La Cruz and Friends!

We find ourselves in a very cool little town called La Cruz de Huanacaxtle near Puerto Vallarta.  We visited here before in 2005, but so much has changed in five short years!  Our friends Randy and Vicki Rowe from Idaho are staying aboard with us on South Trail and our friend Patrick Martin, s/v Amy Michele has just sailed into town from a month in Zihuatanejo.  He lives aboard in Mexico full time now...  Lucky guy!  We also met up with many of our old Ventura West, G-dock neighbors: Wally and Linda, s/v Andanzas; Don and Judy, s/v Wind Ryder; Lucy and Jim, s/v Passage II.  We had a lovely potluck aboard Wind Ryder and were very happy to see so many of our old neighbors with huge, "we are so happy cruising!" grins on their faces!!!

This first picture is a combination courtyard which includes Huichol Indian Gallery, Coffee Hut, Restaurant and Artist's lofts.  Patrick took us all their to purchase coffee beans from a very talented Frenchman who roasts a wicked good bean with plenty of early mornin' kick if you follow my groove...  Patrick told us all the story of how this entreprenuerial cruisin' couple sailed their boat down to La Cruz and found what they were lookin' for and started this magical place.  The green shade awnings pictured are old sails, and there are other boat remnants incorporated into the courtyard.  They were playing some very interesting jazz music selections mixed with the sounds of birds and the smell of that fabulous coffee.  The place and the feel of it reminded me of Berkeley, CA.  pictured from left to right are Craig, Patrick, Vicki and Randy.  In addition to our coffee bean score, Randy got Vicki a beautiful huichol beaded ankle bracelet.  Whata sweet guy!

Here is a picture of Marina Riviera Nayarit at La Cruz where we stayed for twelve days.  We got into our slip a day before our dear friends Randy and Vicki were to arrive, so it was great to have ample water and power to clean our very messy boat!  The marina was not here five years ago when we were last in this port.  It is a very nice facility with all the emenities that you could ever need or want.  During Randy and Vicki's time with us the marina was hosting a boat show with quite a few mega yachts.  It was quite a change between venues.  You go out of the marina glitz, and into this sleepy little town with chickens, dogs, iguanas and the occasional horse walking around...  We heard from some fellow sailors here that Presidente Calderon was in town the week prior to our arrival.  A cab driver also told us that the roads were all spruced-up for the Presidente's visit along with certain areas of the town.

During the boat show, the local marina restaurant had a 90 peso per person breakfast buffet that we all enjoyed thoroughly (exchange was 13.3 pesos to $1USD).  The best part was fresh squeezed orange juice and pinapple juice.  They lost money on us for the juice bar alone!  Also, during the boat show they would have shows every night in the marina amphitheater which was behind our boat.  So each night we could sit on the back of our boat and hear music or watch dancers all for the price of the slip!

We blew-up the kayak and Randy and Vicki, as well as Craig and Dover took it for a spin around the harbor.

We took several little walks into town (check out those stone streets!) and had a couple of very nice dinners in La Cruz including pizza at Philo's and traditional Mexican fare at "The Cave" which was really quite good.  Here is the namesake of the town... 

and the very colorful town square which is hoppin' with townsfolk at night.  Very cool to be able to go out and meet your neighbors and friends in this central location to share an ice cream and catch-up during the cool nights.

On Sunday, we broke free of our gilded slip and got Randy and Vicki to the local islands, Las Tres Marietas, for a day outting...  What better way to start a Sunday than Randy's Famous Bloody Mary's?!!!