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.

MONDAY SWEET MONDAY WITH NOTHING TO DO BUT…..

Woke up a little later than usual this morning as we had dined in on salmon cakes that I made and went to the 9pm showing of Vince Vaughn in the Delivery Man, very sweet, very funny we enjoyed it. It’s unusual for us to go to the movies that late but when you don’t have dinner until 7 or later it makes sense. At home we do a 4pm matinee. We had no agenda for today, but while breakfasting on the balcony I noticed a cruise ship was in. I always like to go down to the malecon, sit in a restaurant and have a drink and feel quite smug that I am here for a long period of time and watch them race around trying to shop and take in all the local color in a few hours, But actually this boat stayed longer than most, we hear it won’t leave until 10PM.

My plan was to go photo the ship, but the Senor suggested that we go to the pharmacy and see if he can get one of his prescriptions refilled here. And then go to the bank, then see about getting his watch fixed. Knowing the boat would be there later it sounded like a good plan. The prescription could only be refilled if we went to our Mexican doctor and get a new prescription from him first. As this is only sleeping medicine he decided to try a natural type instead and see if it would work before going to the Doctor. I keep telling him wine works great for me, I have no trouble sleeping and it’s a natural product. But he never listens to me. So on to the bank and then to the watch repair shop where they reassemble his watch that got dropped on our tile floor and disintegrated into many pieces, 20 pesos later it was reassembled and we were on our way. We took a different side street on the way back where we found gifts for our neighbor girls, the peanut brittle candy the Senor so loves, and my mango light drink that I have become addicted to and an old lady and her grandson selling strawberries and plums among other things So for 30 pesos we had fruit for a day or two. Back to the apartment for lunch and siesta.

My lunch of left over fish did not agree with me due to my ongoing digestive problem and I have decided any left overs from dinners we will bring back and feed to the roof cats who have come to our balcony nightly to enjoy the fine dinning. It seems like everyone here feeds someone, some

Jaavier's pet pigeon — Jaavier’s pet pigeon

feed the street dogs, Javier our apartment manager and owner of the Liquor Store and Scooter rental business feeds the pigeons. There is a pair who spend their days sitting on the side walk in front to of his store, I tell him they are his pets. I’ve taken to feeding the roof cats this year. The only problem I have is getting very little feed back from them, they come in the night and I never see them on the balcony, but still I know they appreciate. Otherwise the street dogs and cats are left to rip apart the garbage bags that are put out on the streets each night for the garbage pick up in the morning. I have a fondness for cats and feel a little guilty for leaving ours for so long, even though I know our granddaughter does her best to take care of all his demands. In addition I feed our scraps of produce to the chickens who have come to know me and expect tasty treats.

Zihuatanejo from the roof just before sunrise

Tonight the Senor wanted to go to Banditos for dinner , but we opted instead to go to Porto Ill Mare as they have great soup and I wasn’t wanting a big dinner. Tonight I had Gazpacho, a cold tomato soup I learned to love on my visit to Spain many years ago, the Senor with a bigger appetite selected the Spaghetti Bolognese, great service good food it really hit the spot. Signing off KO

SUNNY SATURDAYS TURN TO SUNNY SUNDAYS

The siesta is one of the great aspects of Mexican life which we have adapted to quiet well. We usually retreat to our room in the later part of the afternoon for TV

watching or reading and frequently one or both of us eventually nap. Yesterday as I awoke from my siesta a kite flying across the lane caught my eye. A Dad was helping his young son fly a kite off the roof of the hotel across from us. At first all I saw was the dad and the kite, but then the kite got caught and dad lifted the young boy up to retrieve it. There was almost no wind so the kite wasn’t flying to high, but no matter father and son were enjoying themselves together. I watched until the sun began to set and turned the sky gorgeous colors. Then it was time

Dad boosts his son onto roof to rescue kite

to get ready for dinner as we had decided to return to Don Memo’s for dinner.

In my opinion he serves the absolute best fish in Zihuatanejo. I’ve had the fish in wine sauce before at Don Memo’s and ordered it again last night and wasn’t disappointed. It is the most moist flavorful fish I’ve ever had, and being a ” fishetarian” I’ve tasted a lot of fish. On this visit we sat at a table looking out towards the alley and Coconuts restaurant, it gives you a great view and a cacophony of sounds. We could hear the Mexican music video being played in Don Memos of a beautiful out-door concert with a huge orchestra and many singers singing more

classical music, we would occasionally hear someone in Coconuts singing and then the lilting tunes of the flute and guitar player that plays in front of Monkey House came drifting in. All very pleasant. And Don Memo’s has the best price for wine I’ve seen in Zihuatanejo, 40 pesos. Following dinner we walked to the zocolo where we discovered a visiting Volkswagen car club. I’m a VW fan, having owned several of them from bugs to square backs to our 72 bus we camped in for many years, so I took pictures of all of them, but didn’t set the flash so most

Beautiful blue VW bug with a sound system to die for

pictures weren’t very good.

We returned home to listen to the last half hour off our young street band that performs every Thursday and Saturday night under our balcony. They draw a big and enthusiastic crowd, including an occasional street dog or two.

Another Saturday night with no loud music from the “tranny” bar around the corner, the decibel police have done a good job this year. I know they stay open past the legal closing time as we hear people wandering down the street about 4:30 with alcohol loud voices. But that is so much better than years previous where we had to sleep with ear plugs and the music still kept us awake.

Sunday morning brought an unusual mix of sounds around 7AM, church bells from the church around the corner, followed by a large crowd of people cheering and shouting. Then I remembered Zorro’s Bar was to open for the Canadian Hockey game at 6:00 am. From the sounds of the crowd I think Canada is doing well. Actually Canada won the gold. Signing off KO

YESTERDAY AND TODAY

Yesterday the cleaning lady was due so we went out for breakfast, while I ordered breakfast, in Spanish I might add, the Senor did his task of running the laundry to the laundaria. At home he does the laundry and has continued doing so here. But here all he has to do is deliver it in the morning and pick it up in the evening. Everything is simpler here. After breakfast we decided to check out a hotel near the “hole in the wall” bus station . Brand new hotel offering $250 (mexican pesos) a night rooms if you stayed 2 weeks or more. This was a hell of a good deal so we decided we had best check it out. The desk clerk spoke no English, but my 2 or three words got the message across and she showed us a room. Nice room with great bath and a balcony, but small and no micro or refrigerator. I asked her if they had any rooms with cooking and she said no. So we thanked her, briefly considered if the lesser cost would make up for eating out every night as it did have a pool and wifi and cable. We decided no, it just wasn’t for us, but very nice for someone who just needs a room. Then on to the archeological museum at the end of the malecon where both the history of the area is displayed but also lots of art work for sale.

We then went for a stroll on the malecon and ran into a couple I had met on the boat parade. I introduced them to the Senor , we visited briefly as they were just finishing their lunch and we took over their table when they left. Our waiter brought out a white board sandwich board which showed the selections offered that day. Cheese quesadilla for me and a BLT for the Senor. He was very happy to find a real sandwich. We people watched, watched the fishermen and enjoyed a very leisurely lunch. Soon a friend we had made through other friends stopped by and we visited with her for a while remarking we hardly go anywhere any more where we don’t run into someone we know. A very pleasant feeling.

New vendor came by the flop house, cakes by the slice

We opted to go to the Flophouse for drinks, and get dinner at the restaurant next door. Not my favorite place to eat, but we always have a good time at the and meet friends and enjoyed, Allan on the guitar, Nelson on the sax and a couple of singers joined in. As we expected several of our friends showed up so it was a pleasant evening.

Morning has us filling out our shopping list and heading to the Commercial, we are on our downhill side of our vacation so we are trying to buy only what we absolutely need, purchasing in small sizes. On the way we discovered a new type of Mexican Roof dog.

Different type of "roof" dog — Different type of “roof” dog

He really startled us as we walked by. We tried to shop carefully, but still came back with more than our rolling bag holds, but sure love that bag, it makes getting the groceries the block to our apartment from the taxi stop a breeze.

We have set our dates for next year, December 15 to March 15, we’ve never been here during the holiday season nor have we ever been away from home for Christmas. It will be a new experience for us. Now my job is to try to negotiate a better rate at our apartment as we are staying longer. My Spanish dictionary isn’t any help with phrases, we will see how we do. Signing off KO

BARRE DE POTOSI

Yesterday with friends Will and Sylvia we headed to catch the Pentalon bus to Los Achotes where we will get off and take the” pasajara”, which is a lovely word for an old pickup truck with benches in the bed and covered with a tarp for shade, to Barre de Potosi. We have been there before, but were particularly interested in going this year as we had heard about how the hurricane had greatly changed the landscape. Well Mother Nature may have made changes, but to us they were hardly noticeable as the water has begun to recede and there maybe less beach but to us not very noticeable. The beach is lovely and stretches as far as the eye can see. We had a nice

lunch of fish, mine was fish stew. While it is very tasty, I have to get the head and tail out of my bowl before I can start eating it There was a very sweet and very pregnant beach dog who thoroughly enjoyed what I couldn’t eat as I always get served more than I can eat.

could be used for weaving or a variety of other crafts as they are quite uniform in size an seemed strong yet flexible. Later the Senor and I walked into the town, well not exactly a town, a dusty road with a variety of building houses everything from homes to hotels and tiny eating places. There is a beautiful, yet very simple church complete with bell. Of course my camera was back at the enmarada with Will and Sylvia. After having taken a couple of walks it was time for desert, Sylvia and I went for neapolitan , the senor ordered a banana split and Will stuck with cervesa. The senor’s banana split was a sliced banana with the 3 scoops of neopolitan ice cream with chocolate sprinkles on top and four wafer cookies on the side, he pronounced it delicious, but could have done with out the sprinkles.

Sylvia trying to decide what cleaver things could be done with the roots

No sooner did our ice cream arrive, that the ice cream man came by. This is the ice cream that comes out of the galvanized tub. Now this is what I call real ice cream, I’m sure it is home-made, not commercially made. He will have 2 or 3 flavors usually there will be coconut and vanilla, but I have also had lime or chocolate. Today he had vanilla and coconut, so after polishing off our neopolitian Sylvia and I each got a different flavor and shared 1/2 with each other. We both think the vanilla is the best, it isn’t white, but more off a lite creamy beige. I truly believe the very best ice cream comes from the ice cream men with the galvanized tubs on

This what "real" vanilla ice cream looks like — This what “real” vanilla ice cream looks like

wheels. We always enjoy a day trip to Barre de Potosi, but it is way to quiet and remote for us for any longer than a day.

Signing off KO

LA PLAYA, SUNRISE AND MORE

Tuesday we had a great day at the Playa Las Gatas Beach with friends Will and Sylvia. I’m not sure life gets anymore comfortable than a lazy beach day. People watching, seeing the kids play in the water and in the sand, watching a toddlers first water experience, seeing the passing boats and the birds in the sky all with a drink in

your hand, toes in the sand and good food on the way. It seems like life just couldn’t be better. The Senor has his favorite waiter Jose, who says he speaks very good restaurant English, but he would like to speak much more. The Senor like to talk so they talk together while I swim and snorkel. This day

I swam clear around the reef. I probably should check the tides next time as in places it was so shallow you could hardly swim and I don’t like to get to far away from the reef because of boat traffic.

Wednesday we expected it to be the day that Lety, comes to clean our apartment so we decided to take the bus to Ixtapa and just walk and prowl around. We looked in the stores, ate ice cream and then I saw my hat. This is the hat I’ve been looking for 2 years. I had seen another woman wearing it, I asked her where she got hers, she couldn’t remember I even suggested she put it up for auction at sailfest so I could bid on it. I have been coveting this hat, fearing I would have to mug this woman to get this hat and here it was in Ixtapa just waiting for me. Now she is safe and I have my hat, it’s a beautiful raffia course woven hat, light brown in color and it’s mine at last. While I was making my purchase, The Senor ran into our friend Charlie and visited with him while waiting for me. We had a nice lunch at Frank’s where we ran into other friends that live seasonally in Ixtapa. We have come to really feel like this a home away from home.

Wednesday evening we were invited to Vickie’s birthday party at the Flophouse. Where we met more new friends and learned more about people’s experiences who have seasonally lived here for over 20 years. The cupcakes were beautiful, the company wonderful and were so pleased to be able to help Vickie celebrate her special day.

I’ve been trying for days to get out to the beach to catch the sun rise and I’m usually just to late to catch the real color. well yesterday I did, but clouds were at a minimal and I should have gone out this morning when thee were lots of clouds to catch and reflect the color. Anyway yesterday was good if not great and I love to watch the day begin. Signing off KO

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED AND THINGS I AM LEARNING OR NEED TO LEARN

Since the Senor and I have been coming to Zihuatanejo for several years we begin to think we know the lay of the land, much of the customs and culture, and many friends and acquaintances. We know when to greet someone with Buenos Dias, Buenos Tardes and when it changes to Buenos Noches. I am steadily improving my pronunciation, but am far from skilled. But every day we learn more.

Casa del Mar where we call home in Zihuatanejo

We know a smile is always returned, I know if I get confused on money at the Mercado and hold out a hand full of change they will take exactly what they have charged and no more. We have learned our way around the Commercial and no longer have to hunt for specific items. We have learned that we can buy almost anything we do at home here, but not red and white peppermint candies, and no “jimmy Dean” type sausage.

We know where our Doctor is and can find a Dentist we like, and an optician. We know where many of the popular

Fishing boats and pier in the background

restaurants are, and which are our favorites.

We have learned that we do not want dinner until after dark, 7 has become our dinner time as it has cooled down to perfect. We know we prefer to eat breakfast and dinner outside. We have learned to walk slowly as there is no need to hurry as we might miss something like a beautiful flower that only blooms at night

We know where to get our pedicures and manicures, we have learned what the price of a taxi to different locations is. We have learned that taxi drivers aren’t tipped. We have learned where to hail a taxi (anywhere you see one). We have learned to state the location we are going and the price we are willing to pay before we get in the cab. If they say no and give a different price we know it’s our choice to send him on his way, negotiate further or accept it, get in and pay his price.

We have learned to ride the bus when possible over a taxi as it is only 10 pesos or less to most places. We also know walking is a great way to get around too. We have learned the value of a siesta each day.

We know that you can’t count on any business being open between 2 and 5. Most nearly anything is negotiable, and in some locations you have spoiled the fun of the sale if you don’t haggle a little. We’ve learned the first sale of the day is considered lucky as is the last and some say you might be able to swing the best deal then.

We know the streets will be swept each morning by a person, not a machine, and the beach will be raked just after sun up. We know everyone works hard in Mexico as most work is done by hand. We know Mexican time is approximate, we have learned that manana doesn’t necessarily mean tomorrow, it just means not today. Few

Fruit, veggies and eggs bought at the mercado

Mexicans smoke, and family and extended family are very important.

Everyone seems to have a cell phone, but not teenagers. Mexican people text because it is part of the plan, voice calls are expensive and are billed to the caller only. So you never ask a Mexican friend to call you. You make the call to them.

We have learned to love Zihuatanejo, with its quirks, differences and sameness. Signing off KO

SUNSET AT THE CATALINA

The senor and I took one of our certificates we won at the Sailfest Auction to the Catalina Hotel, now called the Catalina Beach Resort. Our plan was

the sunset. We arrived to early, about 5:30 so we went to the bar for a drink before ordering dinner. That was a mistake, don’t order your drinks until happy hour 2×1 starts as the drinks are the most expensive we have had in Mexico. But that was the only mistake of the evening. The Catalina is beautiful, both the dinning terrace and the Sunset Bar terrace For dinner we shared a huachinango, red snapper the Senor had a tomato Salad and I had my favorite soup, Cream of Avacado, which is served cold. We had a bottle of white wine and following dinner we headed down to the bar terrace to enjoy the sunset with the bottle of wine. There we ran into two groups of friends who were also enjoying the sunset. This is a great place to enjoy the sunset during happy hour 6-8.

On my morning walk I was hoping to photograph the sun rise, but by the time I got to the beach it was too late, so I opted for some of the beautiful flowers and plants that you see everywhere. My little net book is giving me fits. It is simply not co operating, I’m regularly getting messages about “not responding due to long running scripts” and google keeps saying “something’s not right here “Yea I know something isn’t right because I can’t get google to respond. today it wouldn’t let me caption some od the pictures or place them where I wanted. It will need an overhaul when I get home. But I must admit I’m beginning to think tablet. Signing off KO

Valentines day in Mexico is huge. It’s never been a big deal in my life, just another day, but here every store adds a complete selection of valentine gifts, the balloon seller are out in force, and the restaurants offer specials. The Senor and I went out for dinner, not so much as it was valentines day as Jimi Mamou was playing at Daniels and they have good steaks.

They were so busy that it took an exceptionally long time to get our food, but Jimi was great as usual and fun to dance to. Half the town turned out for the valentines celebration at the zocolo where they turned the basketball court into a stage and

Usually it is the ladies that take off their shoes to dance

a dance floor with some very good Mexican musicians and singers.

Saturday morning I convinced the Senor to go with me to the Eco Tianguis street bazaar. I should have known better, I’ll leave him at home next time. His idea was to walk through it as quickly as possible with a been there done that attitude. I made him stop long enough for me to buy an “energy ball” treat and a pair of earrings made of recycled plastic and paused a moment to watch the circle dancing then we were out of there and headed for breakfast where we heard the shrill whistle of the knife sharpener.

Following my noon nail appointment to repair the cracked nail from my last fall I headed out to the Commercial for a few supplies. We’ve been here long enough that I’m completely comfortable navigating town on my own, even thought my Spanish is quite limited, I can tell taxi drivers where I want to go, ask for directions, make purchases with out the money totally confusing me. I’ve been to the fabric store a couple of times and bought fabric in the metric system, but there are no patterns in the store. I wonder if there is a store here that just sells patterns?

The senor with a lady in a dress made completely of candy wrappers

The Senor has become tired of the twice weekly serenades by the young Mexican musicians. It amuses me that he complains they play the same thing over and over again, so where do we go for the evening Eloina’s to hear Steve and Allan play oldies but goodies, granted their repertoire is considerably larger but it amuses me. Signing off KO

PATZCUARO AND LAKE PATZCUARO

The Senor and I head out for Lake Patzcuaro this morning following the advice of our desk clerk that you needed to take a bus to Patzcuaro. She was wrong. We flagged a cab right outside our hotel, said bus station and that we were headed to Patzcuaro. Taxi driver said he would take us to Patzcuaro for $300 pesos and it would be ” mucho rapido”. All this was done in Spanish as we have yet to find an English speaking person in Uruapan. Patzcuaro is about an hours drive out of Uruapan through beautiful countryside of avocado trees and pine trees. We brought our sweat jackets as it about 7,000 ft elevation but we never needed them. We arrived at the beautiful and ancient Zocolo in Patzcuaro and wondered why

originally a church, now cultural center

the hell we didn’t by pass Uruapan and go straight to a hotel in Patzcuaro and just take a day trip back to see the National Park. We have not enjoyed Uraupan, we have yet to see a restaurant or a bar, just little places similar to the fondas at the Mercado, most with no place to sit or at best a hard bench.

Patzcuaro is an ancient but beautiful city with a lovely square zocolo surrounded on all 4 sides with shops, small restaurants and hotels. Also many side walk booths displaying a huge variety of crafts. As we arrived hungry we found a nice restaurant for breakfast and then set out to explore the area. the streets and sidewalks are the original cobblestones from the 15th century and of course make walking a challenge for a klutz like me. I tripped on a hole full of water and went sprawling, skinned both my knees, cut my hand and my lip, and cracked a finger nail, but didn’t break my glasses or my camera. Since over the years I’ve come up with a couple of “mersa” type infections and with an artificial joint one has to be careful to avoid infections so the Senor bought peroxide and we cleaned everything well. At least no broken bones. It wasn’t the last time I tripped that day, but I hung on pretty tight to the more sure footed Senor the rest of the day.

Just off the square we wandered into what only could be called and old world bazaar that went on for blocks and periodically branched off on to side alleys. I’m sure you could wander for hours and never see it all. Absolutely huge, with food, clothing house wares, beauty products and of course bakery items. Back at the square I located a hotel we utilize on our next trip to Patzcuaro Hotel Parroquia.

We then took a taxi to “La lancha” about 2 miles across town to catch the launch to the island of Janitizo in the middle of Lake Patzcuaro. My next trip there I will know more about it’s history as there is no literature in English to be found. At the top of this hill island is an enormous statue of someone and it’s embarrassing not to know who it was of. But like lemmings we followed the crowd off the boat and headed up the stairs to the town. No roads, no sidewalks just rough cobble stone stairs clear to the top. The stairs are never more than 10 feet in width and 4 feet in other places with open sided shops and restaurants on both sides all hawking an interesting variety of wares and foods. At the top it is flat with restaurants and bars and a children’s play ground and stairs to the monument.

The monument with out me, the Senor couldn't find me — The monument with out me, the Senor couldn’t find me

I climbed the stairs so the Senor could take my picture at the monument, but then I had to have him come rescue me as the stairs were steep with no railing.

crunchy little fish you ead head and all

On our decent down we picked up a couple of trinkets and gifts, then stopped to eat a restaurant so that I could get some of the little tiny crunchy fish they were selling every where. Of course it was served with sides of rice, beets, lettuce, tomato and cucumber. I couldn’t even finish all the crunchy little fish which was too bad as they were very tasty.

I think these nets are refered to qas butterfly nets

The fishermen in this lake fish with large dip nets and I’m quite sure the little crunchy fish come from the lake. The lake appears to be fairly shallow and at the boat launch area it is full of some type of water lily which appears to be trying to take over one end of the lake. The lake is quite large with several villages around it. We consider this our “recon” trip and plan to return next year as we saw a whole street of woodworking and furniture shops we didn’t have time to take in and have learned of an interesting guided tour of several of the villages around the lake where each village specializes in a different craft or skill. I obviously failed to do adequate home work before this trip next year I will be more knowledgeable. We return home to Zihuatanejo in the morning and are looking forward to our return. Signing off KO

NATIONAL PARK JUST STEPS FROM URUAPAN

Note the trailer loaded with at least 12 cages of puppies. Even the Federales couldn't resist cute puppies. — Note the trailer loaded with at least 12 cages of puppies. Even the Federales couldn’t resist cute puppies.

The bus ride here is a very pleasant 4 hour trip. The bus is air-conditioned to the point of needing a sweater or jacket. We had carefully checked out the day and night temps here before we left and brought our nylon sweat suits. Hope we will be warm enough this evening. Day time is 79 and nights are low of 56 so coming from 89 degree days and 70 degree nights, it’s cool here. Upon leaving the bus depot we hailed a cab and asked to go to the Zocolo, just like guide books and friends recommend. He looked at me like I had suggested a trip to mars. We next gave him the name of a hotel recommended, Hotel Alameda, he then requested we write it down. I hope he was hard of hearing as I know I pronounced the hotel right. He didn’t give us a great feeling of confidence as we started off hopefully for where we asked. Uruapan is a much larger city than I anticipated, but we reached our destination, got our room and all is well. Hotel comfortable, clean, good, but dated. We will miss our 1/2 acre bed back in Zihuatanejo.

We set out to explore the Zocolo and find a place for lunch. This part of town has myriad of stores, small stores, many wedding stores, a large market with tons of little stalls, but no what we would call restaurants that we saw. We did see many tiny restaurants and finally found one that advertised albondigas which we both like. Once inside it was long and narrow with tile walls and in came the loudest street singers I have ever heard. Couldn’t finish our order with the waitress until they left. The menu said they had Menudo which I like, but Greg if you are reading, this it sure isn’t like they serve at the Tienda in Bremerton. It was a thin broth with rice in the bottom. Should have had the albondigas. All that walking wore the Senor out so we went back to hotel for a siesta with plans to walk to the National Park in the morning.

After breakfast at the same café we had dinner we headed out to find the National Park. Street signs pointed the way and it was about a 10-15 minute walk up a steady incline through the oldest part of Uruapan, with interesting buildings and local shops.

The park is so beautiful it is magical. The Senor and I took over 50 pictures and didn’t delete a one. No mater where you look either waterfalls for plants, trees and flowers. I saw a poinsettia tree that was well over 6 ft tall with still a few red leaves. I will say no more about the park and just try to post a few pictures although the computer is really fighting me.

The Federales are here everywhere, there are at least 50-75 or more visible at all times around the zocolo. We walked behind one who carried a 9mm side arm, m16 rifle, and a m60 machine gun. But if you smile at them they will return your smile and I’ve even had one say Buenos Dias to me. We have noticed no bars and haven’t seen any real restaurants just cafes. Had to find a “Merza” to get a bottle of wine. Tomorrow Lake Patzcuaro.
Signing off KO

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