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It’s been a while since I’ve written.  We have been busy and then for the second year in a row here I have been struck with something that makes me sleepy.  Over the last two weeks I have had each week a day where I have slept around the clock. Normally I’m alight sleeper 5-6 hours a night at best, then on day I wake up sleepy and just want to go back to bed and sleep/  So I do. But fortunately that has only occupied a couple of days.

We had a great day out at Ixtapa Island, our friend Juan has a beach side palapa restaurant where Tina greeted us like it was yesterday that we were there. We swam, ate drank, feed the small deer (venado) by hand and of course the rabbits, one took such a liking to me he camped out under by beach chair. It worried me they called the deer venado, that is the spanish word for venison not deer, but then I learned they were all named and felt better

Another lovely day was a ladies day at Escollera, one of our favorite spots as they have an infinity pool to swim in with a gorgeous view of the bay and Zihuatanejo high up on the hill. There is a number of single women who live here year round and a larger number who live here seasonally. They have given up the frozen north were their whole social life would consist of the TV and occasional lunch dates with friends to join an active vibrant group of women who love life and want to experience everything.  These are the smart ladies who have chosen not to wallow in sorrow over widowhood or suffer from a divorce but get out and

enjoy life to it’s fullest.  It’s not just singles, several  are married , this smart, funny, vibrant group of women just want to get the most out of retired life.  I very much admire them very much and am thankful to be a part of them.

I’ve enrolled in a twice a week spanish class, the class is good, my progress is slow as I don’t study enough, but still I am learning.  There are some sounds that I simply can’t wrap my tongue round.  It is all conducted in Spanish, next  Tuesday we are meeting at a restaurant for breakfast.

We’ve adopted a laundry routine of having them do the sheets and towels and anything we don’t worry about being ruined and I do one load in the washer and bring it home to hang on hangers on our back porch clothesline.  Works quite well laundry costs about $150 pesos a week just under $7.50

We find we are quite entertained by simple things, the Senor commented look at this big dump truck coming up the street, it takes up the whole street. and with that the truck stopped almost in front of our balcony,  And with only one forward pull to the left proceeded to get that hulking truck angled perfectly to back down our alley all that with cars parked on both sides of the street.  The top of the truck was just inches under the corner of our balcony and slipped down the alley with just inches on each side. We were amazed and impressed.  I have son and a grandson who drive trucks and I know they get into tight spaces, I wonder if they ever are this tight.  Signing off KO

And in no special order! My friend Faye and I were walking back from the pool when we saw a man picking some seed pods from a bush in a vacant lot.Fay thought that it might be tamarindo and asked the man if it was. ( Her spanish is considerable better than mine) He brought us the seed pods, stripped one of them down to show the seed and offered us one after eating one himself to show they were edible all the while explaining to us in rapid fire spanish what they were. So we tried it, tasted about like any seed.  We have no idea what he said, but I’m calling it my first real “mexican

 

street  food” experience.

One of the things I love about Mexico is how helpfull and gracious the Mexican people are.  As I was walking to my first Spanish class last week I noticed ths old tree was tied up so cars could pass under it and in noticing how it was tied up I noticed the pretty little flowers that were starting to bloom.

The lady came out from the hose to tell me the name of the flower ( and probably the whole history of the tree) she pointed to her elbow and said cudo then said what sounded like fraley so I guess its name is cudofraley.

I frequently am pulling a small rolling cart behind me on my trips to the market or the laundry and if I encounter a curb that is high there is always someone who thinks I need help and will lift the cart up for me.  Truth is my cart is one of those “up carts” and I can haul it up any flight of stairs but I graciously accept the help as it was offered in kindness.  On a crowded bus, some one will get up and offer me a seat.  I’ve decided being old in Mexico is almost as good as being young and pretty.

On my last trip to the pool I noticed in the median of the main drag the edges of the raised planting area has been painted black and then a design painted on it

.  It was only partly complete which leaves me to wonder if this is a civic improvement job or a night-time tagger,  Either way I don’t care I just think it is pretty and hope they finish what has been started.

I read on the local on-line message board that the selling of fireworks is now illegal.  Yet I’ve seen two or three of these booths set up very publically, and in very close proximity to other vendors and no one seems to care.  But it’s nice they post the signs not to smoke.

We visited the Kyoto Circle today to pick out our poinsettia, 2 large size for the casa and 2 large size for out balcony and a lovely green frondy type plant all for about $23.

This is Erica, she is 8 and the daughter of the young woman who cleans our apartment and is a friend.  We have been happy to do our little part in helping with her education.  Signing off KO

Today was my first day in my new Spanish class.Previously I’ve taken Spanish classes at OC and can do restaurant menus, read signs, ask very basic questions and keep from getting us lost.  But that is about it.  When I went to sign up, Diego, the very handsome young man who runs the school gave me some sentences to put into Spanish verbally and decide I what level I was at,  Obviously very basic and I was assigned the teacher Diliann.  My friend Faye and I are starting this project together, but she will advance quicker than I as she has a much larger vocabulary.  We thought we would be in the class room practicing by asking each other questions, but no we were taken out in the public inflicting our attempt at spanish on unsuspecting locals. Following our teachers demonstration, each of us had to stop someone along the way and ask for the directions to the market.  With out fail everyone we spoke with stopped and cheerfully gave us directions. The mexican people are very open and generous  even with their time. Once  at the market we were then to ask what this and that were using the proper form of this and that.  Picked up some new vocabulary and gained the tiniest bit of confidence in talking in spanish to locals.

Our afternoon plans were to go to the beach,.

We are on our 3rd week and have been so busy shopping and getting organized we needed to take some fun time.  Our beach of preference is Las Gattas which we get to by water taxi crossing to the other side of Zihuatanejo Bay.  Our favorite waiter Jose spotted us coming and waved us in 1/2 way down the beach.  It was an overcast day so moving an umbrella around to shade us wasn’t important today, but he is always attentive to our needs, shares his knowledge with us and has become a good friend.

Soon Juanita joined us selling her unique jewelry and telling us of how her baby boy Oskar is now almost two.  I have been buying her jewelry for 16 years. Then Jorge, our favorite silver salesman, comes by and we make a couple of purchases. I love going to the beach where the stores come to you while you sip a margarita with your toes in the sand.  I don’t think life can get much better. Signing off KO

The Senor and I have been coming to Zihuatanejo for about 16 years.  It started with 1 week, the 2 weeks then 3 and now we are here for 5 months.  But now we are full-time renters we have been able to make our apartment our own.  The kitchen is complete both with cooking equipment enough to do a Thanksgiving turkey dinner to share with friends and properly decorated with new curtains giving it the look I was after. It’s a good workable kitchen, but definitely a one butt kitchen.

Today was laundry day.  Previously we had a washer on the roof top and i would do the laundry at night after it cooled off, hang it all on the line and it would be dry by 10 am the next morning.  This year we are using the local laundaria.  We have used them before but have had a few issues.  And of course this year my new bright orange pants came back an odd shade of rose as did my formerly coral top.  Can’t fully place the blame there as the Senor did have a new raspberry shirt in the wash.  Anyway decided we would only send sheets, towels, etc to them and I would use one of the machines to do our clothing and hang it up on a pole in our bathroom to dry.  So for about 140 pesos (6.79) we have a weeks laundry. But it much slower drying in our shower than with the wind blower though it on the roof top.

New curtains in the bathroom are the finishing touch there,  now I need to tackle the living room curtains.  A tad more challenging as I should probably line them to avoid the sun bleaching them. Right now we get no direct sun on our apartment but come summer the sun will hit the balcony door.  Our apartment is so situated that we get a breeze from the bay that flows from our back door through the apartment and out the balcony slider.  To date we have not turned on the aire conditioner once.  And needless to say both doors are always open to keep us cool.

Garbage pickup here is interesting!  We put out our garbage sack outside our door each night, our landlord takes it to the alley and it is picked up about 2AM each day.  We are fortunate our landlord is fastidious about the garbage and where the garbage is placed each nite is washed each day.  Quite different from previous years.  Signing off KO

 

Everything in Zihuatanejo seems brighter, the colors are more vivid and  that is so evident in their parades.  And they do love to parade! November 20th celebrates the 1910 Mexican Revolution of which Emelio Zapata was the big hero.  We are fortunate to live on the parade route so that we could sit on our balcony and view the entire parade, all 4 hours of it.  I believe every child enrolled in a school took part in it and a good number of adults.  The Senor kept saying “these kids can’t all live here, they must come from other places”. The costumes were bright and colorful, the marching bands were loud and colorful, the boom boxes were blaring music loud and the kids were cute, charming, talented and having a good time.  At times in front of our building there would be two different bands and a third group dancing and performing to a boom box

 

Today is Thanksgiving.  There are several restaurants that make a good attempt to do the meal justice. But the Senor said this year he is cooking a turkey so he can have it his way.  He shipped down an electric  roasted/oven just for this day at a cost that would have had us eating out for a whole month, but he got it here.  We have learned that it better come on the plane with us or purchase it when we get here, if it can be found.

Getting this meal together is a  bit interesting as we have never used this oven before,  all we have is a 4 burner gas cook top.  Our fridge is miniscule compared to what we have at home and it is packed to the gills with a small “pavo” in it defrosting. And it is difficult to find the seasoning I wanted for the dressing, no whipping cream or cool whip for the fruit salad and for the first time in my entire life I have bought  a pumpkin pie.  Making pumpkin pies from scratch has always been my speciality. We invited friends Faye and Paul for dinner for a “simple Thanksgiving”, being Canadian they have already had their Thanksgiving but were willing to celebrate with us as we are all thankful to be able to travel and enjoy the wonderful warmth, sights and sounds of this loud and colorful country.

surprisingly enough dinner turned out quite well, even though there was quite a bit of improvising in getting it prepared. The turkey was excellent, the dressing so so but we

had potatoes and gravy. posh squash, a two salads, along with the  fruit salad and pumpkin pie  No one went hungry and it was a very pleasant evening,  Signing off KO

It was Friday night in Zihua and we were ready for a night out.  It was a night with a lot going on.  There was the beer festival at the museum, The opening of Coconuts Restaurant for the season, and it was opening night for our friend Jimmy Mamou at Daniels.  We did 2 out of 3.  The Senor is not big on craft beers, and I’m not a beer drinker at all so we started our evening at Coconuts for happy hour.  Coconuts is one of the oldest restaurants in Zihuatanejo and their happy hours are legendary with good prices and small plates that are just enough for us lite eaters.  The Senor had buffalo wings and I the fish and chips.  It was a little chaotic as Coconuts has lost one of their key employees, but the food was good and the price excellent. Then on to listen to some blues and rock and roll.

Jimmy Mamou is amazing, at 80 he puts on the same  great show, gets everybody up and dancing, feeling like we are kids again.

Saturday brings on more errands but not before a trip to the Ecco Tianguis, commonly called the Saturday morning market.  It is just down at the end of our alley, where the food is organic or home-made or both, the jewelry is made from recycled or natural items.  Home made and recycled is what it is all about.  I have earring made from CD’s and bracelets made from seeds.  A great place to pick up unique gifts.

Next stop is the fabric store to pick up thread, scissors and other notions so I can get down to some serious curtain sewing. Following that it is to the carpenteria for the new top to our TV stand so the Senior can serial watch his new 43 inch TV, Then to the key shop for an extra key, the hardware store for 2 screws (cost of 1 peso) and a couple of items at the enlarge Merza grocery store. It seems to me they now just  have more of the same stuff  including employees who are stocking items in every aisle making progress through the store difficult.  Mexico has not yet heard of night shift stockers!

Around town there is always interesting sights. I watched an electrician ( at least I hope he was) hang a new street light on a corner near the cartenteria and I’m always fascinated by the security guard that rides with the beer truck.  Is he protecting the beer or the money  collected or both, But is an automatic rifle necessary.

On my return the Senior is semi frustrated as this new smart TV is complicated, but he has his favorite news channels up and running so all is good.

I’m in decorating mode, I’m not looking for Sunset Magazine perfection, cute and comfortable will do quite nicely.  Our under the sink area in the kitchen is wide open, no cabinets, so for the past year I’ve been planning cute under counter curtains, but rods

are very limited in size so I’ve had to be inventive.  It’s not quite done but getting close.  New bed spread, bedroom curtains are hung.  Just about all that is left is to make the living room drapes.  Won”t happen before Thanksgiving.  Signing off KO

We had our shopping list made out, knew what stores we wanted to shop. Had been there measuring tv’s to make sure they would fit our stand.  We were up early had a lovely breakfast of fruit and figured there would be a huge line up so arrived at the store 40 minutes ahead of opening time.  There were no lines and they let us come right in, maybe they opened early and we didn’t know  it.  Took us about 5 minutes to show the staff which TV the Senor wanted and brought it down,  A  43 inch Samsung smart TV, but the box didn’t sa smart TV and I was determined that it had to be a “smart ” TV.  The employees then took it out of the box, two of them held it while the 3rd plugged it in and then turned it on where it promptly lit up saying SMART TV.  I was satisfied and impressed with the helpfulness of the staff and the Senor Singer is happy with his TV.

Next on to purchase a sewing machine for me as I want to make new curtains and drapes for the apartment. 20 percent off on my Singer was a good deal especially with the peso running 20 -1. Buy this time the fabric store was busy and they have an unusual way of dealing with merchandise it takes a minimum of 3 people to compleat a sale and you have to criss-cross the store to do it.  I needed notions like thread bobbins and scissor, but they are all kept behind the counter and only 2 – 3 employes deal with that and also with the cutting of ribbons and trims.  The mexican ladies were lined up 3 deep and they are a little pushier than I, so I decided to return tomorrow early for the little stuff,  My “lista” is all written out in Spanish.

Once at home we was discovered that even though we had measured carefully our TV stand is 1 inch to short.  So we went back to the wood shop that made it and they will have a new top for it tomorrow.  Problem solved! Pictures to follow  Signing off KO

As I headed out to the swimming pool this morning, I thought it is a long walk and taxi’s are cheap, but then I saw what reminded me of why I walk everywhere.  You miss out on the small stuff, the stuff that makes you say ahh! On the main drag, Benito Juarez a car was half in the road way.  Why I do not know why but the back-end definitely stuck out into the driving lane and the front end not so much. There was a group of 5 or 6 men

were around it actually lifting the back-end to rotate it out of the roadway.  As I was madly attempting to pull my phone out of my pack back they had successfully move the back end and now weretackling the front end.  Now at home someone would have a AAA card or someone would have called for a police impound.  But in Zihuatanejo

 

neighbors help neighbors.

Just before I reached the pool there is a large vacant lot that is fenced off from the road with a chain link fence. Stuck in it was an old palm tree branch.  What makes this branch

special is there was a bird’s nest still in it.  A family once made this their home. I hope they moved on before it fell.

A couple of days ago I went to an “electronico” store as we left at home a cord to a light fixture that we wanted to put under the kitchen cabinet.  In my fracture spanish I asked if they had one and showed her one similar.  She searched her drawers with no luck then went for her phone and called someone.  I know just enough spanish to know she had sent for help and I was to wait.  Moments later a small red car rounded the corner, an employee ran out to meet it and cord was quickly changed hands to the employee.  45 pesos later I’m on my way with a home with new cord.  No drug deal was ever transpired quicker. LOL

signing off KO

Beginning to feel like home, so I started back swimming this morning at the community pool.  It is an Olympic size pool, but no lanes marked off and they expect you to swim cross ways rather than lengthwise.  Too bad I love swimming long course.  It a short 20 minute walk to the pool and I swam for 35 minutes. The pool at the Navy Base at home was kept at a 79 degree or less temperature all summer, so I was prepared for swimming in this large covered outdoor pool at 8AM.  To my surprise it felt quite comfortable. Life is good!

My daily rounds on the way back from the pool take me to the Mexican old style Mercado where I have my favorite egg man and buy them buy the half flat, then on to the fish monger where I bought enough Mahi mahi fillets for 3- 4 meals next onto the avocado wheel barrow when the young man picks out two large ones  “un por hoy un por manana”” one for today and one for tomorrow at a cost of about $1. As I pass a fruit seller, the mangos catch my eye.  Mangoes to me are the fruit of the gods, better even than strawberries.  I brought one home which the Senior and I share for breakfast with hard-boiled eggs.

Our shopping excursion today was to buy lamps,  one for the living room and two for the bedroom night stands that we haven’t bought yet.  We are now the proud owners of 3 colorful ceramic lamps which we put in our push carts and pushed them the 4 -5 blocks home safely.  Still need one floor lamp for reading, for me.

From home we had sent a roaster oven thru DHL shipping so the Senor could cook his Thanksgiving turkey.  It was horribly expensive to ship, but we were packing too many suitcases to manage it on the air plane.  We picked it up at DHL today and had to pay customs tax on it.  If we can’t take it with us on the plane it stays at home in the future.

He better enjoy the turkey!signing off KO