MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!! We spent Christmas in La Paz.

Some of the festivities included setting off fire works . . . .

Informing my parents it was Christmas at 6 am   . . . . . . .

And of course decorating the tree

From my cat I got a little electric dog that runs around and yips . In my stocking I got tiny sparklers. And I got several new books.

We had to do our Christmas shopping in the markets. The market was outdoor on the streets. It’s made up of stalls made from tarps and inside, people sell anything from pencils, to dogs, to a dolls tea set. We got a lot of good stuff there. In a Mexican market at Christmas the scene was a little less than chaotic. Of course it was organized chaos. Anyways I think it was a pretty good Christmas.

New Friends

I've met two new friends. Trinidad and Samantha are two little girls, 5 & 7.  I put on the play Pippy Longstocking with them. ( I was Pippy of course). We had a lot of fun. We're having a sleepover tonight as well. They live in Arizona when they are not on their boat called Endurance. When the market on Sundays happens we go together. Trinadad has blond hair and green eyes and is 5, Samantha has brown hair and brown eyes and is 7 they're sisters. They're both really nice. And funny!

The way cruising kids make friends is if you see a kid at a potluck or something you just go up and say “hi what's your name?”

Christmas Plans

Dear Santa, You might remember me from last year. I'm the little kid on a boat who is sailing around the world?"

 Maia is working on Christmas cards and Christmas letters today. We want to pop them in the mail before heading out of here. We've actually decided on a destination for Christmas. For a variety of reasons we're not heading south as quickly as we first planned. So Ceilydh is going to go Christmas caroling in La Paz this year.

For the past hour we've been going through the options for our Christmas destination but it was the happy memory of getting mail at Club Cruceros when we were cruising 15 years ago that really sold us on the little Baja city. So for friends and family (and any random strangers who want to surprise a homesick little girl with a Christmas greeting) we can receive letter mail or *very* small packages at this address:

Maia Selkirk

S/V Ceilydh

Apdo. Postal 366

La Paz, CP 23000, BCS, Mexico

Expect things to take 2-4 weeks to arrive. Roughly about the same amount of time it will take us to get there…

Tips For Cruisers in the Sea of Cortez

The Sea of Cortez Islands are a amazing place filled with nature. Animals who don't live anywhere else in the world live there. So we have to protect the natural beauty and not set up big resorts that put out advertisements saying, “Have your dream vacation here only! Meet a friendly dolphin! Make 1000's of new friends!”

That's not why we're here folks! Ok maybe for the friends part but . . .

You can visit the Islands though sooooooooooooo 

 If you want to do that here are some tips . . . .

1.         Before you get to the Islands brush your shoes and clothes because there's a type of grass called buffalo weed and it burns really fast and you might have the seeds on your shoes.

2.         Don't scare the birds because they'll fly away. There’s one type of bird that only has one chick a year and if she is scared away from her nest a rat could eat her egg or chick and the population could go extinct.

3.         Don't bring pets to the Islands because they'll make a mess and they could bring a disease.

4.         Don't collect shells because it's illegal.

5.         Here's one thing you can do – have fun.

 

The reason I know all this is because here in Guaymas a parks person came and gave us a presentation and she told us all the rules.

My Great Grandma

May 24, 1920-November 12, 2010

 My Great Grandma was a war bride. She came to Vancouver Island on a ship and then on a train with her two baby daughters, Mary and Margaret, from Scotland in January 1944.

She didn’t know if her new husband would ever return from the terrible war that was tearing the world apart.

She settled on Vancouver Island and had two more children, John and Jim. Her children grew up playing and working on the beautiful Island and they had children of there own. Her family has grown amazingly—she has seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

 My Great Grandma loved to knit, and bake (she made the best scones ever) and to garden. And she had some of the most delicious apples I’ve ever tasted—one year we picked so many we had to have apple pies for weeks. She loved jewellery and cats. But I think most of all she loved her family. And we love and will miss her.

A Beautiful Place

 Today I went to one of the most beautiful places on earth: A mossy green pool surrounded by cliffs with a ruby-red dragon fly zipping over the water and a frog clinging to a branch.

This is a sacred place, the place of Nacapule. Ancient Yaqui people believed that it was sacred because it provided them with everything they needed: food, water and shelter.

They touched their arrows and spears to the skin of a special frog who had poison on its skin.

The place is filled to the brim with beautiful butterflies, so many it could hold no more.

We scrambled over rocky cliffs and even up a sheer 15ft rock with only a worn out rope to hold us. All in all it’s a sacred place.

CIVILIZATION!

the view from the swimming pool

 We're back in civilization folks! I mean hot water, sit down restaurants, lettuce, fresh food, a swimming pool, doughnuts at the store. . . What more could a girl want? Anyways we're back in the CITY! Or rather, San Carlos. There's a supermarket here, can you believe it? I can't. Oh it's so exiting! HURRAH!

The Pizza Party of Death

The Pizza Party WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A REGULAR PIZZA PARTY. But no it was the pizza party of death! We were innocently watching a movie at my friend's boat in the cockpit when my friend's parents came home and told us to go inside (to put it mildly) WHAT THE HECK! Then it hit us (both literally and figuratively) BOOM! A CHUBASCO! AHHHHHH! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! BOOM! CRASH! MAYHEM! CATASTROPHE! We all tumbled inside. WE'RE ALL GONNA TO DIE! We all survived and my dad picked me up AT 1 IN THE MORNING! Ok we didn't die but . . . you never know.

GLOSSARY
(a chubasco is a big wind storm with lots of waves and lightening) pronounced choo- bass- co.

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Crafts on the Beach

Yesterday I dyed one of my favorite dresses. It was a white embroidered slip, which my mom thought was too stained to wear. So she suggested I dye it when we were invited to a dying class on the beach. I did. I dyed it purple and turquoise. Turquoise at the hem and purple for the rest. It looks really cool now. There were tons of colors to choose from but I eventually chose purple and turquoise. It sort of looks like tie dye but cooler. Some people dyed bags, others blankets and still others shirts. Anyway, I had an amazing day and I'm happy I did it. Dying stuff is fun.

A Sealion Under my Boat

Playing with Nadine under my boat

Nadine is a sealion in Bay of LA. My mom named her. She’s a beautiful young juvenile who loves to play. She also loves to taunt Charlie, (poor Charlie!) She’s small and slim and sleek. She makes woofing noises. She’s a very good friend.

She seems to like the shade of our boat and hides under the bridgedeck. 

My Birthday

My 9th birthday wasn't nice. It was awesome. I got so many nice letters! Oh, how on earth am I going to answer them all? I know! I'll write a blog post about my birthday.

I got lots of wonderful gifts like beautiful homemade clay beads (my mom), gorgeous black pearl earrings and a dance trapeze (my dad), a huge bottle of whipped cream (my friend Carolyne), and bacon (Jesse). I also saw dolphins and fireworks. The fireworks were in the anchorage. The dolphins were out at sea. We caught a giant dorado. The dorado was two feet long and yellow with blue spots. So all and all I think I got my moneys worth.

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The Tortilleria

I just got fresh tortillas today and can you guess where they came from? Yup that's right the tortilleria.

 The tortilla machine looks like a giant conveyer belt with a shmoosher, and a fire, and a cooling rack, all in one. The shmoosher shmooshes, the fire cooks, and the cooler cools.

We bought harina (wheat flour) but you can also get maiz (corn). You can buy medio kilo for 12 pesos or about 1$.

Playing Pioneers

 My friends and I wanted to know what it was like to live without modern resources . . . .

We dressed like them, we ate like them, we talked like them, we cooked like them and we even acted like them. And who did we do it all like?  1 simple question 1 simple answer.

My friend Carolyne took this picture

 PIONEERS we lived like them.

Expect for the house which was a cave, we lived like them.

When my friends Amy, Carolyne and I went to the beach, we set up a pioneer camp. While we were there we saw crabs, seagulls, and pelicans. And then it started to rain and waves came crashing down on the rocky shore. But we cleaned and cooked through the violent thunder storm.  And I would do it again.

yumm... potato leek soup

  Here we are cooking a meal.

My Article in Latitude and Attitudes

Fossil Limestone at Punta Santa Domingo

this is the cliff that looked interesting

Yesterday we were walking along the beach and we saw a big red cliff. There were lots of shells stuck together with sand in the top layer. We found a piece and thought it was interesting so we brought it back to the boat. (We also brought back my new pet hermit crab, but you’ll hear for about that later.)

Today we put the rock on the table and banged it open with a hammer. Inside were shells, crystals and well, rock. My favourite shell was a spiral half shell, half crystal fossil.

the shell limestone looks like this

The fossils we found were covered in sand and/or rock and were mostly gastropods and pelecypods. Fossils are formed when an animal or plant dies and the bones and teeth are buried under sand or mud. The fossilising process takes thousands of years. It’s quite common to find an unfinished fossil.

this is how it looked up close

examining a fossil

I thought finding the fossils was very interesting and I’m going to keep looking for more fossils.

The Water Totter

The water totter is a water toy and boy is it unstable! It’s a giant teeter-totter. You spend more time getting on it than you do playing on it.

As I named it the water totter I saw “water totter” printed on the hull. Darn! But the name stuck. Just yesterday my friend and I were playing on the totter and at the same time we pushed each other off. Once when my dad and our friend were on it I yanked the line that the totter was on and they flew off. The water totter is a cool toy and that is why I like it.

Swimming with sea lions

Hoppy

Hi! I have another pet. Its not a cat or a dog or a goldfish. Can you guess what he is? No? Well I'll tell you.

 meet Hoppy

He's a hermit crab! When I walked down the beach yesterday I saw a cool looking shell so I picked it up and there was Hoppy! ( that's what I call my crab) I asked my mom if I could keep him and she said yes. I'm teaching tightrope walking to him and he's very good . He does it up side down. Its pretty funny! Hoppy is blue gray with red at the joints and a white shell. He has black googooly eyes.

 he changes his shell every so often

His habitat is a glass bowl with sand, water, shells, and a big rock. Hoppy's not fuzzy but boy is he cute! He loves climbing up my arms and legs.

 Hoppy's habitat

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