Back to Asuncion; to the doctor

Trinidad had fever last night, her stomach hurts and she is coughing and I have been dragging this cold for a while, cough and sinus pressure, its uncomfortable. We figure it would be better to move to Asuncion so we could get some medical attention.



We went to the doctor. We both had strep throat so for the next 7 days we must take antibiotics. The town only has 2 small pharmacies and the supplies are limited so I was not able to get the full treatment worth of pills for me, I am short one day. I was charged $600 pesos for the 2 of us. (US $48) not too bad!

Fishing in San Roque

The next day our friends took us to the San Roque Island for fishing. There were some Pinto seals (spotted like a Pinto horse). Always curious and cute! The landing seems to be pretty easy so I got out to help and splash.. I went right under the boat. It was pretty funny, but I had to spend the rest of our time there with a towel around my waist until the clothes dried. The fishing was very successful, we had grilled fish and lobster for dinner.

It is a tricky thing! Foreigners are not allowed to capture lobster nor any other crustacean in Mexico

Bahia San Roque

In Asuncion we met our friends Donie and Sandra who have been coming for many years to camp in San Roque (10 milles north). Since we wanted to spend time together we took a step back in our voyage and sail two hours north. The place is very desolated At one point it had residents, a church and even a school, but today there is not nothing left except for empty buildings. There is a long white sandy beach with only one family enjoying it, my friends and their dog. In the afternoon we went over to their campsite and barbeque some chicken and hotdogs. The girls are loving it because they get to play with Kahiti who is 8.

Bahia Asuncion

The sailing was nice, calm and steady. We arrive around 1 PM set the anchor and waited for the others to arrive. Matt put the dinghy in the water and all 7 of us went to explore the town. There was no dock so our landing had to be through the surf and into the beach.

There is one paved street, along this street we found the Internet café, the Clinic, the market/ paper store/pharmacy/ liquor store, the water store were we got 30 gallons of purified water, the Flea Market, the Police Department and the one pump gas station. There is also one sports bar with a cool rustic design owned by a north American.

The people are wonderful here too. We met a wonderful family; Armando, Angelica and their kids. They too, opened their house to us. They let us use the internet, made us shrimp and abalone cebiche and gave us a frozen octopus along with the recipe to cook it. Plus Angelica gave us a ride to the meat store and then a tour through town. I would like to own a piece of land there overlooking the ocean.. wow!

From Glorieta to Downtown San Diego

The smell of Hash browns and eggs woke the girls and I. Matt is making a nice breakfast to start the day. It was a beautiful day! We pull up the anchor and sailed away. We are heading to the police dock for an inspection. I am feeling very comfortable steering the boat, yes!! We passed the inspection and moved to our new “Property”  Downtown San Diego. I feel so fortunate to have this town front view!, This is a like camping in the main square of a big city with Style!!

We had a nice sail to Glorieta Bay, anchored in front of Coronado Hotel. The sun was setting and the lights of the Hotel started shining. What a beautiful sight! The girls are exited about the milk and cookies we were told they would have. After dinner we headed down to the dock. Problem! There was no where to leave the dinghy. Matt decided to drop us off. We had to walk a about a mile to get there, but the path was full of obstacles for the girls to make up games along the way and it didn’t seem so long. We took pictures, we watch the people, we looked for cookies and milk, but found nothing. The girls were not too upset because they still had fun dreaming about Christmas, going down the elevator and rolling, hoping, cart wheeling, somersaulting and pushing each other on the spongy grass of the Hotel.

The Begining

The house is finally packed away, the children in the car waiting anxiously for us to get in. I snapped a few pictures of the empty house with a small fear that it could look completely different once we return. At this point it was irrelevant we made the decision to leave and experience a whole new life willing to risk it all. The weight of worries seemed to get lighter already.

We left Tubac at 11 AM, a small feeling of sadness and anxiety kept me speechless for  a while. Am I being true to myself? Will I survive the closeness? The lack of independence? The frustrations of not meeting my husband’s , my kid’s and my own expectations? The fear of drowning, sinking, running out of water, being struck by a lightning, eaten by a shark, all the unknown, but mainly the girls getting hurt. It overcome my thought after I decide to leave it up to God, so far everything that I have experience seemed to have a purpose and a good ending.

Samantha breaks the silence from the back sit and asks to be schooled while driving; “Mom, school already started a long time ago, can you do it now?” I have to overcome the idea of school as a pen, a textbook and a blackboard. School must be a place with learning opportunities, the car is not bad, she has the attention she needs and we carry enough material to keep them stimulated. However, by the time we made it to San Diego,  if I were to paint the scene, Trini would be electrified and holding on to the ceiling of the car and Sami with her legs up the sit, head hanging and making her leaps roll with her fingers.

We just got an extra hour, we need it! We are at the Marina, there are two nice restaurants, both offering live music, the lights are reflected on the water, the smell of the ocean is energizing. The excitement is back!! We haven’t seen the boat in person, we want to know what our house for the next year will be!. We walked and walked and walked. The boat is far back on A dock.  The docks are narrow, I can only picture tripping and falling in the cold water with my camera hanging on my shoulder.

We are here, a nice poinsettia is waiting for us at the table in the salon, A welcome present from Matt’s dad. It made it cozy. The boat is what I expected except for the storage. The back of our truck is loaded with boxes and bags of clothes, but the boat is already full, every single compartment is in used. All sorts of items such as tools, sails, life jackets, blankets, cleaning supplies from the 60s and more.  I started feeling depressed. Where am I going to put our stuff?  I was overwhelmed and tired. I needed to sleep.

I woke up this morning with one girl on each side, my back was killing me. I guess it is because I am unable to move during the night if they sleep with me. It seems to be the common factor to my nights of back pain. Emotionally I was recharged! We had a light breakfast, organized a few things and Samantha asked again to be schooled. We grab a cup of coins and did a little math. The rest of the schooling we will call “practical life”.  It was time to go to the showers. This seems to be a fun experience for them. I enjoy it too. The water is always warm, the lighting is perfect and the cleaning is done by someone else.

It was a non stopped day, a couple trips to the car, scrubbing, scrubbing in the galley, arranging and rearranging, Matt reassembling instruments, I will trust his ability to do it, but I have paid attention to the shapes and colors of the equipment he takes apart so if for the next couple of days I keep seeing the same shapes and colors I will get worried. He is very talented in these matters. The girls are sitting at the dock finding their own entertainment. They used trash as treasure and Sami built a robot called Captain XX.

They got in the dinghy and practice rowing; I could only hear them giggling and Matt complimenting Samantha’s ability to maneuver the boat. I was then proud of our decision to turn off the TV back home and do this.

We took the kids for ice cream and Sami bought a postcard to send to school. She wrote “my bed is tiny, I went to the park and the day was kind of boring” I told her that she needed to write something more positive. I felt a little frustrated that she was feeling like that. After I made my suggestion, which was not very well taken, she became very sad and said she wanted to go home. Trini yelled “you are home”.  It didn’t seem to help. She then bang her head on a door and that made her scream with strength. I would have jumped overboard. Matt so patiently consoled her and calmed her. He took them for a ride in the dinghy and when they returned everything was back to normal.

We had a nice dinner. Played a game of UNO, had chocolates for dessert, listen to some Jazz, the girls did some art and then everyone went to bed.

Things are starting to take form,  I am seeing the light in terms of storage and I like it. Now I am wondering how deceitful the life in the marina could be,  will the real experience begin once we untie from the docks and electricity, water, showers,  and social life becomes limited. I pray that I and the boat are up to that test. Matt and the girls will for sure.