Relaxing at Ixtapa Island

I was really happy to be going back to Ixtapa Island with a group of friends. We were going  a little earlier this time when the tide would be in and better for snorkeling.  I have my new “go pro” camera for under water video photography and I’m anxious to share pictures of the fish.  The go-pro is a tiny camera and I have a strap that mounts it on my head so I should be able to swim and the camera sees what I see.  That part works well. The difficult part is getting it set to video, as I said it is tiny, about 2 inches by 3 inches and the settings are also very tiny. So I cross over to the Coral Beach from where we all like to gather, sit at the edge of the water, put my fins on and try to turn the camera on.  In my “golden years” I have become very farsighted.  This translates to I can’t read anything close up with out my glasses. So I take off the fins, cross back over the trail, put on my glasses and set the camera, take off the glasses and walk back and start over on my swim to photo the fish.  I do get some nice pictures of fish, but there is more footage of the trail and me putting on and off fins and mask than of the colorful tropical fish. There has to be an easier way.

There is something about the beach that relaxes everyone. It is more that just the drinks and good food, combine that with sunshine and a cooling breeze, gorgeous scenery and everyone laughs, aches and pains melt away,worries disappear. We share stories, tease one another and even the Senor looses his grouchiness.

My wish for everyone is, find the time, make the time to enjoy this kind of happiness. Time is too precious, none of us know what tomorrow brings. Yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is unknown, but today is a gift, and that is why it is called “the present”. Enjoy your every gift.

Still waiting on my new internet service to arrive,  so no new pictures. I’m learning the patience of the Mexicans, there is always manana.  Signing off KO

 

 

Bits and Pieces

As I sort through my pictures I am reminded of the many interesting things I see here. Some things are very much the same as home and other wildly different. The Mexican people want to please, want to make you happy.  Which sometimes leads to great misinformation. If you were to say ” the bus comes here frequently ?” They would agree with you, “Oh yes frequently” even if it only comes occasionally.  Because they answer with what they think you want to hear.  So you have to be careful how you phrase your questions.

“Gringos” are frequently frustrated by what we consider slow service in restaurants, but we forget that food here is cooked from scratch and slow cooking is usually it’s own reward.  They won’t give you your bill until you ask, to give it to you as soon as you are finished would be considered rude, and you could sit for hours after the conclusion of a meal visiting with friends and “no problema.”

Last week at Playa Larga the restaurant dealt with a crowd of 16- 20 of us, mostly single individuals in the most efficient fashion I have ever seen.  They gave each one of us a blank bill (in triplicate), we were to write our name on the top and write our meal order in the center and our bar choice at the bottom.  When it came time to request our meal they took the top copy and we continued to tally our bar orders. At the end of the day it was very easy for all to reconcile our bills.   I always give my name as Catalina, Spanish for Kathleen or Katherine, and they do have trouble with Doyle, absolutly can’t wrap their tongue around that one. Last week my new acquaintance, Heather, gave her name to the breakfast  waitress  as”Esmerelda” but come lunch time at a different location she said “Lolita”.  Simply stated she said “they can’t pronounce Heather, so I can be who ever I want to be.” Love the attitude! Puts me in mind of the old play The Importance of Being Ernest”.

There are not a lot of beggars here but those that do and  are almost always infirm, missing an arm or a leg or blind. No young, able bodied folks with signs saying “down on my luck”. The Mexican people are generous with the folks that have a need and drop a few coins regularly. Signing off with hope for new improved internet manana KO.

 

AS SAILFEST BEGINS

Sailfest is an annual week long event during the first week of February that raises funds to build schools and give educational opportunities for  Zihuatanejo’s poorest children.It originated about 12 years ago by the cruisers, those folks who arrive here and may winter here on sailboats. It does a tremendous amount of good for the community and provides some great fun and opportunities. There are tours of the schools, dances concerts, opportunities to crew in a sailboat race or another day to just go out and cruise about the bay and out to Ixtapa.

Friday was my first day of manning the sales desk.  I teamed up with my friend Faye.and we sold T-shirts, caps koozies and event tickets. Since this was only the 2nd day of sales and Sailfest is still a week away I didn’t think it would be too busy. Boy was I wrong! But it was fun and you get to meet a lot of great, interesting people from all over the globe.

After our shift we went down the beach to the next restaurant and had lunch and mango margaritas waiting to hear from our husbands about their day of deep sea fishing.  They had a good time, but no fish. So we met up with them at Zorrito’s . Then my friend Lori from about 4 years ago in Zihuatanejo called and wanted to meet up. They were at the Flophouse about a block away , went down there and met up with them and friends of theirs and we all returned to Zorrito’s and had this great picture taken. But my internet won’t go in until Monday so I probably can’t add it. Followed by dinner at La Vita Bella, a great restaurant but a little on the pricey side for us. Signing off KO    PS Hope pictures soon, maybe Monday

OUR NEIGHBORS ACROSS THE STREET

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On the street where we live

Our apartment building is located between two pedestrian only streets which makes it a quiet, friendly neighborhood where we can enjoy the pleasant sounds of the Mexican community.  As I write the knife sharpener is passing by.  Even though I’m 3 floors up I can tell by the tin penny whistle sound he makes. I look forward to all these sounds, families and children laughing and playing in the streets and the various vendors sounds and calls. I spend a lot of time on our little balcony, with a small view of the bay and a great view of some of our more interesting neighbors across the street. Daily we watch as the pigeons come to drink and bath in the “tinaca” on the roof of the building across the street. A tinaca is a large plastic

storage container that supplies running water the businesses below. So daily they share there water supply with a small flock of pigeons.  I’m sure they must use bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes. And believe me I’ve been up on the roof of our building to check out our tinacas and they are all covered.  No pigeons bathing here.

We watch the beautiful black and white cat sunbathing and strolling  the roof tops across from us. I believe that cats travel the entire town  from roof to roof, where as a roof dog is fenced in on just one roof and some never leave that roof. img_0166

Our neighbors across the street feed the hummingbirds as does our neighbor below us.  This results in a hummingbird flyway img_0157between the 2 locations, with an occasional  rest stop on one of the palm trees that dot our street. Cute as they are they are very difficult to photograph.  Signing off KO

A DAY AT ESCOLLERA

Friends invited us to go to Escollera with them for the afternoon. There were 8 of us so we piled into two taxi’s and headed up, and I do mean up.  Escollera is a beautiful restaurant located high above Zihuatanejo with a killer view. It was our first time there and our friends said as long as we ate and drank we would also be able to enjoy their pool.  It is a beautiful infinity pool with all of Zihuatanejo Bay below. So enjoy we did.

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Doyle and Faye taking in the view

 

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Myra and Dwight, I’m not sure who is helping who

 

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Zihuatanejo from Escollera Signing off KO

 

 

 

I AM NOT A COOK!

So  why do I keep thinking I can. I have prepared meals since I was an 18 year old bride. I raised 4 children and none of them starved to death so I can prepare a meal.  But to “cook” is different.  It is to follow a recipe, especially one with more than 3 ingredients and maybe  with different cooking  directions on how to prepare those ingredients with the end results having  people rave over your abilities. This isn’t happening here!  No matter how hard I try.  I cook just well enough to keep my husband from wanting to take me out to dinner every night, but not the kind of cooking that gives satisfaction to me..

Once again I tried tonight, it was certainly edible, but not memorable.  And certainly not worth the effort, of toasting  the bread in olive oil, pulsing it smooth with almonds and fresh parsley. None of which I have ever bought at home, let alone in the Mercado, which had to be done strictly in my fractured Spanish.  I know I deserve an A for effort, but I would prefer a night out!  Why do I keep torturing   myself, and admit survival cooking is as best as it is going to get.  You will note, there is  no picture of my shrimp dinner.  The most fun part of it was shopping in El Mercado Publico, that part I enjoy.  Golly gee, I’m a shopper not a cook, who could have guessed that! Signing off KO

TODAY I SWAM WITH THE FISHES

Friday afternoon we went out to the village of Troncones and checked into the beautiful Inn at Manzanillo Bay. Checked into our beach bungalow to discover they have been completely redone since last year.img_0114  Very luxurious, complete with a private outdoor courtyard shower. Had a lovely dinner, a couple of drinks and retired to listen the sound of the rolling surf.

Saturday morning at 8:00 am we walked a short way down the road to check in for the swim at Hacienda Eden, get our numbers written on our hands which is how we check in and out of the water. We walked about a 1/4 mile down the road to  the beach at Majahua, giving us a chance to meet each other and get to know one another.  Several of the group have swam the Alcatraz to San Francisco Sharkfest and other like me are mostly pool swimmers.  At just short of 73, I am one of the oldest swimmers.  My goal is always to finish strong and not come in last. At Majahua we got our instructions on how to swim way out past the rocks and the current at Punta Majahua, then make a left turn and use the light house on the beach as a beacon to head for. We counted out our numbers and into the water go 15 swimmers. The  8 paddle boarders serving as spotters and guide posts were already in the water. One paddle boarder was accompanied by  her small dog with his life jacket on. A panga (small motor boat) accompanies the group for anyone who might choose not to finish.

The distance is a little over a mile. The challenge for me is not so much the distance but swimming in the open ocean. It is very different considering the waves, currents and no black lines on the ocean floor to keep you oriented. At one point one of the paddle boarders placed her board in front of me so I would run into her so she could  give me a course correction. I was swimming way to far out to sea. That’s their job to keep everyone on course and account for all. Being a crawl stroke swimmer all I see is sky and sea as the land is on my left.  So you swim awhile and stop to check the direction and swim on.

Last year I had a great deal of trouble at the finish point as the surf was very high and I needed help getting oout after being tumbled several times..  This year was so much easier, but I did come in with a side stroke so I could keep an eye on the waves and made it “no problema”, proudly calling off my number to man checking the swimmers in. I don’t know and really don’t care where I placed, I’m not fast, but pretty steady. Friends said they thought I came in about 6 or 8.  Middle of the pack, feels good, and I know I’ve had a good work out.

img_0128This year we were awarded medals, kind of a nice touch, had a group picture, and were busy congratulating  ourselves. What made this year special for me was  I had my own rooting section. Along with Doyle, friends Faye and Paul with two of their friends and Bonny were all there at the finish line to cheer me on. Hopefully some one has a picture of me coming in as Doyle was on guard to help me if I got caught in the surf.img_0132

Bonny went back to our hotel and we had a great breakfast and returned back to Zihuatanejo. Will I do it again, probably, but will just have to see what next year brings. Signing off KO

SUPER FUN AT THE BEACH

A few days ago I received an e mail from a friend I met at swim with at the pool back home.  She was letting me know she and her husband were going to be in Ixtapa for 8 days and could we get together.  Of course they have an agenda of things they want and need to do and we had some prearranged plans and it looked like we might not meet up.  But today it worked out.  We invited them to Zihuatanejo, they came and fortunately prepared for the beach. So after a quick tour of El Centro and our apartment we were off to Las Gatas Beach.It’s a water taxi ride out to the beach which is always fun, then we walked down the beach to our favorite spot,Gloria del Mar and our favorite waiter, Jose.  Some how he has radar and seems to sense when we are coming as he spots us a half block down the beach and starts waving at us.

We stake out our territory, get buckets of Dos XX’s and margaritas. (Drinks not buckets) and settle in to the business of becoming better acquainted. Siuling and I swim together, and mostly just visit in the locker room. Our husbands have never met, but both are retired military and soon we are all laughing and joking like we have known each other for years. We order a red snapper and some shrimp, all heavy on the garlic and all but lick the platter clean. The guys decide they want to go deep sea fishing. We ask Jose, our waiter if he has a recommendation for a captain and soon the “Black Tuna” arrives and the guys make all the arrangements while Siuling and I swim.  Sunday is to be the fishing day. We’ve had all the sun and fun we can handle for the day and head back to the water taxi for the ride back to Zihua, with plans to meet on Sunday. A wonderful day with great amigos. Signing off KO

Mexico

Each morning I head up to the pool about 7:30, since the weather is warm here it t-shirt

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community pool

 

and shorts weather.  At home it takes me about the same amount of time to get to the pool, but I’m in a car using gas and bundled up in hats gloves,scarves and warm jacket.  My pool is an Olympic size pool which I occasionally share with two or three others.  As it is covered it is a little chilly to jump into at that time of day, but not as cold as the heated pool on the Navy base I normally swim at. Since I walk to and from the pool I only lap swim for 30 minutes instead of the 45 minutes at home and my wonderful fitbit tracks it all. At home the locker room is very nice with lots of good friends to visit with, here the locker room is a horror and no one to visit with. The showers don’t work, only few of the stalls have doors and the toilets flush via the “clarifacador” .

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Hopefully this needs no explanation

One of the anomaly’s of mexico is that few of public restrooms have toilet seats.  You have to wonder where they all disappear to. It’s Mexico you just  roll with the punches.

I usually make a stop at the Mercado Publico on the way back from swimming for fruits and veggies and the occasional chicken.  Our food is so fresh here I shop almost daily to take advantage of it.  Beautiful ripe strawberries, avocados, papaya and stuff I have never seen before. The mercado is a site and sensory over load, no picture can capture the sites and smells. One of my favorite places, also the money I spend there stays with the local people, no big corporation involved.

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We may be a bunch of old foggies, but we do know how to have a good time.

Today we had lunch with old friends at the Villa Mexicana where two of our friends are staying,  It’s a lovely hotel, good food, but great friends doing  some catching up with and reminiscing with.  Signing of KO