Hello, hello,

You are getting a note I wrote about our Christmas holiday. Geoff's sister, Sonia, and her son, Tole, came to stay with us on the boat. We had a great time, and well, I thought I'd share this letter with you. I'd like to let you know that this was one of the more action packed weeks we've had since we left San Jose. Right now it's raining and I have a boat to clean and the kids need to do school work. You know, regular stuff. Ah, but that Sonia week was a doozy.

Our pace has just dropped from mach Sonia to mach molasses, and I think we're not quite sure what to do with ourselves. Sonia and Tole left only two days ago (okay, now it's been a month, I needed more recuperation than originally thought.) and I finally have the energy to write you about our activities. I think SOnia is slowing down, most days we only had one thing going on...

Day 1, Arrival

Geoff and Claire went to the airport to meet Sonia and Tole. They opted for a taxi ride back from the airport instead of the bus. Once in La Cruz, a quick change from Colorado clothes to shorts and t-shirts had them ready for the dinghy ride out to the boat. There were still some warmth and daylight left, so everyone went swimming off the boat. Chris and Will came over from Sea Breeze and we had a party. Geoff and Chris were waiting to share a beer with Sonia. In fact, they had purchased a special beer just for Sonia days earlier. They innocently asked her if she was thirsty and would she like a beer? When she said yes their grins should have given them away, but Sonia was just enjoying the scene. "The Beer" was actually a mini-keg. They produced it with one glass. Sonia gratiously offered to share with everyone.

Day 2, Pool Swimming & Haircuts

Our friends, the Nichols on Liberty, (check out their website too, www.libertydaze.com) were getting ready to leave to continue on South, and we had a chance to visit with them one last time. So we dragged Sonia and Tole along with us. The Nichols were in a marina in Puerto Vallarta with pool priviledges for a local hotel. And Yvette knew of a good place to get a haircut near the marina. Claire and Alex have both been complaining for weeks about how badly their long hair tangles, especially after swimming in salt water. They almost were ready to cut it in La Paz, but we didn't do enough swimming there. So the girls went off to the beauty shop and the boys went to first play pool and then to swim in the pool. Alex went first. Her hair is now shoulder-length and looks great. Her natural curls have been given scope and are taking advantage of it. Claire was next. She got the most radical cut. Hers is close to a pixie cut. Now I'll say it suits her, but that day I was suffering pangs, especially when the hair dresser handed me her braid. I succumbed to peer pressure and got my hair cut too. Sonia and Yvette combined are a peer-pressure force to be reckonned with. My cut is chin-length and since wise people complimented me on how much younger I looked, I liked it. All of us are well pleased with our probably long over-due change.

After haircuts we all converged on the pool. We swam, ate fish tacos, drank cokes and had a good time. It was hard to say good bye to the Nichols, but the sad good bye was tempered with the knowledge that we will be seeing them again in a few weeks as we travel South too.

Incorporated in the trip's fun were the bus rides to and from Puerto Vallarta. Each trip is about an hour long and usually requires at least two busses. I'm actually getting to the point where I can recognize stops before we pass them. The kids like to sit in the back or over the wheels for maximum air. Ah youth.

Day 3, Snorkeling at Tres Mariettas

We gathered Chris and Will and pulled up anchor and headed over to a small group of islands called the Tres Mariettas. These are not to be confused with the Tres Marias that include the penal colony. This group is smaller and has good snorkeling. We motored over, charging batteries and making water as we went. The guidebook claimed there was good holding in sand. Three attempts at anchoring later we were taking their name in vain. We found lots of rocks and the anchor didn't hold enough for our comfort, so someone stayed on the boat and we snorkeled in shifts.

The beach landing we made was between some rocks. Once on the beach we pulled the dinghy up and looked around. Claire and Alex and Tole at first rubbed their eyes and looked down again. The beach was moving. The landing wasn't that exciting, their vision shouldn't have been impaired. They figured it out quickly, the beach was full of hermit crabs. The kids had a grand time chasing the crabs down, catching them and trying to keep a bunch together. We also shared the beach with a boobie. At first we thought the thing was nesting, then I was afraid it was expiring, but I think it just wanted a nap and didn't much care if people were around. The islands are a bird sanctuary, so I guess the birds feel secure. It's a good thing the birds have a safe haven because after receiving their "gifts" on our boat we are not so kindly disposed toward them.

We snorkled off the beach around the rocks until the tide started coming in and our beach was disappearing. So back to the boat we went. Claire expertly drove the dinghy between all obstacles and picked up snorkelers still in the water. Sonia and Tole saw lots of fish. Once we were all back on the boat, Chris and Geoff headed off to explore some caves. The rest of us ate and managed to save a little of our snack to share with them on their return. Snorkeling builds up an appetite. It was a little chilly after all that time in the water too, so we actually made a second pot of coffee. Fortified once more, we sailed back to the anchorage. On our way we saw whale spouts and caught glimpses of tails as they breeched, but we weren't close enough to see much more.

Day 4, Shopping in Bucerias

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without some last minute shopping. We went to an outdoor market in the next town over for shopping and beach. Sonia, Alex and Tole wisely found a palapa on the beach. They were supplied with cokes and tacos and cervesas. The rest of us went exploring the goods to be had in the mercado. When the shopping was completed we all found our way to the palapa. The kids were body surfing and riding the waves on Tole's new floatie. The adults were content to sip cervesas and watch the sun set.

Day 5, Rosie Arrives & Another Pool

Chris stayed in La Cruz to meet Rosie's airplane, but the rest of us went to visit more friends staying at a marina with pool priviledges. This time we were off to Nuevo Vallarta and Paradise Village. Our friends, the Morehouses on Ladyhawke (and their dog, Bear - Claire loves this dog and the dog is the reason we met this couple in the first place) met us and walked some of us through the hotel grounds. But not all of us. Foolishly, we split up. It was not as bad as one of those horror movies where a psycho-killer is on the loose and the teenagers all go off in different directions only to be picked off one at a time, but our splinter group was certainly feeling picked on. Our friend told the splinter group that went on an errand to just tell the security guard that we were their guests. Ha. If it were only that simple. We didn't realize that a cruise ship was in town and the guards were being overzealous in their desire to keep freeloaders (such as ourselves) out. We had to cough up either Mike or Marilyn in person to gain entrance and even then Geoff had to surrender his driver's license. Once in, we enjoyed ourselves. We sat on the beach, and the kids had the option of swimming in one of two pools, both with water slides, or swimming in the ocean. We had beverages and ice cream, congenial company, and Claire had their dog. Another good day.

There is a bar/restaurant/cruiser's hang-out in La Cruz that we've been frequenting. More often than not we stop there for a quick beverage, a slow beverage, or a pizza. We stopped that night and greeted Rosie and ate lots of pizza and had a few more beverages.

Day 6, Failed Attempt to Rent a Car

This turned out to be a slow beach day, but was supposed to be a day to drive into the mountains. Alex and I had stayed on the boat to make Christmas cookies. I had a yen for cookies and the time to make them in order to have some for Christmas Day was running out. Somehow, each evening on our return to the boat my good intentions of whipping up a batch of something disappeared the instant I sat down. Alex was willing to be my helper. We waved good bye to the group and pulled out our supplies. We listened to my James Brown album and Alex's disco tunes. Neither is very Christmass-y, but they certainly are lively.

We finished ginger snaps and frosted sugar cookies and were into the pfeffernusse when the dinghy came roaring back containing our crew. The rent-a-car they had arranged for never materialized so they had taken a bus around to Punta Mita and checked out the beach scene there. We all went swimming off the boat and Alex and I managed to hide the sugar cookies before the crew ate them all. I need not go into detail over the kind of threat Chris alone presented.

Day 7, Canopy Tour

All 9 of us got up bright and early once again to travel by bus all the way in to downtown Puerto Vallarta. This time we got even farther into town, so it was new territory for all concerned. Our goal was the canopy tour office where another bus awaited to take us into the jungle. Cool. The canopy tour is an opportunity to ride 13 zip lines over a canyon in the Sierra Madres. Cool. Alex and I, however, did not see this as prime enertainment, so we just went along for the ride. Well, ROsie kept us company which was very noble of her. She was on the verge of telling the canopy people to hitch her up too when the canopy people continued their instructions and didn't give her the chance.

The canopy people were all buff, young men dressed in camoflague fatigues. Even the small, skinny one was buff. I watched him quickly attach himself to the zip line, grab a guy who was stopped in the middle of nowhere, and pull both himself and the helpless tourist hand over hand back to the platform. All of this was done in a hurry because you often couldn't see one end of the zip line from the other but you could hear a hum on the that announced that another tourist was coming.

Everyone had an exellent adventure. Tole got to ride by himself and had a ball. He was light enough that he never had to apply any brakes. The brakes are simple. All a rider has to do is move the pulley side to side against the zip line. The extra friction will slow you down. Geoff enjoyed the thought that all the braking was slowly wearing down the zip line. Leave it to him to start thinking beyond the magic and into safety issues. Not to scare any Grandmothers, it was all very safe I'm sure, and heck, we returned with all 9 safe and accounted for.

After the zip line we got to look at various animals in a petting zoo of sorts. They had a deer, a burmese python, a couple of toucans and various monkeys. They locked the kids in with the itty bitty monkeys. Eventually the monkeys asked for the kids to be released and we had lunch at the cafe. The cafe was overlooking a river that ran down from the mountains. The zip lines had run back and forth across it. Now we had the chance to swim in it. I had only to dip a toe in before I decided I had had enough. I much prefer the warm Pacific waters. The rest of the Arnolds saw a cold mountain stream and happily jumped in.

We stayed until the last bus was leaving back to town. The driver put on music to pass the time. The female singer started up with American Pie and the whole bus started singing along. Amazing what a little adrenaline followed by cervesas can produce in holiday goers.

We were let off at the canopy tour office and decided to walk around a bit before heading home. We found a mercado and did a little more shopping. Rosie found some art to take home. After that we went to find a bus. On the way to the bus, we were minding our own business, just walking down the sidwalk, when all of a sudden a dead branch came crashing down from the tree tops and fell at our feet. The reason this particular branch chose this particular moment to fall was the portly iguana that had tried to rest on it. Both branch and iguana landed with a thud. The branch stayed put, but the iguana only needed a second to size up the situation and move. He took one look at the eager expressions on the kids'faces and tried to find a way back up the wall to gain access to another tree.

The iguana was sizable. His body was maybe 18 inches long, and then he had a tail. He also appeared to be quite well-fed. I'm not sure how rotund iguanas are supposed to be, but this guy was close to being as round as my thigh. His toenails tapped on the cement and his tail whipped back and forth as he ran. I think he had to work to keep his belly off the ground. The motion seems comical to me now, but at the time I was concerned for the creature's distress. A woman with a food stand tried to catch the thing in a towel to get it to its desired destination, but the silly iguana saw her and ducked under a car. The last I saw of it, it was clicking it's nails down the cobblestone street being pursued by Mexican kids. We forced ours to come with us to the bus stop.

This was a great day, but a long one. We fell asleep quickly, which was good. We needed energy for the next adventure.

Day 8, Surfing Lessons (Christmas Eve)

Sonia came bearing surfing lessons as gifts, so we went to a city/town called Sayulita to find some waves and some instruction. Sayulita is up the coast (North of Banderas Bay) so we got to see some new territory. But we still had to ride two busses to get there. Sayulita has a very different vibe from what's going on in La Cruz, dude. sayulita is so totally a surfer hang-out. Okay, I don't know any of the surfer lingo in Spanish so I'm having to make this up, but I know I'm not wrong. We parked ourselves at a palapa in front of a cafe for the day. The cafe served hummus and veggie croissant sandwiches and fresh squeezed fruit juices. Luckily surfers are not too healthy to shun beer. And I don't think there's anywhere you can go in Mexico to avoid Coke, so we had food and beverages, but perversely started longing for greasy burgers and fries.

We chose El Tigre Surf School for the very good reasons that it was 1) mentioned in an article Sonia clipped from the Denver newspaper and 2) close to our palapa. SOnia and Geoff and Chris got rash guards, surf boards and an instructor named Fernando. Fernando was young and tanned and had sun-streaked hair tied back in a pony tail. Fernando hailed from Costa Rica. Fernando was a dude. Luckily he also knew how to surf and could convey that knowledge to others.

Fernando started our gang out on the sand. We have photos. Hee hee. After they mastered the sand, Fernando took them out into the actual water. They spent the next three hours out there learning how to choose waves and then once having chosen a wave, how to get on the board and ride the chosen wave in. They were actually pretty good. They all managed to stand up for almost an entire ride in and are itching to go again. we think we'll try a little earlier in the day in order to have fewer innocent body surfers as potential targets. The rash guards they wore were bright yellow with the word STUDENT boldly emblazoned on their backs, but they still managed to meet the general populace up close and personal. Repeatedly.

Those of us not surfing had fun watching the beach scene. We took pictures, consumed beverages and got a glimpse of the Sayulita panga technique for beach landing. Because this is a place that surfers seek out, the beach landings here were not for the novice or the timid. Watching the panga drivers provided us with material for a graduate course in beach landings. I think if you can safely land a boat here you could qualify for landing anything anywhere. The panga drivers here would first ask the farthest-out surfers to help them time the waves. We saw one panga wait about 15 minutes until the time was right. Once the panga had picked his opening he gunned the engine and came on in, right through surfers and surf lessons and body surfers and grandmothers and children. Did I mention El Tigre Surf School surf lessons? No one got run down, but the potential was there. Maybe people who hang out on this beach a lot develop a sixth sense for avoiding pangas. Or maybe they just lead charmed lives.

After Fernando finally managed to pry Sonia and Chris off their boards and out of the water we started to get ready to go back to La Cruz. Geoff wanted to try a few more waves and he did, but the last bus out of town was beckoning and we had to go. After all, it was Christmas Eve, and we had lights on the boat waiting to be strung.

However, the Christmas lights had to wait a little. We continued Sonia's search for the best fish tacos at a place called Glorietta's. We got three types of seafood tacos, and I must say that they were excellent. After dinner we headed over to Philo's to meet Santa Claus. Santa makes a special stop in La Cruz to share toys and goodies with the kids. Santa shared toys and goodies with Tole too. By now it was dark, so we returned to the boat to string our lights. I'm sure it was a very un-nautical waste of space, but I stored some strings of Christmas lights and ornaments and our Christmas stockings. We strung the lights across the mizzen boom and around the rim of our suncover. The result was a cheerful cockpit that glowed colors into the night. We also ran the tail of the light string up the back-stay, so we shared our colors with the anchorage too.

We closed out our day with a sparkler. The one sparkler was enough. The thing was about 3 feet long and burned for a good long time. We spelled all our names in the air and "Merry Christmas" and even "Stop Here Santa". Then we tucked the children all snug in their beds and visions of sugar plums danced in our heads.

Day 9, Christmas & Potluck

I'm glad we strung the lights and used the sparkler because Santa found us. We unwrapped presents on Fafner and then dinghied over to Sea Breeze for cinnamon rolls and more presents. Chris makes excellent cinnamon rolls. Our Christmas rolls were gooey and sweet, just right. After all that sugar we needed to go for a walk on the beach.

And although a post-walk nap sounded appealling, we found ourselves bathing and getting ready to go ashore for a potluck dinner. Cruisers brought the side dishes and Philo's provided the turkey. It was a lot of fun. Philo and his friends got their band together and there was dancing. Sonia met a guy who said she was a twin for Holly Hunter. That certainly made her night. The rest of us had to settle for being ourselves. We finished out our day with a dinghy ride back to the boat. Merry Christmas 2006.

Day 10, Sonia & Tole go home

After all of our adventures, watching Sonia and Tole pack for home was kind of anti-climatic. Tole got one last run on the beach and then we were off to the airport. We took the bus, naturally. We left Sonia and Tole sitting outside an airport coffee shop. We look forward to having them visit again.

Doesn't all this sound like fun? Wouldn't you like to see your name in these stories? Just get yourself on an airplane and come see us. We're happy to have guests. Looking like Holly Hunter is a plus, but not a requirement.

I'm glad Sonia and Tole were here. We all had a good time, and look, I got a wealth of story-telling out of the visit. Claire wasn't able to go surfing while Sonia was here, so we went back. Now I'll have to write about Surf Day Two: Fernando Redux. All I'll say for now is that she and Geoff and Chris had a blast and think they'd like to go yet again. A photographer was out with his tele-photo lens that day. If you go to www.phishfoto.com and look for the date 01-07-07 you can see them in action.

Now we are getting ready to set off on the next leg of our trip. We plan to leave Banderas Bay at the beginning of February for anchorages South of here. We expect to meet up with the Nichols. All of us are looking forward to seeing them again.

So, until I have some more stories to share, I'll sign off.

Karen