Sandy had offered to take us to Loreto with her on Tuesday (October 25) to run errands. Christi took her up on the offer and spent most of Tuesday shopping. Christi and Sandy had lunch at a Birrieria stand that was packed with people.
Birria is a type of stew that is traditionally made with goat meat, though any type of meat can be used. Someone nearby told us that this stand used beef. It sounds like chili paste makes up the base of the stew, and any vegetables added, such as onions or garlic, are pureed into the base. We’re told that birria is usually served in a as a bowl as a stew, but at this stand, they used the meat to make tacos. Christi found the meat to be bland. The tacos were served with all the usual accoutrements to doll them up.
Meanwhile, Eric did chores. Eric repaired the smokestack and lubricated the snaps on the window covers. He dropped off our empty propane tank at the marina office. The place that fills propane tanks is a few miles away on Highway 1, and the marina will take the tanks over to have them filled for a $5.00 service fee.
Eric also arranged to have the bottom cleaned on Saturday. Since the water in Baja was so warm, the bottom needed to be cleaned every week. We only had one tank of air left, so we figured we should save our air for remote anchorages.
Here is the sunset
Sunrise on Wednesday
On Wednesday morning, Eric was excited when he realized it was the perfect opportunity to re-paint the paravane fish. There was no wind and this marina has a boatyard where work like this can be done!
Eric also serviced the water makers. He changed the pre-filter and flush filter on the AC water maker. He flushed DC water maker. Our DC water maker does not have a built-in sensor, so it was hard to determine exactly how long to flush it for after use. He’s been flushing it for two minutes, figuring that was long enough. Much to his chagrin, he realized that he needs to flush the DC water maker for four minutes. He also affirmed what he’s been suspecting for a while: the water quality from the DC unit is not as good as from the AC unit.
Our friends, Dan, Liz and Drake came to the marina at around noon. We all hung out at the pool for a few hours. Much to our surprise, the water was significantly colder than it had been the other times we’d been to Puerto Escondido. The adults didn’t get in. The kids mostly played in the shallow part and the hot tub (which was still not heated at that point in time, but got more direct sunlight and was thus warmer than the pool).
When the kids got cold, we headed back to Kosmos so the kids could change into dry clothes. As we were walking back, we met some kids that had just pulled into the marina on a boat named Oceananigans. The kids wound up coming aboard Kosmos and playing with Keith and Drake for a while.
The various families all went our separate ways for dinner. Keith, Eric and Christi had dinner at the marina. Christi ordered a steak with grilled veggies. One of the veggies was nopoles cactus. We mentioned eating cactus in Santa Rosalia, but the cactus was hard to see in the photo.
Here is the sunset
Later in the evening, Oceananigans invited us over to their boat. We were sad to find out that they were leaving the next day.
On Thursday morning, the Oceananigans kids came over to play bright and early, wanting to make the most of the limited time that they had to play with Keith.
The Oceananigans parents invited us to join them for lunch at the marina restaurant. We’d forgotten to mention that on Monday, we’d met the owners of the Nordhavn 62 that is in the marina, who were named Phil and Claire. Eric had already made lunch plans with Phil and Claire, so it became a party. Somehow, lunch at noon didn’t end until well after 5:00. We’re not sure where the day went, but we all had such a good time!