Sunday morning, March 4th already! We are in the cabin enjoying a steaming cup of tea. Listening to the second day of the latest northern 'blow' with winds gusting to 18 or 20 knots at times. INTREPID II is being pushed and pulled against the dock as small waves slap at the stern. However, this is occuring under beautiful sunny skies and warm temperatures with colourful flowers in bloom. So what is our problem? There's been a small glitch in paradise. Kelly is hopefully on the mend from a heavy-duty cough and congestion which came up suddenly last weekend; Carol couldn't quite escape her turn. So lots of tea, juice, soups, meds and resting this past week.
We did attend our 3rd, 4th and 5th Spanish classes. Hving the bikes is great with only a ten minute ride, even if we do have a headwind at times. The ride along the malecon is a wonderful vista as the La Paz harbour is an extensive one. When the tide is out we can see shorebirds on the rocks and appreciate just how shallow the waters are in places. Our heads have been a bit fuzzy all week, so we haven't absorbed as much Spanish as we'd like. A steady diet of new verbs and irregular conjugations requires some concentration and definitely much practice and review. Our instructor, Marco, seems amused by the somewhat convoluted phrases we provide for our homework. These are the things we need to know and it is helpful to learn the correct phrasing and placement of words.
Example: "I count the expenses of our vacation to find if we have the money to extend our stay for one more week." I came up with this sentence because we decided to add more time to our stay in La Paz once we were hit with this 'bug'. There is a very friendly, helpful staff person in the marina office who is very patient with my attempts to converse in Spanish, but I lost her when I first tried to say we wanted to stay two more weeks. Now I'll be able to see if she understands me when I have all the verbs in the right place. We are using more complete sentences at times with the locals. As a treat we had planned to attend the "9th Festival de Cine Todos Santos" which also offered showings in La Paz. Hearing and seeing the films and having the backup English subtitles would have been a great experience; perhaps next year!
S.V. Salish Sea arrived in the marina a few days ago. It was good to finally see Ian this season. We've had a chance to catch up with him and his latest single-handing adventures, while we relaxed in our cockpit. We traveled up to Marina Costa Baja Friday afternoon to visit with Anita and Jay, of S.V. Karina C and admire the sunset from the pool area - quite a site. This condo/marina complex is impressive. We've heard it referred to as "marina costa-lotta"; apparently weekly or longer stays are somewhat more reasonable. All is relative! The setting is right out of a Conde Nast magazine with infinity pools, colourful poolside chairs and Carol's favorite, leaf shaped lounge chairs sitting in a few inches of water looking out into the harbour. A few photos to warm up your winter days:
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| Poolside at Marina Costa Baja |
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| Colour and form |
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| Great view for sunsets |
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| I could get used to this! |
As soon as we feel up to speed we hope to take in the organic market near the Post Office, check out the Whale museum and the anthropology museum, enjoy some more tunes by Laura and the Baja Boys. Eventually we will get to the galleria/deli/patio spot called La Encantada to listen to Felipe and his jazz trio "7 Clouds". There are still those boat projects on the list - "poco y poquito" - little by little.
Sending you sunshine and best wishes from lovely La Paz.
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