New Memories in Santiago

We stayed between Santiago and Las Hadas for about 10 days. A couple of days enjoying the convenience and amenities of Las Hadas then the rest of the time anchored out in front of "La Casa de las Palomas", (where we were married last year).
We had a wonderful time with Joyce & Jess, the owners, Susan & Duke, their long time friends, and of course Lou and Lydia. It turns out that Duke and Lou, each from different parts of the country, attended grad school together way back when at Cornell; so this was an unexpected reunion for them. Rumor has it that at least one of them used to sport a mighty fine afro.
We took a day trip to Las Grutas (the caves); an interesting place, big deep cavern with huge stalactites. It was a fun outing, eating cheese and drinking beer at the picnic tables once we had climbed out of the cave. I again managed to miss a step and hurt my other foot; I think I will follow Lou's suggestion to wear closed toed shoes instead of sandals.
Having a car gave us more opportunities for exploring and we were off on another road trip. We road in Lydia's element and we all got a turn at the "wild ride", that is sitting in the make shift back seats that aren't attached, you get to slide around alot. Anyway...the 8 of us took a day trip to first Comala and then Colima. We visited the museum in Comala then had some beer and free snacks (botanas) at the town square, while being entertained by several mariachi bands competing with their loudest offerings.
The Casa de las Palomas folks went back to Santiago but we drove on to Sayula, a town famous for their fines knives and their 12 Portolas. After a visit to a few shops, Lou came away with an entire flatware set, a kitchen knife set, a belt with a hidden knife buckle and 2 other decorative knives. We bought a lone sharpener. We stayed the night in a 4 star hotel, really nice. Once a colonial hacienda, then for many years a grain storage facility and then in 2001 converted and refurbished as this hotel "Casa de los Patios". We had nice dinners then we all retired to our rooms to watch TV, a rare but dubious treat.
By about 2 the next day we were back on the road, not without a few stops along the way. The boys had an "Auto Zone" stop and lyd and I a stop at a furniture & metal yard art place. I took heaps of pictures but we left empty handed, everything was just too big for the "Element" and the metal stuff would die a rusty death on the boats.
We got back just in time to enjoy a farewell dinner for Susan and Duke, complete with a live and surprise Mariachi musicians ( 7 to be exact). Jess had it all planned, he stepped out the front door saying he had to get a CD from his car, only to come back in followed by the beautifully dressed musicians. What a treat....thank you again Jess and Joyce. The music was all requested via my translation. That is a night I'll remember for a very long time.
The next night we enjoyed happy hour at an amazing cliff location restaurant "L'Recif. The view on this cliff sheltered bay to the ocean was amazing. Another one of those times the beauty far exceeds my pale words. Lydian and I cooked dinner that night, made more interesting with a couple of "Cuba Libres". Yesterday a last trip to the town of Santiago proved to be very successful. Al replaced the inner tube for the dinghy tire and got a haircut from Esmelda, the same lady that did my hair for the wedding last year.
Joyce and Jess were the most attentive, gracious hosts, especially gracious towards us, we were basically just an add-on to the group via Lou and Lydia. We left Santiago with new friends and also having had an unexpected opportunity to spend some good times with our old friends.