Typically Lisa and I (we) write the home page together. With Lisa in the States I changed the format since I am the only person on board and chances that you would drift to the Dude’s view might be a little slim. Enjoy a couple of minutes with the Dude.
“What?, you guys have doobie’s on board”?. I had just asked Lisa if we had any other Doobie’s around since the one I was using had been on its last legs and finally the sponge had come out of the casing. 
Washing the night’s dishes with Terry was becoming a chore without the proper equipment and my hopes were high. Terry’s eyes were all aglow from his miss-understanding of me asking for my favorite scrubbing tool, the Doobie or Dobie, I’m not sure which.
Most of the fleet in the Sea of Cortez knows that Lisa and I do not smoke dope but that does not mean that the rest of the fleet follows our cue. Our friend comes from a State that has just legalize marijuana and too his great joy he was sure we had changed our evil ways of drinking rum all night to drinking rum and smoking dope. Actually he wasn’t sure he had heard me right and had to re-ask if I really said Doobie. Of course I did, but then I had to go into what a fabulous tool it really was. Terry, dismayed, asked for a bit more rum than coke and settled into drying the dishes just a little more somber and disappointed but still in the party mode.
Mexico is a land of contrasts. You read it on the posters at the tourist agencies. They always show pictures of Pyramids, the hustle of Mexico City, new hospitals, Iguanas and colorful parrots. What they don’t tell you is the contrasts are not really in how diverse the country is but how they miss what is really important in modern day convienience. The other day I wrote in the Dudes page about stuff that just didn’t seem possible in Mexico (tomato paste, Padron Cigars, certain sizes of bolts etc). With Lisa gone I am washing dishes many more times a day than I use to. Don’t fear we share the duties and this boys hands do get “dish pan” just like the rest. Being alone and washing every dish has reminded me of that night months ago when the last of our Doobies broke through it’s steel like nylon case and turned into just a sponge and a separate wad of nylon mesh. Much like having hydrogen and oxygen containers at your disposal in the desert, the two although capable of making water are worthless to you when you’re thirsty.
I have a sponge in the sink and I also have a Scotch Bright pad, in itself a marvel of modern science but the two do not clean the egg off your plate without doing two separate actions, ie, scrub with the Scotch Bright pad to remove the uuk, and then use the sponge to spread the soap around. A total waste of time.
This week is Semana Santa in Mexico. Call it Saints Week if you like. The equivalent of Easter week at home but almost everyone in Mexico celebrates the week by coming out to go camping or spending time in the resorts. If Memorial Day was a week long you would get the idea, it’s that big. The lagoon that I am parked in has become a giant play pen for dozens of Water Weenies and inner tubes being pulled at high speed by pangas. Skiers are carving up the water in new Master Craft and Sanger ski boats and Wave runners with the price stickers still attached are running between the anchored boats. I am not complaining, I get a kick out of watching everyone but wonder why with all this technology you can’t find a dog gone Doobie in any store anywhere in Mexico.
The person who invented the Doobie was a genius. At home I would pay a couple of dollars for the item. That dollar included the perfectly folded case of cardboard that shrouded this marvel from the grubby hands of children who would wipe their noses and then touch all the other paltry forms of scrubbing paraphernalia. No you can’t just reach out and touch the Doobie pal. Even if you wanted to open it in the store it is not possible without actually tearing its shrine apart as all the ends are sealed. You never have to worry about getting a second rate Doobie. Come to think of it there might just be one of those little “inspected by #7” stickers inside: genius, quality, usability, and because of the design they even dry nicely while you are away creating another clingy dinner with caramelized something that long ago would have required SOS pads to clean. No the Doobie is not afraid of your cooking it will be sitting on your sink nice and dry, waiting for the next mess, but please spare the dreaded enemy of the noble Doobie, the serrated knife.
Semana Santa will continue for the next 7 days. I hope when all the prayers are said at least one little prayer is left for expansion of the marvels of Mexico’s wonders. “Lord, I know your son gave his life for our sins but please would it be too much to ask to allow the importation of the Doobie”