowed that morning, and the rim was dusted in white.  Our breath came in clouds and my fingers numbly fumbled on the shutter button.   Once again, I was sad to get back in the Van.   

One of the Tucson Locals.

Now, we're in Tucson, building the new Rocks and Ropes climbing gym.  Well, Cody and the boys are. They're not quite as far along as projected, so there's no work for me as of yet.  But, I'm having a nice time hanging out with Chilly Pepper, our boss's dog, cooking for the guys, taking walks through the neighborhoods nearby, and admiring the local flora.   The plan is to head to Star Valley to spend Thanksgiving with the Harrises, and then it's a big question mark.  But I can tell you one thing...  

We'll be living the dream!  

Al Final: Adios, Amigos.

Our trip down here seemed to conveniently section itself for blog posts.  We had about a 10 days to get to know the town.  Then San Pancho days started and we had guests come to visit.  Now the Fiesta is over and we have had about 2 weeks to enjoy our quiet little town.   We can’t believe that we’ll be back to the States so soon.  My internal calendar is all messed up.  Here we are, in July-like heat, enjoying the beach and using up a big bottle of sunscreen, yet, tomorrow, we’ll land in Seattle, nearing the end of October.  Cold weather and crunchy leaves?  Pumpkins?  Early evenings and dark mornings? I know, I know. Woe is me.  I don’t expect any pity from my Wyoming amigos.  How’s the snow out there, guys?   

A few days after the Fiesta we decided to take a day trip into Puerto Vallarta.  We had been told not to miss the Malecón; an ocean side walk through the old town.  Some of it was under construction, which we were sad to see initially, but when we happened to see men carefully selecting each black pebble to make a mosaic in the new walkway, decided it wasn’t so bad.  It was nice to walk around town, and see the art pieces throughout the city.   We really liked this one, and only a few days earlier we had seen dancers just like this perform in San Pancho.

Catholicism is big part to the culture here; in fact, on the last day of the fiesta the Church served a free lunch to everyone.  Sunday mornings are always sleepy and slow, and families dine together out on the sidewalks in front of their homes in the evenings.  In Puerto Vallarta there are two beautiful cathedrals within a few blocks of each other.  Unfortunately we couldn’t go inside, out of respect for the dress code- my tank top and Cody’s shorts wouldn’t fly.  

La Corona

We had a fun time in Puerto Vallarta, but ran out of patience for the salesmen, who prey on anyone blonde, and decided to take the bus to Marina Vallarta.  The bus system is very easy to use and very affordable.  Busses run often and their destinations are written on the windshields. 

We like to walk the docks in places we go, and the dock in Marina Vallarta was a far cry from the Winslow Warf Marina.   Rather than sailboats and small runabout powerboats, it is full of large power yachts and surrounded by ritzy hotels and restaurants.  We had a nice lunch of Pozole (soup) and Chicken Molé.  The air-conditioned bus ride home felt great, after spending all day in the heat. 

Cody has been out on the “dawn patrol” most mornings this week, trying to avoid the crowd of surfers that congregate on the waves later in the day.  He’s been learning to navigate the etiquette system of sharing the surf, which reads something like: “Whomsoever stands up first shall obtain the right-of-way, brah.” A hurricane warning was issued for San Pancho last week, and the predicted 9-15 foot swell had surfers coming from all over to catch the waves.  But the hurricane brought only heavy rain, no giant swell, no strong wind, and no power-outages.  The river swelled, carrying silt from the mountains into the sea, so it looked like Cody was surfing Willy Wonka’s Chocolate River. 

Oompa Loompa doopitie doo...  

When we heard a new vendor blaring ads from their truck, we headed out to see what they had to sell.  A cooler full of glistening shrimp sat beside another full of Mahi Mahi fillets, beside another of sea scallops.  The shrimp were the biggest we had seen, and we both name scallops as our favorite seafood.  We bought too much of both, unable to resist the cheap prices and beautiful, fresh goods.  The fishermen were from San Blas, a town three hours north of us. 

Lovely Mahi Mahi Fillets

A simple dinner, and cheap too!  

We had been interested in going farther north to explore another town, and San Blas sounded interesting.  The three-hour bus ride, however, didn’t sound so great.  We considered looking for a room in San Blas, so we could spend a whole day up there, but eventually settled for going to a small town close by with a mouthful of a name: La Peñita de Jaltemba, known locally simply as La Peñita.  The 20 minute bus ride was vastly preferable, and passed quickly as we watched the jungle slide by the window. 

A colorful and bustling La Penita. 

The Playa La Penita.
 Deserted but for the Pelicans, who you can just barely make out dotting the waves.   

We spent a pleasant afternoon wandering the cobblestone streets of La Peñita, stumbling upon a market that took over a side street for several blocks.  The first few stalls were all tourist goods, silver and beaded jewelry, painted pottery and tablecloths, but as we wandered further, we saw more household goods, clothing, shoes, and, consequently, more Mexicans.   We bought a sweet roll from a nice lady with a Mayan face.  The top of her glossy black head was no higher than my nose. (Beth’s nose, that is, not Cody’s.)    We tore the fragrant bread in half and continued meandering along, enjoying the shade. Our favorite stall sold cleaning products in bulk, with a BYO jug policy.   The market ended right outside of an arena, presumably used for rodeos. 

Fabuloso, or Pine Sol?

Last night we had a fire on the beach with some new friends- Anna, who was born and raised here in San Pancho, and her boyfriend Jesse, an American from Hawaii.  Anna speaks perfect English, almost better than Jesse, who has a thick Hawaiian accent.  We sat out on the beach late into the night, watching the stars, waves, and embers flicker, talking about travel and life in general.  We were interested to hear that Jesse has done a fair bit of sailing, aboard a 50 foot trimaran, making passages with his brother-in-law from Hawaii to California, down Baja, even to the South Pacific.  We’ll be sad to leave our new friends, but we always seem to meet the most interesting people at the end of our trips.   It can be a bummer, but also an excuse to come back, and soon! 

The Happiest Dog in the World.
I will be sad to leave him, but, I couldn't take him away from San Pancho, even if we could have a dog.  It's kind of a doggy paradise- lots of trash to dig into, no rules to follow, a beach to play on, full of fish heads to roll in...  Not to mention that San Francisco de Assis, the local Saint, is supposed to look out for animals.  He's healthy, well fed, insanely loyal and friendly.  In fact, as I write, he has snuck into the library and is laying on the floor behind me.   Oh, Matthew Mcstinky.  We will miss you.  

Our days spent here are slow and comfortable, with plenty of time for reading, multiple visits to the beach, sun bathing, exploring the side streets, snacking, and playing music on the electric guitar and ukulele.  We like to watch the sunsets.  I’m starting to relate to Jimmy Buffett more and more every day.  

Life is good.  See you stateside!

Oh, yeah, PS.  

Guess who's back?

I wish I could bring them home with me.
There is nothing in the world like a fresh, hot crispy churro.  

Amigos and Rodeos

We headed down to Puerto Vallarta to meet Brian and Hannah on the 28^th.  We left early so we would have time to buy some groceries at the massive Wal-Mart, which happens to be located right across the street from the cruise ship dock.  It was disconcerting to see so many Americans disembarking their Disney cruise liner to lumber across the street to Wal-Mart for aloe lotion.  Also disconcerting is that the Mexican version of Wal-Mart smells exactly like the American version.  Anyway, we loaded up another bottle of sunscreen, a few toiletries that are very expensive in San Pancho, and a box or two of cereal, then took a cab to the airport for Brian and Hannah. 

A simple lunch of quesadillas, burritos, and iced cokes followed our return to San Pancho.   We spent the rest of the day playing on the beach.   Cody impressed us all with his wave-catching ability.  

Catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the world... 

As the sun sank into the pacific horizon, we strolled down the beach toward the fenced-off area that protects the nests of sea turtles.  They release hatchlings every night around 8pm, and it was a thrill to see those tiny creatures inch their way toward the pounding surf.  They’re only as big as your palm!  

Good luck little guy!  

The Fiesta was just ramping up when Brian and Hannah arrived.  We saw traditional Mexican dancing and huge brass mariachi bands.  We drank fantastic pina coladas and margaritas served in terra-cotta cups, and watched as the locals danced salsa to the music.   We tried to dance the salsa, but it’s harder than it looks and most Mexicans don’t suffer from an 11in. difference in height! 

The San Pancho Band!  These guys practice across the street from our place.
It was fun to see them in action! 

The fiesta is thrown in honor of San Francisco de Assis, the patron saint of San Pancho.  It’s an interesting mix of a festival- religious, but more like a county fair.  There were several games set up for kids and adults, one involving bb guns and little plastic toys, our favorite featuring a pile of rocks on a folding table and racks of bottles.  Break three bottles in a row, and you get an 8pack of Corona or Modelo.  Cody didn’t break any, but Brian broke one and walked away with an ice cold Modelo. 

The Church all decked out for the fiesta.  

A highly evolved game of skill.  

We had a lot of fun with Brian and Hannah.  We visited the beach at Sayulita, had a fabulous lunch and boogie boarded all afternoon.  We took a long, hot hike through the jungle to a new hidden beach, recommended to us by the girl at the internet café/ tea shop.  The Playa de Lydia was spectacular- edged by rocky outcroppings and palm trees, and completely deserted.

The incredible Playa Lydia

We took a tour boat out to the Marietas Islands, a national park off a few miles off the coast.  The food was great, (breakfast, lunch and open bar), the staff gave informative and interesting talks about the islands, and cracked jokes, but best of all was the people watching. 

Isn't this a great picture of Cody?
(Click to enlarge for a better view.)

Actually, the snorkeling was by far the best part.  The water was bath-temperature, turquoise and clear, the fish were abundant, and the coral reef and rock formations were  beautiful.  It was easy to forget to look not only below the water, but above, where blue-footed boobies waddled around the rocks, joined by pelicans, cormorants, and their lesser known cousins, the yellow-footed boobies, and plain-jane brown boobies.  I would highly recommend a visit to the Marietas to anyone planning to visit Puerto Vallarta. 

The week flew by, and suddenly, we were hugging Brian and Hannah goodbye as they hopped on a bus to Puerto Vallarta to catch their flight back home.  So glad you guys could come! 

The day after Hannah and Brian left was October 4^th- San Pancho Day.  We were lazing around in the midmorning and heard drums just down the street.  We headed out to see what all the commotion was about, and caught the parade half way through.  There were native Mexican Indians (Mayans?) dancing with enormous feathered headdresses, marching bands, a statue of San Francisco, another of the Virgin Mary, and bringing up the rear were horses.  There must have been 30 or 40 of them, their riders decked out in their finest sombreros, neckerchiefs and tall boots.  They pranced along, some horses quickstepping to the beat of the drums.   

Note the huge saddle horn that seems typical of Mexican Saddles,
 as well as the shiny handle of the Machete under his leg.  

Senor Ortega-  One of the best horse dancers of the bunch.  

They all joined up at the park after the parade to show off their incredible horsemanship.  Those horses really can dance!  And back up into a slot between two other horses (which doesn’t really look that impressive to the uninitiated, but Cody, with his Wyoming upbringing, assured me that it was truly a difficult feat.)   It was quite a show, and as it wound down, everyone was well lubricated with Modelo and Corona.  

After siesta time, we headed to the Rodeo going on in the little corral just outside of town.  Everyone had told us, oh yeah, rodeo starts at 5.  So we showed up around 5:30, everyone else showed up at 7,  and the rodeo actually began at 7:30.   Bull riding was the only event, and in between bulls, the clowns, joined by a cross-dressed man in a yellow tube top and mini-skirt, put on a comedy routine.  He/she made his/her way around the stands, flirting and dancing with various men, and of course, she stops in front of Cody and plops down on his lap, shimmying away.  I only wish I had been close enough to get a good picture!

We snuck off early to cook up a pot of shrimp for dinner, purchased from another truck vendor.  We cannot believe the prices of fresh seafood down here!  One kilo of fresh, still wiggling shrimp costs 75 pesos, which boils down to less than $3.50 a pound!  We’ve been eating shrimp for weeks now. 

Yummy.  

Oh, yes, and the Terrible News.  The churro truck has gone AWOL.  It hasn’t shown up in a week and a half.  We’re facing serious withdrawal issues.  Not really.  But we are bummed Brian and Hannah never got to taste one! 

Until next time….

Gringos en San Pancho

As we touched down in Puerto Vallerta, the flight attentant came on the loudspeaker and told everyone to “Give it up for Mexico!”  He let out a whoop and the whole plane joined in.  We quickly and easily passed through Customs and exited the air conditioned airport into the thick, hot air of Puerto Vallerta.  Once we made it past all the taxi drivers, who get out of their cabs and follow you, claiming to “have a good rate for you, amigo!”  We hopped on what we guessed was the right bus.  We got off a few blocks away at a bus depot, and after a while, were on a (thankfully air condidioned) bus to San Pancho.  

San Pancho is a small town just north of Sayulita, to the north of Puerto Vallerta. 

There are only 1600 permanent residents, and no large hotels.  We’re renting the ground floor unit of a large home owned by a Canadian couple, who spend the winters down here.   The town is wonderful for it’s small, sleepy feel.  The main street is lined with little shops; mini-supers that sell food, little clothing shops, a paint store, carnercerias selling meat.

We thought this was yogurt- "Cream of cow acidified," but it is actually sour cream!   

 The food has been fantastic so far.  (And we’re both feeling fine and healthy.)  We had some really excellent shrimp empanadas for dinner one night, at a cute little place off the main drag.  We also have come to look forward to Wednesday and Sunday evenings, when the churro truck is in town.  They’re hot and fresh and served on a sheet of brown paper after being dredged in cinnamon sugar, and are a complete steal at 5 pesos each.  My mouth is watering right now.  Yum. 

A fantastic dinner beneath a palapa roof.  

A churro fresh from the fryer.  

The produce is also excellent.  We buy it occasionally at a little shop up the street, but more often from a truck that drives around town with a loud speaker blaring, “lechuga, cebollas, tomates, manzanas, cebollas, bananas, cebollas.”  (He always seems especially proud of his cebollas, the onions.)  We always scramble for shoes and money when we hear him coming. 

Our purchases from the fruit truck only added up to 42 pesos, or about $3.80.  

 There are three schools, and in the mornings and early afternoons the streets are full of children in uniforms, running and calling to one another.  I especially love seeing the littlest girls in the afternoons, with one knee sock hanging down over their mary-janes, their oversized backpacks limply strapped to their shoulders, happily crunching on a bag of cheetos that vendors sell only when school gets out. 

A peanut vendor on the beach.

We’ve been spending a lot of time on the beach, both here in San Pancho, and at Sayulita, which is a 10 minute, 80 peso cab ride down the highway.

Beach time in San Pancho

Actually, the first day we went there, we were heading down the road to the highway, looking for a cab, when a little red car with a young couple in the front seats stopped.  “Going to Sayulita?” the pretty girl in the front seat asked, in Spanish, of course.    We  nodded, and she motioned us to hop in.  So we did.  Unfortunately they only spoke really rapid Spanish to one another, and we didn’t really get to meet them before we were dropped on a street corner in Sayulita.  But we’ve seen that little red car around town, and they always wave at us… Maybe we’ll get another chance.  

This dog, who is called Mats by everyone in town, has adopted us.  Whenever he sees us leaving the house, he trots alongside on our way to the beach, or the plaza, or wherever we're headed.  He's showing us the back way to the beach in this photo.   (It's a good thing we didn't drive here...  He may have snuck into the van on our way home!)

Sayulita has a much better beach for beginner surfers.  I had more success there than I have here in San Pancho.  Cody has been killin’ it, both here and in Sayulita.  I have been, well, more like getting killed than killin’ it I suppose.  I don’t enjoy getting my sinuses filled with salt water, but I really enjoy being out on the water, and paddling is great exercise.  Good thing we’ve got lots of time to practice!

Trying to catch a wave... 

Where'd that surfboard go? 

The other evening when we were out on the beach, Cody was surfing with a couple of Mexican kids.  Edgar and Armandro are locals here, and Edgar especially had been just shredding the waves all afternoon.  We talked to another gringo on the beach, and he had nicknamed Edgar “Rocket Man” because he just flies through the waves.  Anyway, Cody made friends with these kids, and just as he was leaving they asked him if they could come over and see the house sometime.  Cody of course, agreed.  On our way home, I made sure to buy a few cokes to have in the fridge for our new amigos! 

Edgar in action.

Tonight is supposed to be the first night of the San Pancho Fiesta.  In fact, as I write, the brass band that has been practicing in our neighbor’s backyard is hard at it, presumably preparing for the eight days of food, music, and partying that are upcoming.  We were chatting with Juan, the man who waters the garden at our house, and he told us there will be a rodeo, and all sorts of festivities. 

A bull in someone's back yard.  

In the mean time, we’re loving San Pancho, and looking forward to next Wednesday when our friends Brian and Hannah come down!  (And it’s also churro night.  They’re in for a treat!)  

¡Vive los suenos!