Jimi Mamou – Zihuathyme

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

I’ve been both busy and lazy. Doing quite a bit of reading, with American Dirt being the stand out book of the season. Currently reading Mitchner’s Poland, almost took much history and war to wade through but interesting all the same as I have never known much about Poland and I have a very special Polish friend.

I’ve been doing the majority of my beach time at Playa La Madera. I’m always amazed when people think it is OK to place their towels on the only available beach lounges at 9 am but not come to sit on them still 1:00 or maybe not at all. Further more it amazes me that the restaurant owners allow it. Watched several days where all lounges were occupied by towels only and possible patrons by passed the restaurant as no place to sit.

Pet peeve, towels reserving chairs for people who come very much later if at all

The music scene in Zihuatanejo still exists, Jimi Mamou at Daniels, Steve’s Friendz at Rossy’s, Solo Tres on Wednesday afternoons, weekend dancing at Baracruda for those who don’t mind waiting until 9:30 to start, Jose Louis Cabo at La Canta de Las Sirenas on Mondays, early for the gringos and others here and there that I haven’t quite caught up with.

My Christmas poinsettias are thriving, but I found it necessary to give them a bath last week. As they live on my balcony which over looks a busy street I discovered their leaves were covered in dust and dirt, coming from rain country I’m not used to dirty plants.

Have had the Poinsettias since November 30, that’s my friend “Pidge” who I have lovely morning conversations with. This is what happens when you live alone.

Signing off KO

IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE DAY

Woke up this morning to the sound of rain, it’s another cloudy day with a bit of a fine Washington mist now coming down. Not enough to get you wet, and it’s warm. I decided that I need to swim more or I won’t be in shape for Sharkfest in Troncones on Jan 10th. So at 7:30 this morning I went to Playa La Madera, just a short walk from where we stay and swam 3 laps out and back around a sailboat anchored out. This is to become my new morning routine. I can walk at other times, but there is almost no one at the beach at that time of the day and it is close to my normal home routine.

Since our TV service is not currently carrying the Senor’s favorite channel, I’ve learned to stream it from another source. I use the word learn loosely, more like just plain luck, but it keeps him happy and informed.

The Senor decided he needs a new white shirt to wear with his dress white shorts for our Christmas Eve dinner so we will do some brief shopping this morningand hopefully check in with the sand artist as I hope this rain hasn’t damaged his work of art. Meantime we are playing Christmas music on my I pod and enjoying our little Christmas display, feeling just “Christmasy” enough.

Met with success on our shopping trip, the senor got his new shirt and I learned that a “bolsa” is not only a bag or purse but also a pocket. Checked in with the sand carver, I’m so impressed. It’s been fun watching the progess and so glad the rain hasn’t hurt his work of art. He has brought me much enjoyment

Tonight we will join friends and enjoy a Christmas feast at Daniels, and enjoy the music of Jimmi Mamou FelizeNavidad from our casa to yours. 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

Back Home in Zihuatanejo

The senor and I are glad to be back in Zihuatanejo after 3 days in Morelia which is quite cold compared to Zihuatanejo. The trip was good, but one of those that if it could go wrong it did, even our on bus ride home. 60 Kilometers out of Zihuatanejo the air conditioning on the bus went out, a brief stop to fix it with no luck so we finished the trip with the doors to the bus wide open. It took almost 3 hours longer on the return trip than it did on the going trip, don’t really know why as it was also a non stop trip. Upon our arrival back at our apartment we discovered we had no electricity. Now it 1030 PM on a Friday night with the Mexican Hootnany going strong down below, but the building manager contacted the owner who got the electrician out to fix the problem. And with in a couple of hours the problem was fixed. The Senor was quite amused at the electricians tester, 2 wires and a light bulb, but what the hey, this is Mexico.

Our day was a quite day, laundry day and then a stroll along the waterfront and lunch at the

: Jimi Mamou at Daniels in Zihuatanejo

Sirena Gorda, bean soup and smoked fish tacos, much later in the evening a visit to Daniels, a beach side restaurant as Jimi Mamou plays there regularly. I got to visiting with him and discovered he has a San Francisco back ground and we knew several people in common. Once again, small world.

Sailfest is this week, which is sponsored by the “cruisers” those folks who live on sail and power vessels. The harbor is full of sail boats and the proceeds of the weeks events go to helping the poorest schools here. We bought our Sailfest T-shirts today and plan to attend most of the events. Signing off KO