Homeward Bound

Hello, semi-faithful readers. As some of you may know, I’ve been in La Cruz, Mexico for the past three months as we work to get the boat ready to sell. When we arrived here, I was incredibly excited about going home. I was ready to get the hell out of the tropics, and live up in rainy, grey Vancouver. Ah, bliss. Now, things are a little different. As I’ve gotten to know this season’s fleet, and made friends with all the kids, I’ve found myself wistfully looking at pictures of the South Pacific and dreaming about the smell of frangipanis and the taste of star-fruit.

These past few months in the same place have made me restless. I’ll be honest – right now, in this moment, I want to cross the Pacific again. But I know that by the time I’ve finished writing this blogpost I’ll be back to being excited about having a door again. So, instead of angsting about it, I’ll concentrate on the good things that have been happening. 

One of the cool things about La Cruz is that it has a Kids’ Club, which was just starting up when I was here six years ago. Over the past three months, we’ve volunteered at a local orphanage, worked at the spay and neuter clinic, started a tree nursery, run several local restaurants for a day, and tomorrow we’re planning a beach campout. 

Working at a local restaurant

Decapitating a pinata 

It’s a great program that concentrates on getting the kids in the marina out into the neighbourhood, and meeting locals instead of staying in the marina all the time

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Julia from S/V Pickles playing with one of the girls from the orphanage

I think my favourite activity was probably working at the spay and neuter clinic, where we helped the vets fix forty cats and dogs in the first day alone. Everyone pitched in, and dog slobber and cat pee aside, it was really fun. 

Me and a puppy at the clinic

It’s also been lovely meeting this year’s fleet of kid boats. There’s been a huge amount of them – at one point there were eight girls my age here, which is the most I’ve ever seen. 

Tacos!

And of course, my parents and I have been working hard, getting the boat ready to sell. We’ve been painting anything that doesn’t move, (actually, I think the cat got some paint on him) and sanding and gluing and varnishing and generally attempting to make the boat look like it hasn’t been lived on for eight years by a family with a very furry cat. 

Slightly dangerous Mexican fair

As I get ready to go home, I know it’s going to be hard to adjust. But I also know that I’m an adaptable person. And as much as I have my doubts and my worries, I think it’ll all be ok.