Bucerias Bliss

—Blogpost written by Bob 

In this blogpost, we continue our 6-month winter excursion in Mexico.  We arrived by car in San Miguel de Allende (SMA) on October 15, traveling from near Annapolis, Maryland where we live on our sailboat.  We then traveled 8 hours west by car to Bucerias where we are based for our last two months in Mexico.  (We love the weather, the close proximity to the water, and the simplicity of life here in Bucerias!)

Friday, February 11

Yesterday, I answered a lot of boat questions (from the service manager in Galesville MD) about our ongoing boat maintenance.  The issues involved corrosion of the engine mounts and the engine bell housing and the intrusion of salt water, in general.  It seemed like we have had alignment problems ever since the engine was replaced back in 2017.

This morning may have been the
first time we had Bimbo-brand
bread.  (Maggie made French
toast this morning.)

We drove to La Comer (the supermarket) in the afternoon and we learned a couple new things in the process:

(1) how to properly turn left from Highway 200 into La Comer (use the far right bus lane),

(2) how to get a refilled 20-liter bottle of drinking water (get a coupon at the courtesy desk),

(3) the locations of a few more XOXO's (to get sugar-free Magnum bars), and

(4) how to buy a substitute medication for FloMax (it's called Tamsulosina and it cost 130 Mexican pesos, about $6.50 USD, for 20 capsules.  Here in Mexico, no prescriptions are required to purchase medications.)

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We also purchased one Mexican fruit that is new to us--it's called guanabana (or soursop).

A guanabana (or soursop) fruit that we
purchased at La Comer today.

Supposedly, we simply cut it in half, discard the seeds and the casing and eat it raw.  The taste of the flesh is supposed to be similar to a mixture of strawberries, oranges and bananas.  (We'll probably try it sometime this weekend.  If this attempt is successful, we will probably try a different new fruit each of our remaining weeks here in Bucerias.  We tried eating this fruit on Sunday afternoon and found out why is wasn't very popular.)

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We pretty much filled our fridge with fresh fruits and veggies, and a few meat items.  Our grocery bill came to a whopping 3,918 Mexican pesos (about $196 USD), which should last us almost two weeks.  Nearly everything we purchased came from Mexico--the only exception was cheese and some wine which were imported (the wine from Chile).

Weather prediction for
next several days.

Today's Happy Hour drink: vodka and
(sugar-free) berry-flavored tonic water.

Saturday, February 12

I was awake at 2:30 this morning because of some “yappy” neighborhood dogs and the monotony of a bass drum of a far-away (maybe 1/4-mile) band playing.  Mexican neighborhoods are notoriously noisy but this seemed extreme to me, even if it was a Friday night.   The windows tightly closed and our bedroom air conditioner (a mini split) running at 22 degrees C wasn’t enough to overcome the exterior noises.  

While I was awake I looked up recipes online for steak marinades that would tenderize the steaks we just purchased.  After a couple hours, I dozed off…

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In the morning, I put together the a red wine marinade using the following ingredients: 3/4 cup red wine (Malbec), 1/2 cup (extra virgin) olive oil,  juice from 1/2 of a small lime,  1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 2 minced garlic cloves,  1/2 minced shallot,  1/2 tsp dried rosemary, and a dash of cayenne.  I placed the jar of marinade in the fridge so that it would be ready to marinate the steaks 24 hours ahead of cooking them.  (I used the recipe from this online source while making some of my own minor adjustments.)

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Today we had a leak between a 20-liter water bottle and the base reservoir.  This was in our second and last water bottle.  So, besides cleaning up the water that spilled all over the tiled kitchen floor, we had to go out and get two more bottles of water (which weigh about 44 pounds each). 

A 20-liter bottle of purified water
weighs 44 pounds!

In carrying the 20-liter water bottle up the outside stairs to our apartment, I realized how my strength has deteriorated as I approach my 75th birthday.  (When I was young working in home construction to pay for college, I remember being able to carry two cement blocks at a time, weighing 35 pounds each.  However, that was probably 55 years ago!) 

Sunday, February 13

Super Bowl Sunday

After a light breakfast in our apartment, we drove to La Cruz de Huanacaxtle for a Sunday-morning Artisan's Market.

Similar to flea markets in the U.S., there were
many exhibitors with their own
tables and tents.

Colorful ceramic fishies.

Jewelry was for sale everywhere in
the market, particularly silver jewelry.

These miniature wood carvings
of faces were very unique.

A carver finishing up a figurine constructed from
ironwood obtained in the norther desert area.  
(He used brown KIWI shoe polish to make
the color uniform and to provide a shine.

We had to stop and take more pics
of the Mexican pangas.

We bought one red snapper and had it
filleted for a dinner later in the week.
(The price was 150 Mexican pesos
or about $7.50 USD.)

As we were buying the fish, we realized that the Artisan's Market stretches all around the outside of the marina--we actually saw less than half of it.

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We watched the Super Bowl on my iPad using the FUBO.TV app.  I predicted the winner (LA RAMS) and the margin of victory (3 points) before the game started.  It was still one of the best Super Bowl games in recent history but the half time show sucked big time in my opinion.

Monday, February 14

Valentine's Day

We got up to the sound of tennis balls (I really think they are racket balls) bouncing on the nearby court.  (I really should walk down the street and find out for sure.)

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Today was a relaxing day--we really had no plan nor did we do anything remarkable.  Some days are like that.  We cooked fresh red snapper for lunch and it was great.  We treated today like a holiday but it clearly wasn't a holiday.  Tomorrow is another day...

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