Zihuatanejo

Tuesday I met up with Roberto at Playa Madera to take advantage of my 2 hour Kayak Adventure I bid and won at Sailfest. This was to be a trifecta of Sailfest events, as we had a lunch, and a massage for the Senor all at the same location. Promptly at 9 am I showed up and set sail on the kayak. Now I’m not entirely new to Kayaks, I have a small plastic one at home I use on our small lake, and I did a major kayak adventure across Puget Sound last summer with kayaks that held camping gear and had rudder pedals and such. But this kayak was of the simple variety, similar to what i use on the lake.  My plan was to circumnavigate the bay, so I headed out towards Playa La Ropa from Playa La Madera and noticed how quiet it was this early in the morning, then on towards Playa Las Gattas, where the water is very green and clear approaching the pier, I chose to go along the outside of the reef and was enchanted by the colorful fish I could see from the boat, almost better than snorkeling, thought of dipping the camera in the water. Headed out along Owen Lee’s property to the mouth of the bay, considered rounding the point and going past the light house,but I’m not an experienced ocean kayak-er  so I decided to cross right at the mouth of the bay to the other side as I waved hello to a fellow kayak-er coming in from the ocean. There were a few fishing boats heading out, but mostly just me, a few jumping fish and the birds enjoying the morning. As I came to Porto Mio I could see the mast of the Picante heading out for a sail, snorkel and ride the Spinnaker adventure, at least I felt no envy as I had done that a few weeks ago and enjoyed it immensely. I had never been beyond the bridge to La Noria so I chose to paddle under the bridge clear to the back of the lagoon where there are many fishing boats and the military boats are moored. Then back around the pier and  along Playa

Principal and a quick tour of the sailboats anchored and I was back at la Madera where I met up with the Senor for lunch followed by him getting  his Sailfest certificate massage. It also gave us a great opportunity to visit with Dave and Vicky whom our paths have not crossed so much this year. So anyone who ever wants to kayak I recommend seeing Roberto at Playa Madera. Just another marvelous day in Zihuatanejo.   I used my “go-pro” mounted on my head the whole trip and  I still haven’t figured out how to edit or download to the blog, so now video. I expected I might have sore muscles after this adventure, but two small blisters on my left hand are my only complaints. Maybe all my swimming paid off. Signing off KO

We arrived the tail end of December and now it is early March and every day has been 86 and sunny. Not one cloudy day! Coming from the Pacific North West ,where grey is the norm until July 5th, this is absolute heaven. Here in the land of no jackets or sweaters evenings are soft and draw you outside to the myriad of restaurants, bars and ice cream shops. You can go where the music is hot or soft as the breeze, but their is always music in the air. People go for walks to visit and socialize.  We rarely go anywhere with out seeing a familiar face. We have developed so many friendships here as the life style is outside and social. Small wonder we keep staying longer and longer each season

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The Senor is mending nicely from his emergency appendectomy. Walked to Calle Adelita for dinner tonight, first walk of any distance. He visited our local Doctura Olivia Montufur, today and had stitches removed and was pronounced healthy again. She did say how unusual it is for a person of his advanced age to have appendicitis, it is considered a young persons disease  as she remarked having 7 year old in last night requiring the same surgery.  Odd that both the Senor and I had appendicitis at age past 60 for me and 70 for him.  Oh well one less thing to worry about. We do thank everyone for their prayers and well wishes for his speedy recovery.

Life is good, we are happy and hope you are. Signing off KO

The Senor is slowly recuperating from his surgery he sleeps a lot and doesn’t want to walk like the Doctor said he should. So Monday I went to Ixtapa Island leaving him to fend on his own. Sounds a little harsh, but the only way I can get him up and moving is to be gone so he has to get up to fix breakfast and lunch.  It’s not much walking as it is a small apartment, but it is better than none. So on Tuesday I went with friends to the annual street fair in Barre de Potosi again leaving him to fend for himself.  Just call me Nurse Ratchet.

This was my first Barre de Potosi street fair and it was very enjoyable and very well

attended. I wasn’t a big shopper but bought some of the cute fish place-mats that the kids make, they will replace the bigger ones that I have in my RV as they are too big for the table. A necklace and a pair of earrings completed my purchases. We had a nice lunch of sopes as that was all they had left when we finally sat down to eat and some sort of a rum collada drink. Tasted like a milk shake to me. To cool off we headed to the beach for a drink at one of the beach front restaurants and then headed to the pasajara for

Paul sporting a purchase his wife made

Having our sopes cooked

the ride back. Pavement is slowly coming to Barre de Potosi, still a bumpy ride, but not so

dusty. Made perfect connections at the highway for the big bus and back in Zihuatanejo for a short siesta before fixing dinner. And as expected the Senor survived just fine, but wasn’t willing to go for a walk around the block.  Signing off. KO

I’ve always said every day in Mexico is an adventure, well this past week has been quite the adventure, but not one I would recommend.. Monday morning I insisted we call Dr. Monufur. She said we would have to come to her at the Clinical Maciel where she had equipment to run tests.  In no time it was clear he had appendicitis and needed  emergency surgery. Considering his age and health history she said he had to go to the ABC Santa Fe Hospital in Mexico City.

We have travel insurance and were about to find out how good it is. It took the doctor considerable haggling to convince the insurance company to have a Mexican transport come from Guadalajara rather than theirs from the US. At this point time was getting crucial, but she won and I was told to pack very light so I just brought a back pack with bare necessities. That was a mistake I ould have easily taken a roll on carry on type bag and we would have had more than a change of under ware and our sweatsuits for the colder climate. At 6:oo pm we were at the airport and whisked away to Mexico City . The flight was quick, efficient but not a recommended way to visit Mexico City.

By 10:00 the Senor was in surgery, his appendix was removed although it had already perforated. Because of that he has had to stay extra time in the hospital and as of this morning we think he will be released tomorrow. If so we will stay in a hotel one day most likely and make travel arrangements back to Zihuatanejo. Everything depends on his lab results and if he is not ready to travel we might need to stay an extra day or two here to get a final check and the surgical drains removed.

We are so thankful for the excellent care he has been given, almost every travelers’ night mare is the what if something happens and I get ill or injured in a foreign country with a strange language. I believe there is probably excellent care in most large cities, with well-trained doctors and many speak excellant english as is here. Only a few of the nursing staff here speak much english which makes a cell phone and google translate an absolute necessity. Don’t leave home with out it.

We have had plans for my birthday dinner at Senior Pinto’s, on the 26. We may still make it. Will make that final decision in the morning. So if you haven’t received an invite, you are not being ignored, it’s still up in the air. Until tomorrow signing off KO

The Senor had not been feeling well Saturday afternoon, not too unusual as at age 73 he has range of maladies, aches and pains including leukemia. But by 10:00 he was in serious pain with what he was sure was appendicitis. The symptoms were quite similar to mine just prior to my appendectomy a few years ago. So we hailed a cab and headed to the emergency room at Hospital Mediciel. Fortunately I knew where it was as the cab driver wanted to take us to another clinic. I was able to give him enough directions to finally get us there.

The nurse and doctor on duty spoke good english and examined the Senor with care and but couldn’t confirm a definite diagnosis even with a ultrasound.  They wanted to keep him overnight for observation and if there was no improvement they  recommended transferring him to Morelia, about 3 hours away) where there are bigger, better hospitals  with specialist. I know in Mexico it is expected that a relative will spend the night with a family member, but by this time I knew he was in safe hands and the thought of my spending the night there wasn’t appealing to me and I was anxious to get back and contact our travel insurance to get things going if moving him to Morelia would be necessary

I returned to the Hospital early the next morning to find the Senor feeling better and wanting to go home. They insisted on pumping some more medicine into him before we could leave and about 11 we were on our way back to the apartment.  It’s one of those things that you always worry about “What if I get sick or injured in a foreign country, will the medical community be safe and adequate” We felt very safe, in a very clean facility and they were very forthright about the limits of Zihuatanejo’s medical capabilities but had a plan for getting the Senor to a place that could provide more help if necessary. Fortunately it wasn’t necessary.

He feels better, but not over what is most likely a bowel disturbance of some kind. He was anxious to get back to our apartment and sleep as he couldn’t sleep in the hospital and insisted I continue with what had been our plans to spend the after noon with friends at their lovely home and pool in the Porto Mio area.

So feeling slightly guilty I did and was able to enjoy a lovely afternoon with friends old and new and enjoy this phenomenal view.

The Senor is still not feeling good

but felt somewhat better during the day, but this evening is running a temperature.  signing off KO

Valentines Day is huge here in Mexico, but then the Mexican people are romantics.

At 7:30 am on my way to the pool the florist shops had their displays not only in their shop but also outside, on side walks and adjoining alleys and folks were busy shopping.  Every regular store was recreated for Valentines Day and the whole bazaar  of temporary shops were set up on the sidewalks on the 13th and will be gone by the end of the night on the 14th.

The strolling balloon vendors were every where, and by afternoon cute school girls in their uniforms were all carry either a balloon, flowers or a stuffed animal with big smiles on their faces.

That evening on our way to dinner we passed the church, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, and mass was being said. This surprised me as having grown up in a very catholic family who never missed a day of holy obligation,we never went to church on St Valentines Day.

We had planned to use one of our dinner certificates from the auction that night but our choice of restaurant was closed.  Probably the only one in Zihuatanejo that was.  Most were packed.

Our friends and neighbors were at the restaurant next door so we joined them at Sirena Gorda and had a nice visit over dinner.  Signing off KO