Author: zihuathyme

I'm a traveler, not as frequently as I would like , but I plan on doing more. After working full time at Mount Rainier National Park during the summer of 22 I have decided to retire completely and forever. Prior to that I was semi retired as a Wedding Officiant I officiated at about 20 weddings a season, and with my small delivery service I handled the distribution of a local high-quality Home and Garden magazine . Prior to my "semi retirement" I was in corrections and before that I owned and operated a bail bond agency. I now plan to travel to new places and exciting places, getting ready to do that as a solo as the Senior is no longer with me, his choice, and I am OK with that. For hobbies I'm a reader and love my kindle. And I enjoy writing.

Sailfest 2017 Begins

Sailfest officially began last night with the street dance at Casa Arcadia. We arrived at a little after 7 and the place was packed. Luckily our friends and neighbors had secured a table and I went around and found a couple of extra chairs and joined them. The band was Expressions Inmune  a group of young Mexican kids that specialize in Beetles and Creedence Clearwater type music . They got their start practicing in the street in front of the keyboardist’s mother’s art gallery. Which happened to be directly under our balcony. They would draw  huge crowds to the street to listen to them practice twice a week.Folks both Mexican and gringos would be dancing in the street to their music.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
The band when they first were practicing under our balcony

That year Sailfest hired them for their first professional gig and you could say the rest is history.  They now are professional musicians playing regularly 3 times a week at the Baracruda Bar.

Casa Arcadia was packed, but true to Mexican style, no additional staff was put on. I wonder if that is so the regular staff can maximize on tips from a larger crowd. But I always think with more staff and faster service tips would be bigger and less hassle for the staff. Oh well it’s Mexico.

We enjoyed the music and took up an offer to have our portraits drawn for a Sailfest donation. Not bad and I felt he was kind to our age.

img_0138
The Senor having his portrait drawn

Afterwards we went to Don Memos for dinner, one of the best spots for good food and very reasonable. We ran into friends Jim and Linda and took up there offer for us to join them. Doyle had his favorite spaghetti and my preference is always the fish, this time in a white wine sauce. A short walk back and we were home. Just another great evening in paradise.

img_0323
the finished product

Signing off KO

Living in Mexico vs Vacationing

We used to vacation in Mexico, now we live in Mexico for 3 months of the year and next year it will be 4 months. The climate agrees with us, I think it actually improves the Seniors health. He gets out much more here, is more active and more relaxed. Folks always ask us what we do in Mexico and my stock answer is “as little as possible”. But that’s not  entirely true.  The difference between vacationing and living here is how you spend your time. During a vacation you try to spend as little time as possible, grocery shopping, meal preparation, cleaning and organizing.  You want to spend every minute possible on the fun things, eating out, buying gifts for friends, beaching, touring. Now that we live here I spend a great amount of time grocery shopping and enjoy every minute of it as it is in its self an adventure. I have checked out all the stalls at the Mercado and have selected my favorites, the ones that are most helpful with my fractured Spanish and have patience as I figure out the money.  I know the fellow with the wheelbarrow full of avocados in the back has the best ones and he will pick out 1 for today and 1 for tomorrow. And they will be perfect every time. I know the best strawberry vendor and who to buy my eggs from. The chicken lady knows exactly what I want when I approach her and I have decided on the best fish monger. I love mangoes and have learned how to peel them using a drinking glass, less mess and nice mango slices.

Where i buy my chicken
Another fruit stall
Strawberries
Meat market
Young fruit monger

For some thing I do need to go to the Comercial  Mexicana which is a super market somewhat like ours, but with less organization, much more clutter in the aisles, some recognizable brands and an adventure all of it’s own.

They have a store here similar to our $ stores, with the same theory, buy it when you see it as it may never be there again. They have a wonderful fabric store with beautiful fabrics at unbelievable prices.  I usually buy fabric and bring it home to make something.  This year I bought fabric and am bringing it to “the sewing ladies” to make a dress for me. They shortened a pair of pants for me for about 25 cents.  The fabric cost just under $6. Signing off KO

 

MY OWN INTERNET AT LAST

Today we have our own internet, just for our apartment. It makes it possible to upload pictures again, and most importantly the Senor can now watch all his favorite shows from home via sling media. For many this would not be very important, but the Senor has leukemia and requires much rest. This allows him to watch all his favorites from our home system, which makes him more comfortable, less grouchy and then he doesn’t mind me going places when he isn’t up to it.

So now I can up load some pictures from our last trip to Ixtapa Island.  The island, sometimes call Isala Grande is about a 1/2 hour bus trip from Zihuatanejo to Playa Linda where we then catch a water taxi to the island. Our favorite spot on the island is Paraisio Escondido. The food is good as are the drinks and the most relaxing time to be had there.  Most of our group aren’t much on swimming, but one side of the Island, the Coral Beach, where the snorkeling is great, the other side better for swimming, watching the boats come and go and silver shopping. Signing off KO

TAIL OF THE SNAIL

Last Tuesday when we were at Ixtapa Island I found a very pretty snail shell in the sand right beside our table. As I am a bit of a shell collector I picked it up and threw it in my fin bag with plans to put it out on our balcony planter to let the ants come and clean out what ever might be left inside. Back at the apartment as I cleaned out the fin bag leaving shell on the floor of the balcony, I went to put other things away and when I returned the shell had moved to the other side of the balcony.  That’s when I first realized that there was still a live snail inside the shell.  Well since I had removed him from his normal habitat I thought it was simply a matter of a short bit of time and it would die. I left him out on the balcony  tidied things up for the night and shortly headed to bed. Early the next morning I got up, moved my computer to the balcony, fixed my protein drink and sat down to write when I remembered the snail.  He was no where to be found.  I thought he must have made his escape out the drain-line as I couldn’t find him on any of the walls. I went back into the apartment for something and heard loud clang that sounded like Mexican coins hitting the tile floor woke up the Senior who sleepily wanted to know “what the heck I was doing” As he got up he found my snail by the bedside. Walking through the apartment I must have kicked him against the concrete bed frame and that’s what clanged. Active little fellow and he could really travel fast for a snail. So I put him in a Tupperware box assuming he would expire shortly.  Thursday morning when he was still alive and confined to his tiny cage I began to feel a little guilty and thought about taking him back to the beach. That’s when the Senior explained to me he wasn’t a snail, but a hermit crab that had committed a home invasion of the snail shell and had devoured the former resident and had taken up residence inside the snails shell. Boy did  I have a complete change of heart and decided he needed to be removed from the shell at once. But being a very tough little character he wasn’t giving up his life or the shell he stole easily.  So this morning, I being a little smarter than him, moved him and his cage to the freezer compartment of the refrigerator and by now hypothermia  is setting in.  Upon his demise I’ll remove him from the freezer, let him thaw out in the sun and wait for the ants to clean out my shell. Mean time I’ll be checking the freezer to make sure he doesn’t escape.  Still waiting for the internet to be installed.  Signing off KO

MANNING THE SAILFEST DESK

This is the second year I have volunteered to help with Sailfest. The Senor and I have always been big participants, with one or both of us attending almost all of the events. But I believe since we are here for 3 months I can donate some of my time to this very worthy cause. Among scholarships and other necessities, last year’s Sailfest raised enough money to build the first new high school Zihuatanejo has seen in 20 years.  It is complete with a computer lab. This is in conjunction with donated supplies, labor, etc.making the local people personally invested.

Somehow Faye and I seem to have picked a couple of the busiest days to work the desk selling T-shirts, caps, boat flags, koozies and sail boat rides. It gets crazy trying to keep up, but it’s a wonderful opportunity to meet folks from all over. And very proudly each of our 3 shifts have taken in close to, or like yesterday, the equivalent of  $1,000 US  in pesos. But now it’s time to get back to some serious relaxing so with a group of friends we are headed once again to Escollera and it’s beautiful infinity pool.

Still no internet, going to stop by the office with my phone translator and see when I might expect it. This should be interesting. Signing off KO

Relaxing at Ixtapa Island

I was really happy to be going back to Ixtapa Island with a group of friends. We were going  a little earlier this time when the tide would be in and better for snorkeling.  I have my new “go pro” camera for under water video photography and I’m anxious to share pictures of the fish.  The go-pro is a tiny camera and I have a strap that mounts it on my head so I should be able to swim and the camera sees what I see.  That part works well. The difficult part is getting it set to video, as I said it is tiny, about 2 inches by 3 inches and the settings are also very tiny. So I cross over to the Coral Beach from where we all like to gather, sit at the edge of the water, put my fins on and try to turn the camera on.  In my “golden years” I have become very farsighted.  This translates to I can’t read anything close up with out my glasses. So I take off the fins, cross back over the trail, put on my glasses and set the camera, take off the glasses and walk back and start over on my swim to photo the fish.  I do get some nice pictures of fish, but there is more footage of the trail and me putting on and off fins and mask than of the colorful tropical fish. There has to be an easier way.

There is something about the beach that relaxes everyone. It is more that just the drinks and good food, combine that with sunshine and a cooling breeze, gorgeous scenery and everyone laughs, aches and pains melt away,worries disappear. We share stories, tease one another and even the Senor looses his grouchiness.

My wish for everyone is, find the time, make the time to enjoy this kind of happiness. Time is too precious, none of us know what tomorrow brings. Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is unknown, but today is a gift, and that is why it is called “the present”. Enjoy your every gift.

Still waiting on my new internet service to arrive,  so no new pictures. I’m learning the patience of the Mexicans, there is always manana.  Signing off KO

 

 

Bits and Pieces

As I sort through my pictures I am reminded of the many interesting things I see here. Some things are very much the same as home and other wildly different. The Mexican people want to please, want to make you happy.  Which sometimes leads to great misinformation. If you were to say ” the bus comes here frequently ?” They would agree with you, “Oh yes frequently” even if it only comes occasionally.  Because they answer with what they think you want to hear.  So you have to be careful how you phrase your questions.

“Gringos” are frequently frustrated by what we consider slow service in restaurants, but we forget that food here is cooked from scratch and slow cooking is usually it’s own reward.  They won’t give you your bill until you ask, to give it to you as soon as you are finished would be considered rude, and you could sit for hours after the conclusion of a meal visiting with friends and “no problema.”

Last week at Playa Larga the restaurant dealt with a crowd of 16- 20 of us, mostly single individuals in the most efficient fashion I have ever seen.  They gave each one of us a blank bill (in triplicate), we were to write our name on the top and write our meal order in the center and our bar choice at the bottom.  When it came time to request our meal they took the top copy and we continued to tally our bar orders. At the end of the day it was very easy for all to reconcile our bills.   I always give my name as Catalina, Spanish for Kathleen or Katherine, and they do have trouble with Doyle, absolutly can’t wrap their tongue around that one. Last week my new acquaintance, Heather, gave her name to the breakfast  waitress  as”Esmerelda” but come lunch time at a different location she said “Lolita”.  Simply stated she said “they can’t pronounce Heather, so I can be who ever I want to be.” Love the attitude! Puts me in mind of the old play The Importance of Being Ernest”.

There are not a lot of beggars here but those that do and  are almost always infirm, missing an arm or a leg or blind. No young, able bodied folks with signs saying “down on my luck”. The Mexican people are generous with the folks that have a need and drop a few coins regularly. Signing off with hope for new improved internet manana KO.

 

AS SAILFEST BEGINS

Sailfest is an annual week long event during the first week of February that raises funds to build schools and give educational opportunities for  Zihuatanejo’s poorest children.It originated about 12 years ago by the cruisers, those folks who arrive here and may winter here on sailboats. It does a tremendous amount of good for the community and provides some great fun and opportunities. There are tours of the schools, dances concerts, opportunities to crew in a sailboat race or another day to just go out and cruise about the bay and out to Ixtapa.

Friday was my first day of manning the sales desk.  I teamed up with my friend Faye.and we sold T-shirts, caps koozies and event tickets. Since this was only the 2nd day of sales and Sailfest is still a week away I didn’t think it would be too busy. Boy was I wrong! But it was fun and you get to meet a lot of great, interesting people from all over the globe.

After our shift we went down the beach to the next restaurant and had lunch and mango margaritas waiting to hear from our husbands about their day of deep sea fishing.  They had a good time, but no fish. So we met up with them at Zorrito’s . Then my friend Lori from about 4 years ago in Zihuatanejo called and wanted to meet up. They were at the Flophouse about a block away , went down there and met up with them and friends of theirs and we all returned to Zorrito’s and had this great picture taken. But my internet won’t go in until Monday so I probably can’t add it. Followed by dinner at La Vita Bella, a great restaurant but a little on the pricey side for us. Signing off KO    PS Hope pictures soon, maybe Monday

OUR NEIGHBORS ACROSS THE STREET

img_0169
On the street where we live

Our apartment building is located between two pedestrian only streets which makes it a quiet, friendly neighborhood where we can enjoy the pleasant sounds of the Mexican community.  As I write the knife sharpener is passing by.  Even though I’m 3 floors up I can tell by the tin penny whistle sound he makes. I look forward to all these sounds, families and children laughing and playing in the streets and the various vendors sounds and calls. I spend a lot of time on our little balcony, with a small view of the bay and a great view of some of our more interesting neighbors across the street. Daily we watch as the pigeons come to drink and bath in the “tinaca” on the roof of the building across the street. A tinaca is a large plastic

storage container that supplies running water the businesses below. So daily they share there water supply with a small flock of pigeons.  I’m sure they must use bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes. And believe me I’ve been up on the roof of our building to check out our tinacas and they are all covered.  No pigeons bathing here.

We watch the beautiful black and white cat sunbathing and strolling  the roof tops across from us. I believe that cats travel the entire town  from roof to roof, where as a roof dog is fenced in on just one roof and some never leave that roof. img_0166

Our neighbors across the street feed the hummingbirds as does our neighbor below us.  This results in a hummingbird flyway img_0157between the 2 locations, with an occasional  rest stop on one of the palm trees that dot our street. Cute as they are they are very difficult to photograph.  Signing off KO