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.

WHO I AM AND WHY I BLOG

WordPress is offering on line” blogging classes” of which I’m participating. The first assignment is to write about why one chooses to blog. So here goes. I am Kathleen Ottarson from Port Orchard, WA, originally from Northern California.I am a wife, mother of 4, grandmother of 16, senior citizen, and daily swimmer. My husband Doyle and I are budget travelers and have now choosen to “snowbird” in Mexico. In addition to wintering here in Mexico we are rv’s and make several much shorter trips from our home base. We pretty much go to the same places at the same time of year as that is my husband’s comfort level. I’m the more adventurous one. We wouldn’t be doing what we do if I hadn’t initiated the idea, and did enough research for him to feel comfortable going somewhere new. Now you would think it was all his idea as he quotes facts and figures of up coming adventures.

The Senor and I enjoying the evening. Photo cour test of Patty a great photoGrapher as this is about our best picture — The Senor and I enjoying the evening. Photo courtesy of Patty a great photographer as this is our best picture

Originally I just wrote a few posts on face book, but my granddaughter suggested I start a blog to keep family and friends informed. So I started zihuathyme, and originally it was designed for family and friends, but as time goes on I find I really do it for me. I like to write! I enjoy ruminating over the days pictures, remembering how wonderful the day was, and I want to share my day with my loved ones and anyone else who might be a vicarious traveler, or someone who is here and might enjoy doing and seeing some of the things I find interesting. In my “zihuathyme ” blog I refer to my husband Doyle as the Senor and I frequently poke fun at the Senor and his “22 years navy bos’n mate unworldly attitudes.” It’s easy to do especially since he brags to everyone about my blog, but he never reads it.

Zihuatanejo’s fishing fleet in for the day

I love Mexico and all the quirky differences, especially the differences. Mexico is loud and colorful, full of friendly people. I try to photograph the odd and interesting differences, show how colorful it is, and how beautiful it is. I’m not much of a photographer, but my readers requested more and more pictures and we all know how much a picture is worth.

Sharkfest Class of 2015

My blogging goals are simple, keep on blogging as long as I enjoy it. I rarely look at my stats, but I do appreciate comments from readers. I hope I can inspire people to travel no matter what their budget is or what their age is. I would like to inspire readers to go, see, do. To live life, be a participant instead of a spectator.Signing off KO

MI CUMPLEANOS FEBRUARY 26 and GROWING OLDER

Thursday was my birthday, I woke to sunny skies, went for my morning swim, breakfasted on my balcony. I just can’t think of a better way to start any day. I want to thank my many face book friends for their birthday greetings, it’s so nice to be remembered with kind thoughts. While I miss my family and friends at home we have made many friends here and it was nice to share a meal and an evening with them. We had dinner at Agave, a favorite with a good menu and

good food. Highlights of the evening were being sung Happy Birthday to by Jimmi Mamou. I’ve never been serenaded before, sure makes you feel special, I never expected gifts but from Judy and Jimmi a cleaver fan that transforms into a hat. And from Joanne and Will some of the most beautiful earnings and a very cleaver convertible necklace. She makes these unique hand crafted pieces, simply amazing. The only problem with a group that large is that it is hard to visit with every one at the table. But thank you to my friends who have made my day so special with your friendship.

Hard to get a group picture with 13 people

Dwight with Jimmi’s silver plated guitar

On growing older.
I rarely ever feel old. Sometimes I’m shocked when I look at the mirror and wonder when that person looking back at me arrived. I’m happy to be a senior citizen, with the SS deposit in my bank each month and getting my senior discounts. I like being retired, we’ll semi retired and not be a 9-5 person anymore. (Well in my case it was 6-2.) We have reduced our business to part-time with just enough work to keep me out and about in the community. At my age I’ve lost all vanity and I will wear sleeveless t-shirts and I will appear on a public beach in a swim suit all white and flabby. But I do take pride that I can swim circles around most of the super tan bikini wearers. I still consider myself a “work in progress” and I want to learn, explore, and to grow (except in girth), make new friends while never forgetting the old. Thank you to all my friends here and friends at home and all my children for making my birthday special. Signing off KO

SOFT MORNINGS AND BALCONY BREAKFASTS

I enjoy my early morning walk to the pool, it not quite daylight when I leave our casa, very few folks are out and about, traffic is at a minimum until I get to the main drag about 3 -4 blocks away and there it is hustling with buses getting folks to work and children to school. I never tire of seeing momas and papas holding the hand of their young child as they walk them to school daily, or teenage school girls in cute uniforms, and the boys in slacks and shirts chatting in groups as they hop off the bus. Along this main drag portable restaurants get set up each morning by putting out a white plastic tables with an oil cloth table cloth and loading them up with what I am sure are home made foods. No food inspectors to worry about, probably no business licenses to obtain, just find a spot and your in business. After the morning rush these tiny enterprises disappear only to reappear the next day. This morning a man was harvesting coconuts from a tree in the ball field. I stopped to watch him and he seemed quite pleased that I was

interested. Unfortunately there was a wire fence and some distance from where I was to his tree but he showed me his rope that was looped up and over the tree so that he was holding both ends with one end having a loop at one end. Also disappointing was the fact that his wheelbarrow was full and he was done harvesting. He proudly pointed to his wheel barrow. And we both waved as I went on to the pool. Sometimes when I take pictures of people doing what I find interesting things I’m concerned that I may offend them, considering them like monkeys in a zoo, there for our entertainment, or looking down on them for their primitive ways. But the truth is I’m fascinated by everything that is different for no other reason than it is different.

I marvel at how hard they work, how ingenious they are at using, reusing and making do with what is available. No one bulldozes down a building to make a new one. They repair and remodel and use what is already there. Probably the only things that bothers me are the way garbage is dumped on street corner each night for the garbage trucks to pick up the next day. Many times by morning the street dogs have spread it around and it doesn’t all get collected. Recycling is coming about as I do see cardboard bundled

flat of 15 eggs and other fruit from the Mercado

together, but I would like to see plastic bags disappear from the planet. I now buy my eggs in a half flat tied up with string 15 at a time for about 30 pesos. Plastic bags get blown everywhere, and when they end up in the ocean can be mistaken by some fish as jelly fish. I would like to see Mexico and all countries return to bring your own shopping bag for your purchases. Some communities in our area have gone to no plastic and charging 5 cents for paper bags.

On my way back from the pool, the sky is blue, the air is soft and comfortably warm, more people are out but it still isn’t even close to hot. I stop by the mercado looking for celery. The only nice celery I see is at the stall with the grouchy, or at least unsmiling lady. But I also notice nice looking mangoes, so grouch or not she get my 30 pesos this morning.

Back at la casa the Senor is just getting up, and since he is the breakfast cook I’m treated to marvelous breakfast of fresh fruit on our sunny pleasantly

warm balcony. I’m not sure life gets any better. One of the many acquaintances we met while traveling on the bus told us, he’s american from LA, now living not too far from Zihuatanejo has married locally and has no intentions of returning to the states he says why should I, here everyone in happy, no one rushes, no hurry, everyone is relaxed, no road rage. 02 25 15 Signing off KO

HELADO AND OTHER STUFF

HELADO AND OTHER STUFF.

HELADO AND OTHER STUFF

I’m sure we have tried every ice cream place in El Centro, ice cream being one of my favorite foods. I used to be anal about only eating sugar free ice cream, not anymore life is too short to be too limiting. One of my pet peeves is that many of the ice cream stores don’t have seating. The senor won’t walk around while eating, even with ice cream he wants a place to sit, and of course not in the sun. At best the ice cream stores have only one or two tables and if they are taken you have to stand around, and some have none. The one that has the best seating only sells ice cream on a stick, and that’s one of my pet peeves. I don’t like the taste of wood with my ice cream. There are many ice cream vendors on 3 wheel bicycles. You know they are around by the sound of honking clown horn, but to get super yummy home made type ice cream you have to find the vendor with the galvanized tubs. Which is getting harder and harder to find unless you go out to Barre de Potsi.

We find we can get good ice cream at the movie theater across the street from us, the snack bar is open during the day when no movies are playing but in limited variety. For variety I like the one on the main drag by the plaza and basketball court that has some of the most unusual flavors I have ever heard of. They are more that willing to give you tastes of them too. I’ve tried several and so far I’ve liked them

all. Some of them seem really strange to be ice cream flavors, like cheese. While cheese ranks right up at the top of my favorite foods, cheese ice cream, I’m not so sure.

We used one of our raffle certificates from Sailfest to go out to dinner at La Puerta del Sol, a lovely spot high over La Ropa with what once would have been a fantastic view of the bay before the large building was built in front of it. It still has a nice peekaboo view of the sunset and a nice view of the lights of town. We had a very good meal mine of course being fish, but we sure enjoyed watching the couple next to us having there ceasar salad made right at their table. We wished we come later as Patricia Carrion was just starting her set as we were having desert. We have seen her before and really enjoy her style.

Last night we went to the movie in Ixtapa. The Senor prefers that theater to the one right across the street from us as it is modern. Me I have no problem with the quirky ancient theater across from us, but I liked it better when we first started going there as you could order chips and guacamole and watch while they made the guacamole fresh. Much better than popcorn, but unfortunately they no longer do it. We saw Birdman as there has been so much hype about it. Probably too sophisticated for our tastes, we didn’t care for it. 2 22 15

IXTAPA ISLAND OR IS IT ISLA GRANDE

We hear it both ways, we see signs for both and do not know which is correct, or the source of the two names. But like the rose no matter what you call it, it is a wonderful way to spend a day. We headed out with 8 in our group to Paradiso Escondido as the proprietor Juan has become a friend of ours . He arranged for our transportation to the pier making it a much quicker trip than the bus we usually take. A boat ride later and a short walk down the sandy beach and we are ensconced under the palapa protection of the noonday sun . We all stake out our territory be it a lounge or table chair and prepare to do nothing more than read or converse and eat and drink.

The beach is so relaxing it is so easy to do nothing. The Senor who is normally so out going that he makes friends standing in a ticket line, has been a bit of a recluse this trip, holed up in our room for days at a time watching TV. So it was good to see him out interacting with friends and making new ones. He spent half the day sitting at the next table making friends with folks from California.

It appears that I am the only swimmer in the group and impressed everyone when I swam out and around an anchored sail boat, I should have saved that swim for when the luxury yacht that laid anchor late in the afternoon and possibly made friends with them. But by that time I’d had a couple of margaritas and knew better. Dwight, Faye and I did go snorkeling on the back side where the colorful fish are. It is always a thrill to swim right

through a school of colorful fish, and if you bring cracker or tortilla crumbs they will eat out of your hand and swim all over you. The silver salesman had a good day, we all bought silver. I bought a ring as I leave all my gold rings at home when in Mexico. The shell man not so lucky , no one bought. Some young gals found some turtles

Juan was kind enough to return us to land in his own boat and requested we all wear life jackets something that never happens on the pangas. His concern for our safety was appreciated. He beached the boat making it easier for our group to exit the boat. Some of us prefer wading a bit in the surf to being hauled out of the boat to a pier that is 3 feet higher than the boat by a skinny young man who weighs less than half of us and is only going to get a few pesos if he is successful. That is always a scary situation, especially for folks with short legs and joints that no longer cooperate.

It was a wonderful day with great friends and the Senor and I returned to our casa to the smell of chicken cooking in our crock pot. A quick shower to remove the accumulated salt and sand. Then dinner and a movie from our pre-recorded movie library courtesy of our daughter April and her cleaver husband, who see to it that we are well stocked with entertainment. An absolutely perfect Zihua day. 2 20 15

signing off KO

VALENTINES DAY A VERY BIG DEAL

A few days before Valentines Day little temporary shops spring up everywhere selling items for this day of romance.There are heart shaped baloons, stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes, beautifully gift wrapped boxes,lovely flowers and floral displays designed to help you impress your amour. Red, pink and white balloons decorate many of the restaurants as a reminder to make reservations. Being as it was a Saturday it was bigger than usual.

I had lunch plans with a friend and we managed to get the last table in the restaurant, somehow it had escaped us that it was this day of importance. Following our lunch and since I was in the neighborhood I was to stop and make dinner reservations at La Gula. Obviously the Senor is no “romantico” as I was the one making the reservations and we had a certificate for $250 pesos off on our meal there courtesy of a Sailfest raffle. Being as it was a special day they were doing a special 4 course dinner with choice of entree. I warned him in advance what it was but he still said yes make the reservations but I knew this wasn’t going to please him. The Senor is more of a meat and potatoes guy, considering 22 years in the navy, he is more comfortable in a ships galley than fine dinning. So I knew there would be an issue.

He likes me to do the ordering as I can do that much in Spanish. My mistake was I thought we were going to have a choice of soup or salad, and a choice of chicken or fish, but no it was explained that we get both soup and salad. The senor says “Tell them no soup, it’s too much food, just the salad. I explain to him he’s paying for it, he is going to get it, and he doesn’t have to eat it. Our dinner was excellent, but he commented he would rather have a bigger salad and no soup.

No visit to Calle Adelita is complete with out a visit to the Cereus tree which only blooms at night. One night we actually watched as they began to pop open. It reallywas a good evening followed off with nite caps at the Flophouse Bar.

BACK HOME IN ZIHUATANEJO

It was a good trip toPatzcuaro, but we know we have only scratched the surface of this beautiful town and we will go again. We loved the little 5 table restaurant that was across theGertrudisBocanegra Square from our hotel. We had great interesting breakfasts, and a wonderful trout dinner there. We found both food and hotels to be very budget friendly. I really got to use my limited spanish, sometimes successfully, sometime not so. I became quite good a reading signs, directions, menus and such.

loosely translate the dogs are not of the street but of the people

But this sign was our favorite and I was able to tell the lady so. We had already noticed the street dogs in Patzcuaro didn’t seem” happy”, certainly not friendly, and very wary, quite unlike the street dogs we see in Zihuatanejo. I never saw anyone feed one or offer any kindness. And there is a large number of them.

I loved traveling in the upper deck of the bus, the front window seat is amazing although the fact that double yellow lines on the highway appear to be just a warning or a suggestion that this might not

be the best place to pass because our buss passed anywhere anytime he wanted to and oncoming traffic could just move over what I would normally call the fog line onto the shoulder. I don’t know how many times we were 3 abreast on a 2 lane road. As you board you are handed a “survival pack” your choice of water or bottled fruit drinks, an “empanada” sandwich and earphones for the video console that is directly in front of you that plays music, games or movies of many types. Of course they are all in Spanish. The seats are roomy, they lean back, it’s far more comfortable than the airlines.

the countryside was lovely everything from agricultural crops to avocado orchards to long needled pine trees reminiscent of the California mountains pines. We drove past this prison, I’ve seen a documentary on it and it wasn’t pretty,ours compared to this are resorts. I’m always impressed with how the Mexicans will make do and use what is available. But after driving through 3 other toll plazza that were manned by regular staff was was this on manned by a group of young people behaving rudely and collecting money.

I guess this road work crew ran out of orange cones. I do so enjoy mexico, everyday is an adventure. 2 14 15 Signing off KO

On the road toPatzcuaro

Our double decker bus was fantastic, a little scary in town on tight corners, but this is the only way I want to travel Mexico. And I do want to travel more. It is so much fun, so much amazement and so many “only in Mexico ” moments. We arrived at the bus station in Urupan and had no problem getting a bus to Patzcuaro. But literally it was the “chicken bus” as the folks across from us were traveling with “El gallo” in a box, whom I assume was a fighting cock. But a very well behaved rooster, we never heard a peep out of him. Dramamin, possibly??

We had preselected our hotel LA Parroguia

from a previous visit and thought it was on the main square, but the main square was a block or so away. While we liked the hotel, the young woman at the desk was less than accommodating as she had no patience with my limited spanish. There is no heat in the hotel, but wonderful heavy blankets we found in a drawer that kept us from being to cold. Nights and morings are COLD, daytime very pleasant. We tried to arrange the tour we wanted at the front desk and gave up and went to the tourist office at the main square. Very, very helpful, especially since he spoke perfect english and helped us arrange a tour. The guide we wanted was already booked, But he came and met us at the office and offered us us son and daughter. The son spoke no english, but his sister spoke quite well. We kindly accepted his offer appreciating the excellant customer service. We enjoyed the tour very much, saw a lot even though it wasn’t quite what I anticipated. We saw lots of very ancient churches, towns with very narrow, rough, cobble stone streets,

pyramids dating back to the 8th century, 2 funerals,one rich, one poor. Saw horses and cattle grazing loose, but none of the local craftsmen at work. Missed the pictureof the cart pulled by 2 ox. Nonetheless it was a great day.

Church

I’ve been using my limited spanish a lot here as not many speak english. I do the reading of menus and the ordering of meals for the Senor and myself . I’m a much more adventurous eater than the Senor. He needs to know what is in everything before taking a chance. So far everything I’ve eaten has been an adventure and a good one at that. Can’t wait for dinner.

I’m in a bit of computer hell here, I can only get the tablet to work which won’t let me caption pictures, or move them to the right place so please bear with me

chicken box. Signing off KO

BIG BUSES, LITTLE BUSES, HUGE BUSES AND OTHER TRANSPORTATION

I have never ridden a bus in my home town. One of my job skills when I worked at the Work Release facility was teaching our “residents” how to travel the county by bus within very exact time constraints, but i never rode the bus. A couple of years ago my friend Babe and I rode the Greyhound bus from Montana to Tacoma Wa after delivering my granddaughter’s truck to her at Yellowstone. And it was not a comfortable trip, one I would not want to do again. But here in Mexico I am a bus rider. Here in Zihuatanejo they range from super luxurious to how the hell do they keep it on the road.

There is a huge fleet of little combi buses, they are vans out fitted with benches all the way around and standing room in the center, I have been on one with 19 other folks, very crowded, very mexican.They are very inexpensive, 7 pesos around town. You never have to wait more than a few minutes and they go everywhere. Unfortunately there is no printed schedule or bus route map so I don’t know where half of them go. Or which ones will take you to some of the places I might want to go, so I walk one way and it’s easy once you are there to take any bus that says El Centro and you’ll get back to our part of town. So 7 pesos vs 25 pesos for a cab in town,and 10 pesos vs 65 pesos to go to Ixtapa, I’m learning the bus system. A few more years and I’ll be expert, able to teach everyone how to use it

The other day I went to the bus station and bought tickets for a first class bus trip to Patzcuaro for our 2-3 day mid February side trip.. This should be real luxury as our tickets are for the second floor with the vista dome windows, these buses usually come complete with a stewardess and are far more luxurious than 1st class airplane travel. Out of necessity I did the entire transaction with my fractured spanish, I had a little trouble with the word “piso” which is within my learned vocabulary, but momentarily forgotten. But we soon got it straightened out that I did want the 2nd “floor” on the bus, and the 2 very front seats.
The waiters in town speak very good english, but the personal at the bus station nada, nunca, none.

The Senor teases me about my Spanish, but I know he appreciates what I have learned as he stays at the apartment and sends me out to buy tickets, or hands me money and asks me to order meals, or other purchases. We will see how well I do on our adventure to Lake Patzcuaro tomorrow. It will be just a 3 day outing with my goal being the trip around the lake to visit the villages where each one specializes in a certain craft. I have no idea as to Internet availability or if I will be able to post, but I’m really looking forward to this side trip. 2 10 15 Signing off KO

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