Every day on the morning net there is one of the local hotels that advertises to the boaters to come over and try out their facilities and hang out by the pool. We figured that sounded like a great Christmas, so we radioed them and asked for a 9:30am pickup at the marina. We hopped on the bus with our swimsuits and headed off. The bus went and went and went off the main highway on a road headed into the hills. Dave looks at Melissa with the "what did you get us into" look. For all we know the place is a bar with a kiddie wading pool out back. Fortunately Los Arroyos Verdes turned out to be the complete opposite. An oasis in the desert with a great pool, good food, and friendly service in English.
When we got back to the boat, we went to Philo's - a local cruiser hangout for Christmas dinner. It was a pot luck - and Melissa had baked an orange pound cake (that went fast!). Philo's collects money all year long for the Christmas gifts for the local kids. This year they collected $3000 USD and put together 700 gift bags. The town kids put on a short show with singing and costumes. Then Santa came and distributed gifts. 500 kids showed up (the remainder of the gifts will go to a local orphanage). The street in front of the restaurant was a mob of kids - though interestingly - they were super well behaved. There were numerous comments that had it been the US, you would have had pushing, shoving, and fights breaking out in a mob that big. But the kids all waited patiently for their turn with Santa. Santa was played by a local guy with cystic fibrosis who probably doesn't have long to live but wanted to play Santa for his daughter. When Philo got up and told the crowd about that - there wasn't a dry eye in the house.