It’s that time of year again, where boats from all over
Mexico, California and Panama are thinking of doing the Pacific crossing. I’m part of a group on facebook where
we women can chit chat about all of our questions, worries, and experiences and
I’ve been seeing a lot of questions pertaining to provisioning lately. It’s made me stop and think about what
I’ve learned over the years, not only about provisioning but cruising as
well. I’m much more comfortable
than I was when we left Mexico, yet and I can hear myself asking these same
questions just a few years ago.
I’m going to try desperately not to repeat what I said last year, but in
an effort to help out with those still reading, I thought I would post some of
my own findings over the last few years. Remember, I’m not a writer and I tend to stray from my
original thoughts…hopefully you can stick it out to the end.
There are people who live to eat and there are people who
eat to live. Those of the latter,
will do fine with stocking up on whatever you need for a few weeks and then
take the over used advice of “everyone everywhere has to eat…there’s always
something to eat.” Ramen noodles
are cheap all over the world and surprisingly popular in the south and west
pacific.
Then there are those of you who live to eat. These are my peeps. While it is true that everyone eats,
what they eat varies greatly from what you’re probably used to eating. You will find some dishes that are
absolutely fabulous (poison crue comes to mind for me) and then you will find
some stuff that you’d rather not try again (pig knuckles anyone?). Aside from the what, is the how
much. Mexico (and from what I
hear, Ecuador), is the cheapest food you will find until you reach southeast
Asia. I went on a rant about this
earlier in Pohnpei so I won’t repeat the whole thing, but if you know what you
like to eat and they have it in Mexico, stock up. Particularly in meat, specialty items (roasted red peppers,
sundried tomatoes, olive oil etc.), and booze. Not because they don’t have them where you’re going, but
because they will be twice as much, if not three times as much (I just paid $13
for a small bottle of olive oil in Micronesia). And once you leave French Polynesia, in most cases, it gets
more expensive. Not to deter
you from going, oh my, no….it’s totally worth it….just plan ahead if you like
to eat. There are places along the
way where you can stock up again…Tahiti (you just spent weeks crossing the
pacific and cruising the Tuamotos, you’ve saved up), American Samoa (best place
we’ve been for provisioning, other than Mexico), and the list goes on….just be
honest with yourself about what you can live with both food wise and budget
wise. That meat place in Buceria
sounds expensive now, but it’s a bargain once you’ve crossed the ocean. After saying all that, stock up on
recipes for bananas, coconuts, fish and breadfruit.
One thing I’ve looked back on and realized about myself as
well as looking at some of the newbie questions, is that if you’re new to
cruising, you tend to ask questions about and try to figure out how to recreate
your life on land, on the boat.
I’m not sure that there’s anyway to avoid this as experience is the only
way some of us learn, but my advice would be to just be open minded. You won’t have as many friends as you
do at home (or in Mexico). But
look at it as an opportunity to explore new interests or get closer to your
loved ones on the boat (did you think that was possible?). If you’re used to shaving your legs
every day, blow drying your hair and smelling good…well, get over it (or have a
powerful watermaker, generator and lots of bug spray on board).
If you have soft skin, toughen up. I found that once we crossed, we met more foreigners than
not and well, not everyone has the US filter distributed to us at birth (yes,
believe it or not, I have one).
They say what they mean and it’s refreshing. Don’t get offended, just listen. You’ll find yourself looking at things you thought you had a
handle on in totally different ways.
I got fired up in Mexico more than once. I can remember a conversation in Suarrow that I wasn’t sure
either of us was going to get over.
But now, years later…I get it.
I don’t agree with a lot of it, but I can appreciate a different
opinion. You’ll be amazed at how
many experts there are out there about your country’s culture, politics and how
you should change (I know this to be true for the US, but I’ve seen it happen
to everyone). Just smile and nod.
I asked Andy to contribute his two cents and he said “Spare
no expense.” If you’re not on a
quest to rid your life of all of the nice-ities of home…movies, gadgets,
generators are your friend. They
are expensive elsewhere. Spare
parts…hard to get, sometimes impossible.
Your dinghy is your car. If
you drive a Mercedes…you might want to get a good outboard motor. If you don’t mind pushing your Pacer
down the road to get it in gear, then rowing might be your thing (just
remember, sometimes you’ll be rowing to shore against winds and waves…might want
to have a tiny motor on hand or a good workout program).
OK, obviously, we’re not purists. Never claimed to be.
But we think we’ve struck a nice balance between comfort and
reality. Reality being that
everyone doesn’t get to live the way we do in the US. We’ve earned our lifestyle and worked hard for it, but I
think it’s important that we stop and remember that it’s not a given. There are people all over the world
living a much humbler existence and they are no less worthy than us of a good
life. We’ve learned to put things
into perspective. Air condition is
a luxury, as is a washing machine.
Living together every day, being in charge of my child’s upbringing,
getting close to others…that’s why we’re out here.
So maybe this wasn’t an advise column after all…I got a little
too philosophical. But after
reading my Facebook for the last week or so, I had a lot on my mind that I felt
like sharing. Hopefully, you can
take a word or two and get some use out of it. Overall, just know, that you’ll grow and it will more than likely
be for the better.
2 comments:
A friend sent us the link to your post, so glad he did! Great stuff! We're getting ready to cross from La Paz this spring, thanks for sharing!
Hopefully I didin't bore you with my opinions....it will be great no matter how you prepare as long as you go with an open mind and willingness to meet people...you'll be amazed. Good luck. May we share an anchorage some day!
Fair winds and following seas...
s/v Savannah
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