Our journey to South America came about quickly. In mid-August, after our cruising season in British Columbia, I had shoulder surgery to repair tendons in my right shoulder. Surgery was planned before our summer cruise and I delayed it so we could enjoy at least part of the summer on the boat. My surgeon said I really couldn’t hurt it more.

My shoulder responded beautifully to the hands of my talented surgeon Dr. Sailor and after 6 weeks of gentle movement, PT and healing I expected to get the go ahead to start the strength training. But, I was told that although I was healing well I couldn’t do strength training, or play golf, pickleball or most importantly swim in the ocean for at least another 7 weeks. Apparently, although my mobility was exceptional and my pain minimal (actually a problem) the very strong sutures that attached the tendons to the shoulder muscles needed more time or the tendon and muscles could tear leaving the good-for-nothing sutures just hanging there.

Needless to say I was very disappointed! We were asked to speak at the Family Business conference in Newport Beach and we assumed we would fly to Hawaii from there on Oct. 31.

I spent the weekend being pretty depressed. I didn’t want to go to HI if I couldn’t swim. And Jim was pretty depressed because he did not want to spend November in the wet cold mountains.

Time for a creative pivot! The next day we already had a planned call with Silversea cruise line about a cruise in spring 2027. But instead we asked if there was any last minute openings for almost anywhere in the world during November. And guess what? There was a small suite open on a cruise around the Galapagos. The Galapagos had been on our bucket list for over 10 years so we booked it immediately.

Now for rearranging our flights and itinerary. Thanks to Jim’s hard work, our air travel consolidator, ChatGPT and some creativity we created an itinerary for an another True Love Adventure.

I’m writing this on our flight to Quito from Mexico City after a quick stop in Panama City. Last week we attended the family business conference in southern California, then visited my parents in San Francisco before flying from there to Mexico City.

We met some amazing Family Business leaders at the conference and even got to see our dear friend Scott Crowell. The visit with my parents was quick but lovely. Although I talk to my Mom multiple times per week nothing beats real Mom hugs and great cooking. We left SF three days ago and departed for Mexico City. Pro-Tip: if you are in the SFO international terminal and looking for a really good club room you can use Priority Pass to access the Air India Maharaja Lounge. The atmosphere is really nice and the Indian food was yummy.

Mexico City

It only takes 4 hours of flight time to fly from SFO to Mexico City. Although we landed 40 minutes early, our plane didn’t get a gate. In fact, it parked at least 1/2 mile from the nearest gate! Deplaning by mobile stairway created a challenge for us with our two carry on bags and back packs, but we met a lovely lady, Primal, who helped us down the stairs and began a new friendship. She has family in Seattle and hopefully we will see her again!

On our way to customs the bus crossed runways and weaved around other planes, some parked and some moving. we discussed going to see “Catrina”, the big, temporary, day-of-the-dead statue in the Central Square of Mexico City. Saul was doing research for us and told us about it and that we needed to see it Monday night because it was supposed come down the next day. Primal, Jim and I were all staying in the same general area so we made a plan to drop our luggage at our respective hotels and share an Uber to see Catrina.

Despite our early arrival it took quite a while to get our luggage and connect with our driver Jorge. But we were up for a late adventure. Luckily for us, at the hotel staff told us that the exhibit was extended for another week so we texted with Primal and told her our tour guide was going to take us to the Central Square the next day, but that didn’t work with Primal’s schedule.

The Los Alcobas Hotel, located in the Palanco district, suited our needs perfectly for a few days. Other than the very attentive and friendly staff, yummy welcome cookies, festive chocolates, and a comfortable bed, the highlight was the epic shower. It had lots of jets and unlike many showers like it, every jet had great water pressure. It took us a while and lots of laughter to figure out how turn off the lights and close the window curtain with the “state of the art” room controls. But, we persevered and eventually succeeded.

We had two days to get a taste of Mexico City. Of course, two days is only a nibble for this city that is slightly bigger than the NYC metro area and the largest in North America.

We began our day with a car and guide to explore the nearby historic district. Jorge met us again and our guide Alejandro helped us get acquainted. We drove through Lincoln Park and past Bosque de Chapultepec, it’s huge, almost 2100 acres.The city was still decorated with Day of Dead decorations and bright orange marigolds, and we got out of the car near the Central Square surrounded by the Government Offices, the large Catholic Cathedral, the ruins of a large Aztec Temple and the Catrina Sculpture. Traffic is a huge issue in Mexico City. What should take 20 minutes takes an hour, but it gave us a chance to see a lot while we crawled down the roads to downtown.

After arriving, we did a walking tour through the old town, past the roads lined with people selling everything from clothes to toys to food as we made our way to the old Synagogue. The abundant sidewalk commerce is reminiscent of India.

Almost all of the 50,000 Jews living in Mexico live in Mexico City and the synagogue we visited was the oldest. I really appreciated our visit. On our way back to the Central Square we went inside the massive Catholic Cathedral decorated with gold, massive ceilings, two large worship areas and 18 small chapel rooms. Two services were ongoing while we were there. Throughout our travels we have visited many churches. These services were very well attended but most interestingly the priests had beautiful, cantor-like voices. Although the churches don’t truly accept the Day of the Dead holiday from a spiritual perspective they embrace it with seasonal decorations in the cathedral.

The oldest buildings in the Central Square, (Zocalo) were built with stones taken from the giant Aztec temple that once stood on the site adjacent to the Cathedral. Today all of the ground in the Central Square is slowly sinking because of the collapsing water table. As you look around at the old buildings in the Central Square and the surrounding area, many are noticeably leaning. The Government has worked hard to stabilize the ground under the Cathedral, but many other old buildings do not look safe.

After our tour we walked around Catrina to get different perspectives on our way to lunch. Catrina is really quite something. La Catrina originated as a zinc etching by Mexican cartoonist Guadalupe Posada around 1910 to satirize upper-class society. Diego Rivera transformed it into a national icon.

Glen, our Elliott Bay Marina boat neighbor, suggested we go to lunch at Azul Historica. We invited Alejandro, our tour guide, to join us and we got to celebrate his recent birthday. He is in his late 30’s, the same as Saul, and we totally enjoyed our meal together, and now consider him a new friend. We shared all our dishes so we could taste lots of good food and we also had a great conversation with a father and daughter sitting near us. She lives in Mexico City and works for an advertising business with clients all over the world. Her Dad has retired but has spent lots of time in the Seattle area. Meeting new people is definitely one of the best parts of traveling!

Day 2: Walking through the parks to the Museums of Anthropology and Modern Art.

With Jim’s physical limitations he has about 2 miles of good walking in him per day. So after we walked 1.5 miles to the first museum we decided to borrow a wheelchair to see the sprawling anthropological exhibits. Jim is usually a read-everything-at-the-museum guy. Not surprisingly, I’m more of an overview person so with me pushing the wheelchair he had to adapt to my faster pace.

There is no question that the history of the land now called Mexico is filled with violence, conquering, and human sacrifice. Maybe that is why they have had trouble making the transition to a society based on the rule of law. When walking around the city there is a heavy police, national guard and military presence, with road blocks, roving patrols and government officers with assault rifles everywhere. Alejadro told us that most people don’t trust the police, but they do trust the army patrols. It’s an interesting dynamic. That being said, we felt totally comfortable walking around the city with no obvious crime, addicts or homeless.

Although Jim and I love our time in the wilderness I also love being in a big city full of people, especially when there is also good art and good food. We will definitely come back to Mexico City. We totally understand why Saul loves it so much.

Jim was a trooper walking even more to the Modern Art museum and we took a break in the sculpture garden for a snack and a rest. The museum itself is small but the architecture was interesting. The featured artist Remedios Varo is described as a Psycho humorist. Her art was interesting and beautiful. They also had an interesting exhibit with the history of Mexico told through Mexican artists. Jim is standing in front of the timeline.

Yesterday was a long travel day. Our driver took us to the airport at 5:45am. Of course we were worried about the traffic but at that time of day there was none on the way to the airport.

The airport, once again, was a bit chaotic. The security lines open and close unexpectedly. But the flight to Panama on COPA airlines was easy. My Mom told me her memories of Panama were of how unbelievably hot and humid it was and we certainly got a taste of that exiting the plane. WOW! While waiting for our flight to Quito a massive thunderstorm hit with remarkably hard rain and thunder, but our connection to Quito left on time was smooth and finding our driver after clearing customs was easy.

We drove through traffic and then through a winding, steep, cobblestone road with big buses passing the other way. It reminded us a bit of the switchbacks between Lake Como and Switzerland. But we were deposited safely at our hotel. We have some downtime today to finish the blog and get ready for the main event of our journey tomorrow when we fly to the Galapagos!

Thanks for sharing our adventure:

Written by Fawn. Beautifully Edited by Jim