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PLAYA BLANCA TO PLAYA LA ROPA

Spent a lovely afternoon at Escondite Resort and Beach Club on Playa Blanca for lunch and a dip in the pool at the suggestion of my friend Faye, who is alway up for something or someplace new and interesting. A beautiful location, a lovely pool, although a bit awkward to get in and out for those of us who are no longer graceful and prefer something to hold on to until safely ensconced in the water. Had a nice lunch, relaxing and watching the waves roll in.

  • Beautiful Pool at Escondite
  • Coconuts so orange they looked like pumpkins in the tree

Walking the beach at La Ropa I enjoyed watching the “sand architects” and following a baby turtles trek in the sand towards the towards the sea. I was happy to see the turtle rescue efforts on La Ropa. I can’t help but think with so many people wanting to help the turtles their numbers will increase.

Turtle tracks in the sand
Playa La Ropa Turtle rescue

When I arrived from a very raining northwest in October I happily hung my sunshine flag off my balcony to celebrate the change in weather but now it is getting on to Thanksgiving Time so again the flag is changed. Signing off KO (tip: tap the small pictures to enlarge)

IT’S JUST LUNCH

I love the big chair and the oversized swing along the pathway to Playa La Madera. Great photo opportunities. Playa La Madera is one of my favorite places for ocean swimming, but the waves seem bigger than last year. Hope they will settle down a bit as the season progresses.

Big chair on the way to Playa La Madera

At Playa La Madera my favorite place to eat is Maderas Restaurante where I enjoyed a great “fish ball” soup. Consistently good service and good food. I also like their onion rings, it’s a big enough serving to call it lunch in it’s self.

I have been enjoying a weekly “girls lunch bunch” at TaTa’s where the kabobs come highly recommended. Met several new faces, enjoyed lively conversation with group of very interesting ladies. But yesterday Mother Nature entertained us with an impromptu turtle release.

Right beside our table a tiny turtle poked it’s head up through the sand, someone quickly noticed it and gently started scraping the sand away, just a little bit at a time. A bucket of seawater was brought forth and as the hatchlings fought their way out of the sand they were deposited in the bucket.

In less than 20 minutes the nest had emptied itself and the bucket of swimming baby turtles was delivered to the edge of the bay were they begin their perilous journey to the ocean. If those that are female survive, a few years down the road they will return to that same spot to lay their eggs and the cycle start all over. I think the survival rate is about 1 in 100, very small but one can hope that some of this bunch may make it.

Swimming babies
And the journey begins

Signing off KO

TRYING TO BECOME A BIT MORE NATIVE

I’ve managed to resolve all my issues with WordPress. Mostly lack of knowledge on my part, and needing to pay to upgrade. Anyway all is good and I take back every mean thought I uttered.

I am a pescatarian, not a real vegetarian. In-spite of my limited, poorly pronounced Spanish I decided to go to the source and buy my fish from the fisherman on the beach. There you can find fish in all shapes and colors.

I knew I wanted dorado and I knew what it looked like so with a point and a “about yea big” and a “cuanto cuesta” I left the beach with enough dorado for about 6 dinners for $173 pesos. I will assume it is a fair price, I certainly wasn’t going to attempt to bargain with him, although I know it is quite common. He was happy, I was happy knowing my fish had been swimming just a few hours before. That is as fresh as one can get.

Another local skill I have acquired is making “agua de Jamaica” which is actually Hibiscus Tea made from dried Hibiscus petals. I simple steep the dried Hibiscus, add some sweetener and have a super inexpensive tasty drink that is actually good for you.

Hibiscus tea or Agua de Jamaica

Spent another lovely Thursday evening at Puerta de Sol listening to the magical harmonies of Solo Tres playing classic Mexican music and enjoying all the flambé cooking that was happening at various tables. Also if you want a true Caesar Salad this is the place to go and have it assembled at your table.

Flambé cooking and Solo Tres

Signing off KO

THE TRILOGY OF DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

October 31 commonly called Halloween, is actually “All Hallows Eve” the time to begin preparations for the days that follow. The children here in Mexico dress in mostly macabre costumes and run from business to bar to restaurant singing “Halloween, Halloween’ while holding out their sacks for candy treats.

Halloweeners

November 1st is “All Saint’s Day, a religious Holy Day of Obligation. It is a time to revere the Saints and pray to them for all the souls still in purgatory. Alters are erected to pay homage to departed loved ones. Favorite foods, flowers and pictures are displayed in the alter.

November 2nd is All Souls’ Day, graveyards and grave stones have been decorated and it is a time to commune with loved ones whose spirit is believed to be with you at this time. It is a time to celebrate their lives not morn them,

Decorated graveyard

It is also the day of the parade of Catrinas and Zihuatanejo did it up royal, unfortunately the route of the parade remained a mystery until late in the day. It was a huge event, complete with no crowd control but I did manage to get a couple of pictures.

Tap pictures to enlarge

Over the last few days I’ve been at odds with WordPress as I couldn’t get anything to up load. If they had just sent me a bill instead of cutting me off it would have been so much easier. Anyway all is well and from now on I can be more timely. Signing off KO