Subj: Nanjo Chronicals 2000 - Work, medical, dental
and visitors
Travels from March 9 to March 23
Ahoy,
Sometimes life slows down and sometimes it speeds up, but sometimes the crew of Nanjo has to catch
up on projects and do other mundane
things that detract from the opinion
that we just hop from one adventure to
another. Many of you have heard us indicate before we left, "Cruising is doing boat projects
in exotic places." Well, we were
at that point.
However, there were some very nice interruptions to the all-work-and-no-play schedule. One was a
visit by one of the Chronical-crew,
Matt and his friend Rebecca. They
actually arrived for the night of the
fireworks on Olas Altas, but we didn't link up until several days later at the El Moro Hotel, one
of the many El Cid resorts in Mazatlan.
Visiting them at El Moro gave us a look
at the college Spring Break crowd, what
vacation-life is like at one of the premier
resorts and what a "real" hot shower is like. This was going to be our exposure to the easy
livin' lifestyle of the resort crowd!
The college people were everywhere. The pools were filled, the pool decks adorned with
bikini-clad women and their muscled
escorts. There was much splashing,
water-sports and sun worshipping poolside, on the beach and in the streets. Matt said the
coeds wearing a special armband were
entitled to unlimited drinks. All in
all they seemed to have everything in control
and were having a good time. Their license to drink in check.
The El Moro appeared to be focused on promoting their facility as a timesharing gem. There was
the ever-present attempt to get us, and
other first-timers, into a
presentation, baited with all sorts of
free dinners and credits toward all sorts of
special resort privileges. We easily resisted. The hotel is very beautiful and caters to every
guest's need. However, Matt couldn't
get his room for hours because the
previous week's guest using that room
wouldn't vacate it until they were moved into a new room. Matt and Rebecca waited at the pool
and the occupants remained in the room
- nobody was "in management's
face", so nothing was moving. Finally
Matt got in their face and demanded that he be moved in - it was around 4pm. The occupants were
moved out and the maids began to clean
up.
The four of us had a recreational sail aboard Nanjo, one day. The weather had improved very
nicely that week and the clouds stayed
away, although the afternoon winds were
reminiscent of The Bay. It was a most
unexpected pleasure, having Matt go sailing with us. In the past, he had stated that the only thing he wanted to know about "sails" was
when Nordstroms was having one (sale).
On the other hand, Rebecca has sailed
in Hawaiian waters, not a beginner's level of
experience. Rebecca took the helm most of the morning, as we sailed toward the islands just off the hotel-lined beach. When the seas grew, I
took over and we worked our way back to
the harbor. Matt never got sick and
Rebecca had a good time.
Then one afternoon we went to the hotel and played in one of the pools, dove off the man-made
waterfall, cooked in the spa and did
the pool thing. Then we headed for
their room and our first "real" shower in over 5 months: We're talking about hot-as-we-wanted water, for as long as we wanted. It was very
nice! Afterwards, I had to get into
some long pants, since we were going to
dinner at a fiesta where shorts weren't
allowed; Nancy borrowed a top from Rebecca
which became a knee-length dress on her.
The fiesta was a luau-like group party. A happy hour when you could drink as much as you wanted.
The house drink was margaritas instead
of maitais. The buffet was Mexican
standards. The music almost had a
Hawaiian tone to it. We ate more than we should have.
Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for the main entertainment. The buses stop running around 10pm and it was a long way back to the harbor without
one. We had to say goodbye to Matt and
Rebecca that night, although they had a
few more days. But we waved at their
plane when it flew over the harbor.
Nanjo moved to the Marina on the 15th. We had to hit a high tide once again. But in addition, we
had to pass a dredge, which
occasionally blocked the channel. Our
original plan was to leave the harbor around
0530. Just as we were going to start the engine, the fog descended on the harbor. We chose to not
navigate in this, so we went back to
bed. At 0700, the sun was shining in
our eyes - the fog was gone. We quickly
completed our preparations, raised the anchor and sped out of the anchorage. After steaming quickly
the 6+ miles to the channel entrance,
we had to wait awhile until the dredge
made room for us to pass. We were tied
to a dock soon after, for the first time since
October.
First Nancy had some dental work done, a cavity filled and two old fillings replaced. The dentist
was very good and was handsome as a
movie star, so Nancy almost enjoyed
herself. The dentist's skills were excellent
and the cost was less than the out-of-pocket charges if we had the work done with our insurance,
in California. Novocaine was
administered painlessly. About the
only "outdated" features were not having a suction hose available to clear her mouth and having to rinse her mouth using a small paper cup
of water to rinse before spiting into a
sink. No big deal. Needless to say, we
are terminating our dental insurance.
A few days later, after she was unable to break a fever and a cough, Nancy tested out the
local medical profession. We walked
into an urgent-care doctor's office,
just outside the El Moro's lobby, after dark
one night. About 15 minutes later, the doctor arrived, having returned from the hospital. After a few minutes of consultation with Nancy, some
looking at throat and nose and
listening to her lungs, the doctor
announced that she had bronchial and sinus
infections, with a little rattle ("a wheezle") in one lung. He gave her several injections and Rx
for several more medications. The
charges were higher than we had
expected, but still lower than what we
would have paid in the US. But most importantly, the next morning Nancy looked and felt much
better. She rapidly recuperated.
We completed almost every chore and project before our departure on the 23rd to begin our return to
"the old country", to
California, beginning with a First Class
bus trip to Tijuana. What adventure would this turn out to be? Would the Federales stop us?
Would US Customs be nasty? We were
filled with questions. At least the cab
driver was waiting for us, ahead of
schedule, at the gate to our dock . . . we were apprehensive, but not about the trip. We
wondered how it was going to feel being
back in the rush-rush, fast paced world
of high tech conveniences and affluence.
Off we went to find out.
Crew of Nanjo