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.

NEW ADVENTURE AHEAD

Lazy August, not much happening around town, not much live music as many musicians still on vacation and and I am taking this time to get organized for my big seasonal trip, this time to Portugal and Spain. In September, I leave Zihuatanejo for an overnight in San Diego then the next morning at O dark 30 I go to Philadelphia and from there on to Lisbon, Portugal. Fortunately I have a friend in San Diego who will harbor me overnight and get me to the airport in the AM. Once in Portugal I will have 4 days, then meeting up with my small boat, (under 100 passengers,) and on to Seville, Cordoba, Tangiers, Gibraltar, Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia, Tarragona and ending in Barcelona, where I will spend an extra 3 days.

While I am in Lisbon I will be meeting up for dinner with a friend from Zihuatanejo who is also visiting in Lisbon. In Barcelona I will be staying with a couple I met in Zihuatanejo. I feel like quite the world traveler having friends in so many different countries.

I’m needing to get organized for this trip well in advance as the week before I leave my youngest son and his wife will be visiting me for a week and I will only have 1 day to actually pack. Now I realize that it only takes a few hours to put things in a suitcase, but it takes a bit of planning as to what it is you are going to put in that suitcase. And with weight limits, and liquid limits it takes a bit of planing and organizing. I try to take only the very essentials of personal care products in the smallest lightest weight containers. This I have learned through trial and error. I once traveled camping on the ferry boat with my backpack, carrying my sleeping bag, tent and clothes for a week and got the weight down to 18 lbs. I did that by weighing every item to discover which hairbrush weighed the least, weighed every item of makeup, clothes, shoes, jewelry, to keep it at a minimum, but still having the essentials. I’m also a list maker. I have my standard packing lists but they always need to be tweaked depending on destination and type of activities. And to top it all off I have to find where in this apartment with no storage space, cabinets or closets to speak of I have stashed stuff. Actually that has been the hardest part. But it’s all part of the adventure and with just one day to assemble everything that I will have to live with for 3 weeks my check lists will pay off.

During my recent trip to Morelia I was able to “field test” my new packable hat. Hats are the hardest things to bag and I’m going with only two, both you can roll up an put in your suitcase, but I do have a small supply of hatbands so I don’t feel like I’m quite so limited. I also learned on that trip to pack a small roll of duct tape. As both my sandal’s heel straps broke I was able to duct tape them back together and they lasted the rest of the week. Back home in Zihuatanejo my shoe man fixed them so they look like new for 150 pesos, ($7.77) They can now go to Europe instead of the garbage can.

I’m very excited to have my son Brian and his wife Nancy visiting. This is the first of my family to visit me. When asked what they want to do they say they just want to have a relaxing vacation. That should be easy enough to have happen as this time of year, not much excitement going on. The beach, a day at Playa Las Gatas, visit the Pyramid, eating, drinking, visiting and catching up. Should be a good visit. Signing off KO

INAPAM CARD

I’ve been hearing of the Senior Benefits card for years and know a couple of folks who have obtained theirs, and was told you get a good discount on traveling on the Luxury buses with this card, but I got a lot of conflicting information as to what was needed and where the office was located. So armed with a little info and directions on where to go I started on my quest.

To qualify for an INAPAM card you must be a legal Mexican resident. Which means you are either a Mexican citizen or the holder of either temporary or permanent residency and over 60 years of age. This card qualifies you for discounts at various businesses, museums, bus lines through out Mexico.

Some states are no longer issuing this card to temporary and permanent residents, only to Mexican citizens so my suggestion is if you are interested in obtaining this privilege apply as soon as possible as once you have the card it never expires, and it’s not guaranteed to always be offered. What you need as of May 2024 is:

A copy of your curp with a 2024 date on it. If you acquired yours before 2024 go online to FIND MY CURP, enter your CURP identifying numbers/letters and your Curp will appear with that days date on it and print it out. If you don’t have a printer, email it to one of the office stores, or computer places and they will print it for you.
A copy of your CFE bill or other bill showing you receive and pay bills at your current address.
COPY of your birth certificate
Copy of a family members Curp or copies of two friends Curp’s
Two pictures of you “infantile” size.

Bring all this to the INAPAM office which is a card table in the courtyard of FIBIZI located across the street from the Intercam Bank between 9-4. Do not expect them to speak English, so have a translating device or a Spanish speaking person with you to help with any questions. If you have all of the above in order you should be able to complete this in 2 visits. One to turn in all the information for them to process and a second visit to pick up your card.

Me on the other hand it took two and a half weeks and 4-5 visits to INAPAM and one to migration because I didn’t fully understand what was needed, and my Spanish is limited, (even though I am taking classes) But google translate can further complicate matters. When they gave me a list of what I needed to bring back to them they listed “child photo”. What me as a child? one of my children? No it was the size of the photo “infantile”.

I believe the office is staffed with volunteers as I saw different folks there every time I went. They were all very nice and tried to be helpful.

I hope this is of some help to anyone interested in this benefits card. I would be interested in hearing from folks as to where they have used there card for discounts

I hope this is of some help.

Signing off KO

Thoughts on being a minimalist

I’m a minimalist, well sort of. I have never been a “saver”, always quick to get rid of what I’m no longer using. And when you move 2373 miles away with just a few suitcases it gives you a good start on being a minimalist. Of course I was moving to an apartment that I had already spent several years equipping and only had to transport clothes and a few personal belongings.

But once here in Zihuatanejo I have pared down my life to what I consider the necessities for my life style. My kitchen cupboards only houses dishes and glasses enough for 4 as that is the maximum I could possibly host. I cook very little and have no need of kitchen gadgets and fancy single purpose pots and pans. And likewise for supplies, I don’t stock up as I don’t have storage room for stuff I might rarely need.

I read a lot, but now I prefer reading on my kindle. It took me a while to get to that point, but a pile of books which once was a treasure is just dusty clutter to me now. And I love the dictionary feature that my kindle offers, with a touch I can learn the correct meaning and pronunciation of a word I’m unsure of and all my books past present and future are in one small spot. No more dusty book shelves!

I have certain personal care items that I prefer so I have no need of a proliferation of lotions and potions.

Shoes?, well I’m forced into being a minimalist as they don’t sell my size in Mexico.

But clothes and jewelry are my down fall. I am limited only by the size of my closet which is decent size, not the 14 foot walk in with double racks I had back in Washington. Nor do I still have the free standing jewelry box. But I make do and do weed out items that I no longer wear due to condition or are so old I’m tired of them. And yes, I do have dresses that I have had for 15 plus years and am still wearing them. Spaghetti straps just never seem to go out of fashion in sun country.

I have a few necklaces I wear occasionally and same with bracelets, but earrings, well one can never have too many earrings or hats.

Signing off KO

The Cat and I

I’m fond of cats. Well that is a bit of an understatement. I really, really, really like cats. I find them funny, entertaining, and comforting, and enjoy the heck out of all the funny cat videos and cartoons. Most of my life I have owned a cat or two and once three. So when I discovered that the apartment I have in Zihuatanejo came with a contingent of “roof cats” I thought it just added to the charm. My neighbors disagree.

My first concern was where do they get water? So being a kind person I put out a bowl of water on the balcony, upsetting the neighbors as they wanted the cats all gone for a multitude of reasons, but mainly due to the normally fastidious toilet habits of cats. Roof cats can only rely on potted plants in balcony gardens. This upsets the gardeners as the plants do not fair well. And when all else fails they will resort to any place out of necessity, steps, stairwells or anyplace where they don’t linger long. It didn’t take me long to figure out, that crudely put “cats do not shit in their own nest” so I set out to befriend them with occasional food and water and protected my plants with some plastic forks and other pokey items placed in the pots and soon I had no cat toilet issues and a flourishing balcony garden.

Some morning I wake up to this outside my bedroom window with her wondering why the heck I am not up to feed her.

I became particularly fond of one small skinny black cat who soon became pregnant, and then became pregnant again and again. I decided I would attempt to tame her and make her a pampered pet. She would come into my apartment, prowl a bit and stretch out sleep on the floor. The tile was cool and the summer was hot and she became quite comfortable. I always said said she really liked my apartment, me, not so much. I eventually was able to trap her and get her spade. Which was another whole story I wrote about earlier

So now she comes in twice a day to be fed, she is healthy, plump with a shinny coat and is a bit resented by the rest of her roof mates. I can not afford to feed all the Zihuatanejo cats, which would happen as the word spread of free food. So selectively I chose one cat to make happy and healthy and hopefully will be returned with a little affection from the little beast. She still won’t let me touch her, such ingratitude!

Her roof mates are aware of her source of bounty and keep trying to push their way in and have just about destroyed my sliding screen door. The big male is truly pissed at me as she is no longer part of his harem and has showed his displeasure by spraying through the screen door. I would love to trap him and get him fixed.

Over the last few weeks my cat, Pearly May, has not wanted to leave as it becomes my bedtime. So one night I explained that if she needed to go out during the night she would have to yowl loud enough to wake me up and I would let her out. Woke up the next morning with the cat still in, opened the door for her and she still wasn’t ready to leave. I gave her her breakfast and about an hour later she left. So over the past few weeks we have had several sleep overs with no problems. But I did buy a cat pan and litter and she has trained herself.

She looked at the pan like “What the hell is this, but soon learned what it was for.

I would love to pet her and comb her silky fur, but she jumps like I pinched her every time I try. I began to think “I’m just her meal ticket” but then she started “petting me”. By that I mean she rubs up against my legs while I prepare her food or when ever I am standing in one place. I know she loves me and appreciates all that I have done for her. Still hoping she’ll become a lap cat some day.

Signing off KO

Goodby Season and Ecco Dying

It’s that time of year when the seasonal visitors are packing up and leaving for their home bases. It seems like just about every evening there is a “last supper” or a good bye party. A little bitter sweet as I will miss my many friends, but at the same time just like the change of any season there are things to look forward to. Un crowded beaches, no need for reservations at the more popular restaurants, more personal time, more time to read, and time to spend with folks you don’t see as much of during the high season.

I signed up for a workshop in “Ecco-dying” at Bara de Potosi, a lovely little Mexican village about 40 minutes from Zihuatanejo. It was my first venture into fabric art other than sewing. Our teacher Laurie had pre prepared fabric panels of natural fibers such as cotton and linen to be ready to accept the dyes made from extracts of plants. We each selected our first panel of fabric which varied in color from a very light beige to an almost brown, then laid a sheet of plastic down for a work space placing our fabric on it and began collecting various leaves and vines.

We artfully ? arranged the leaves and vines veined side down on the fabric and took another piece of fabric which we soaked in a dye of our choice laid it on top completely covering it and took a dowel and rolled it firmly to make sure the leaves were in direct contact with the fabric. Next we rolled the two pieces of fabric with the leaves sandwiched between tightly around the dowel and bound it tightly with strips of cloth, placed it in a pot to steam.

One hour later you get to see your results. The dye changes the background color, but also interacts with the tannins in the various leaves and vines selected to leave not only an imprint of the leaf but a variety of shades of color, some very dark others quite light. A very interesting process.

Dowels with tightly bound fabric and leaves

We each did 3 panels. This one might even become a wall hanging. It was a fun, interesting afternoon.

Signing off KO

A Very Busy But Fun February

As I turned the calendar page to March I noticed there wasn’t a blank day in February. Every day had something scheduled and some days more than one event. I love being busy and enjoy being out with my friends. I didn’t move to Mexico to just sit in my apartment.

Valentines Day is a very big deal In Mexico. The February full moon is called the moon of love and friendship. In celebration of this I did my first painting at our monthly Full Moon Fiesta. My painting style is definitely “Grandma Moses primitive”

Titled “A boy and a girl in a little canoe with the moon shinning all about“

February is Sailfest time where volunteers provide many activities to raise money to build schools for children in needy areas. Just a few of the activities are pictured below.

The local rotary sponsored a Paella Fest where we sampled many different paella entries.

I celebrated my 80th birthday at Tonio’s Porque No restaurant where my friend, chef and owner put on the best spaghetti feed and made the tastiest cakes for me a large group of my friends.

In between all these wonderful and fun events there are dinners and happy hours with friends.

We were excited to see Escollera with the lovely infinity pool reopen, it has always been a favorite spot.

Finished up the month with a trip to the street fair in Bara de Potosí spending the night at the charming Casa Del Encanto.

Signing off KO

YIKES! I’m going to be an Octogenerian

As my birthday approaches and I find myself entering into my 9th decade I thought it appropriate that I reflect back over the years and consider some of my accomplishments. But that just made me laugh. Other than raising 4 children into functioning adults, there really isn’t much to say.

My Family, the Kimball kids, Jeanette, Brian, April, Shawn

But I know the reason why, and I’m ok with it. It is because I’ve never been a “serious” person. I’ve always just wanted to have fun. I never took school very seriously and my grades reflected it. I quit my dance lessons early on as it cut into my play time, unlike my sister who continued to study dance and became a professional dancer. I was in my late 40’s before I got enough sense into my head to go back to college to get a bit of an education. I had been doing a lot of volunteer work and I figured out that I did have some skills I might capitalize on. And with an education I might earn a salary instead of always volunteering.

In my volunteer days I spent a lot of time organizing and directing day camps for Cub Scouts and Campfire Girls. (Again fun) I also ran the camp’s archery ranges. I was very proud of the fact that no wiggly little energetic child ever left my archery range without successfully learning the proper way to let an arrow fly straight enough to at least hit the hay-bale. Making kids feel good about themselves, accomplishment!

Most of my working careers were about helping people during tough parts of their life and I think I was good at what I did, so I will rate that as an accomplishment.

I quit smoking 50 years ago, and anyone who was ever addicted to tobacco understands that is a major accomplishment.

I also went from being morbidly obese in my 30’s and 40’s to maintaining a reasonably healthy weight for the last 30 years originally using the tool of weight loss surgery. I feel this is a good accomplishment.

But my really fond memories are about the fun in life, the little adventures and challenges you do, simply because you are alive and wish to be a participant in life. Folks who spend most of their leisure time watching TV aren’t participating in life, they are the watchers. Watching others live lives. And most of those lives aren’t even real.

I think I’ve been a participant most of my life and I am going to continue to be a participant as long as I can. Every day is a bit of a new adventure, but some adventures are just more noteworthy than others.
My bucket list is growing quite short now and my list of past adventures and challenges gets longer by the day.

PAST FUN ADVENTURES ALL DONE AFTER AGE 50

*White water river rafting twice
*Flew in a Glider Plane
*Parasailed in Mexico and Honolulu
*Learned to row crew in an 8 man scull.
*Kayaked across Puget Sound more than once
*Climbed Diamond Head in Hawaii
*Climbed Steamboat Rock on Banks Lake Eastern WA
*Did a shark cage dive in Hawaii
*Did a deep sea dive in Mexico (not my sport)
*Joined a tap dancing group
*Swam 3 times in the open ocean water swim“Sharkfest” from Majahua to Troncones
*Traveled to Europe 3 times
*Did an African Safari
*Backpacked on a ferry to Alaska pitching my tent on the aft deck
*Learned to downhill ski (not my sport)
*Walked from Zihuatanejo to Ixtapa distance 6 miles
*Flew in a hot air balloon
*Ice skated on my small lake [Probably wasn’t smart or safe, but fun]
*Sold everything I owned and moved to Mexico (BEST IDEA EVER)

BUCKET LIST

*Cruise on a big cruise ship
*See the Northern Lights
*Ride on a dog sled
*See polar bears up close and personal
*See more of Mexico
*See the Duckmaster at the Peabody Hotel

Signing off KO

Making an important correction

I made a serious error in my blog about Mexico City. I stated that the ruins were Mayan which is incorrect. The Aztec were the natives in and around the Mexico City area not the Mayans. Unfortunately I’ve been unable to change that in the original blog.

Off to Mexico City

Five of us flew to Mexico City to meet our tour coordinators Sandy and Vidal of Zanka Travelers. They had flown in the day before for medical appointments, They had arranged for our pick up at the airport and delivery to our hotel.

The pedestrian street our hotel was on. 3 blocks the other direction was the main Zocolo

Our first Mexico City Meal was at Sepia where we enjoyed a 6 or 7 course tasting menu. Even though it was small “tastes” it was still a huge amount of food followed with “tastes” of several fabulous deserts and great wine. This was prepared by a well renown chef who comes from our own little corner of the world, Barra de Potosi, just up the coast from Zihuatanejo. This was my first introduction into gourmet dinning.

Our chef

Our first full day of touring began with the short walk to the main Zocolo, or town square or park, where the presidential palace is located and this lovely ancient cathedral along with the ongoing excavation of Aztec temple ruins.

We toured the Presidential Palace which was full of Diego Rivera’s murals.

One of the sights and sounds of Mexico City is the organ grinders. I only donated to the ones that had a monkey.

Lunch was at this lovely place with beautiful stained glass windows

One of the major highlights of the trip for me was to visit the Diego Rivera museum. It contains only one mural. This 50 ft mural was rescued from a hotel that was damaged beyond repair in an earth quake. Entitled Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park, it depicts three principal eras of Mexican history, the conquest, the Porfiriato Dictatorship and the 1910 Revolution where we meet many prominent figures of the times. Absolutely magnificent!

Impossible to capture the entire 50 ft mural

One of our favorite meals was at a Lebanese restaurant where the food was generous, different, and very tasty. We had another great meal at a Spanish Tapa’s place where again the food was unbelievably interesting and good.

A hot air ballon ride has been on my bucket list for years, and what better way to do this than a ride over the pyramids. I must say this was the highlight of the trip for me. We boarded very early am into these lovely wicker baskets while they inflated the balloons and then we slowly rose up and floated over the landscape. We had excellent pilots as they guided us up the side of the Luna pyramid and just barely clearing the top. It was lovely ride and a very gentle landing, much smoother than an airplane landing.

I have a great video of the flight over the top of the Luna pyramid. Hopefully this site supports video. It’s my first attempt.

Followed by a champagne toast and a breakfast. What a ride!

One of my requests was to see the Freida Kahlo blue house and museum in the suburb of Coyoacán.

The gardens were exceptionally lovely, and the studio they painted in had great windows for light. Many artifacts of their 25 years of life there remain along with some of her wardrobe and the horrible wood back braces she wore.

The last of of our adventures was the boat ride on the last of the Mexico City water ways which were once many. These boats were a lot like “bumper boats” as the boats are large and powered by one man with a long pole and the canal is not very wide. So there is lots of jostling, singing, laughing and partying going on. It would be a fun day to pack a picnic and a jug of wine and float all afternoon. Since my birthday is soon approaching they managed to have the floating troubadours and mariachi band sing me a happy birthday song while floating on the canal.

So many wonderful adventures and sights that we would not have seen and enjoyed except for the excellent planning done by Sandy and Vidal of Zanka Travelers. They know of the best restaurants, the very best, most knowledgeable local guides. It was a wonderful trip, we know we only skimmed the surface and will need to make more return trips.

Highly recommend traveling with Zanka Travelers of Zihuatanejo for well planned highly knowledgeable trips. Signing off KO

SAYING GOOD BYE TO 2023 AND HELLO 2024

New Years starts off with a tremendous bang, actually many many bangs as Zihuatanejo bay is lit up with a beautiful fireworks display which is done from several different beaches.

But the best New Years Tradition we have started here is the tradition of a “Polar Bear Swim”. It is done in far more comfortable conditions than those in the northern climes, but not with any less enthusiasm.

As we ran into the water we all chanted “Polar Bear Swim, Polar Bear Swim”

We know we were the brave ones as 24 of us showed up for lunch, but only 7 of us were brave enough to go in in spite of the fact that the only thing cold was the Margaritas and beer. This was our 2nd annual Polar Bear Swim and we doubled the number of participants this year

It’s nice not have to concern myself with double checking to make sure I write the correct date on the checks I write at the beginning of the year. One less pesky task to deal with as I no longer hand write checks.

After a hot and humid summer the weather has turned delightful, perfect for enjoying the beaches and the out door restaurants.

My friend Tonio has opened his restaurant Tonio’s Porque No! and a group of us were invited to his soft opening, we wanted to go again the other night but he was booked full. Happy to know he’s off to a good start.

Tonio’s new restaurant in Daria Galina neighborhood

Signing off KO

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