SNOWBIRDING IN MEXICO – Page 3

It’s Sailfest and I’ve Been Busy

Super Bowl Sunday the men in our building planned to watch the game at Fireball a newer bar on Ejidio just 2 blocks from our apartment. It was chosen because of its wall projection TV, but also because it was new and maybe not so crowded. Well it was crowded, but they discovered the owner is a very congenial fellow from Minnesota and a nice new establishment. The ladies of Casa del Mar plus an additional friend choose to spend Super Bowl 50 at the beach restaurant Tata’s. It was Myra’s last day in Zihuatanejo and she wanted all the beach she could get. We had a great time visiting, eating and enjoying Mango Margaritas and Daiquiris.

That evening M-Dock band was doing a free concert at the Zocolo that was hugely attended.Since we could hear the music perfectly from our balcony I avoided the crowds and enjoyed it from home. The welcome party was the next evenings event with the Expressions Inmune providing the music.

This is the young Mexican band that started playing in the street, got their first “professional gig” with Sailfest several years ago and are now playing in many of the local restaurants. I did my third day selling T-shirts, concert tickets and such today. The live auction was tonight, but it has been a little too rich for my blood the last few years. And of course the Senor isn’t feeling up to going anywhere.

Took the Senor to the Doctor again today. Medical practice is certainly is different here. The doctor actually took his blood pressure instead of an assistant. This time the doctor prescribed a series of 3 cortisone B 12 and some pain medicine for his on going sciatica. So we went to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions, took 2 pharmacies to get both, then went to the pharmacy next door when the shot was administered and where he will return today and again tomorrow to complete the process. So far no fantastic results, but we are hopping. She mentioned that he should get another ct scan, but there is no ct machine in Zihuatanejo. I can’t remember where she said the closest one was.

That really surprised me. Actually I’ve been in Mexico long enough that very little truly surprises me, but so many thing I do shake my head in bewilderment. Signing off KO

Sunday Sweet Sunday, With Nothing To Do

That is nothing we have to do, I don’t swim on the weekends so we had a leisurely lovely breakfast on the balcony while listening to the church bells calling the faithful. Surprisingly this is the first time we have heard the bells. The Senor is always the breakfast cook and this morning he out did himself with this marvelous fruit bowl. It would be such a healthy breakfast if we hadn’t have stuffed ourselves.

Our morning entertainment was watching our pigeon take a bath in the neighbors water supply “tinaco”. This is a daily event that truly amuses me. But I have checked out the tinacos on our roof and know they are covered, no bathing birds there.

another sight that amuses me is a half block away on about the 3rd floor roof is what I believe is an old cement rooftop cistern that has taken on a new life as a swimming hole. Several times I have seen kids whooping and splashing in it.

So much of Mexico is interesting and no matter how frequently I see it it never ceases to amaze and amuse me. Almost every evening there will be a couple of restaurants roasting this cut of pork over an open fire and continuing to

slice little bits. Not being a meat eater I have no idea how it is served, and the Senor is not an adventurous eater this will remain “mystery meat” to us.

A day or so ago I noticed the sail boat the PATRICIA BELLE was anchored in the bay. She was hand built by the captain just a couple of

miles from our home in Washington. I had the opportunity to sail on her last Sail Fest and hope to do so again. She is one of the largest sailboats we see here. Signing off, KO

Living vs Vacationing

It’s so very different when you “vacation” in Mexico for a week or two compared to “living” in Mexico for 3 months. It’s taken us two weeks and at least 6 trips to the Telcel store to get two cheap Mexican cells phones operational so that we can communicate with each other. (We used to bring a pair of walkie talkies.) Unlike the US where all directions come in 14 different languages, here only one and it is not English.

Siestas are now to be enjoyed now, where in our vacationing timeline they were a waste of precious minutes that could be better used site seeing and shopping. I still love to poke around the stores, but now it’s a leisurely activity spread out over our entire time here.

We have a daily morning guest, our pigeon sleeps in our balcony planter and wakes during our breakfast. I’m sure our presence is an annoyance to her. At night we have a very small gecko that decorates the balcony wall or ceiling. The Senor talks to him in Gecko and gets answers back.

The weather has been a bit warmer and a little more humid than usual here according to the locals and the “year rounders”. As it rarely gets lower than 75 all night long, night life is quite lively here. We rarely eat before 7, no matter if it is on the balcony or in a restaurant. And the activity in the Zocolo, which is just a block away goes on many times until midnight, especially during the holiday season.

I took the bus to Puerto del Sol to make our New Years eve reservations, it was early and the cook was preparing a cake in the kitchen while her parrot kept her company. I walked back and as always I discovered many interesting sites along the way.

The Senor suggested breakfast out this morning so I took the bus back from my swim instead of walking as I normally do and on the bus was our favorite waiter from Las Gatas, Jose on his way to work with his handsome 16 year old son Felipe who was going to work with him that day. It was good to pry the Senor out of the room, we tried a new restaurant that served him two of the worst looking eggs I have ever seen. He tried to eat the yolk, the whites were too crisp to try, when suddenly the waiter reappeared with two marvelous looking eggs for the Senor. Nice service like that isn’t forgotten. I don’t know the name of the restaurant but they are at the corner of Vicente Guerrero and the unpronounceable Cuoctemoc or something similar.

After breakfast the plan was to find a white shirt for the Senor, no luck but I ended up the receiving end of our shopping trip getting a lovely silver turtle on a silver chain. With the exchange rate very favorable for the american dollar I’m starting my next years Christmas shopping next week. Singing off KO

Lazy Zihua Sunday

We had a nice dinner last night at the Italian restaurant just down the street, never can remember the name of it, but I get good fish there and OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA the Senor likes the spaghetti. The proprietress is very friendly and always remembers us and treats us like friends. Then on the Flophouse for drinks where we met old friends and made new ones, made plans for Ixtapa Island with Charlie and

Christina and turned in early which is becoming a regular plan as the Senor does tire out more readily now.

I’m an early riser, usually about 5:30 which is just before a couple of the bars in our neighborhood close. They are noisy with loud thumping music, but with the doors and windows closed and the air on they are only a

distant hum. Until I grab the computer and slip on to the balcony, then it gets very lively as the bars close and the young people spill out onto the street, motor scooters starting up, people laughing , yelling as if they were still yelling over the music a veritable feast of sounds. But this morning there was a different sound, anger. Lots of anger, this time people yelling at each other and several pushing and shoving at each other. I was happy to be three stories up and just a silent observer, but I’m wondering if real trouble is about to break out. Then slowly up the street walk two figures in camouflage riot gear holding shot guns and then two more arrive. The crowd didn’t disperse instantly, but with a half dozen more armed policia in the pickup truck at the foot of the street I thankfully knew it was over, and slowly they all went home just as the sun came up. Excitement all over.

The rest of the day was spent with errands to Waldo’s, and laundry. It takes about 2 hours for a load of laundry to wash and by the time you hang that load out your previous load has already dried and is ready to bring in. Takes up quite a bit of time, but not much work, easy enough.

The Senor has taken to watching the football games in our apartment instead of going out to the bars to watch it since we now get channel 13, 4,5 and 7 on cable. I know it’s better for him, but that used to be some of my best movie time. Oh well I can adjust. Signing off KO

DAY AT LA PLAYA

We decided we have been lazy long enough and decided to visit our favorite waiter Jose, at Gloria del Mar at Playa Las Gattas.

As we walked through town to the pier we stopped to admire the kittens at the local humane society. This little orange kitty struck me as truly a mexican cat, all relaxed out in his hamock. Since we left a little later than usual, and weren’t familiar with the new little pier set up that is being used while some sort of repairs are being attempted on the main pier, we hit a traffic jam. Incoming fishing boats off loading families with their catches took president over out going beach seekers. The Senor, always the efficiancy expert, still can’t quite relax and just say “It’s Mexico”!

Playa Las Gattas was busy and Jose told us it would get busier towards the

end of the week. Many Mexican nationals are here from the interior to enjoy the fresh air and warmth of the beach. A couple of drinks, swim a little, vist with folks around you, watch the sights and enjoy the beach sales people. I bought an ankle bracelet from Juanita, I have so much of her jewelry that I really don’t need any more. A short visit with we learned that she is sad as her mama has passed away and now it is just her and her sister.

I did get a nice pair of silver hoops from Jorge. It always amazes me that the silver sales men have a credit card machine with them. But for every one else its cash only and exact change. As no one ever can change a large bill. And all the ATM gives out are large bills. We start to hord our small bills and change because if you run out you are SOL. The cambio across the street from us will usually change a 500 once a day, but if I start going there everyday they soon tell me no, no change. Maybe that is why there are these huge line ups to go into the banks, folks just needing change. Signing Off KO

White crane seen from the "little pier" — Beautiful white crane greeted us on our return.

A LAZY ZIHUA DAY

We went to the movies in Zihuatanejo it’s just across the street from us. It is always an experience. First we have to determine if the movie we want to watch is in english and at what time it will play. If we plan it right we can go on the 2 for 1 night, but last night it was full price 40 pesos each. WE opted to see Navidad del Coopers, a light hearted funny movie with Diane Keaton and John Goodman. To get to the particular room it was showing in, it’s like climbing steps to a tower. Up is not so bad, but down is a bit scary especially in the dark.

I didn’t sleep to good last night, have a joint on one finger that is plaging me and my “good knee” is sore and stiff. That shouldn’t happen in this lovely weather. I still walk all over town and find lots of pretty flowers over hanging the sidewalks

Walked out to the pool this morning and was informed that since I am over 60 I do not have to pay to swim, one of the grounds keepers with passable english informed me. He says the lady has just been pocketing my 20 pesos each day. I got there a little earlier than usual and the water seemed cold, I never quite warmed up. With the new cover on the pool the water is considerable cooler in the morning. Tomorrow I will not pay!

Bought a mexican phone today, but neither Doyle or I can figure out how to make them work. We never had this problem before. I’ll go back to tel cell for instructions tomorrow. Unlike everything in the US that comes with directions in a half dozen different languages, here it is strictly spanish.

With my achy bones and joints I’ve been pretty lazy to day opting to take advantage of the mexican custom of siesta. While the Senor has his TV I have my computer,my kindle and a whole passel of movies my daughter put on a hard drive for me so it’s been real easy to be lazy. Maybe tomorrow I’ll get ambitious. Signing off KO

LAUNDRY AND A NIGHT ON THE TOWN

The Senor decided we (he) needed some V8 juice and we were out of eggs. There is only one store in Zihuatanejo that carries V8, The Bodega. It’s about a 1/2 half mile from the pool where I swim. Since it was Saturday and I don’t swim on weekends I thought I would just walk up there as it was still early morning. It was a pleasant walk and like all shopping trips you go for one thing and come back with 4 bags full. So of course on the return trip I took a cab.

We have a leisurely breakfast on the balcony and I decide to do our laundry in house instead of the Senor taking it to the laundry as we have always done previouly.But last year there were some issues. I said I would do the laundry which is normally the Senor’s area of expertise. The roof top washer fills at a drip drip rate so to help it along I filled big buckets of water to add to the machine and it started to wash. Of course the rinse cycle is again at drip drip rate, but I went and took a nap and when I work up the clothes were washed and I hung them to dry, starting the second load the same way. Fixed and ate lunch and the first load was dry and ready to hang the second load. Watched some TV and went and retrived the second load from the line all except our big towels they needed another half hour. I find if you hang things nice and tight on the line they look as good as if freshly pressed. The laundromat folds and packages your clothes so everything ends up with fold marks.

We have been taking it quite slow for the most part but we decide to go out for dinner at Daniels. The Senor never seems to learn that he will always be disapointed by his steak. Beef here in Mexico just isn’t what we are used to. On the other hand you can’t go wrong with fish, it is what they do here.

20141231_173641 From there we strolled, watch a sand artist at work, found a nice street dog to give meat scraps to and at a small kids arcade a birthday party was in full swing, litterly. The pinata was about to be hung, hit with sticks,

Birthday party

Birthday boy blindfolded with a stick, should have done video

broken and candy and small trinkets scrambled for among the shrikes as a half dozen young boys.

20141231_202037 — Jimi with a friend joining in

A couple of drinks at Zorro’s and on to the Barracruda to catch the great Jimi Mamou and renew old friendships. Agreat night on the town, Zihua style. Signing off KO

Getting Organized

We seem to be slow to get our selves organized this year. We’ve all ready made 2 trips to the Comercial making sure we have enough items to fully prepare a meal, at least 2 to Waldo’s,(mexican equivelent of a dollar store) and several to the ATM to amass 24,000 pesos to pay our rent for the season. I’m still having a period of adjustment with the peso system, I’ll get better as time goes on. On this morning’s trip to the ATM the line was reasonable, only about 15-20 people, but while waiting we notice a little dog laying right in front of the door to the ATM. He would lift his head

20141231_162010 — Pup catching a breeze from air-conditioned doorway

every time the ATM door opened, at first I thought he was wary of being stepped on, but no he was just catching the air conditioned breeze that comes out every time the ATM door is opened. Very smart pup!

I have spent much of the last two days trying to get my new smart phone up and running here only to find out my phone isn’t international compatable. My old phone was, all I had to do was put in a mexican chip. So now I have no app for translations and or a money calculator to carry with me. Bummer! The only thing the phone will do is take pictures and then I can transfer them to the computer.

I’ve been walking to the swimming pool each morning and I’ve decided to walk back also. That old song “keep on the sunny side of the street” does not play well here. You learn quickly to always take the shady side which caused me today to see some wild life, well more like barnyard life. At an old dilapidated building that looks like it could have been a new car show room at some time in the didtant past minus all the glass and a parking

lot gone to weeds I spotted a small flock of big turkeys with tailsfanned out and on closer look there were also 2 goats. Then I saw a dad in a hammock with a toddler on his chest along with a few old broken downown cars and assorted other castaway junk it looks like this family has found a way to subsist. I just wonder if those turkeys will still be there after the Christmas holiday!

Yesterday in order to absolve some of the frustrations over getting phone service setup I decided to take my computer to the beach and start on this blog, but better yet ran into a group of old friends and sat with them over a couple of mango margaritas and visited and caught up a bit.

Once again we ate in on our balcony, Doyle taking it very easy after one night of over doing it. I’m learning to be more accepting of his need to rest and relax. It’s helpfull that this year the TV has 3 Seattle stations and FOX news to which he is addicted. Signing off KO

PS still can’t find spell check

WE’RE BACK AND NOW ON LINE

We arrived Monday evening to sunny skies and 87 degree weather. So happy to be out of the rain. Breezed through customs, caught a cab and we were back at our home away from home. Got settled in, unpacked then out to dinner on the Malecon and night caps at our favorite watering hole, the Flophouse Bar.

Tuesday morning I set about getting the computers up and running, and started my blog, but no luck, it would not save and then cut me off Completly, could not stay on line for more than a minute or two before it went away. Very frustrating since the Senor relies on one of the computers for his TV habit being streamed from home.

We did discover that our TV now gets 3 of the Seattle stations and Fox news. That saved a lot of frustration for him, but he still couldn’t get some stations he wanted. Brought the subject up to Arturo the building owner, he checked out the internet connections and found all was well. He then called a “techie” friend who came over and fixed both computers for 200 pesos about 25 bucks.

I did a quick run to the Comercial (Mexico’s version of a super market) yesterday to get a few basics provisions to last a day or two and then this morning after my morning swim at the community pool I did the frut and veggie run to the “mercado”. I love shopping the Mercado, it is just such a sensory over load. Busy, noisy people, bright colorfull fruits and veggies and spices and cheese and yellow chickens and loud Mexican music.

Colorfull flags

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Christmas is starting to be seen around town, you could get a green, and surpriseingly fresh tree at the comercial today, the pointsetia and pinata markes are in full swing at the Kyoto Circle.Hopefully I’ll get there tomorrow. Our street is colorful with lights and bright flags. We strung solar lights along our balcony so we too look festive. Signing off KO

PS Please forgive any typo’s or misspellings as I can’t find the spell check on

TIME IS GETTING SHORT

Had a wonderful day at the beach with friends new and old. Because some in our group have difficulties boarding the pangas from the pier,

Juan our friend and proprietor of Paradiso Escondido on Ixtapa Island offered to transport us out to Playa Linda where we would board his boat from the beach. It is much easier to board a beached boat than a bobbing one. But first a stop at the “cocodrillo preserve” to see the crocks and iguanas.

At the island we ate, we drank , we swam, shopped with the silver salesman, visited and had a great time, closed up the Island, literally we were the last folks off the island all the ferry pangas were all finished for the day. Once again Juan brought us back clear to the beach.

We are on our last few days of being in Zihutanejo. We used our last sail fest certificate for lunch at Arenas on La Ropa. We liked Arenas, nice tables under palapas, and not crowded together. hopefully a few more evenings at the Flophouse, and the difficult task of sorting and packing up. We are fortunate to be able to store some things here, but don’t need to overdo it.

We have shopped very, little while here, a beautiful fruit basket and fabric for new curtains for the RV, (fabric is so inexpensive here) and a couple of items of clothing for each of us is it. So no worries about over weight suit cases.

This year it feels ok to return home, 3 months is just the right amount of time. We will miss our many friends we’ve made here, but we will see them again when we return in December. We are now making the lists of what we should have brought and what we shouldn’t have what we plan to store and what we will pitch.

signing off KO

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Our morning entertainment was watching our pigeon take a bath in the neighbors water supply “tinaco”. This is a daily event that truly amuses me. But I have checked out the tinacos on our roof and know they are covered, no bathing birds there.

another sight that amuses me is a half block away on about the 3rd floor roof is what I believe is an old cement rooftop cistern that has taken on a new life as a swimming hole. Several times I have seen kids whooping and splashing in it.

So much of Mexico is interesting and no matter how frequently I see it it never ceases to amaze and amuse me. Almost every evening there will be a couple of restaurants roasting this cut of pork over an open fire and continuing to

slice little bits. Not being a meat eater I have no idea how it is served, and the Senor is not an adventurous eater this will remain “mystery meat” to us.

A day or so ago I noticed the sail boat the PATRICIA BELLE was anchored in the bay. She was hand built by the captain just a couple of

miles from our home in Washington. I had the opportunity to sail on her last Sail Fest and hope to do so again. She is one of the largest sailboats we see here. Signing off, KO

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