Zihuatanejo Mexico – Zihuatanejo

Best Birthday Ever

Ladies in their eighties will not be denied the right to PARTY

I have just celebrated the best birthday ever, actually it’s been over a week long celebration. My super good buddy Suzanne and I opted to have a combined birthday party since we have so many friends in common and birthdays just a couple of days apart. It was well planned, well publicized and as we begin to decorate I got the first inkling of a problem from my friend Hector who was doing the music for our party. He informed me his taxi driver said there was trouble brewing and buses and taxi’s were being burned in retaliation for the killing of the cartel boss El Moreno which happened a very long way from where we are. At first I dismissed this as that was all happening in another part of Mexico, it couldn’t possible affect us in Zihuatanejo. After a couple of incidents just outside of Zihuatanejo, the local military literally closed our town down and all were told to “shelter in place” So much for our party! But we ladies in our eighties were dauntless and determined. As town re opened up the next day the party plans were back on, just one day late. But a fantastic party it was with many, many friends, two of Tonio’s fantastic cakes, great music by Hector and did I mention friends. Great friends!

Birthday wish kept coming in over the next week, celebratory drinks were bought and a lovely dinner party in our honor culminated the week. Greatest, funest (is that even a word) birthday ever. Made double special sharing it all with my super good friend Suzanne.

It’s been “Sailfest” time here in lovely warm Zihuatanejo, the annual charity fund raiser that supports schools and school programs for bright, but often disadvantaged kids. Lots of fun events to attend and opportunities to volunteer and support the good work accomplished. I did a minimum of volunteering this year, it’s time to move over and make room for new, enthusiastic volunteers and this will be my last year volunteering. I did enjoy the new event, a beach front pig roast, complete with games in the sand and a lighted dance floor.

The MDocks played their last Sailfest concert on the pier after many years of performing for Sailfest. I also enjoyed a Champagne Brunch high above Zihua Bay watching the sailboat rally, and of course the massive garage sale, which is a win for those seeking bargains, and a win for those of us that need a means of shedding ourselves of unwanted and unused items. All in all February has been a great month.

March begins the exodus of many friends as they start to return to their homes in Canada and the US, by mid April it will just be us full timers and life will slow way down. Signing off KO

Change of Season

It has been a long hot, humid summer and while I have always enjoyed hot weather I don’t do well with high humidity. Those of us that live here year round have complained this was the hottest summer ever. Don’t know how factual that is, but we all find ways to deal with it. My antique air conditioner died and has since been replaced with a energy efficient one which showed positive results on my electric bill.

Dia del Muerto is a big deal here.

Many folks dress Catrina style.

The kids here are embracing American style Halloween, but instead of running house to house it is business to business shouting “Halloween” instead of trick or treat.

Music is starting back up at many of the restaurants. Had a lovely evening at Tonio’s Porque No restaurant eating his delicious food and being entertained by Rudy Catalan and Patricia Carrion.

Our monthly book club did meet through out the summer as reading is a great hot, humid weather activity.

Alejandra is so good and getting us all in with selfie mode

Even though we are expats we are still vitally interested in what is happening in the USA. We have formed a “NO Kings” chapter and are being active by keeping informed and demonstrating to our Mexican hosts are mutually common interests.

One of our interesting speakers at the last No Kings gathering

A very popular and fun gathering place for music and dancing is the Cuban Bar where you can get the very best coffee mezcal.

The Canadian snowbirds are arriving daily, lots of fun renewing old friendships and making new ones. I was able to put out a patio table and chairs on the roof adjacent to my back porch. Nice place to entertain a couple of friends on these lovely fall evenings. Zihuatanejo is such a friendly place with something always going on. So happy I decided to move here. Signing off KO

Countdown to Vacation Cruise

In a couple of days I will be embarking on my first big ship cruise. When I say big ship, I mean this monster has 15 decks.

My last vacation was on a small ship with 3 decks and I loved it, and am silently wondering if I should have done pretty much this same cruise but on the small boat. I’m all about new experiences so big boat here I come!

I was my own travel agent for this trip, booking all my flights from Zihuatanejo to Athens and back from Venice where the cruise ends. What a hassle! Nothing is simple. In the future I will deal with our local travel agency and save myself hours and days of juggling schedules that just don’t mesh.

I am taking walking poles that fold down to just over 2 feet and fit in my day pack as I do have difficulty with stairs and some hills. That way it will give me an “athletic” look rather than an old lady with a cane look. Well at least in my own mind.

My day pack will hold my walking sticks until needed

I’ve allowed myself extra days in Athens not only to sight see, but to also make sure with all the recent airport delays that I will arrive well before the time to embark.

I got a killer deal on a cruise drink package so I will be able to finish my list of “Classic Cocktails I have never tasted” that I began at a Cancun All Inclusive Resort a year or so ago where my son got married. I only have a few to go, but will probably revisit the whole list as I have 11 or 12 days to accomplish this.

My semi feral cat knows something is up as she does not like suitcases. I’m really feeling quite guilty about leaving her to her own survival skills as the longer she lives with me she is becoming less and less feral and enjoying the pleasures of being a house cat. Yet she still won’t tolerate the presence of another human in the apartment, she panics, climbs the screens and eventually breaks thru. Therefore I can’t just have someone come in and check on her and feed her. If she panics and breaks out then the neighborhood roof cats can all come in. So I am leaving out side a full bag of cat food and huge bowl of water for her, knowing the entire neighbor hood will share in it. But it will help augment her hunting skills. My only problem today will be getting her to go outside, I’ve had the door open all morning and she just looks at me like “you think I’m stupid”.

By the 1st of August I will be in Athens Greece, I have no idea about internet availability but will post when I can. Come travel with me. Signing off KO

Rainy Days and Rainy Nights

This is June, the rainy season. For the last couple of years it barely happened. This year we are truly experiencing RAIN. Tropical rain is lovely, it isn’t cold, makes every thing smell fresh and cools the temperature and humidity to something pleasant. Storms blow in full of roaring thunder and flashing lightening. I find it energizing, not so with my cat. She spends storm time under my bed.

Where my apartment is located I don’t get the full effect of lightening as I am surrounded by 2 and 3 story buildings. I see bright light flashes but not the actual lightening bolt. I would like to see the bolts.

We have been under a hurricane watch, with the weather reports predicting it would hit land well south of us, which it did. Hurricanes have hit here, but rarely and partially as we are protected by the bay. But we get the heavy downpours and storm surges that send waves clear in to town.

In a heavy down pour we gathered together for 3 kings day

In a heavy downpour that floods the streets and exceeds the ability of whatever drainage systems are in place here, it gets quite odorous. Making one wonder how healthy it is to wade through ankle deep water to just cross the street.

Yesterday my friend Marsha and I enjoyed the rain sitting in the open air cafe La Kalle eating lunch and playing board games.

Last night with a soft breeze blowing and a light rain falling, the inside thermometer reading 80f/27c, I found it necessary to turn off the fan. And had a light wrap across my shoulders.

I do thank the universe and Mother Nature for such a lovely way of life. Signing off KO

IT’S SUMMER

Or a least the weather is, over the last week or so it has become quite humid and temperatures have been up in the low 90’s. many of the restaurants have closed for the season. But little by little those of us who stay year round are locating more restaurants and hotels that will give us a day pass for use of their swimming pools with purchase of food or snacks.

The construction next door continues. It began about 2 months ago when my landlord bulldozed his small house to the ground and began rebuilding it. Construction starts every morning at 7 except Sunday. (Mexico has a 48 hour work week, but there is talk for dropping it to 40 hours in the next few years.) It is a concrete brick and cement structure about 12×24. All the work here is labor intensive such as the cement is mixed in a wheelbarrow and moved around by buckets, including climbing a flight of stairs with cement filled buckets when they poured the roof. The jefe on the job must be a very contented worker as he sings (quite loudly) while working.

While this has been a fascinating project to watch it has been a bit difficult to live with. We have electric cords that power their tools draped down the stairs for us residents to maneuver through, but that is minor to living (and breathing) the dust. They are constantly drilling and sanding the cement. There have been a couple of days when the air in my apartment looked like a grey fog. And then that fog settles on furniture, food, the cats watering dish, everything. But I think the end is in site. There is a new toilet waiting to be installed and yesterday the kitchen sink was installed. I shouldn’t complain, I have friends that lived next door to a 3 story condo being built over a 3 year period. I’m grateful that this is a small project and my wonderfully kind landlord will have a new home with his family.

I was worried about the Ceiba tree in my alley. The roots of which are massive and long ago spread out into the alley up rooting some of the paving stones, have been buried under sand and gravel during the construction, but a dump truck came last week and the sand and gravel were shoveled in went away. This tree is massive, looking at it from the alley it is clearly 6ft wide at the base. It has branches larger that most full grow tree trunks. It is truly majestic and this year I think it is more lush and a deeper green than I have ever seen it before, earlier it had a fruit or seed pod hanging from it, only a few. I was told they would open up and a cottony like fluff would blow all around. I never saw that, just one day they were all gone.

Signing off KO

Sorry, I’ve Been Lazy, but also busy

I’ve become quite lazy and have ignored this blog too long. I will try to do better in this new Year of 2025. I think I will work from yesterday and go backwards over the past several weeks, months.

Christmas and New Years were spectacular especially as my eldest son Shawn came to visit for two weeks over the holidays. So I wowed him with dozens of parties, parades, and fireworks. I don’t think any town could decorate better than Zihuatanejo for the holidays, it glitters and sparkles every where.

New Years Day we celebrated with our 3rd annual “Polar Bear Swim“, where the only thing cold is the ice in your Margarita. Each year we get more and more participants to brave the waves at the rousing hour of 11:00 am.

I had decided that New Year’s Eve fireworks might best be viewed from our favorite infinity swimming pool/ restaurant Escollera, so I made reservations for Shawn and I, but before the big night came 4 more friends choose to join us for a full table. The food was excellent, after dinner, while waiting for midnight and the New Year display we enjoyed card games.

Shawn, who is a DJ by profession, treated a group of friends to a karaoke evening at a friends house. Where we soon discovered not many of us are singers, but these gals did a great job on Dolly Parton’s Jolene

Parties and dinners almost every night what a wonderful season of fun

30 friends gathered at Mikes’ Diner for Christmas Eve dinner

We went swimming at Escollera

I even got some work out of him while here, he cleaned my curtain rods, installed a couple of screws and nails where I needed them, helped me with my Christmas lights. Unfortunately he took out my folding step ladder but were able to complete the tasks with the landlords ladder. It’s been kind of nice to have a man around the house.

The city/government has restored the building dubbed the “Partenon” to it’s original glamor from it’s dubious past when it was a playground for a very dishonest Police official from Mexico City. Now it is a lovely event center for the people of Zihuatanejo. I attended a fashion show there and was impressed with the finished project. The fashion show was fun too, but I am amazed that in Mexico they say it will always be a alcohol free establishment. Quite a surprise as everywhere else the booze flows freely. Part of the culture it seems.

Partenon before restoration when the steps (replaced by bleachers) went down to a swimming pool (replaced by a stage.)

I’ve now been a full time resident of Zihuatanejo for just over two years, even in the humid summers when I suffer from heat rash I know this was the very best decision I’ve ever made. Getting to live in this warm friendly place where everyone talks to everyone, friends, shopkeepers, neighbors. It’s impossible to walk a block with out meeting people you know. My son was quite surprised to see when you get on a bus every one greets you with a “buenas tardes” or “buen dia“. Strangers will stop you on the street to pay you a complement. It’s still affordable to live here, but long gone are the days of Mexico being cheap. Somethings are far less expensive, medicine for one, and labor is quite cheap. I have no need for a car here, buses and taxi’s are plentiful an very inexpensive. I live quite simply here after having shed myself of 60 years of collecting stuff, and only have just enough for my personal needs.

I do have some wonderful things to look forward to in 2025. In the spring I am going with friends to ride the train through the Copper Canyon in northern Mexico, about a 10 day trip. Then in late July I am going to take my first luxury cruise on a very large (3000+ passenger) cruise ship through the Greek Islands. Every day is still an adventure here in warm sunny Zihuatanejo. Signing off KO

NEW ADVENTURE AHEAD

Lazy August, not much happening around town, not much live music as many musicians still on vacation and and I am taking this time to get organized for my big seasonal trip, this time to Portugal and Spain. In September, I leave Zihuatanejo for an overnight in San Diego then the next morning at O dark 30 I go to Philadelphia and from there on to Lisbon, Portugal. Fortunately I have a friend in San Diego who will harbor me overnight and get me to the airport in the AM. Once in Portugal I will have 4 days, then meeting up with my small boat, (under 100 passengers,) and on to Seville, Cordoba, Tangiers, Gibraltar, Malaga, Cartagena, Valencia, Tarragona and ending in Barcelona, where I will spend an extra 3 days.

While I am in Lisbon I will be meeting up for dinner with a friend from Zihuatanejo who is also visiting in Lisbon. In Barcelona I will be staying with a couple I met in Zihuatanejo. I feel like quite the world traveler having friends in so many different countries.

I’m needing to get organized for this trip well in advance as the week before I leave my youngest son and his wife will be visiting me for a week and I will only have 1 day to actually pack. Now I realize that it only takes a few hours to put things in a suitcase, but it takes a bit of planning as to what it is you are going to put in that suitcase. And with weight limits, and liquid limits it takes a bit of planing and organizing. I try to take only the very essentials of personal care products in the smallest lightest weight containers. This I have learned through trial and error. I once traveled camping on the ferry boat with my backpack, carrying my sleeping bag, tent and clothes for a week and got the weight down to 18 lbs. I did that by weighing every item to discover which hairbrush weighed the least, weighed every item of makeup, clothes, shoes, jewelry, to keep it at a minimum, but still having the essentials. I’m also a list maker. I have my standard packing lists but they always need to be tweaked depending on destination and type of activities. And to top it all off I have to find where in this apartment with no storage space, cabinets or closets to speak of I have stashed stuff. Actually that has been the hardest part. But it’s all part of the adventure and with just one day to assemble everything that I will have to live with for 3 weeks my check lists will pay off.

During my recent trip to Morelia I was able to “field test” my new packable hat. Hats are the hardest things to bag and I’m going with only two, both you can roll up an put in your suitcase, but I do have a small supply of hatbands so I don’t feel like I’m quite so limited. I also learned on that trip to pack a small roll of duct tape. As both my sandal’s heel straps broke I was able to duct tape them back together and they lasted the rest of the week. Back home in Zihuatanejo my shoe man fixed them so they look like new for 150 pesos, ($7.77) They can now go to Europe instead of the garbage can.

I’m very excited to have my son Brian and his wife Nancy visiting. This is the first of my family to visit me. When asked what they want to do they say they just want to have a relaxing vacation. That should be easy enough to have happen as this time of year, not much excitement going on. The beach, a day at Playa Las Gatas, visit the Pyramid, eating, drinking, visiting and catching up. Should be a good visit. Signing off KO

Thoughts on being a minimalist

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.

Signing off KO

Goodby Season and Ecco Dying

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.

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 leaves

We each did 3 panels. This one might even become a wall hanging. It was a fun, interesting afternoon.

Signing off KO

A Very Busy But Fun February

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.

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.

The local rotary sponsored a Paella Fest where we sampled many different paella entries.

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.

In between all these wonderful and fun events there are dinners and happy hours with friends.

We were excited to see Escollera with the lovely infinity pool reopen, it has always been a favorite spot.

Finished up the month with a trip to the street fair in Bara de Potosí spending the night at the charming Casa Del Encanto.

Signing off KO

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: