SV Gallant Fox

Gary's Ideal Peruanos

Mexico's markets offer the best dried beans in the greatest variety of anywhere in the galaxy. My personal favorite are the Peruanos. They're sold mostly along the Pacific side of Mexico including the interior mainland, and you can get them in practically any size market. In dried form - in bag or bulk - they are the size and shape of small pinto beans, but whereas pintos are pinkish-tan with dark brown specks, Peruanos are a uniform pale greenish-yellow color. When cooked, Peruanos turn a light tan color. Their flavor is as delicate as their hue, milder than pinto beans with a creamier texture.

I'd love to include a photo of Peruanos to document their yummy yumminess. But I ate them all. The beans, not the photos. So go here to see what I'm talking about.

I haven't yet found Peruanos in any US market. I have no idea why not; they'd be popular with lots more than Mexican food. Below the fold you'll find GB's basic recipe for cooking Peruanos in a pressure cooker, though if you can't find any Peruanos you could experiment with another bean variety of your preference.

Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Puerto Morelos is a very nice town that is located about halfway between the insanely crazy insanity of the tourist towns of Cancun (to the north) and Cozumel (to the south). Save yourself some aggravation and stay at Puerto Morelos next vacation, then just take a bus, van, rental car or taxi to either other location for first-class snorkeling and whatever else the kids are up to these days.

The local buses and taxis all stop at Puerto Morelos's town square, just a few yards from the beach. There's a nice little supermarket, a selection of ATMs, and an excellent fresh fish market Right There. There's a very good, reasonably-priced English-and Spanish-language car rental office just off the plaza across from the church. There are at least 6 restaurants either on the plaza or within a few blocks' walk in any direction. Ask anyone where the fancy bakery or the nearest tortillería is. It's all easy.

Marina El Cid, Puerto Morelos, Mexico

We chose Marina El Cid in Puerto Morelos for our entry into Mexico's Caribbean side for two main reasons: (1) we wanted a secure place for The Fox while we spent a couple weeks touring inland; and (2) we were familiar with the El Cid resorts and how they were managed, from having happily spent two hurricane seasons at Marina El Cid in Mazatlan.

El Cid at Puerto Morelos is a larger resort hotel complex with lots more beach than the one in Mazatlan, but its marina is smaller - 20 transient slips and 11 mooring balls. The approach to the marina from the sea is straightforward but visibility was poor for us due to heavy haze and generally flat land onshore. Simply refer to your Mexico cruiser's guidebook of choice like we did, and you'll find the entrance channel, no problemo. Approach depths were fine for our 6' keel, though I personally dislike depths below my keel that run in the single digits.

Ever Kiss a Corn Torilla?

Don't get me wrong - GB and I have had good times in all the Latin American countries we've visited. Judging by our girth, the food hasn't been bad either.

I recall with great fondness South America's tart, purple mora (sort of a cross between a large oblong blackberry and a boysenberry). Costa Rica's papayas were delightful. Nicaragua's Flor de Caña rum is outstanding (try the 5-year-old). And nothing beats the tender, delicate texture of Salvadoran rice. In fact, the Central and South American cuisines generally select rice as their carbohydrate of choice. Not that there's anything wrong with it; I enjoy rice very much.

However.

Mexico's tortillas.

Kick.

A$$.

In so many different ways.

By the time The Fox put in at Puerto Morelos it had been over a year since we had last reveled in the pleasure of Mexican food. It had been over twelve long months since I'd enjoyed my last Mexican tortilla (not that GB's homemade tortillas are not enjoyable). It stands to reason that one of the first places we visited when we got ashore was one of Puerto Morelos's tortillerías. Deeply inhaling the aroma of fresh-baked corn masa, we stood at the counter on the sidewalk outside and giddily bought ourselves 2.2 pounds of warm, delectable, corn tortillas - for the equivalent of less than a buck. I told the bemused ladies behind the counter just how terrific it was to be back in civilization where a gal can get a fresh tortilla on practically any street corner. It was then a simple matter to mosey down the street to stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables including poblano chiles and nopales (de-thorned cactus pads), a cut or two of beef, and some (very) fresh chicken.

Soon thereafter it was time for chiles rellenos aboard The Fox, courtesy of The Propane Chef. With hot corn tortillas on the side.

¡Viva México!

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Voyage from Panama to Mexico

In late March on the Caribbean side of Panama, the weather grows calmer and cruisers select from many fine travel choices. Some prefer to stay in the San Blas archipelago for, like, ever. Others work their way NW to Panama's popular Bocas del Toro and all its anchorages and marinas. Perhaps the majority of Western Caribbean cruisers head for the summertime hurricane protection of the Rio Dulce in Honduras. If they sail there from Panama, cruisers typically take time along the way to visit Isla Providencia, due east of Nicaragua; gradually work their way north around Nicaragua's extensive shallows to the Vivorillos islands, then turn west to stop off at popular Isla Roatan in Honduras before closing out the cruising season by traveling up the Rio Dulce to one of its many marinas. It sounds like a grand tour and one that we'd considered. But this cruising season we had bigger fish to fry: we wanted to get to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula as quickly as possible so that we could tour Mayan ruins until we couldn't stand the tourism any longer and the approaching hurricane season forced The Fox onward to the US East Coast for a well-earned refit.

Thus it was that, contrary to almost every other cruiser out there, as soon as we found a long enough weather window we left Panama on March 28 and sailed 880 miles directly to Puerto Morelos, Mexico (located about halfway between Cozumel and Cancun). It was one of the calmest, easiest passages we've ever had. See above photo for wing-on-wing goodness.