AdventuresAboardAvatar

The sun is setting on our time here in La Paz. After 15 years for Mike and 13 years for Shelly, we will be checking out of Mexico this coming Tuesday. It is both happy and sad, but mostly extreme excitement !!! We will miss all of our friends here for so many years and this beautiful city and the lovely people who live here. But the call of the sea and adventure is strong, so off we go!
It was 1988 when I promised myself this trip on my own boat and it is finally coming to fruition!! A lot of stars have to align for this to happen. We have a little money left in the bank but the boat is ready to go! Our families are healthy and we are healthy. So bingo, stars are aligned.
We had to get the new autopilot drive dive installed, so we had to tear apart the whole aft bunk. Mike had to do that every day for almost a week until the job was completed. Mike got the dive compressor mounted so it will not move around while underway. And the new standing rigging will be completed by Craig from Portland on Monday.
Last night we had a huge send off party for us and all our other friends who are sailing to the South Pacific. Must have been 200 people show up over the course of the evening. Lots of yummy food was brought to share and the 3 boats going, Talion, Jade & Avatar, bought a keg of Modelo Negro. I think the last time I had a kegger was in College!!
Once again 22 is still my lucky number as Tuesday is March 22! So off we go into the wild blue yonder! Be sure to follow along on our Delorme Tracker to see where we are. You can also send us messages in the middle of the ocean and we will post messages there you can read as we go along. Occasionally we will also post to Facebook from the thing, but cannot read the comments until we get back to internet land. The link is:
https://share.delorme.com/Avatar

Save your money so you can come and visit us!!

Shelly Sophie and Mike

Stacks of food

And more food. 6 months worth!

Pedro and Mike working on Autopilot

New Auto Pilot ram finished and installed. Works awesome!

Mike mounting dive compressor from Paul and Simon's boat

Not gonna move this time!

Chacho, Cindy, Chocolate, Shelly, Momma Kitty, Mike & Sophie

The extended family!

Lynda, Cesar, Richard, Sophie, Mike & Shelly

Sunrise over La Paz, view from the mooring. Check out the huge Mexican Flag!

Deb cutting Mike's hair before the party

Talion on the end tie. Leaving Sunday.

Puddle Jump party

Lots of friends!!

Hang Loose People, it is gonna be a fun evening!!

More friends!

And More friends

People overflow barge Thanks Mac!

Scott, you ready on Morning Light?!? See you there bro!

One of my favorite pirates, Pedro of Jade

Night is falling and the beer is still pouring

Party moves aboard Avatar

Mike and Shelly of Avatar, Pedro of Jade and Patsy of Talion

All long time Pacenos (people from La Paz)

Talion Portland crew for the crossing

Sophie says "Are you guys ready yet?!?"

So many unexpected gifts from such sweet friends.

Thanks every one!!

On Sunday, Valentina realized she could not go with us, as she is buried in school work, both as teacher and student. But she was so sweet to make sure we got there. The plan was Teotihuacan. We had to go to the far end of the Metro, then get on the one hour bus to the Pyramids. We were North of the city and in almost country side small towns. The bus drops you off, then a taxi guy shows us a map and says the Avenue of the Dead is 4.5 km (2+ miles), he'll take us to the other end and then we walk back here where the bus picks up. OK sounded good! He took us by the shopping area first (hmm) but they had an interesting history lesson to give us on the ancient uses of the Maguey plant, a type of Agave, like a giant aloe plant. They made paper from the skin of the plant and made a needle and thread from the center of the large leaf.
We were lucky that it was Sunday and being Mexican Nationals (or permanent residents) we got in the park for free.
Tourists from every where around the world were there. It is actually unknown who built this ancient city. The Aztecs found it and claimed it, but it was estimated to be originally built in 100BC! They believe over 100,000 people lived there in 250AD, the biggest city know for that early in civilization.
The Pyramid of the Moon is at the Northern end of the Avenue of the Dead. The Pyramid of the Sun is of course on the East side of the Avenue. There are smaller pyramids and living quarters lining the sides of the path. They had an amazing drainage and sewer system the the Europeans copied and took back. The Sun pyramid takes 248 steps to get to the top and it raises 75 Meters (246 feet) high.
We waited for an hour in line just to climb the stairs. We were almost at the front of our group to be let thru, so we had to keep up the pace going up the first set of steps to a landing area. The altitude is about 8000 feet, so I was winded at the top, seeing as how I live on a boat at sea level!! Once my heart rate slowed, we got in line to go to the top. The view from there was forever. Many people were raising their hands to the Sun as tho feeling the energy from Sun itself and sending it into the Temple of the Sun through their feet. After enjoying the view, we stood in line to go down. By the time we got to the bottom, our legs were like jello and our feet and legs were aching. Looking up to the top, all those people just look like ants!
We had to keep walking to the end of the Avenue of the Dead to catch the bus back to the Metro and back to the apartment. Exhausting, but totally worth it!
Monday was the big day. We tried to catch a cab at 8am to make sure we got to the Embassy before our 10am appointment. If we were late, we would have to come back a different day, which would be very costly and inconvenient. The first Taxi guy said he did not know where it was and we should get out and find another taxi. At least he was honest. It was not until 8:30 by the time we got another taxi to stop for us. By that time, I had it on my google maps and he knew just how to get there. We took all back city streets and not on the slow major roads. He dropped us off at 9:30 and got a nice tip! The guard told us we had to have exact change for our fee, so we had to search the street to find change for a 500 peso note (about 30 dollars). After asking several street vendors, a hotel and restaurant and no one had it, finally a well dressed man on the street had just the right change in his wallet. We just made it back by 10am. Then it was sit and wait our turn, as there was only one girl working taking applications. Often French are stuffy and hard to deal with, but thanks to having worked for Club Med, I knew how to deal with them. We had her smiling and laughing because we were going to sail to Polynesia, not like all the others going to France. We had every paper she asked for and she seemed pleased. So we were done, now just the waiting for our passports to go to Tahiti with out us and come back with visas in them. Takes one to two months, and we are exactly two months away from our planned departure date. Fingers are crossed!!
After calming our nerves (mine anyway) at Starbucks coffee, we walked over to the Anthropology Museum, the other Must Do while in Mexico City. The guard say, "sorry we are closed on Mondays" What?!?! Nooooo! I was so disappointed not to get to see the Aztec Calendar Stone! If I had know we would have only had that one hour when we were there on Friday, I would have paid the money, just to see it. Waaaaah! Ok getting over it, we are walking around and become entertained by the professional dog training school. All sitting at first, then when he threw the ball they all ran after it and always brought it back. A nice dressed man saw us come out of the museum with long faces and offered to take us to the only open museum on Monday's, Carlos Slim's art museum. What the hell, what else to do.
Wow! The statues, paintings and carvings were spectacular. Some of it dating back to the 12th century. I thought it was awfully nice of the richest man it the world to share his art collection with us. Did I mention it is free to get in?
After words we walked probably another 2 miles to the closest Metro station down another amazing middle of the road park "sidewalk".

It was an awesome trip, but we are sure glad to be back at our quiet little boat in the bay of La Paz.