Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Return of, escape from civilization

Last night I met Scottie at the Flophouse, where we picked up an amp and the Capt and off we went to Troncones Beach.

There's only one road into and out of Zihautanejo, and it runs along the coast. It's two lanes and sometimes has a shoulder, but more often not. This is the road I took on the "Express" to Barra de Navidad.

The main road in Troncones is not paved (unless the pavement was buried under the ever-present sand) except for large concrete topes. A lot of them, strung along this road.

Our destination was the Inn at Manzanillo Bay, a palm covered resort of 6 bungalows situated around a glistening pool. The restaurant was 1st class.

After we set up our gear, Scottie suggested we eat. His meal (shrimp) was free and my excellent hamburger and fries with limonada ran 120 pesos.

It was my hope that we could do a few numbers together to get a sense of things before too many people showed up, but Scottie launched into his gig without a warm up. I played the bass (through my guitar synthesizer) behind his guitar work and singing, and he turned to me and "take off" which meant, I thought, that I should jump in and solo. I hit a switch on the guitar and I go from bass to jazz guitar and "take off." 

He had brought some sheet music with him; I was able to reprise "Scotch and Soda," a 1st Mate favorite, and play rhythm for his occasional solos. "St. James Infirmary" and some slow blues allowed me to switch to muted trumpet solos for a nice, smoky feel. It was Scottie's show all the way though, and I was just the side-man. I stumbled once in while over an unexpected chord change and had trouble with some of Scot's fast-moving, fast-changing R&B tunes… trying to keep an unfamiliar tempo going while Scottie soloed. A humbling experience at times.

Moments of brilliance, moments of shame. Just like life.

On the return trip, we both agreed to forgo the Wednesday night joint performance at the Flophouse. Too much work needed to be done and there was no time to do it. I'm getting ready to sail north and a trip of a thousand miles in a sailboat requires a lot of preparation.

I woke up Wednesday morning with a wrenched back, from carrying the amps and other gear, I think. I planned to take it easy. Then the local provisioner, Ishmael, sent out his panga with my fuel and water purchase. 35 gallons of diesel in 5 gallon jugs, and one 5 gallon jug of gasoline and 5 gallons of drinking water. So despite the pain, I'm storing away this stuff.

Yesterday Ishmael delivered my refilled propane tank, I was able to buy some block ice from a restaurant, and I scored big at the ISSST market, finding Ades soy milk on sale. So now, I can make espressos on the boat, have hot water for washing and showers, run the generator for lots of lights and entertainment gizmos, eat some fresh food (I'm so tired of restaurant food), and nurse my aches and pains.

Today I'll go in and bid adieu to the irascible Port Captain of Zihuatanejo, and start working my way up the coast tomorrow. It will be good to get the sails up again and get away from the noise and chaos of populated cities. Back to the sea.

6 comments:

1st Mate said...

Well, that's a unique situation to be in: tired of restaurant food! I guess this means you won't be taking me out when you get home. Sigh...

Take care of yourself out there, Capt, and have a good sail. Glad you're fully provisioned and won't have to worry about that at least.

Liz said...

Fair winds and following seas.
Hope to see you both someday in SC when I crash the AJ.
Go poke the girl for me, and tell her her legions of adoring fans are about to revolt if she doesn't post soon !!!!!
Mata ne
Liz

gignedly: A music gig with new melody ??

Mic said...

Bon voyage...casting off lines is such a good feeling. Will you be going out of land site?

MxSailor said...

Mate:You want to go out? I'll take you out, my love. As I was putting away the fuel, a diver swam up and offered to clean the hull (for a price, of course). His timing is perfect. I will be sailing out tomorrow at dawn, with a full load of fuel and a clean hull.
Liz: Better tell that to the 1st Mate. She's a lot closer to AJ's skipper than I. Hope to meet you, though!
Mic: Weather conditions are such that I'm better off close in on this trip. If there were southerlies a hundred miles out, I'd go. But alas, it looks to be mostly a motorboat ride.

rob said...

Safe journey skipper!

Chrissy y Keith said...

Capt. yes, the road off Hiwy 200 to Trocones used to be paved. Playa Troncones and Playa Palmas were both top contenders for the FONATUR developement of Ixtapa. The government decided that Trocnones was too far away from Zihuat airport and the Rip tide along the main beach is a killer. Keith had to drag a woman in from there one time. Alas, the pavement is buried along side the dreams of a FONATUR development.