Tuesday we had a great day at the Playa Las Gatas Beach with friends Will and Sylvia. I’m not sure life gets anymore comfortable than a lazy beach day. People watching, seeing the kids play in the water and in the sand, watching a toddlers first water experience, seeing the passing boats and the birds in the sky all with a drink in
Beach strawberry Margarita
your hand, toes in the sand and good food on the way. It seems like life just couldn’t be better. The Senor has his favorite waiter Jose, who says he speaks very good restaurant English, but he would like to speak much more. The Senor like to talk so they talk together while I swim and snorkel. This day
Jose our waiter at Gloria del Mar
I swam clear around the reef. I probably should check the tides next time as in places it was so shallow you could hardly swim and I don’t like to get to far away from the reef because of boat traffic.
Wednesday we expected it to be the day that Lety, comes to clean our apartment so we decided to take the bus to Ixtapa and just walk and prowl around. We looked in the stores, ate ice cream and then I saw my hat. This is the hat I’ve been looking for 2 years. I had seen another woman wearing it, I asked her where she got hers, she couldn’t remember I even suggested she put it up for auction at sailfest so I could bid on it. I have been coveting this hat, fearing I would have to mug this woman to get this hat and here it was in Ixtapa just waiting for me. Now she is safe and I have my hat, it’s a beautiful raffia course woven hat, light brown in color and it’s mine at last. While I was making my purchase, The Senor ran into our friend Charlie and visited with him while waiting for me. We had a nice lunch at Frank’s where we ran into other friends that live seasonally in Ixtapa. We have come to really feel like this a home away from home.
Vickie’s birthday party
Wednesday evening we were invited to Vickie’s birthday party at the Flophouse. Where we met more new friends and learned more about people’s experiences who have seasonally lived here for over 20 years. The cupcakes were beautiful, the company wonderful and were so pleased to be able to help Vickie celebrate her special day.
Sunrise Feb 19, 2014Sunrise over the zocolo
I’ve been trying for days to get out to the beach to catch the sun rise and I’m usually just to late to catch the real color. well yesterday I did, but clouds were at a minimal and I should have gone out this morning when thee were lots of clouds to catch and reflect the color. Anyway yesterday was good if not great and I love to watch the day begin. Signing off KO
The Senor and I along with two other couples arrived at El Pueblito a half hour early anticipating getting a great table, but the restaurant was almost full already in anticipation of a great evening of music.Judy greeted us asking if we had reservations,. The thought of making reservations never occurred to us, we just show up. She found us a nice table near the back but said there was a table for the dignitaries and if they didn’t show she would try to move us there. They were a no show and we got the ringside table.
The Mark and Andy Show
At most concerts the warm up band is a new up and coming group. Last night it was the reverse, the “old guys” opened for the up and coming band. The Mike and Andy Show played some rock and roll and some folk music and had the crowed warmed up nicely for Expressions Inmune. Expressions Inmune consists of 5 local youth ranging in age from 16 – 26. They dressed in matching mauve satiny shirts with the one very pretty Senorita in a dress of the same color. They looked very professional and wowed the crowd with their skill and enthusiasm belting out all the old
Expressions Inmune
favorites us oldies grew up dancing to. It’s timeless music, Beatles, CCR and many others. Some couples danced every dance, others just to their favorites, the Senor and I not at all. The Senor wasn’t feeling his best, normally he likes to dance.It was hard to just sit and listen. We contributed to a 50/50 raffle and the Senor was lucky and won the pot. About 1100
Tim and Donna danced every dance
pesos, the other 50% went to benefit the home. Before the end of the evening the band played a salsa number that i just couldn’t resist and went out on the dance floor with some Mexican ladies.
That’s me dancing
At home we don’t go out a lot, so It’s fun here to dress up and go out. Now dressing up here consists of the Senor selecting his favorite comfortable shorts and a loose shirt and sandals, As for me, I got a manicure, wore my newest sundress, put on my strappiest sandals, hung my new”limon” earrings that are actual lime slices from my ears, and selected the proper hat for the occasion
Bet Shalom is a worthy project providing needed care for the elderly in a culture where that is the normal responsibility of family. Not everyone has family, and some elderly citizens had no one to come to pick them up after a hospital stay.
Another wonderful Zihuatanejo evening of good food, good drinks, good friends and good music for a worthy cause. Signing off KO
My balcony is like an extra room to our apartment, while quite small about 10×4 ft it is all we need. We have a nice table and 2 chairs to which we have added cushions and a birds eye view of much activity. It is on the shady side of the building so we eat breakfast out here and if we are eating in we also dine out here.
Breakfast with lots of fruitBalcony view towards Bay
We have small view of the bay, but if the palm tree keep growing we we see it only through the fronds in a couple of years. Mornings are so soft here it’s almost impossible not to be out side. Just the gentles of breezes blows while I watch the morning activity.
Every morning a small army of street sweepers descends upon the streets to remove all signs of the prior evenings revelry, soon the street vendors begin their calls, bakery items, coconuts, fruit juices and fruits, in the afternoon the clown horn sound of the ice cream vendors and yesterday I saw the candy man for the first time. Just wait and the store will come to you. The sound of roll up garage doors signals the shops are opening, and soon each shop owner has their dish of water to scatter across their portion of the sidewalk to sweep clean each day, some throw scraps out in the street for the pigeons to peck at. Morning has arrived on Cuauhtemoc St in sunny Zihuatanjo Mexico
Today the sky is so blue and not a cloud in sight, just the frigate birds circling over the bay. The roof dog of last year is no longer with us and we don’t miss him. He set up a ruckus everytime a street dog passed this way. But we have a flurry of roof cats this year. I was entertained by two white-ish male cats after a small grey female cat who
Cat out catting around
was determined to resist their attentions. So far she is winning. Last year the midnight cats would use the new planter boxes on the balcony and leave dirt scattered everywhere for us to clean up. So far no problem. I’ve thought about leaving some left overs from dinner they might enjoy, but I guess I better not encourage them.
For us life slows down here, we notice more, laugh more, spend more personal time together and fine each day a new adventure. For all of this I am so thankful for.
Today my mission is to buy a USB cord to connect the laptop computer to the flat screenTV. The Senor get his TV over the computer and we would like to transfer it to the flat screen. I know it can be done, but with both of us being very non tech and with my very limited Spanish it should be an adventure in itself. Signing off KO
Today was my first open water ocean distance swim. How did this almost 69 an eleven twelfths year old lady from Port Orchard WA end up in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico swimming? Well it’s been an adventure begining April of 13 when I first heard about Sharkfest in an entry on ZihuaRob’s message board. Always willing to try new adventures, I said to my self “I can do that”. Then I said to my husband, the Senor “When we are in Zihuatanejo next winter I’m going to take part in the Sharkfest swim at Troncones. The Senor’s prompt reply was “your nuts! You’ve never swam in open ocean waters.” True, but that got me going and the next morning I was at the South Kitsap High School swim pool at 6:00 am ready to start training. And train I did. After a couple of weeks I put together a string of 16 beads on a leather thong to count laps with and I was doing pretty good I could do what I thought was a mile in about 40 min. But the life guard set me straight you swim up and back to complete a full lap in the 25 yards. Gee I had a long way to go if I was going to get my time down to 1 mile in under an hour. So I swam 5 days a week lost a couple of pounds and figured if I watched a little better what I ate and dropped 20 lbs it would help with the speed. In a month or so I needed a new suit, in another month another new suit, my swim mates kept commenting on the shrinking me and I got faster. So 40 lbs later, with much encouragement from my swim mates and life guard I’m in a speedo swim suit displaying my wrinkled legs and arms and not caring because I AM A SWIMMER, maybe an old one, but one with great adventures in her heart.
As the Senor and I headed to Zihuatanejo for our 2 month vacation there was the conundrum of Seahawks Playoffs vs Sharkfest, both were going to happen on the same day. I would not have been happy if the Senor was to miss my big moment, and he would have if the times had conflicted. But there is a god in heaven and the Seahawks were to have their game in the late afternoon and my swim was going to be in the early morning.
So Saturday January 11,2014 arrives and I put on my suit, pack my fins, goggles and under water I pod and the Senor and I head out to catch a cab to Troncones which is around 20 or so miles away. Now at 7:00 am there aren’t many cabs around but we found a willing one and headed to Hacienda Eden in Troncones . I’m already registered so we don’t really need to be there that early, but the the Senor has a thing about time. Along the way a pick up truck with 4 guys standing up in the pack passes us and then slows down and pulls partway on the shoulder motioning us to pull up. Now we both are doing about 60 and we are wondering what the heck is going on. The two drivers exchange comments and the just is the pick up driver owns the cab and wants to know what the driver is doing so far out of town. He explains and all is good and we move on, but single file now.
Kathleen #1 at Sharkfest
It’s a beautiful day and a beautiful place at Hacienda Eden, the participants start trickling in along with folks who are doing support service on kayaks and paddle boards. Everyone is registered we each have a number written on our hands so that everyone is accounted for at race end. Mine is 1 as I was the first to register. The participants walk the 1/2 mile or so to Majhaua Palms where we will enter the water and swim out past the point back to Hacienda Eden. As we prepare to enter the water 2 pigs and one baby pig arrive to cheer us on. After a group picture everyone enters the water, putting on goggles, fins or what ever they prefer and the swim is on. Do remember this is not a race it is strictly a group event, everyone swims at their own pace. Now I knew I wouldn’t be the first one to finish, but I really didn’t want to be the last one to finish. The Senors parting words to me were “now if you get tired let them help you in the boat”. And I thought to myself it would be my lifeless body they would have to drag in that boat, I’m swimming the whole way, I’ve worked too hard to give in at any point now.
The only difficulty I encountered was keeping oriented, as I kept swimming out to sea and had to keep correcting my direction. For some reason, my left arm works harder than the right. The paddle boarders were a god send for folks like me who seem to be directionaly challenged as you could see them standing tall on the boards and I could keep altering my course towards them, but I know I swam a lot further than others as my arc was much wider.
Kathleen trying to get the fins off in the surfKathleen finishing in about 50 min
None the less I finished swimming strong and not the last one in and feeling quite pleased with myself. I missed being in the group finish picture as I was stuck in “el bano” but they said they might be able to photo shop me in. I know I will hear flack from that one.
We enjoyed a nice breakfast at Hacienda Enden, called a cab and back to Zihuatanejo as the Senor was worn out and need to rest before his game started. We took a short nap and now I’m going to go out and find some ice cream.
So before I turn 70 I have accomplished a 1.1 mile ocean swim. What is next? I don’t know but I know I will continue to swim regularly as I feel better physically than I have in many years, I wore the same dress this New Years eve that I wore the night I met the Senor 20 years ago.
Kathleen at New Years 2014
Please don’t say he should buy me a new dress, I love that dress and look fantastic in it. I’m just waiting for the next adventure so keep me in mind.
Monday is always the day our wonderful cleaning lady, Letty, comes to take care of our apartment. As she arrives fairly early we go out for breakfast and let her do her magic. Tres Amigos is close by where we have a great breakfast and head out to do some shopping for the Senor. He wanted to pick up a couple of more “Mexico” shirts and replace a pair of shoes that fell apart last week. Found shirts easy enough, but no luck with the shoes even though there is quite a selection at the Mercado.
My fabric being measured and cut
Across the street from the mercado is what I call ” The JO-Ann Fabrics of Mexico” but it is much bigger than any fabric store in my area with a huge selection of all types of fabrics, curtain and drapery fabric, dish towel fabric, cottons for every day wear lace and satin for bridal or party wear. Racks of ribbons and trims and other decorations. It’s just a great store. The Senor asked what I was looking for and I told him I don’t know but I will know it when I see it. And sure enough there it was a beautiful crepe in blue with pink swirls, looks like a water color. But it is a process to purchase the fabric. You don’t pick up the bolt and take it to the cutting counter. You show the staff person what you want, they bring it to the cutting counter and ask how much you want. I requested 6 meters, she then measured and cut it wrote on a piece of paper what the price was, $239.90 ($18.81US) and I get the piece of paper, not the fabric. I then take my piece of paper to the cashier where she takes my money and gives me another piece of paper which I take to another place and exchange that piece of paper for my fabric. Ya got to love Mexico!On our way back just up the street from the Pancake house I got quite a start. Slithering out from some potted plants was a large snake. There was lots of folks around and someone called out it just his pet, but it brought momentary flashbacks of when my daughter and I were held hostage on a trail on Cumberland Island by a cottonmouth snake until the ranger rescued us. Pet or no I still gave him wide berth just as a young man stepped inches from the snake’s head, barefooted. He had a grin on his face, and I had to holler ‘Show off”
Snake near Elviro’s
An afternoon of reading at the beach, dinner on the balcony, Scottie’s blues at the Flophouse Bar with neighbors Will and Sylvia, brought another day in Paradise to an end.
Sunday started off with a bang, literally. Just after daylight, just after the noisy bar across from Zorro’s closed a very loud explosion type noise reverberated through the street. I was on my balcony and jumped up looking over the edge and asked a man standing at the corner “What was that? Then I noticed he was Policia Municipal and he just looked at me, a minute later he ran up the street away from my
Policia Municipal
building and then returned back to the corner. By the time I could get street clothes on and get down 2 flights of stairs no trace of the policia or anyone else was around. I had sincerely hoped that the noisy bar that just closed at 6:00 AM had suffered a devastating explosion but no such luck. I guess it will forever remain a mystery.We breakfasted out at the Zihua Pancake House, a great breakfast place. I have learned to order our breakfast in Spanish, my eggs benedict, with no bread or ham and his eggs over easy with roasted rosemary potatoes. The food always is always just like you want it there. We visited with a few acquaintances along the way back to the apartment and spent most of the day lazing around. TV, reading, talking, making plans for next year as we are becoming acutely aware that our time is drawing short and not once have we said “sure will be happy to get back home”. While our life here is not always exciting it is always interesting. We are never cold, the sun has shown on a daily basis our only stress is having lost all communication with the person we left in charge of handling our delivery business while we’ve been gone.
While I sat in one of my favorite beach front restaurants having ice cream and visiting with both strangers and friends I can’t help but marvel at beauty of Zihuatanejo, the happy friendly people, revel in the 85 plus weather with a cooling breeze coming off the bay, the fantastic food and am very happy in our decision to stay for 8 weeks next year.
Zihuatanejo as seen from the water
We have learned to dress for the weather and have over the years bought most of our clothes that we are most comfortable in right here. Loose and comfortable tops stylish every time. I have learned that “manana” does not necessarily mean tomorrow, just simply not today. Mexican time isn’t precise, they have no problem making you wait rather than disappoint you. We have seen restaurant staff head out to the store to buy more butter when we asked for additional butter for our pancakes of course by the time they return the pancakes are cold or eaten or go to a restaurant across the street to get a glass of white wine for me when they didn’t have any.
The Senor’s hearing is bad in english and twice as bad in Spanish accented english. He is frequently answering questions he wasn’t really asked. I’ll give him credit though on our earliest trips he would only say “mas cervesas por favor” but has now has a vocabulary of about 20 words. Yet he seldom uses them and relies on me to ask the questions and translate the menus. And I don’t mind as I rely on him for many other things. I’m enjoying building on my vocabulary if only a few words a week.
The view from Lety’s
We took our gift certificate to Lety’s for dinner and it was truly an excellent meal. Steak for the Senor which he said was very tender and cooked exactly right, I tried the coconut shrimp and found it very good, I’m not big on coconut but I did find this to be as good as everyone in Zihuatanejo said it would be. The view from Lety’s is quit enjoyable, a nice breeze blowing in, families heading across the bridge to town for the Sunday Zocolo activities, boats coming in for the evening, some fishing boats just heading out. We took a doggie bag home and now look forward to enjoying it all again. signing off Ko
Yesterday the senor and I walked over to Madera Beach Along the way we watched a father and son fish with nets, saw benches and
Father & son fishing with nets
stairs newly decorated. As many years as we have participated in the Sail-fest activities we have never gone to the play day at the beach. As we arrived we saw what sail fest was really all about. It isn’t just the fun of bidding at an auction, winning a dinner out, tasting chili or buying crafts. It’s not just spending a day on a sail boat or helping crew in a race it’s about the kids.
Decorated stone bench on way toPlaya La Madera
Yesterday was the day the children from the extremely impoverished hill areas of Zihuatanejo are brought to the beach for a play day. I’m told that for many this is the first time they have been to the beach. About 110 kids of all ages were happily playing in the surf, some older ones kicked a soccer ball along the beach, there was food and drink for everyone all under the watchful eyes of volunteers. This is Sail-fest at it’s finest!
A sea of children
The rest of the day was spent doing those everyday things that always seem like more of an adventure here than at home. We did some shopping at the Comercial Mexicana trying not to pick up more that we know we can use as our trip is rapidly coming to an close. We actually had to look at a calendar for the first time and plan out when we would use our certificates for dinners out and what we needed to purchase for dinners in. Most days we breakfast on the balcony, lunch time is usually too hot for the balcony so we eat inside. We’ve learned to leave all doors and windows open and we get a nice breeze blowing through and seldom ever need the air conditioner on except for maybe an hour or so in the late afternoon. Come evening doors and windows are open and we get the breeze again.
We eat out quite often and since neither of us are big eaters ( I know you wouldn’t know that to look at us) we frequently share a meal or if we order separately we get the doggie bag and have left overs for either lunch or dinner the next day. We’ve kept our cooking simple, mostly crock pot cooking. We don’t really have a favorite restaurant as we have been trying different places and all have served us great meals to have served us great meals, We don’t do the fancy ones, but I do prefer the ambiance of eating at an outside table along the malecon, watching the continual activity, saying hola to passerby that we know, hearing the waves on the beach and feeling the cool evening breeze. signing off KO
Our plans to visit the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary are set for Tuesday – Friday, the hotel reservations are made. That was easy as I did it on-line. Next we need to buy our bus tickets, can’t do it on-line as we can’t print them and mail is out of the question. So we think we know where the bus station is and we figured it was a nice day to walk. It’s only about a mile and time for Doyle to get some exercise. Well we missed our turn and went to far so we had to stop and ask and of course in this part of town rarely does any one speak english, but my few words of spanish sufficed and actually I had composed a complete sentence and got my answer. The part I understood of the answer was the hand wave and the word Commercial. Then we knew we should have turned at the Commercial. We had bought tickets here once before and got to our destination, but didn’t get the type of bus we wanted, so we scoped out the whole station this time and discovered there are about 10 bus lines that operate out of the one station. We knew which line we wanted, I had everything written down so if they couldn’t understand my spanish they could read it and lo and behold the ticket agent spoke pretty good english. So now we have 1st class bus tickets, and head. Since we had worked up an appetite we decided to stop at Fru Taco, I had heard that while it was just a little Mexican neighborhood eatery, the food was good. I got a mushroom and pepper quesedia and the Senor got a spicy chicken taco. One of the gals there spoke english and visited with us as they love to practice their english skills. A most enjoyable lunch! On our walk back I managed to trip twice on hidden obstacles in the weeds that grow thru the cracks in the pavement and really did a number on my knee. Left me
The Senor dinning
limping the rest of the day. But now it’s siesta time!
We regularly wait until after dark and dine by candle light on our balcony. But tonight there was a music show at the Zocolo so we had not only candle light, but a musical serenade as well. After dinner I left the Senor to his TV as I wanted to watch the rest of the performance art the Zocolo. I got as far as down stairs where in front of our establishment was what I call a Mexican Hootenany! Impromptu music! There is one mexican fellow who is frequently there playing his guitar and singing. Strictly Mexican music, he speaks no english, and has a wonderful, powerful voice, that fills the entire street. One of the Canadian guests in our building was also there playing his guitar and singing pretty much what I call folk music and about 10 of us just sitting and listening. Javier is busy selling Tequila or beer from his liquor store. Both Mexican and Gringos come and go, visiting, drinking and mostly enjoying the music. I hung around for about 45 minutes and then headed to my original destination at the Zocolo and caught the last couple of songs by what appeared to be a
Mexican gentleman with a powerfull voice
Mariachi band, They were elegantly dressed, but only 2-3 horns, half a dozen violins and a full size harp playing the “Orange Blossom Special” they were very, very good. Then on to “Daniels” where I joined up with friends who had just finished their dinner and were staying to watch Jimmi Mamou play good classic rock. So in the course of 3 blocks I listened to 3 completely different venues of music, all were great and all very typical of what happens in this town on any Friday or Saturday evening. What is not to love about Zihuatanejo. Signing off KO
I usually go out for an early morning walk after 1st light, and since we’ve been eating a lot of fruits and veggies I have lots of trimmings and peals and since I’m used to saving all of that for the Senor’s chickens it just made sense that I could find a needy flock here. I didn’t have to look to far. But I was concerned that the man preparing his coconuts for the day where i located the flock would think I was just dumping garbage. But he knew exactly what I was doing and even called the chickens for me. It wasn’t anything like chick,chick,chick. But now they expect me and just come even when I call them. They are becoming bilingual!
Signs were posted around town about the “Birthday Bash” so while the Senor glued himself to NFL playoffs at a local watering hole I went to the birthday/charity event. It was quite pleasant even though I felt like quite an outsider as I didn’t know a soul when I arrived, but that was soon remedied. I purchased one of Owen’s books, “Dog Gone” and he was gracious enough to sign it for me, I had previously read his “Prisoner in Paradise” which has since been passed on to friends. I listened to some very good musicians, heard some local tales.
Following the event I took my kindle to “TA TA’s” restaurant on the beach for a couple of mango margarita’s, absolutely yummy with a good book, kind breezes and a continuous parade of life going by.
And now as I sit on my balcony the music from the Sunday evening events at the Zocolo drift my way, a great end to a great day. Signing off KO
It was a great day at one of our favorite beaches, took the water taxi across and discovered there are two water taxi companies and the one that docks on the starboard side of the pier is a bit easier to getting on and off. It’s still a bit of a challenge, but there are always very strong young men to assist for a few coins and they are worth every centavos we pay them. As soon a we docked we met Juanita, my jeweler, after a hello and a hug she promised she would stop by and see me later.
We picked Oliverio’s to eat and relax and swim from and it was a good choice recommended by one of our party. There were 6 of us. The snorkeling was fabulous as the water was clearer than I think I’ve ever seen it and the colorful fish were closer in. I sort of scoot out on my rear until the water is just deep enough to float in and as i turned over to swim and snorkel just to my right was a platter size Manta Ray, well it was a ray at least, couldn’t have been 5 feet from the shore. Luckily I hadn’t sat on him, they don’t bother you unless you bother them first.
The margaritas were wonderful, the beer was cold, I bought a new necklace from Juanita and we had a wonderful filette veracruz.
I also think what made this day extra fun was knowing that is was snowing to beat the band back home and we didn’t have to deal with it. It’s now after 9 pm, I’m sipping wine on our balcony listening to and watching the street life as a warm breeze blows. Life is good, signing off KO
Fillette Veracruz at Oliverios on Playa Las Gatas"Mexican Still Life"
Zihuatanejo 