Goodbye Guaymas-maybe

Our work is done. The cruising kitty is fed. The weather report looks optimistic for the 100 mile passage to San Jaunico tomorrow. So now we need to fill the fuel tanks and the pantry, do some laundry and say our goodbyes to Guaymas.

 evening on the malecon (Ceilydh is in the lower right corner)

Ah, Guaymas…

More ruined than beautiful; more loud than musical—our affection for this overlooked little coastal city caught us off guard. We’ll miss the nightly celebrations, the giggling children and the warm welcomes we receive everywhere we go. And we’ll miss the calm protected anchorage. How nice it’s been to sleep soundly on smooth seas every night. Albeit serenaded by brass bands and bad karaoke…

 We’ll also miss our dear new friends—especially Paula, Matt, Sammy and Trinidad on Endurance. We celebrated our week-iversary but swore it must have been longer that we’ve been friends. We’ve packed so much into such a short time, and now we hate the idea of leaving them behind. Paula keeps telling us the weather is terrible and we’ll have to stay. I keep telling them they don’t really need money to live on and they should just keep sailing and not go home.

 But sailboats need to sail, and seasons need to be respected. And sometimes journeys need to end.

We’ll leave when the weather window opens. And they’ll head home soon after.

 But don’t tell Paula that secretly we also hope it won’t be tomorrow…

Pearl Fever

The pearl farm on Bacochibambo Bay

I think we’ve sent every cruiser we’ve met in Guaymas to visit Perlas del Mar. And each time they come back, I check out their new beauties, and dream about owning just one more pearl for myself.

Back in the old days—when this body of water was still called the Vermillion Sea, thanks to the red algae that also signals the spawning season for the oysters—people were said to catch Pearl Fever. Legends were born; of divers who lost their lives and maidens who sold their virtue, all in the search for that one special pearl.

 So considering that Paula from Endurance hadn’t been to the pearl farm, and it’s my birthday week—we caught the Miramar bus at the Mercado and headed out to visit our friends Douglas, Manuel and Enrique at the farm.

We arrived too late for the last tour of the day (it ran at 2pm) but Douglas is a gracious host and Paula and the girls were shown the pearls and told how they are grown. This is when I also learned that I could buy pearls individually and either take them to a jeweller or have Manuel set them. So Douglas pulled out more pearls and we went to work. I learned about the different grades of pearls, what to look for and then finally selected two baroque pearls that would make up my (shockingly affordable) earrings.

choosing my own pearls

While Manuel worked to make my earrings, we chatted with Douglas— and he asked if we’d ever found nice ironwood (we asked him where to shop for carvings on our last visit and he recommended the market for its non-tourist prices). A few minutes later Douglas disappeared and then reappeared with a beautiful carving—a birthday gift.

Each day we’re in Guaymas, we get to know people a little better, and it makes the idea of leaving that much harder. But I think with Christmas approaching and my pearl fever growing more passionate we’d best get going…

Los Tianguis Empalme—the Sunday Market

  While Guaymas has a Walmart, Sam’s Club and several other large grocery stores, this is still very much a market/bartering culture. We’d heard about the Sunday market in Empalme from a few other boaters (especially the one boater who scored some excellent new Patagonia shorts for $1). Called a tianguis, vendors at these open air markets sell new and second hand merchandise, fresh fruit and veggies, cheese and local honey.

 This morning we headed by bus with the folks on Sea Turtle to the tianguis in Empalme (a small town about 15 minutes away, at the southern end of the Guaymas basin). The Empalme market is huge. It took us a solid 2 hours to get from one end to the other – and we still missed most of the side streets that branched off.

 Initially I found the experience of ploughing through mounds of stuff overwhelming—but when I found my first pair of REI shorts (tags still on and in my size) for ten pesos (< $1) I was hooked. From that moment, the hunt was on. Searching through what must be the equivalent of a half dozen huge second hand stores we found Maia brand new shoes and a bunch of new clothes and Evan got several pairs of shorts and a shirt—and the damage was less than $15.

 Beyond clothes, we could have easily stocked up on power tools, toys and household appliances, not to mention Christmas decorations, CD’s and cleaning products. But it’s still really odd to consider buying a washing machine or sectional couch from street vender…

I do wish I had bought some of the honey though, and some of the coconut candy that I love so much. I guess if we’re still around next Sunday we’ll have to go back. You never know quite what you might find…