Adios to Mexico

It's always with a mixture of regret and excitement that we leave a port at which we've managed to insert ourselves a little into the ongoing lives of the people we've met. The excitement should be familiar to everyone who finally gets the car packed en route to lake or cottage ... or boards the plane for a foreign holiday. The regret comes from the feeling of being uprooted from a place in which you've become comfortable and in knowing that you may never see it again.

We made some lovely friends in Ensenada. Had we stayed, I could have looked forward to gradually improving both dance and communications with my friends at the zumba class (who speak only Spanish). I was managing to stay in tempo (and mostly in step) at the gym and my lovely español teacher Yahaira Nava Morán was seeing a good improvement in language competency. Dolores and Eddy invited us to both business and home. They showered us with boat gifts (Eddy owns a chemical factory which makes auto-detailing products) and a home-cooked meal. Eddy's excellent Spanish (with the welcome American accent or outright English translations) made it easy for us to understand. The whole experience made their motto 'mi casa es su casa' feel heart-felt and warm.

In addition to the regret of leaving new-found shore-based friends is the regret of not hearing about the plans and experiences of the many other sailors we meet. We're all heading off in different directions. It's been rare for Traversay to meet up with an old friend ever again. We were only actually sitting in the water in Ensenada for 4 nights so we never had enough time with the "Soul Mates", the "Jolly Dogs", the "Rascals", the "Agapes" ... with Igor/Juli (flying the Russian flag) or the gorgeous Rich and Wendy who were crew on the most elegant yacht on the pavement. We felt a pang at leaving the workers at Baja Naval, and shared a pizza lunch with them to thank them for their excellent work on our "new" Traversay III.

People who leave their homes for a few weeks don't worry too much about not communicating with every single friend or relative. I do ... and I usually try to send cards or phone especially close friends who seem to be communications-challenged. I was told that cards (if they arrived at all) would take 2-3 months to arrive from Mexico. As for phone calls, I have not had time to phone all the people I'd like to say farewell to.

For me, it's a feeling of "just in case".

Along with all of our generation - we (in our case) are feeling not just the world flowing by under our bow, but the passage of time. Speaking of "passages" - at this point I want to say "Cumpleaños" to my Skipper who today - on Friday the 13th - turns a young 66.




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At 6/13/2014 17:18 (utc) our position was 30°29.23'N 119°29.07'W