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WRIST-BAND PEOPLE FOR 1 DAY

We have become wrist band people, well at least for 24 hours. At the sail –fest auction the Senor successfully bid on an all inclusive overnight stay at the Pacifica in Ixtapa. So this morning we became the wrist band people. The people we so often we so often make fun of.

The Senor and me on the terrace of our room at Pacifica

The all inclusive places have guards at the entrance and you can’t enter without a wrist band or special permission. We joke that they won’t let them leave either until their time is up Or they get a short furlough. Many people never leave the resort and subsequently never experience the real Mexico. But for 24 hours we are living the life of luxury.

We arrived at 0930 hungry, ready for breakfast. Our room is exceptionally nice with a small kitchen plus eating area, large room opening up with a full wall of sliding glass to a very large and totally private terrace with a hot tub, hammock, 2 lounge chairs and umbrella table. Views to die for with surprisingly easy access to the pool and beach area considering this place it tacked onto the side of a hill with tons of stairs and vans to drive you from one point to another as the roads are too steep for comfortable walking.

First order of business was the breakfast buffet. Buffets are not normally my favorite as the food is usually quite ordinary, but the selection they had there was quite interesting. The Senor had pancakes, but I had peppers in cream sauce, sautéed mushrooms, fresh fruit, yogurt and granola.

After lounging around in our room, reading in my hammock we were off to the pool. We swam, ordered screw drivers and mango daiquiris. We swam, well I swam, the Senor and everyone else just sits in the pool and drinks; we visited with new friends and generally enjoyed the afternoon. We did the lunch buffet as it was seafood buffet today. This gave me the opportunity to taste many different items that I’ve never knew enough about to order off the menu. The items were all labeled or otherwise I wouldn’t have known what I was getting. Then back to the room for a siesta, reading and TV watching.

The Senor entertaining some of the ladies in the pool

For dinner we opted to go to the Moon Bar, a small cozy patio area on the beach, with a nice view of the new moon thru the palm trees. Since we are all inclusive I ordered an appetizer, soup and main course. I never order that much food as I have a small appetite. But with all inclusive I could sample items I never heard of before and not worry if I liked them or not. I just wanted to try them. The soup was oyster cream, excellent, but didn’t find any oysters, the appetizer I think was called “sashimi” raw fish in citrus dressing and it was good. Main course was fish for me and chop suey for the Senor. And because I was only able to eat a little of each they thought I didn’t like the food. I did take the Oyster Cream back to the room for a late night snack. After dinner, our friends Jo and Des who stay here at the Pacifica invited us up to their place where we had a nice visit before calling it a night.

Pacifica is a beautiful place, its fun to order your meals and drinks without regard to price. They do make you so comfortable that you have no desire or need to leave the property and that’s where I have the problem. You don’t experience the real Mexico; you could be located on any warm weather beach. Some of the people we visit with said they go into Ixtapa and eat in one of the restaurants

occasionally and do experience the real Mexico. But Ixtapa isn’t a real town, it just a series of resorts and businesses to serve the people who visit the resorts and now with so many of the all inclusive resorts, the business that were once thriving are disappearing. It was great fun for a day, but it’s not our style. Besides the check out time is 10:00 am which is way too early in the morning.

It isn't GSA! It isn't Las Vegas, but it is pure luxury — It isn’t GSA! It isn’t Las Vegas, but it is pure luxury

Our 24 hours of luxury is over, we got our gate pass, our permission to leave, walked out the gate and didn’t even wait for a taxi caught the first bus back to Zihuatanejo. Signing off KO

JUST AN EVERY DAY DAY IN ZIHUATANEJO

Monday is always the day our wonderful cleaning lady, Letty, comes to take care of our apartment. As she arrives fairly early we go out for breakfast and let her do her magic. Tres Amigos is close by where we have a great breakfast and head out to do some shopping for the Senor. He wanted to pick up a couple of more “Mexico” shirts and replace a pair of shoes that fell apart last week. Found shirts easy enough, but no luck with the shoes even though there is quite a selection at the Mercado.

Across the street from the mercado is what I call ” The JO-Ann Fabrics of Mexico” but it is much bigger than any fabric store in my area with a huge selection of all types of fabrics, curtain and drapery fabric, dish towel fabric, cottons for every day wear lace and satin for bridal or party wear. Racks of ribbons and trims and other decorations. It’s just a great store. The Senor asked what I was looking for and I told him I don’t know but I will know it when I see it. And sure enough there it was a beautiful crepe in blue with pink swirls, looks like a water color. But it is a process to purchase the fabric. You don’t pick up the bolt and take it to the cutting counter. You show the staff person what you want, they bring it to the cutting counter and ask how much you want. I requested 6 meters, she then measured and cut it wrote on a piece of paper what the price was, $239.90 ($18.81US) and I get the piece of paper, not the fabric. I then take my piece of paper to the cashier where she takes my money and gives me another piece of paper which I take to another place and exchange that piece of paper for my fabric. Ya got to love Mexico!On our way back just up the street from the Pancake house I got quite a start. Slithering out from some potted plants was a large snake. There was lots of folks around and someone called out it just his pet, but it brought momentary flashbacks of when my daughter and I were held hostage on a trail on Cumberland Island by a cottonmouth snake until the ranger rescued us. Pet or no I still gave him wide berth just as a young man stepped inches from the snake’s head, barefooted. He had a grin on his face, and I had to holler ‘Show off”

Snake near Elviro's — Snake near Elviro’s

An afternoon of reading at the beach, dinner on the balcony, Scottie’s blues at the Flophouse Bar with neighbors Will and Sylvia, brought another day in Paradise to an end.

Little boy trying to sell his wares to Sylvia

Signing off KO

Sunday started off with a bang, literally. Just after daylight, just after the noisy bar across from Zorro’s closed a very loud explosion type noise reverberated through the street. I was on my balcony and jumped up looking over the edge and asked a man standing at the corner “What was that? Then I noticed he was Policia Municipal and he just looked at me, a minute later he ran up the street away from my

building and then returned back to the corner. By the time I could get street clothes on and get down 2 flights of stairs no trace of the policia or anyone else was around. I had sincerely hoped that the noisy bar that just closed at 6:00 AM had suffered a devastating explosion but no such luck. I guess it will forever remain a mystery.We breakfasted out at the Zihua Pancake House, a great breakfast place. I have learned to order our breakfast in Spanish, my eggs benedict, with no bread or ham and his eggs over easy with roasted rosemary potatoes. The food always is always just like you want it there. We visited with a few acquaintances along the way back to the apartment and spent most of the day lazing around. TV, reading, talking, making plans for next year as we are becoming acutely aware that our time is drawing short and not once have we said “sure will be happy to get back home”. While our life here is not always exciting it is always interesting. We are never cold, the sun has shown on a daily basis our only stress is having lost all communication with the person we left in charge of handling our delivery business while we’ve been gone.

While I sat in one of my favorite beach front restaurants having ice cream and visiting with both strangers and friends I can’t help but marvel at beauty of Zihuatanejo, the happy friendly people, revel in the 85 plus weather with a cooling breeze coming off the bay, the fantastic food and am very happy in our decision to stay for 8 weeks next year.

We have learned to dress for the weather and have over the years bought most of our clothes that we are most comfortable in right here. Loose and comfortable tops stylish every time. I have learned that “manana” does not necessarily mean tomorrow, just simply not today. Mexican time isn’t precise, they have no problem making you wait rather than disappoint you. We have seen restaurant staff head out to the store to buy more butter when we asked for additional butter for our pancakes of course by the time they return the pancakes are cold or eaten or go to a restaurant across the street to get a glass of white wine for me when they didn’t have any.

The Senor’s hearing is bad in english and twice as bad in Spanish accented english. He is frequently answering questions he wasn’t really asked. I’ll give him credit though on our earliest trips he would only say “mas cervesas por favor” but has now has a vocabulary of about 20 words. Yet he seldom uses them and relies on me to ask the questions and translate the menus. And I don’t mind as I rely on him for many other things. I’m enjoying building on my vocabulary if only a few words a week.

The view from Lety's — The view from Lety’s

We took our gift certificate to Lety’s for dinner and it was truly an excellent meal. Steak for the Senor which he said was very tender and cooked exactly right, I tried the coconut shrimp and found it very good, I’m not big on coconut but I did find this to be as good as everyone in Zihuatanejo said it would be. The view from Lety’s is quit enjoyable, a nice breeze blowing in, families heading across the bridge to town for the Sunday Zocolo activities, boats coming in for the evening, some fishing boats just heading out. We took a doggie bag home and now look forward to enjoying it all again. signing off Ko

SAIL-FEST, KIDS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!

Yesterday the senor and I walked over to Madera Beach Along the way we watched a father and son fish with nets, saw benches and

stairs newly decorated. As many years as we have participated in the Sail-fest activities we have never gone to the play day at the beach. As we arrived we saw what sail fest was really all about. It isn’t just the fun of bidding at an auction, winning a dinner out, tasting chili or buying crafts. It’s not just spending a day on a sail boat or helping crew in a race it’s about the kids.

Decorated stone bench on way toPlaya La Madera

Yesterday was the day the children from the extremely impoverished hill areas of Zihuatanejo are brought to the beach for a play day. I’m told that for many this is the first time they have been to the beach. About 110 kids of all ages were happily playing in the surf, some older ones kicked a soccer ball along the beach, there was food and drink for everyone all under the watchful eyes of volunteers. This is Sail-fest at it’s finest!

The rest of the day was spent doing those everyday things that always seem like more of an adventure here than at home. We did some shopping at the Comercial Mexicana trying not to pick up more that we know we can use as our trip is rapidly coming to an close. We actually had to look at a calendar for the first time and plan out when we would use our certificates for dinners out and what we needed to purchase for dinners in. Most days we breakfast on the balcony, lunch time is usually too hot for the balcony so we eat inside. We’ve learned to leave all doors and windows open and we get a nice breeze blowing through and seldom ever need the air conditioner on except for maybe an hour or so in the late afternoon. Come evening doors and windows are open and we get the breeze again.

We eat out quite often and since neither of us are big eaters ( I know you wouldn’t know that to look at us) we frequently share a meal or if we order separately we get the doggie bag and have left overs for either lunch or dinner the next day. We’ve kept our cooking simple, mostly crock pot cooking. We don’t really have a favorite restaurant as we have been trying different places and all have served us great meals to have served us great meals, We don’t do the fancy ones, but I do prefer the ambiance of eating at an outside table along the malecon, watching the continual activity, saying hola to passerby that we know, hearing the waves on the beach and feeling the cool evening breeze. signing off KO

CHILI COOK OFF, STREET FAIR, SILENT AUCTION AND SAIL BOAT PARADE

The chili cook off and street fair has grown, expanded and occupied two blocks from in front of the Barracruda to clear into the next block. What a great event! There was a great variety of chili to choose from with a large variety of ingredients. With the large crowd it went quick.

The silent auction had a huge selection of items, with tables closing about every half hour. Were were able to pick up 2 or 3 dinners from a variety of restaurants that we have never before been to. And I picked up some very unique place mats for the RV from the street fair where there was a large variety of crafts to choose from.

Friends enjoying beer and margarita's — Friends enjoying beer and margarita’s

We sat and visited with friends enjoying the extremely delicious 2 for one margaritas and the 15 cent beer far too long which caused me to need to go to bed early and miss Jimmi Mamou’s birthday party at Galeana’s. But the Senor attended and other local musicians came and sang happy birthday to him and Allan sat down and played back up guitar with him.

Morning arrived later than usually for me just enough time to get ready to go sailing. I think there were twice as many participants as there had been in previous years, but the event is well organized and soon we were all boarded into pangas to get to our assigned boats. I was on the the Tisha Baby with most gracious hosts Richard and Pam. My fellow passengers were two couples traveling together, one from Calif and one from Arizona, and 3 women from Chicago, mom, daughter and daughters best friend. Fun company. The Senor did not accompany me as being a career navy man gave him plenty of time at sea. Almost immediately after getting underway my hat blew off and I turned to see it bobbing away in the water. And of course it was one of my favorite hats. Our 1st mate saw what happened and radioed the boats behind us to pick up the hat if they could. A few minutes later i was informed that the rescue was successful. But I sort of wondered how I would retrieve it from what ever boat was kind enough to picked it out of the sea. Well I was soon to find out.

We paraded out to Ixtapa, then every boat was on their own to choose what they would do for the rest of the after noon. We choose to head out and fish, but before we did the “Northern Passage” radioed the would come abreast and pass my hat over. So a good samaritan on the northern passage a leaned way out with my hat in hand, while our first mate held out a grappling hook. successfully hooked my hat and brought it on board.

My hat on the end of a grappling hook being rescued.

“Rescue at sea” complete and my hat safely back on my head, but this time with the chin strap secured. A most relaxing day, sailing the deep blue sea. Ended the day with lobster taco’s, yummm! Signing off KO

SAIL-FEST CONCERT

Last night was the Sail-fest Concert and a great concert it was. We’re told that four of the best musicians playing locally are asked to participate and to bring along friends. So not only did we here from the lady who plays at La Puerta, Patricia, Jose Luis Cabo, Zihua Juanito, and Steve & Allan,who expanded to a full size band with 2 more guitars, drums and a sax and from Mexico City Dos Hermanos with a lovely lady. Then to top it all off a charming group of school children dancers. My sincere apologies to any one whose name I have wrong, or left out, or misspelled no slight intended but with out a program I’m just relying on my ageing memory.

The Senor and I with our Canadian friends from our apartment building

Our group of friends has learned to arrive early to get a good seat and get food ordered before the festivities begin and the waiters at El Pueblito get swamped. It was a good crowd. The evening got off to a great start with Patricia who has a beautiful soulful voice performing songs in both Spanish and English. Between performers raffle tickets were drawn and I was lucky again and won a great t-shirt and a Canadian ball cap, which amused everyone at our table as the Senor and I were the only non Canadians. I don’t normally wear a ball cap, but I will proudly be sporting my new red hat at the Chilli fest today.

The children’s performance was the one of the highlights of the evening. I got a quick picture of the boys mugging for the camera prior to going on stage, but once on stage it was all

business while they performed several indigenous dances, One spectacular dance with possibly an Aztec theme, involved 10-year-old dancers, a lighted torch and long peacock feathers head dresses waving wildly as they danced. Very beautiful but something that wouldn’t be seen back home.

Following the children’s performance they wandered

through the crowd arms loaded with beaded bracelets they made to earn funds for their craft programs. I bought one for my youngest granddaughter and one for her cousin. 20 pesos well spent!Zihua Juanito is a handsome and charming performer who brought a long his cousin on drums and got people up to dance. Senor Cabo brought up one of what I understand to be one of the employes of El Pueblito to sing with him. Great voices. The group from Mexico City was lively and more people danced.

The evening concluded with the Steve Allan show with Nelson on Sax, Ralph on guitar and singing as was Leo and I believe it was Don on the drums. and everybody danced. Great end to a great evening. It was such a nice night we walked back to our apartment. Signing off KO

SAIL-FEST AUCTION

We always look forward to Sail-fest, when the cruisers come to town and the bay is full of sailboats of all sizes and shapes. These people are always interesting to visit with with, hearing of their adventures sailing up and down the pacific coast and some have sailed world wide.

During the week of Sail-fest there are daily activities to fund raise for the “Por Los Ninos” fund which helps to educate some of the areas poorest children Lat night was the auction which is always a fun event. While waiting for the auction to begin I hear the clown horn of

the ice cream man and it was the one I like in the galvanized tub, this time I got my vanilla ice cream which is a glorious shade of gold. Most excellent! There were many interesting items to bid on and the name of the game became win,win,win. The bidding was lively. There were some good bargains and also some generous bidders knowing it was for a good cause. The Senor loves to bid, sometimes he actually wants an item other times it’s just to bid someone up. I get nervous that he will win something we have no earthly use for, but last night we did OK and won the bid on an all inclusive 1 night stay at the Pacifica resort in Ixtapa, all inclusive means food and beverages. Sure hope they have lobster!

Cute VW painting with carona beer cap hub caps

I’m always wanting the paintings, but there are people there with my same great taste in art but with far deeper pockets than I. During the breaks they did raffles, and I really like the way they do them. Your tickets are good for all events, if they call out your ticket and you aren’t there your name goes back in the pot and that item goes to the next person. I bought 15 tickets and was the recipient of a great prize a bottle of Tequila and a set of leather coasters and another set of more disposable type coasters and I still have 14 more chances to win. I think I will have a Margarita party with our friends and neighbors on the roof top some evening.

We had really worked up an appetite at the auction so we headed out to Casa Elvira and shared Red Snapper. It was almost 10 PM, which at home would be a strange time for dinner, but the evenings here are so nice it’s really a great time to sit in a lovely outdoor restaurant. The Senor was planning to finish off dinner with a banana split, but the fish was to big and he was full. We decided some evening we would return for just the banana split. Casa Elvira is about the only restaurant that has ice cream. Most of the ice cream shops don’t have seating, or the seats are in the sun. Just another great evening in Zihuatanejo. Signing off KO

With Sailfest starting up this week Monday was the only day available for going to the beach. We don’t want to over do so we must pace ourselves. Monday in it’s self is already busy with the loading of the laundry into a suitcase and wheeling it up to the laundaria and then picking it up again after 5. Then of course there is the tidying up of our apartment as the cleaning lady comes on Monday. So to make things easy on ourselves we went out to breakfast first. Then we had to stop by the Sailfest booth so I could purchase my sail parade ticket. The Senor opted not to go, he says after 22 yrs in the Navy he’s already spent plenty of time on the ocean. Funny how he looks at it differently if the boat is going fishing! By this time it’s almost noon and we grab our beach stuff and headed out to Playas Las Gatas

On the water taxi we met a fellow Northwestener who joined us at Gloria del Mar and was soon joined by his spouse and friends. So a nice afrtenoon of swimming, snorkeling, conversation, food and drinks was had.

As always Juanita, my jeweler, came by. This year I’m just buying bracelets, but it is so hard to choose as there are so many pretty ones. The peanut man came by, I’ve finally learned to say peanut in Spanish

(cacahuate). I only wanted one bag, but he kept handing me a second empty plastic sack. then I figured it out the second sack was for the shells to keep the beach clean. I really do try to learn a few new words every day even though the Senor thinks folks can understand my English better than my Spanish. A young boy came by with a sack full of shells he had been diving for so I bought one for my granddaughter Morgan who plans to decorate her new apartment’s living room, nautical.

The Senor and Jose our waiter at Gloria Del Mar, Playa Las Gattas

We catch the water taxi back to the pier and decide it’s definitely siesta time before we reheat the chicken in a pot that was last nights dinner. Dinner on the balcony, the Senor watches a little TV, computer time for me and my latest kindle book while I listen to the pleasant music coming from the Baracruda Bar. A most pleasant day. Signing off KO

A REAL LIFE HERO

Victor is a hero! Just as the Super Bowl was about to start yesterday a man grabbed the cash box off the “Sailfest” table in front of the Baracruda Bar and ran like hell. As the cries of “that man is a thief” were heard, Victor responded and chased the thief over 4 blocks before he did a full body tackled on the thief in full view of Super Bowl party patrons at La Playa Bar where the Senor just happened to be in attendance. Another good Samaritan helped hold him until the police arrived. The police took the thief as prisoner and wanted to take the cash box with them also. I guess as “evidence,” but the “Sailfest” lady had arrived by this time and had retrieved her cash box and no way was she going to relinquish it to anyone, especially the police. Victor, the hero of this true life crime story, is a waiter at Tres Amigos Restaurant and simply stepped up to do the right thing. Word is the 49’ers could use a good tackle like Victor. The reality is the money raised by “Sailfest” goes to building schools and educating the very poorest children of Zihuatanejo, stealing from “Sailfest” is robbing very poor children a chance at learning to read and write. Victor is a true hero. Signing off KO

I LOST MY FAN

I arrived in Zihuatanejo with 2 fans, lost the first one the very first day. Probably left it in the cab going to the Commercial as I was not yet in the habit of carrying one every where I went. To most folks this would be minor inconvenience, for me a small disaster, but I have a spare. That is until yesterday, when I must have dropped my fan in the movie theatre when I stood up to leave. The issue is I perspire, not only do I perspire I sweat like the proverbial pig. Especially my scalp and face. It’s embarrassing, and if anyone has a better solutions than I have come up with please let me know. My friend Cathie (who first introduced me to Mexico) gave me a sort of headband/scarf with elastic band across the back so it fold up compact but opens up to fit your head like a cap. Originally I used it so I could snorkel and not sun burn my scalp and made several extras. But now I have learned to wet them, keep them in the refrigerator and put it on under my hat, cold & wet before I go out. It acts as a sweat band and protect my eyes, and while it doesn’t totally solve the problem it reduces the issue and keeps me cooler with less perspiration. This in addition to a fan and a wash cloth to dab away with I maintain comfort even though I look like a drippy mess.

So my last fan disappears and I have to bargain with the “Fan Man” for a new fan, but this one is too big to fit in my purse. Anyway I got him down from 50 to 20 pesos and I think that’s 10 more than I paid last year, but I have it and am happy.

It’s Super Bowl Sunday in Zihuatanejo and almost every bar and restaurant has the specials and the game going. I’m not a fan, nothing against football I’m just not a fan, but the Senor is and has his favorite bar to watch it at. So Sunday evening I’m a football widow, which gives me a chance to just wander the streets and admire the beautiful statues that are placed around town. Each statue represents a specific area of the state of Guerrero which I am in. My favorite is “The Pescadore” the fisherman, which just doesn’t photograph well, but certainly speaks of not only the past but of the present of Zihuatanejo. I visit him on a regular basis.

oNE OF MANY STATUES — ONE OF MANY STATUES

After a dinner of Pescadillos at Daniels I return to my balcony to listen to the beautiful Mexican music being featured this Sunday evening Zocolo. I can hear it like I was there and here I have a place to sit and glass of wine and no crowds. Can’t beat that. From time to time I hear the roar of approval from the crowds at the bars as the Super Bowl continues. I do love my balcony, my view of this small part of our world. Signing off KO

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