Puerto Angel

It is a very small bay with good anchorage, crystal clear water, clean. It was hard to find an open spot in the protected area of the bay to anchor since it was almost fully occupied by the fishing “pangas” and another sailing vessel “Ganymede” (the vessel with the three little girls on board). The girls are happy to see that their friends are here and they are already planning visits to each others boats and trips to the beach. We are set, we have our bathing suits on and we are ready for the instant cooling performance. 1-2-3 Splash!

We planned to stay here for a couple of days, but tomorrow it will be a week. Considering that we still have one more month to spend in Mexico before going across the famous and not very friendly Golf of Tehuanapec, we decided to take it easy and spend time here with our friends from Ganymede.

There are two beaches in the bay, “El Panteon” (the cemetery) and “Playa Puerto Angel” the two connect by a nicely built stone wall. They both have good places to hang out and swim, but have mainly enjoy “El Panteon” because one of the restaurant owners has gone
out of his way to serve us.

Omar and his family, owners of restaurant “Citlali”

It is the first palapa on the left at “El Panteon”. We spent several hours sitting under his place enjoying a cold Coronas, the shade, quesadillas, fried fish and a wonderful shrimp ceviche. Omar also let us fill a couple of 10 liter jar with fresh water for showers. The most valuable gift of all was the experience he provided Matt and Samantha of going fishing with him and his 13 year old son, Danilo. Omar goes out every afternoon to set the nets to catch the fish that will be served at the restaurant the next day and every morning at 6:30 AM he goes out again to retrieve the catch.

Para Omar y su familia
Muchas gracias por su generosa atencion, disfrutamos mucho sentados bajo su palapa y las conversaciones que tuvimos con su familia. Esperamos en algun momento volver a Puerto Angel y compartir un poco mas.

Samantha goes fishing

Its 6:30 in the morning, Matt is up he barely touches Samantha to tell her it is time to get ready and she jumps up, puts her clothes on and is standing outside ready to be picked up. Her excitement is contagious. They packed a couple of apples and some water and hopped in “Caracol Purpura” Omar’s boat. I got up energized as well and prepared a couple of pie shells for quiche that I had ready when they got back. When they returned she was able to describe the experience and named a few of the fish they caught.

Samantha sells mangoes on the beach.

We were sitting on Citlali one afternoon and a nice woman with her daughter, nine year old, Rocio are selling mangos, I couldn’t resist to buy a bag. I established a conversation with the mom and was moved by the hard work she does and how her daughter helps to make just a few pesos every day. Samantha was intrigued too. I asked Samantha if she would be up for the challenge of going around in the beach selling mangos and she was all for it. I asked the nice lady if she could tag along and she was happy to take her. Samantha carried the bag of chile, the lady carried the mangos and Rocio a bucket with more supplies. She was gone for approximately 30 min. I followed them with my eyes all the way. When she returned she told me that the sale was unsuccessful and there, another 10 pesos came out of my pocket to make the last purchase of mangos. I figure it was a win-win situation, I get to see my baby grow and I get to enjoy another bag of this delicious fruit.

The beaches in Puerto Angel

I enjoyed it for the most part, the surge is really strong, you get pushed out really quickly and sucked in quickly as well, so by the time you make your final roll up to the beach, you get rolled right back out, but now with your bathing suit converted into a sand bag, very, very flattering. The exfoliation is intense. The good thing is there is no one to impress, no one really cares. No one really cares how you dress for swimming either. I saw lady of all ages swimming in their bras and skirts, kids swimming in their birthday suits, others in their underwear, others fully dressed. I saw couples expressing their love openly and explicitly. Well not to a full extent, but pretty close. I would have to keep my kids in the PG section of the beach. Interesting also was seeing the military and navy walking the beach in their uniforms with their weapons. I guess it is all normal. All this scene made me picture one of those activities for children “mark what doesn’t belong”.

Easter in Mexico

We tried to distract the girls from the candy and chocolate idea of Easter, but it was simply impossible, they started asking a few days ago how much longer until then. It would have been unfair that sailing kids don’t get the yummy treats. However, none of the stores here carry anything related to this holiday, I didn’t see a single bunny, egg, pink and yellow sign, plastic junk, cookies… nothing. The eggs here in the boat were little candy bags with yummy Mexican candy that you find every day at any store. I realized how privilege our kids are to get anything at all. This morning in church, I ask a lady who had a boy to her side, about Trinidad’s age if he would get any candy today, she had no idea what I was talking about. Now I feel sorry for us, we are suck so deep into consuming, no wonder money its not enough even though we make much, so much more than people here.

I remember growing up when Thursday before Easter arrive, the party ended, no loud music, no pop music, no games, no going out with friends at night, no fun. It was a time of reflection; it was time to remember Jesus and the events. I don’t know how much it has change in my country, but here in this part of Mexico I expected to see a lot more of that. Quite the opposite; fishing contest, huge speakers on the peer, salsa, meringue, cumbias and even a bikini contest, fireworks on Friday and loud “cuetes” (fireworks). All of it sponsored by “Corona Extra” the cool beer. Last night the music went on all night long… simply put…awful.

Its time to go

I have found that if we stay too long in one place the boat becomes smaller, the sun becomes hotter, the beach vendors more insistent, the people trying to take advantage of us more abundant and the sailing life a little rougher.. I guess its time to move on. We run out of propane, the hammocks of fruits and vegetables are swinging empty, the freezer is just making ice and keeping a fish that Omar gave us this morning, the can’s compartment is only hiding dirt, we have almost depleted our can supplies, well, at least the most useful ones. There is a can of SpagettiOs.. that no one likes, a few cans of tomato sauce, evaporated milk, condense milk, chicken broth, some tuna and some chicken. I guess we could survive on those for a while, but with no propane to cook, we are in a little bit of trouble.