bus travel in Mexico

ECOTIANGUIS SANKA Y MAS

Ecotianguis Sanka very loosely translated is a local, ecologically/organic farmers market that is held each Saturday morning it what I call the artist plaza at the waterfront. It’s a fascinating array of food, some vegetarian, some organic, all local and all very good just depending on your personal tastes. It also hosts a variety of crafts people with a very creative area of items to purchase. Many of the food items you can taste to help you make your decisions. My friend Sylvia and I made our first stop for a cup of local coffee. We then headed to the food

table where we had our breakfast served on a banana leaf for a plate. We choose to sample all three of the organic vegetarian choices, one was a tofu in barbacoa seasoning, one was a shredded egg-plant dish and the third I can’t remember. Three tortillas were spread with a small amount of refried beans then a serving of each was placed the tortillas. We each ended up with 3 tortillas one of each flavor on a banana leaf plate. We both thought the egg-plant was fantastic, the one we can’t remember the name of was good and we weren’t crazy about the seasoning on the tofu. Other things we tasted was apple slices with a tamarind, a hibiscus jelly, and date/nut/fruit ball that is marketed as an energy snack very good and no sugar and small rolled candies that have nuts and a bite of a maple flavor. We bought papayas, and grapefruit and I bought a pair of earrings that are actual lime slices. Very interesting! We saw everything from beautiful jewelry made from coiled paper to coconut soap. All made here locally.

We visited with friends, people watched and only wished there were more sitting space as we might have lingered longer. On our returned, the fruit cart vendor was in front of our apartment so we purchased

bananas and strawberries. This is cart is basically a

wheelbarrow with a board on top, then loaded with boxes of beautifully displayed fruit. He has to be immensely strong to wheel this around.

The Senor and I waited until after dark to head out for dinner, we browsed several menus along the malecon and decided on Casa Elvira as the rib eye steak was reasonably priced for the Senor. the waiters remembered us from last year and the service was very good. Next on to the Zocolo as I had heard that Zihuatanejo was going to be a sub venue for an international film festival based in Acapulco. There was a large crowd and many chairs had been set out. It appeared that what was being played was a Japanese animated film. The music from the Baracruda drew us in for the Steve Allen Show, that soon becomes a jam session as other musicians join in. The music we hear in Zihuatanejo is beyond comparison, we love it. signing off KO

ACAPULCO AND LOS FLAMINGOS

We boarded the Estrella Blanca bus about 2:30, noting it was first class, but not luxury class like the Parihuni bus we rode last year. It had a few hanging TV screens and showed a couple of movies during the trip in Spanish as would be expected. We mostly dozed and I read and dozed as we passed through small village after small village, often right on the cost line.

The highway is strictly 2 lanes, not even a shoulder and the bus moves fast even on the curves.

We arrive in Acapulco about 6 pm, catch a cab and head for the beautiful Los Flamingos hotel, former playland of the rich and famous hollywood stars of bygone days. We get settled in our room and head to the dinning terrace for dinner and to catch the sunset. I had baby shark peccadilloes and onion soup, which was excellent, the Senor choose a pork chop that was a little tough. We watched the sun set visited with other dinners from Minnesota and watched as the waiter prepared bananas flambe, one more drink and we retreated to our room for the night.

The room has ventilator windows on both sides and a ceiling fan. No need for air conditioning as we are situated right on the cliff above the ocean and the breeze blows right through the room while you listen to the waves lapping at the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. Not a fancy room, but attractive and comfortable. This morning as I sit on the veranda right out side our door this is my view.

signing off with more to come KO

Un adventura

Yesterday we embarked on a great adventure. We wanted to go to the shell beach that Wil had shown us on our tour with him. When we were there before Wil was driving, but this time we were going on our by bus. I knew where the “bus depot” is having been there once before, well at least I thought I did after 3 wrong turns I found it. Good thing I had scoped it out the day before and really did know how to find it. Now when I say “bus station” you enter throw a very narrow hole in the wall walkway and find yourself in a courtyard with lots of parked buses. A young man asks us Donde? and we tell him Troncones he points to a bus and starts it up, we get on 5 minutes later with 2 other passengers we are on our way.

It’s slow going, no chickens or pigs, but 2-3 blocks down the road the ice cream man loads his 5 gallon stainless steel tub and the wheelbarrow carts he transports it in on to the rear of the bus, folks get on others get off and finally we are out in the country side hoping we will recognize our stop. Almost an hour later we do recognize our stop, a sign post helps, and we get off at the cross roads to Troncones. There there is a palapa where we wait for the next bus that takes us in to our destination. This bus is a small van with benches dow the sides and across the back and the back of the driver’s seat. It’s a dusty ride as the pavement has ended.

We keep looking for where we want to get off, and don’t see it, we think we’ve gone too far so the Senor suggests we get off and have lunch at the same place we did last time we were out in Troncones. As soon as we sat down to eat, the Senor recognized the area and we knew we just hadn’t gone far enough, so after a great bowl of Poblano Soup we walked about a mile down the road and found the wonderful shell beach. and each of us had a bag and sifting tools and loaded up on great shells for my bird houses. Most of the shells are quarter size or smaller and we picked up about 5 lbs. We started walking back , knowing the little bus would soon be by and we could just hail him down. He came, we reversed the whole procedure and surprisingly enough we ended up exactly where we started. We now feel like we could go anywhere we wanted to on the bus.

After a brief siesta I plan to go to the opening festivities of “Sailfest” this is a live auction and usually lots of fun. The Senor has begged off saying he’s tired from his day

in the sun, which is probably true. But also he has a terrible time at auctions, he is “IN TO WIN” and I think he decided the best way not to spend too much money is simply not to go. I, on the other hand, can be cheap and frugal, unless it is something I really, really want. And fortunately I came home empty-handed except for 2 raffle items I won. A 200 peso off gift certificate for dinner on La Ropa Beach and tickets to the Animal Refuge Park.

The Senor is going fishing again today, so I’m going to go swimming at La Madera beach. It’s just a short walk from town and I feed my flock of chickens on the way. Madera beach is very shallow for a long way, just rolling waves none that pull the sand from under your feet. Couldn’t take a picture of it as the Senor has the camera to take pictures of his catch, but alas there were no fish to be caught today. Another siesta and we are headed out to attend the Sailfest Concert.

Interesting tree we saw on our walk, suspect it is a vine growing on tree

The concert is featuring 5 different groups that perform in the area. It should be great fun, and the location sounds interesting, an old colonial building with a court-yard garden. Signing off KO