Done Shopping!

Finally we are ready to go! After postponing our departure from Tucson for one more day and then one more day again, tomorrow we are finally off to San Carlos. We began shopping as soon as we returned to Portland from the South Pacific and have continued that at every stop along our southbound route. Tucson is where we were to get the last minute items that we’d need (think wine and cheese) once we are out of reach of the local Safeway. After having visited way too many bookstores (used and new as well) the book inventory seems to be pretty complete as we are returning to the boat with 74 new items. Granted, some of these are new guide books, cookbooks, how-to’s, etc but most are just plain reading material. Added to the tomes that stayed on the boat when we left in June I suspect we will have a library to incite envy in other cruisers (who are, almost without exception, avid readers as well), not to mention having a good deal of “trade goods” for book exchanges and dinghy raft-ups. Now, of course, not included in my count are the books that Chris has on his new Kindle. For those who haven’t heard of this new invention, it is an electronic book that allows you to just download new reading material to it at will. Most of the books are under $10 and other publications, such as magazine and newspaper subscriptions are substantially less than their newsstand price. My preference is “real” books that you can touch and smell and tell how far you’ve read and how much you have left by where you left the bookmark but the promise of having access to regular news via subscriptions to Time magazine and a Sunday paper or two was the argument that won my “ok” for the new purchase. Alas…it is clearly Chris’ “baby” and usually only available for my perusal when I’m busy doing something else. Some other new “toys” we purchased for this season include a flat screen TV (with built in DVD player) and a portable, battery powered, DVD player. We really do not watch TV other than the occasional news program but we do enjoy movies and both items were purchased with that in mind. Last year we had the use of Patty’s Mac laptop which did a lovely job of playing movies. Sadly, our laptops struggle mightily with that task and sitting through an entire movie is impossible given the technical issues involved. Of course, now that we have a couple spiffy new ways to watch films we have purchased few (74) new ones to add to the collection we have on the boat! So you don’t get the wrong idea (that we are only in this for the fun of it), we are bringing back some presents for the boat. We bought her a beautiful new windlass that, theoretically, will never get overloaded and quit. Chris calls this pretty piece “boat jewelry” and it certainly looks that way right now as it sits in its wooden crate. We also had the mainsail re-cut with longer battens in hopes that we will see some better sail shape (without having to buy a whole new sail) this season. We also have lots of other new little odds & ends for the boat as well as more tools, parts and “goopy stuff” for fix-it jobs. Another category of “needed items” is the day to day things you need no matter where you live. You know, Things like toilet paper, sunscreen, hair dye (for those of us who refuse to submit to the gray factor), and myriad other odds and ends. Some of these can be purchased in Mexico but often the quality is quite different from the U.S. (One-half ply vs 2 ply is a biggie!). Further, some things require reading the directions before using and when they are in Spanish only it is a serious challenge to those of us who are still in the “just enough words to order beer and find the ladies’ room” category. I was thrilled to finally find a new pair of Tevas here in Tucson. They are impossible to find in Mexico and the pair I mail ordered last year never did fit right. Since mine are in the process of falling totally to pieces (after having served me well for 9 years) getting a new pair was at the top of the list. My regular attire is flip flops but when I have to walk a long distance it is much cooler to wear Tevas than sneakers, not to mention the fact that they hold up a lot better when you are wading around in salt water all the time. I have two goals for this season and the first one is learning more Spanish. Last year I relied heavily on my two “interpreters”, Chris & Patty, and the few times I attempted shopping on my own it was only due to the kindness of the vendors that I was able to complete transactions. This year I have a brand new Rosetta Stone Spanish course that I have already started using. It is great and I believe I will learn a lot. I’m sure I will try the patience and understanding of some but the Mexican people are so gracious I doubt I will even know if they are frustrated with me. My other goal is to do more sailing and less motoring this season. A lot of that will depend upon the weather and any schedules we find ourselves on but I really do miss actual s-a-i-l-i-n-g so intend to remedy that. Well, enough of these long musings. Chris should be “home” any minute and we will be spending the balance of the afternoon getting things stowed wherever we can find room in the trailer so we can be on the road at first light tomorrow. Until the next blog, adios amigos!