Now back in La Paz anchorage, we were back with our friends on Rock N Roll and the late afternoon card games resumed for a few days. Our FM3 (tourist visa) needed to be renewed, so we did the initial online application (with out nifty internet connection) and then hiked up to immigration. Along the way, we had to stop to have our pictures taken for the application. We had brought along the auto stereo that we had been given by a cruiser in Puerto Vallarta last year (and could never get to work) and we dropped that off at a repair shop that had been recommended to us. It was only 2 blocks from the immigration office and we bumped into a guy from Costa Rica there who kindly did some translating for us. We finally found the immigration office and got our paperwork submitted, made a trek to the bank to pay for it, then returned to the immigration office to turn in the receipt. The hike back to the marina was rewarded with a stop at McDonalds for ice cream. Now all we had to do was wait the 10 days for the new FM3 to be processed.
Before Christmas, we had been in contact with a German couple, Bert and Petra, who own a home here in LaPaz. They were interested in seeing NEOS. We had them over to the boat for a tour and chat. A delightful couple, we thoroughly enjoyed them and would love to have someone like them buy NEOS. They braved some rough water to dinghy out to us and got a little wet, but they seemed to like NEOS. Unfortunately, they need to sell their home here in order to buy NEOS. Although they would like to trade straight across, we would really be tied down to La Paz if we owned a home here.
Russ’s mom, aunt and cousin arrived for a week. We headed out to Caleta Lobos for a short stay and they made it out for one overnight. Rog started some boat projects. The varnish we put on (hastily) before we left for CA did not go down well, so he was back to sanding the table. We headed out to Home Depot to find wood putty. Could not find anything. So back to the marina and we found a can of it in a little paint store a couple of blocks from the marina. Go figger.
Bert and Petra had us over to their home for a lunch with another couple. The other couple, Jerry and Skye, turned out to be here vacationing for a couple of months from Grass Valley. The lunch was absolutely delicious and the company even more so. We ended up chatting until almost 5pm and then Bert drove us back to the marina. A delightful afternoon.
We had a 3 day blow that kept us confined to the boat and caused us to move to a different spot in the anchorage. The tide is strong here and when the wind fights the current, boats do the “La Paz Waltz” with boats swinging all over the place. Being a catamaran, we do more of a fox trot so we need to stay far away from everybody. We thought we had a really nice spot, but ended up dangerously close to the neighboring boat. Since we had anchored last, we pulled up and moved further out. It was exciting to anchor with the current and wind, but we did fine and could relax.
Once the blow was over, we decided to head into town for some shrimp and fish tacos. We invited Bert and Petra to meet us at the taco stand and were joined by RnR and Scott on Sojourn. The tacos were as good as we had heard. Bert and Petra offered to drive us up to immigration to pick up our completed FM3. We stopped at La Chaya along the way. La Chaya is a coffee shop that roasts its own coffee and Bert says has the best coffee in Mexico. So of course Rog bought a kilo of beans. We got to immigration just before 1pm. They close at 1pm on Fridays but they let us in and gave us a number. We waited in the lobby until just before 2pm and were then told that they closed at 1 and we would need to return on Monday. Oh well. We walked down to the repair shop and picked up our repaired radio and then made the trek home (with the obligatory stop at McDonalds).
Rog tried to install the radio but still got nothing. So the following Monday we headed back up to the immigration office with radio in tow. We successfully got our FM3 and headed over to the repair shop. Even with our limited Spanish, we were able to communicate with the tech and discovered that we were using the wrong wire to connect to power. So success!
Our next order of business was to get seguro popular: Mexican health insurance. I had looked up info on the internet and thought I knew where we needed to go. We met RnR at morning coffee then headed up the malecon for about a 2 mile hike up to the IMSS office. Turned out to be the wrong office. They sent us back to another office close to immigration which meant a 3 mile hike. Along the way we did some tourist sightseeing on Calle Madero and stopped for lunch at El Rincon. When we got over to the IMSS office on 5 de Febrero, it also turned out to be the wrong office. So back to the marina where we stopped in at La Paz Yachts and got all of the correct info. They knew exactly where we needed to go and the secretary printed out a list of documents that we needed to take with us.
So the next morning, we met RnR at the dock at 7am and headed out to pick up a collectivo bus. The collectivos in La Paz are really cheap (8 pesos/person which is about 70 cents) and they go everywhere. But there is no information on what routes they take. We knew we needed the bus that went to Soriana but there are 2 Sorianas so we had to make sure we were on the right one. Luckily, we were successful and even found the health department office without any difficulty. We were there before they opened, along with about 30 other folks. We were all given numbers based on arrival and then screened to make sure we had what we needed. RnR did not have copies of their paperwork so we hiked back to the shopping center with them to make copies. By the time we got back, they were serving #4 and we were #19. So we found a seat and waited our turn. Once we were waited on, the process was pretty simple. They asked us questions about our home: how many bedrooms, did we have concrete or dirt floors, toilet, stove, refrigerator???? Based on the information, they figured out our cost for insurance and charged us on a sliding scale. For Rog and I, the total payment for a year of emergency care was just over 2,000 pesos or about $160usd each. The second year of coverage includes pregnancy and general care. The third year includes orthopedics and the fourth and subsequent years cover everything including preexisting conditions. Not bad for a third world economy, eh? As usual, we had to go to the bank to pay for the coverage, then return to the office to get digitally fingerprinted and get our paperwork. By just about noon, we were done and grabbed a collectivo back to the waterfront. We got off at the Mega store and did some grocery shopping before walking back to the marina. A most successful day.
The next day, after having tamales and a chocolate drink at coffee hour to celebrate Candeleria Day, we hiked into the bus station and caught the shuttle to Costabaja. From there we hiked down to the point to Abel Berkovich’s yard to discuss haulout. RnR will haulout at the same time and we both got our quotes from Abel. When we asked if we could live aboard while they did the work, he said, “as long as you get along with our dogs!” Abel has a great sense of humor and Rog was happy with the yard and the quality of the equipment. So another task done!
January ended with us planning a trip out of La Paz up to the islands for a week or more.
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