May 8, 2016 - Puerto Escondido for Loreto-Fest

 Loreto Fest is a cruiser's party and this is the 20th year.  Unfortunately, it might be the last year for it, since the Hidden Port Yacht Club, based in Puerto Escondido is no longer in existence.  The yacht club has been the organizer, and they apparently own the rights to the name.  We understand it will happen next year with some of the local service vendors producing it, but it's probably going to have a new name.

This year the event was scaled back a bunch, so there were no live bands, just the local tienda serving food and a local service vendor's family serving food.  Great food from them!  It was still a good time with lots of games to play, seminars to attend, a swap meet, and a variety of other activities.

A seminar about a local weather phenomenon known as a "Chubasco" wind.

We arrived at about noon on Friday.  Loreto Fest started Friday morning and ended Saturday night.  After we got checked into the marina office we wandered around the event and had some delicious fish tacos for lunch.  We saw quite a few friends here which is always great.  Plus we made some new friends.

Kevin playing with a new friend.  William is wearing a t-shirt
from Stuart Island in the San Juan's in WA state.  Cindy has
that same shirt!

Remember in our last blog entry that man on the paddle-board next to us checking out the rays?  Turns out he was part of the entertainment for Friday night.  He did some juggling, a flag waving dance thing I'm sure must have a real name, and some great fire stick and fire ball dance routines.  They were great!  He had the audience captivated with his graceful moves and stunning fire skills.

Guillermo juggling for the crowd

A VERY graceful flag twirling dance

The exciting balls-on-fire-at-the-of-a-string routine.
Cindy seated on the right, with the other cruiser-kids she'd been playing with.

Cindy and new friend from s/v Agamere watching

Guillermo's "Balls of Fire".  Memorable.

The next day started with a swap meet and we brought up our one remaining kayak, and the small surfboard.  We sold one kayak back in La Paz a month ago and had one more to sell.  They were both sit-on kayaks which are great in warm water, but we are headed back to the NW where our water is cold!  We will buy sit-in kayaks, with spray skirts, for our frigid NW waters when we get back home in 3 weeks.

Cindy being towed one last time in the kayak.  We are taking it to the swap meet.

Cindy and Kevin next to the kayak and the surfboard.  We sold the kayak to a
cruiser from Switzerland.  He will use it as his dinghy when conditions are right.

The swap meet.  We bought a large duffle-style rolling suitcase for our flight
home in 3 weeks.  Perfect because it compresses down enough that it can be
stored on a boat, but it's a full-size roller suitcase when loaded.  Nice.

Saturday afternoon we went back into Loreto Fest and hung until until it was almost dark.  We talked to a lot of friends, and hung out quite a while with our good friends John, Cindy, and Journey from s/v Namaste.  We met them in San Diego on our way down the coast in 2014, and this might be the last time we see them until sometime back in WA state.  They are also returning to the NW so Journey can attend high school.  Their boat will be on the same freighter as ours, but they might be having someone else take the boat to the ship in La Paz and someone else retrieve it in Victoria.  They are heading back to their RV in San Carlos and will then spend a month or more exploring the US again before returning to WA state.

Sunday morning we got up and went for a hike.  We caught a cab from the marina parking lot and got dropped off at "John Steinbeck Canyon" to go explore.  John Steinbeck wrote about this particular canyon in his book "The Log from the Sea of Cortez".  More info on the book here:  Steinbeck Book   It was a great hike.  Very rugged and scenic.

The hike starts here, at the man-made drainage basin.  This was impressive.

Then it gets rugged and beautiful.

The were many small pools of water.  No swimming
in this yucky green water

Steve and the kids made it past "the wall".  They
found a small cave with a climbing rope that got them
to the next level.

We thought we had reached the end of the trail when we came to a huge wall of boulders.  Fortunately the kids climbed into a small and low cave at the base and found there was light coming through further in.  They then found that there was a very small vertical chute letting that light in, and there was a climbing rope there.  It was time to press on further.  Steve and Cindy and Kevin managed to get up this climbing rope and it led them to at least another 1/2 mile of beautiful canyon.

Hey, there's light coming in here!  Hey, there's a rope!!!!

Climbing the vertical section.  Only possible with the
climbing rope somebody installed.  Thank you!

Climbing the vertical section.  Cindy and Kevin

are awesome kids!

One other climbing rope was require to get past the rock wall.
It was an exciting hike.

More stunning scenery awaited us above the rock wall.

Kids relaxing in the shade of a BIG 

The kids have proclaimed that this was the best hike EVER!  I think we may have two future mountain climbers onboard Adagio.  They loved ascending and descending those two ropes.  They were excited while exploring all the interesting pools that awaited them past their biggest climbing challenge to date.  Both kids showed an enthusiasm for hiking/climbing we have never seen before.  Maybe there is something special about this canyon?  Perhaps it's why John Steinbeck talks about it in his book?   It was a GREAT 4 hours!

That night we went out to dinner (Mother's Day) with Jack and Alice from s/v Puffin, Jerome and Karen from m/v Daybreak, and Elvin and Connie who live in Puerto Escondido.  It was a very fun evening with great food, and great company.  We ate at the restaurant at Hotel Tripui about a mile from the anchorage.  After a wonderful dinner the kids started running through the sprinkler. out on the front lawn.  They were soon joined by the 3 kids from s/v Agamere.  All the kids were soaked, but happy.

Our dinner group.  Sorry, we were distracted by the arrival of Steve and his
wife on board m/v Pacific so nobody was paying attention to the photographer.

Kevin, Cindy, and William playing on the sprinkler at hotel Tripui

Cindy getting a little sprinkler time at hotel Tripui

Free-range cattle are everywhere down here.  These were hanging out on the
side of the road on our drive back from dinner.

I doubt we will be back to Puerto Escondido again.  It's a nice little stop, but not exactly what we are seeking a Mexican experience.  Tomorrow we leave,with an uncertain plan for the next 10 days.  We may or may not have internet access, so if we don't post for a few days, you know why.