I’m a minimalist, well sort of. I have never been a “saver”, always quick to get rid of what I’m no longer using. And when you move 2373 miles away with just a few suitcases it gives you a good start on being a minimalist. Of course I was moving to an apartment that I had already spent several years equipping and only had to transport clothes and a few personal belongings.
But once here in Zihuatanejo I have pared down my life to what I consider the necessities for my life style. My kitchen cupboards only houses dishes and glasses enough for 4 as that is the maximum I could possibly host. I cook very little and have no need of kitchen gadgets and fancy single purpose pots and pans. And likewise for supplies, I don’t stock up as I don’t have storage room for stuff I might rarely need.
I read a lot, but now I prefer reading on my kindle. It took me a while to get to that point, but a pile of books which once was a treasure is just dusty clutter to me now. And I love the dictionary feature that my kindle offers, with a touch I can learn the correct meaning and pronunciation of a word I’m unsure of and all my books past present and future are in one small spot. No more dusty book shelves!
I have certain personal care items that I prefer so I have no need of a proliferation of lotions and potions.
Shoes?, well I’m forced into being a minimalist as they don’t sell my size in Mexico.
But clothes and jewelry are my down fall. I am limited only by the size of my closet which is decent size, not the 14 foot walk in with double racks I had back in Washington. Nor do I still have the free standing jewelry box. But I make do and do weed out items that I no longer wear due to condition or are so old I’m tired of them. And yes, I do have dresses that I have had for 15 plus years and am still wearing them. Spaghetti straps just never seem to go out of fashion in sun country.
I have a few necklaces I wear occasionally and same with bracelets, but earrings, well one can never have too many earrings or hats.
It’s that time of year when the seasonal visitors are packing up and leaving for their home bases. It seems like just about every evening there is a “last supper” or a good bye party. A little bitter sweet as I will miss my many friends, but at the same time just like the change of any season there are things to look forward to. Un crowded beaches, no need for reservations at the more popular restaurants, more personal time, more time to read, and time to spend with folks you don’t see as much of during the high season.
FriendsLots of lovely friends, will miss you.
I signed up for a workshop in “Ecco-dying” at Bara de Potosi, a lovely little Mexican village about 40 minutes from Zihuatanejo. It was my first venture into fabric art other than sewing. Our teacher Laurie had pre prepared fabric panels of natural fibers such as cotton and linen to be ready to accept the dyes made from extracts of plants. We each selected our first panel of fabric which varied in color from a very light beige to an almost brown, then laid a sheet of plastic down for a work space placing our fabric on it and began collecting various leaves and vines.
We artfully ? arranged the leaves and vines veined side down on the fabric and took another piece of fabric which we soaked in a dye of our choice laid it on top completely covering it and took a dowel and rolled it firmly to make sure the leaves were in direct contact with the fabric. Next we rolled the two pieces of fabric with the leaves sandwiched between tightly around the dowel and bound it tightly with strips of cloth, placed it in a pot to steam.
One hour later you get to see your results. The dye changes the background color, but also interacts with the tannins in the various leaves and vines selected to leave not only an imprint of the leaf but a variety of shades of color, some very dark others quite light. A very interesting process.
Dowels with tightly bound fabric and leavesBuckets of dyesSteamer pot
We each did 3 panels. This one might even become a wall hanging. It was a fun, interesting afternoon.
As I turned the calendar page to March I noticed there wasn’t a blank day in February. Every day had something scheduled and some days more than one event. I love being busy and enjoy being out with my friends. I didn’t move to Mexico to just sit in my apartment.
Valentine Decorations
Valentines Day is a very big deal In Mexico. The February full moon is called the moon of love and friendship. In celebration of this I did my first painting at our monthly Full Moon Fiesta. My painting style is definitely “Grandma Moses primitive”
Titled “A boy and a girl in a little canoe with the moon shinning all about“
February is Sailfest time where volunteers provide many activities to raise money to build schools for children in needy areas. Just a few of the activities are pictured below.
Champagne BreakfastSunset Music CruiseChili Cookoff M-dock concertCrown worn in 3 K walk Rally round the rock race
The local rotary sponsored a Paella Fest where we sampled many different paella entries.
Paella
I celebrated my 80th birthday at Tonio’s Porque No restaurant where my friend, chef and owner put on the best spaghetti feed and made the tastiest cakes for me a large group of my friends.
Tonio and meOne of the tables of friends
In between all these wonderful and fun events there are dinners and happy hours with friends.
Friends
We were excited to see Escollera with the lovely infinity pool reopen, it has always been a favorite spot.
Escollera
Finished up the month with a trip to the street fair in Bara de Potosí spending the night at the charming Casa Del Encanto.
Entrance to Casa Del EncantoCharming and peaceful courtyard
Somehow I seem to be just as busy as ever. Just not quite so much going out. I”m still working my way through my list of “100 books to read before you die”. Most are great reads, some not so much leaving me wondering how they ever got put on the list. And I get distracted by other books that are recommended by friends or other articles I read so I’m not only working on the list and am reading whatever I want. Several books I have read have referred to two of the classics “Great Expectations” and Moby Dick. I did read Great Expectations and through enjoyed it once I got into the rhythm of the old English style of Charles Dickens. So my next book will be to tackle Moby Dick I read in the daytime and watch TV only at night. I do enjoy binge watching Netflix series.
I”m in the process of breaking my last tie with my life in Washington state, selling my much loved little car. I’ve had many cars in my life but only two I have loved. My very first car of my own a red 64 VW and my last car an 08 Smart Car that I ordered on line with a $99 deposit a full year before they were imported to the US. In selling this car also comes the reality that I’m pretty much giving up my driving privileges. At my age it becomes very expensive to rent a car for the occasional visit home to visit family, but certainly not worth storing a vehicle for a year or two at a time And of course here in Zihuatanejo I have no desire to drive. Taxi’s and busses do me just fine. I guess the good thing about it is I’m making the decision about ending my driving days, not my family or the police telling I am no longer allowed to drive.
My lovely little smart car taken before I headed to eastern Washington for some kayaking.
I have finally acquired a housekeeper thanks to the recommendation of two friends. What a difference it makes to have someone really deep clean every two weeks. Every crack and crevice has been cleaned and organized. Now it is so much easier to keep it up with minimal effort. I don’t know why I stalled for so long. I guess I was waiting for just the right person to be recommended to me.
My attempts to capture a couple of the local feline community and deliver them to Spaz to have them neutered has turned out disastrously. The first kitten escaped while I was trying to deliver it to Spaz but fortunately it ran right into their compound where he still is but still too feral for them to capture. But at least it’s safe and getting food and water and slowly getting socialized. The second one made his daring escape just as I had left my apartment with him securely (?). Then his weight shifted as I started down the stairs and it bumped the back of the trap and little Houdini came flying out the back door running and howling. 2 days later he is back on my balcony sleeping afternoons in my garden under the shade of plants. Mean time my little black momma cat comes regularly for meals. Wanders through my apartment like it was her own. Has even spent whole days cooling herself under my bed. But she still won’t let me near enough to her to even pet her. I really want to get her spade but it will have to wait until I can tame her a bit. She is too smart to go in the trap, I’ve tried that wit zero success.
My moma cat I call Pearlie Mae enjoying a meal in my apartmentLittle Houdini who enjoys napping in my garden
Everyone is complaining about the heat, for some reason I’m not bothered by it. Temperatures are in the 90’s and with the humidity factored in they say it feels like the high 90’s and this has been going on for weeks. I’m managing just fine with my 3 ceiling fans, I have yet to turn on the air conditioner. I also don’t go out from noon till about 4 O’clock unless absolutely have to. I’m not walking any distances as I perspire so heavily that I would be drenched by the time I got to where i was going. Siesta’s really make sense in this weather. Did get an hours worth of rain the other night, or I should say morning as it started about 3 AM. It’s the most rain I’ve seen since arriving here in October. Life goes on as usual during this hot summer, just everything is slower.
Some fun things have been going on such as learning of a fun Pozoleria in the La Noria area. Went there with a lively group and soon our waitress had us up and dancing. House parties with friends to see their new home and even have a July 4th event to attend. Enjoying ladies lunch days at restaurants that have pools. Life is still quite social, just at a much slower pace.
A great fun waitress and a good dancer
I’m still going to Spanish class 3 mornings a week. After todays lesson I finally feel I have made progress. I’m pretty much of the opinion I will not be having serious conversations with Spanish speakers, but what I want is to have enough skills to be able to ask the question and under stand the answer. To be able to read signs and labels, follow basic instructions.
My garden is thriving all except for the thankless tomato plants that I have so lovingly cared for. I nursed them from seeds to seedling to starter size plants, transplanted the 5 hardiest ones to a large trough type pot. Watered them faithfully watched them blossom and then watched the blossoms fade with out setting fruit except for one tiny tiny tomato. Then they quit blossoming, and wilted in spite of the fertilizer I added and on going watering. They drooped until I couldn’t stand looking and the dying mass so I cut them down and disposed of them. Thankless plants. I don’t know what I did wrong. I need to read up on growing things in Mexico.
As I am now a full time resident it was time to look for a doctor and establish a relationship. I selected Dr Salgado because of positive statements from folks who’s option I value and hoped I would agree with them. One of my priorities was my doctor would need to be fluent in English. When it comes to medicine and medical decisions there can be no room for language misinterpretation.
My appointment was made for a physical and a review of medication for Tuesday. Here in Mexico Dr offices are not necessarily grouped in large medical buildings but may be an apartment in an apartment building and are quite basic. Over my years in Mexico I have been to 3 or 4 different doctors offices and have been impressed with how very basic they are. No fancy art work on the walls, furniture so basic you think it may have been donated by the Salvation Army. Yet modern equipment. No frills. I like this, feels like it keeps the costs down. My doctors office is nice. but not fancy. He was through, even measured my bmi, did an in-office EKG and told me my results and gave me a copy my results for my records. I like that.
The next day I was scheduled for lab work. I arrived at 8, a half hour after they opened thinking no one would be there so early. Wrong! The office was crowded to standing room only and only the most basic of basic chairs for furniture. No one spoke English and I cannot yet converse that well in Spanish, so google translate had to help out. They were efficient and traffic moved quickly. I had a chest X-ray and the young tech showed me my X-ray and said it was bueno. Back in the US I would never see the X-ray itself and week or so later after the radiologist examined it I would get a message that would say it was ok or to return to my doctor. After my blood draw they told me I could return after 3:30 and all my results would be ready for me to pick up. And it is up to me to get them to my doctors office which I did as I had an appointment to wear an EKG halter for a couple of days for a more extensive EKG.
Dentist offices are very much the same, very basic office but equipment and procedures are just like north of the border. Dermatologist use lenses on their I phone that projects what they see on to a screen so you can see what they see. Pharmacies don’t require a prescription for anything short of narcotics. And the cost of medicines is considerably less. I have 2 very expensive medicines I take that are half the price here. All things considered health wise, I am very comfortable with my decision to reside here. Signing off KO
The big news is I now have my temporary residency card and it is good for 4 years when I can change it over to permanent. I was very nervous about obtaining it as I am a little shy on the monthly income part. But all went well thanks to my good friend Tonio who helped with translation and just plain understanding the procedure. I have bought and sold property with far less paper work and signatures. It’s about a 2 hour procedure including fingerprinting, eye printing and photographing. But no formal application. My name address phone number and e mail were all just written down on a piece of scratch paper. So now that I am “almost Mexican” I will sign up for Spanish classes and change over to a Mexican phone number.
My friend Cheryl has been taking guitar lessons while she is here and her class had it’s recital last week. They learned such great songs as Proud Mary and Mustang Sally and we all got to sing along. It was a fun evening at the Restaurant Adalinda.
My little garden is growing nicely, but I may have killed one of my poinsettias with kindness. It appears I have over watered it and it is very unhappy and shedding all it’s leaves, the second one is in better shape and probably will survive. My tomato starts are doing great, looking forward to fresh tomatoes.
Tomato starts are now twice the sizeMy Garden
I’m usually willing to try most food. Which may sound odd since I do not eat meat or chicken. Dishes that have them I can usually pick around the chunks of meat or poultry and enjoy the rest. I’m pretty much a “fishaterian, (my word.) So one would assume I would enjoy oysters as they pick them fresh here in the bay. I have stayed away from them here as I come from an area of great oyster beds and I do love them. But have been carefully taught you only pick and eat them during months that have an r in them as those months the water is colder. So when some of us were at a restaurant that always has a large pile of oysters still in the shell and someone shucking them we decided to give it a go. They were OK, but for fresh raw oysters to be at their best they need to be ice cold and a smaller size. But what the heck it’s Mexico and they can do it there way. But I wouldn’t do it again.
Went to lunch with friends at El Manglar a week ago Sunday. The word Manglar means swamp which is part of the charm of this lovely restaurant that is located on La Ropa beach with a stream running beside complete with crocodrillo’s and trees full of Iguanas. It also has a lovely breeze that funnels through the restaurant making it a great place on hot days and very good food.
These were not the friends that I was having lunch with, they just come with the restaurant
Dinners on the beach, fund raiser for the food bank, and pool parties have filled up the rest of the weeks entertainment.
My favorite dinner spot Maderas on Playa La Madera for sunset dinner
I’ve been busy at home also, I hung and hemmed new curtains for my slider. They are sunblock curtains, I don’t need them so much now, but will come winter and the sun hits my balcony right full on. I also installed a great mirror on an expanding arm in my bathroom to give a full 360 view for primping. Took advantage of Buen Fin, Mexico’s answer to Black Friday and went shopping for a new TV that is fully Bluetooth capable. Actually I had a friend who is tech knowledgeable do the shopping for me and I just showed up with the card to make the purchase. That way I know I’m getting a good TV and a good deal. It’s nice to have good friends.
Last year I fed a trio of street/roof cats. I really didn’t expect that they would still be around. But not only did they survive, did they multiplied. Two of them have half grown kittens following them around. One of them wants to be a pet, well he is still skittish and I can’t pet him yet but he likes to sit and visit with me and he is a very good listener.
I hadn’t planned on feeding them this year as I was really thinking of getting a cat of my own, a strictly indoor cat. But them I discovered how thirsty these cats and kittens were as they were dipping a paw in the dish under one of my plants and then licking the paw. So out came the pan of water and I was amazed at how long they would drink and how quick they returned for more. So at least they have a source for good, clean water. The friendly one got dinner last night. We will see how that goes, maybe I am destined to just have outdoor cats. Signing off KO
Sailfest is the annual fun, fundraising activity in Zihuatanejo that raises money for schools, school supplies, lunch programs, scholarships, etc benefitting Zihuatanejo’s poorest children.
It began this year with a walk/run that was joined in by several of Zihuatanejo’s running clubs. Next was a meet and greet on the pier with music and dancing. Other events were the sailboat races around the rock, the band M-Dock’s concert had everyone dancing on the pier again. A gala dinner was held on the pier, which has turned out to be a great location for events. The nightly music cruises were again a very popular event with many talented local and visiting musicians performing for small groups while sailing in the bay. This year the auction was limited to just the live auction and the “Chili Cook Off” was held with out the silent auction. Most events were held with only limited numbers of participants allowed at each event, held out doors and well spaced to keep in line with current “covid” protocols. And of course the concluding sail parade where all the participating cruisers take passengers for a day long sail out past Ixtapa and some on to Ixtapa Island other choose to fish or swim.
My tiny contribution to Sailfest this year was to man the t-shirt and souvenirs sales desk and to help with the walk run event. Right smack in the middle of this fun filled week I had to make a quick, 3 day trip back to Washington state to do some legal work all in preparation for my making Zihuatanejo my real home. I wish the timing had been better as Sailfest is such a fun event.
My February birthday was the original impetus for staying in Zihuatanejo longer than just the month of January. Then it was “we don’t do anything special on Christmas anymore, why not come for December too”. And pretty soon you find yourself enjoying the entire winter in lovely, warm, friendly Zihuatanejo.
This birthday started with an early morning swim with Suzanne, my always willing swim partner, and iced coffee. We moved on to lovely beach mimosas. Just before leaving to take a siesta the staff at Madera’s brought out a slice of birthday cheese cake. I wasn’t sure the day could get any better.
I had selected Agave for dinner as I hadn’t been there yet this year. And they didn’t disappoint. Good meals, good prices and service. And great friends.
The birthday girl
We adjourned to Eloina’s where Linda presented me with my handsome date for after dinner drinks. A fun day with great friends including phone calls from most of my kids. Couldn’t ask for anything more, only many more just like this.
Zihuatanjo is such a fun,vibrant place full of fun things to do, new, interesting people to meet. I have come to love it so much that come this fall I will make it my permanent place of residence.
So I have much to do during this time period and number one is applying for my temporary residency card. Hopefully this goes smoothly, most of it must be done on line, but some will have to wait until I return to Washington to access my records
Attended the Birthday and Retirement Bash for Jimi Mamou, a Zihuatanejo legend. He is retiring after 60 years of being the music man. He is not only a musician and singer, but a true entertainer, bringing, joy, laughter and dancing feet to the folks in Zihuatanejo for the past 17 years
Can’t sit still when Jimi plays.
Pool parties and friends gathering
Spending time at the animal shelter in Bara de Potosi cuddling and socializing with the catsSailing, snorkeling and sunset watching.Warm sand and warm water.
What is not to love about this magical place, can’t think of a single reason not to make it my home.
One of the great things about Zihuatanejo is you can be a busy as possible or not. Busy one week relax and refresh the next. The opportunities are there. This has been one of my busiest weeks.
My Sunday begins as it often does with a day at Escollera enjoying friends and the lovely infinity pool.
Monday was a lovely at home day on my balcony where I can read, watch the busy Mexican street life or enjoy the company of a couple of the roof cats who visit with me frequently.
Tuesdays are usually spent with lunching with an ebb and flow of ladies who are here full time or full season at one of our favorite beach front restaurants. For me it is frequently followed by a swim in the lovely salt water of the ocean where you float effortlessly.
Wednesday was spent with my friends Bonny and Cheryle at Cheryle’s lovely abode and enjoying the best swimming pool I have ever had the privilege of swimming in.
Thursday was a day on the bay sailing swimming and snorkeling and enjoying Zihuatanejo’s exquisite sunset.
Snorkeling off Playa Las Gatas saw more colorful fish this day than I have ever seen beforeEven a small school of dolphins joined us
And it’s only Friday, but I have plans to go dancing tonight with friends and Saturday is dinner with other friends.
And folks wonder why I am so happy here! Everyday here is an adventure where you can choose to participate or not. Go out and do or stay home, relax, curl up with a good book, walk the beach. For me it’s as close to paradise as it can be.
Zihuatanejo 