Land Life Lately
The last month has flown by! We’ve both been busy with our various work commitments, travelling, family visits and visiting and also got to spend a long weekend together in Ensenada!
Since my last update, Darrin has been to Texas for a week to do some on site work, went back to the boat and I met him there for a 4 day weekend, went to Columbus Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with his daughter Lauren and her husband Griffin, met his Mom and Dad in San Diego so they could all travel to the boat together and they stayed for almost a week, and he leaves again on Sunday for Texas, Utah, Seattle, Australia and back to Mexico. Whew.` Yay for frequent flyer points!
While I haven’t done as much travelling, my days have been busy as I’ve been trying to get organized for handing my job over. We’ve found the perfect replacement, but I feel like I need to come back for a few weeks for a more comprehensive training. It’s so important to me that this transition goes smoothly, and honestly, a few more weeks to make sure this is done right is nothing in the great scheme of things, especially to make sure everyone here is happy and the hand over is successful. So, lest my colleagues think they have finally been rid of me, like a bad penny I’m going to come back to Seattle for a few weeks after we return from Australia. Bwahahaha.
I was so excited to go to Ensenada! I’ve been craving a taste of Darrin’s cruiser life and so felt it was high time I made my way south to check it out. I flew into San Diego then made my way to the border, walked across and with a minimum of fuss and bother, I was in Mexico! Such excitement! Immediately my severe lack of anything close to being able to communicate in Spanish was blatantly obvious, as I made my way to the bus station and tried to buy a ticket for the correct bus.
Eventually I got that sorted and I had a very comfortable trip in a lovely coach along the very scenic Pacific coast to Ensenada. Fortunately the bus had wifi and Darrin and I were able to talk along the way – we decided when I got off the bus that I would just make my way to the marina rather than him coming to meet me. This was also fortunate because I got off at the wrong bus stop and my phone didn’t work at all. No service, no internet, nothing, so I wasn’t able to call Darrin, an Uber or a cab. Good or bad, being a ginger gringa in the midst of a busy Friday afternoon in downtown Ensenada garnered me a little attention, and after frantically waving down cabs to no avail, someone kindly called one for me and between my bad spanish and the drivers bad english, I was finally on my way to the marina. I can’t even imagine what a mess it would have been if Daz and I had tried to meet up, particularly as I had got off at the wrong bus stop. I wasn’t at all worried as I knew I could get to where I needed to be, but I think Daz was a little relieved to see me at the marina! Well, he said he was anyway.
The marina is really lovely, a beautiful view, a few restaurants and bars, pools and hot tubs. And the boat right there in front of us as we had a glass of wine and relaxed after a busy morning. After unpacking we spent the afternoon exploring the marina and resort, tooling around in the dinghy and ended the day with watching the sunset over dinner. What bliss!
Saturday we took a tour inland to the Valle du Guadelupe to visit the area wineries. We had an Uber driver all day to take us around so we could do some tasting. We found some wonderful wines and chocolates, not to mention fabulous tapas! I think we must have bought about 8 bottles. Santo Tomas Classic Chardonnay is the bomb people!
The next few days were spent meeting our dock neighbours (they are so sweet, they had brought over a bowl of lovely fresh vegetables bought from the farmers market for us), walking to the grocery store, drinking coffee on deck, reading, just generally relaxing and enjoying life. We did some boat chores but meh, not too much.
Unfortunately, we both started to feel sick with a headache, sore throat and the sniffles. This is where not knowing the local language really had us at a disadvantage.
There's a pharmacy in the supermarket, which is fabulous. We do not speak spanish, which is not. There was a vast array of drugs available but it was a bit intimidating trying to work out what they all did, so we decided we had better ask for help. We waited for a while at the pharmacy counter, ringing the little bell but no one responded. Finally a supermarket person came by and he said he would find someone for us. She came along, lovely lady, didn't speak any english. Which is fine, I should be speaking spanish! She disappeared and found who we think was the supermarket manager. Things got a bit comical here because neither of us could really communicate, so here is where we started playing charades in the middle of the store - doing big sniffs, pointing to my throat and coughing like I had the galloping consumption, rolling my eyes and holding my head and moaning. "Ah" he said..."La grippa!" Of course I had no idea what la grippa was but it sounded fair to me. He handed me a box of pills, we handed him $2.38 USD, and once again we made the mad dash across the freeway to the marina.
We spent our final day cleaning up the boat as we were leaving together the next day for our separate travels and Daz's parents would be coming back with him the following week for a little vacation. Our trip back to the US was easy and before I knew it I was back in cold wet miserable Seattle!
Lessons learned from this little adventure:
1. LEARN SPANISH.
2. Maria confirmed "La Grippa" is the flu - the supermarket manager won our game of charades.
3. LEARN SPANISH.
4. Have the international calling plan added to my phone.
5. LEARN SPANISH.
