I Overcooked the Quinoa... and other announcements

Guayas Carnaval is an amazing celebration with parades and music every day.

It's a sad state of affairs this evening.  For starters I overcooked the quinoa.  The fish was cooked perfectly, breaded then fried in coconut oil.  The salad was fresh and tasty, even though (in my opinion) there were too many green onions in it.  You see, at the market the old guy selling onions forced three big bunches of onions on Connie, who only wanted one.  He assembled the tomatoes, peppers, an onions together and said 20 pesos for all.  Well for that kind of deal what could she do but take the three bunches of onions.  Clearly he was wanting to clear out all his inventory so he wouldn't have to carry so much home.

Overcooked Quinoa

Instead of giving away two of those bunches of onions to our boater friends at the dock, Connie is putting lots of onions in everything we eat.  Onions in the eggs, onions in the soup, onions in the salad.   But I'm getting off track here.  The big item tonight is that I overcooked the quinoa.  It is mush.  And, as it was pointed out to me, it cost $3 a pound when we bought it in that fancy Phoenix Arizona store.  We put some butter on top and just shoveled it in, as bland as bland can be.

Serious Drumming.

Actually the quinoa and the onions are just a ruse to get you feeling sorry for us.  I'm just bubbling over with joy right now but feel I have to suppress it by bring up the mundane.  The real news is that our boat is ready for the high seas!  The coupling and spacer are in and balanced.  The whole thing runs smoothly. So smoothly you could cut a diamond on top of that engine.  Remember that car commercial that touted its ride as being so smooth that you could cut a diamond while riding in the back seat?  They actually had a diamond cutter from De Beers sitting in the back seat of that Lincoln Continental.  Well, call that De Beers company and get that guy over here so he can cut a diamond on top of our new Beta 43.

We also had to wait on our hatch cover to be straightened.  You see, it had been leaking ever since I jibed the boat and forgot to close the hatch.  The boom vang hooked onto the open hatch and ripped it off its hinges.  In Barra de Navidad I had the Jon-Co guy fix it but he fixed it crooked so that every time it rained it leaked like a sieve.  This time we took it to Luis Hernandez, a wonderful man with a machine shop here in Guaymas.  He did a bang up job and we got it from him today and installed it using contact cement for the gasket, silicon adhesive for the glass, and construction adhesive for the deck to frame joint. Lots of smelly glue type things.  
 

Note that Ninel is a giant woman, standing taller than any of the tiny cowboys and musicians

Now it is raining but that's OK because the Carnaval concert stage is quiet for once.  Maybe we can sleep without earplugs tonight.  Then, with any luck, we'll pick up some fresh produce in the morning, pay the slip fee and sail away to the south.   

We enjoyed the festivities here in Guaymas.  It's been a blast. We saw a great parade yesterday with lots and lots of colorful dancers, beautiful floats, and confetti everywhere.  Each night there are fireworks and tonight the fireworks show was spectacular.  

The theme was:  Hooray for Traveler.  She can finally get the heck out of here!

Everyone is happy that Traveler is finally heading south!

And as I close this blog entry the rain has stopped and a band has started playing on the Carnaval main stage.  The bass is so loud I can feel it in my chest.  But no worries, we'll let it rock us to sleep, earplugs and all and tomorrow we'll slide on out into the deep blue Sea of Cortez.