Sunrise on Friday, October 28, looking at the channel from the edge of the docks

On Friday morning, Eric flushed the grey water tank. Then he filled up the tank and added Seazyme, an enzyme that dissolves some of the bio-solids that tend to build up in tanks. He turned off the pump for a day so Seazyme had time to do its thing before being pumped out.

It has taken us a while to figure out how to keep the smell from our grey-water tank under control. While the things that go into grey-water tanks aren’t as inherently gross and smelly as what goes into blackwater tanks, things such as hair and toothpaste tend to get stuck in the tanks, build up and smell bad. It actually creates a grey sludge. In the past, we’ve mentioned a few things that help, such as doing laundry at sea and turning off the pump so that warm, soapy water sloshes around and helps clear out some of the icky stuff that builds up in the bottom of the tank. Seazyme is another trick that we’ve learned. (Side note: in 2021, we did a major overhaul of both the blackwater and grey-water tanks, which has also helped with the smell.) 

Earlier in the week, we’d told Claire and Phil that we were planning to go to two Dia de Los Muertos parties in Loreto on Friday. We’d mentioned that we were going to rent a car to get to Loreto. Claire and Phil told us that that they wanted to go to the parties, and they had a vehicle and could drive us. How perfect! Claire also offered to take Christi grocery shopping in Loreto on Friday before the parties.

Grocery shopping was uneventful. We’re now pretty well stocked up for a while. Keith and Eric did chores. We’re not sure if we’ve ever mentioned this before, but the drive between Puerto Escondido and Loreto is stunning. The road is hilly and offers spectacular views. This is the ex-pat community just south of Loreto

There wasn’t much time between returning from the stores in Loreto before heading back to Loreto for the parties. Our first stop was Dan, Liz and Drake’s house, where Liz did face painting on all the willing participants. 

Initially, Keith was going to wear this as his costume:

But after he saw the face paint was cool, he asked Liz to make him into a reaper. Traditionally, during Dia de Los Muertos people decorated themselves to look dead, but in recent years, more and more people were adopting the American Halloween custom of wearing a costume.

The first party was Drake’s school party. It was a combination Dia de Los Muertos/Halloween/principal’s birthday party. The men had no interest in going, so the group split up. The women and children went to the school party. All of the kids were so cute in their costumes, especially the little ones. The kids mostly played on the playground while the parents sat in small clusters at the tables and watched. There were a couple of pinatas, which the kids loved. 

Christi was feeling nostalgic for “the good old days” prior to covid, when Keith’s school did an annual Halloween parade and potluck that our whole family always enjoyed. 

Meanwhile, the men went out to eat at an Italian restaurant called Mezzaluna near the town center. The two groups reunited at the restaurant when the men finished eating, and we walked over to the Loreto town party. It was held in the town square where we’d paid for our national park passes. As we strolled down one of the streets covered with arched trees, we passed the historic church, which was completed in 1703 is the oldest church in the Californias.

The town party was crowded and festive. In front of the Capital building, there was a stage with musicians and dancers. There were chairs set up to watch the performers. Here are a couple performance clips

The outskirts of the square were lined with vendor tables selling assorted goods. There were a few areas that had displays showing the traditional rituals to honor the dead that are done on Dia de Los Muertos.

The whole area was dotted with “spooky” decorations.

The women and kids were hungry, so we picked a restaurant in the square called Claudia’s Margarita’s. It had outdoor seating and we watched the festivities while we ate.