Valentines Day in Mexico

Valentines Day and The Street Fair On Calle Adelita

This should have poste on February 15, but for some reason didn’t.

In Zihuatanejo there is so much to celebrate. Valentines Day is huge among the Mexican population. Temporary Bazaars are set up all along the main street hawking all sorts of of gifts. There are little booths with purses, shoes, lingerie and the more traditional gifts of flowers, sweets and stuffed animals and beautiful wrappings and boxes for the gifts. The restaurants are full that evening, we went out that night with 2 other couples and while enjoying an after dinner we were serenaded by a wandering mariachi band.

The next day was the annual street fair on Calle Adelita, a street well-known for its many little restaurants and Boutique Hotels. This fair is a fund-raiser for the local Bomberos, which translates to: firefighters, EMT personnel and crocodile wranglers when one encroaches into areas where they could become a danger to folks. Twice over the years I have watched the Bomberos, rope, wrangle and tie up a croc then transport him to a preserve. This year they were raising money for a defibrillator, a worthy cause. Food and drink was available, as was a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle. Couple of different

This pair of cuties were some of the dancers

bands played and groups of Mexican dancers performed. Always a fun evening and I bid and won a certificate for a “Tres Leches Cake” which is quite appropriate as my birthday is later this week

I have been attending Spanish classes twice a week and really working at it. I’m not going to be “bi-lingual” but I certainly have improved my confidence in attempting to speak with shop keeper and such, can read menus, signs. My ability to read it is far superior to my speaking ability. I’m not finding it easy, but quite a challenge. I think when I’m back home I will once again audit a basic Spanish Class at our local college just to keep my skills up. Not so much to progress but to keep from regressing. Signing off KO

VALENTINES DAY A VERY BIG DEAL

A few days before Valentines Day little temporary shops spring up everywhere selling items for this day of romance.There are heart shaped baloons, stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes, beautifully gift wrapped boxes,lovely flowers and floral displays designed to help you impress your amour. Red, pink and white balloons decorate many of the restaurants as a reminder to make reservations. Being as it was a Saturday it was bigger than usual.

I had lunch plans with a friend and we managed to get the last table in the restaurant, somehow it had escaped us that it was this day of importance. Following our lunch and since I was in the neighborhood I was to stop and make dinner reservations at La Gula. Obviously the Senor is no “romantico” as I was the one making the reservations and we had a certificate for $250 pesos off on our meal there courtesy of a Sailfest raffle. Being as it was a special day they were doing a special 4 course dinner with choice of entree. I warned him in advance what it was but he still said yes make the reservations but I knew this wasn’t going to please him. The Senor is more of a meat and potatoes guy, considering 22 years in the navy, he is more comfortable in a ships galley than fine dinning. So I knew there would be an issue.

He likes me to do the ordering as I can do that much in Spanish. My mistake was I thought we were going to have a choice of soup or salad, and a choice of chicken or fish, but no it was explained that we get both soup and salad. The senor says “Tell them no soup, it’s too much food, just the salad. I explain to him he’s paying for it, he is going to get it, and he doesn’t have to eat it. Our dinner was excellent, but he commented he would rather have a bigger salad and no soup.

No visit to Calle Adelita is complete with out a visit to the Cereus tree which only blooms at night. One night we actually watched as they began to pop open. It reallywas a good evening followed off with nite caps at the Flophouse Bar.

Valentines day in Mexico is huge. It’s never been a big deal in my life, just another day, but here every store adds a complete selection of valentine gifts, the balloon seller are out in force, and the restaurants offer specials. The Senor and I went out for dinner, not so much as it was valentines day as Jimi Mamou was playing at Daniels and they have good steaks.

They were so busy that it took an exceptionally long time to get our food, but Jimi was great as usual and fun to dance to. Half the town turned out for the valentines celebration at the zocolo where they turned the basketball court into a stage and

Usually it is the ladies that take off their shoes to dance

a dance floor with some very good Mexican musicians and singers.

Saturday morning I convinced the Senor to go with me to the Eco Tianguis street bazaar. I should have known better, I’ll leave him at home next time. His idea was to walk through it as quickly as possible with a been there done that attitude. I made him stop long enough for me to buy an “energy ball” treat and a pair of earrings made of recycled plastic and paused a moment to watch the circle dancing then we were out of there and headed for breakfast where we heard the shrill whistle of the knife sharpener.

Following my noon nail appointment to repair the cracked nail from my last fall I headed out to the Commercial for a few supplies. We’ve been here long enough that I’m completely comfortable navigating town on my own, even thought my Spanish is quite limited, I can tell taxi drivers where I want to go, ask for directions, make purchases with out the money totally confusing me. I’ve been to the fabric store a couple of times and bought fabric in the metric system, but there are no patterns in the store. I wonder if there is a store here that just sells patterns?

The senor with a lady in a dress made completely of candy wrappers

The Senor has become tired of the twice weekly serenades by the young Mexican musicians. It amuses me that he complains they play the same thing over and over again, so where do we go for the evening Eloina’s to hear Steve and Allan play oldies but goodies, granted their repertoire is considerably larger but it amuses me. Signing off KO

Valentines Day in Mexico

Valentines Day seems to be a very big deal here in Zihuatanejo. Huge displays in the stores, beautiful flower

arrangements in the florist shops, balloons and trinkets being vended on the streets and beaches. As today was the day the maid came to clean we went out to lunch at Elvira’s and the proprietor gave me a red rose.

We had some very good news today, Javier our apartment manager will store a suitcase for us. That way we can leave our beach towels, bath towels our sun shield extra set of curtains, the crock pot we bought and other miscellaneous kitchen stuff we’ve bought to make this a real home away from home here and not have to lug extra luggage around airports.

As this is our last week here we are making sure that we have bought all the gifts we want to bring home, gone all the places we want to see for this year.

Top floor right side our home away from home!We will be making our reservations for next year for 6 weeks, the same time of year. I had wanted to hear Michelle Lavalle sing as we had missed her at the Sailfest Concert and knew she was going to be at Bandito's tonight so I had planned that I would go for an ice cream at the ice cream store next door and get to her her sing, But the Senor suggested we go for a drink at Bandito's and later decided we would do dinner there. He selected the steak and I had "fish molecejete" which is basically a fish stew, with cactus and other veggies in a tomato sauce topped with cheese. It is served in a stone bowls bubbling hot. Of course we brought home the leftovers andFish Molecejete

I’ll eat for a couple of days off it. It was great! As were the margarita’s, many of them. Michelle La Valle is an excellant singer, a Canadian married to a Mexican. She sang a variety of both American and Mexican music. An absolutely great evening! When we arrived back at our apartment, as frequently happens a group had gathered and Javier offered us beer and tequila. Here one sips tequila, no one does shots! Well maybe the Senor Frog crowd in Ixtapa. One last tequila was all I could manage and off to bed for us. Signing off KO