2-26-09
We are sitting poolside, 9:15 pm, and just had a cerveza and a conversation (with charades) with our caretaker, Alfredo. He showed us a picture of his one grandchild (on his cell phone!). He’s such a great guy – wish we could have an easier conversation with him. But we all seem to get our points across.
Warren and I went into Zihua Centro this evening for dental appointments! We both had our teeth cleaned and checked. It was an experience, to say the least. It was a very thorough cleaning – about an hour’s worth with the dentist, not a hygienist. Then she did a check and made recommendations on work that needed to be done. We both decided that we would stick with just the cleaning and the check-up, and maybe some whitening. Their equipment was pretty old, although both dentists seemed very competent (twin sisters). They work in one large room, so I was sitting there watching while they worked on Warren and another man, waiting my turn. It was a bit unnerving. The waiting chair is an old dentist chair, so it was very comfortable, however. There was one air conditioner blowing on one chair – the one they used for both Warren and I – but in general it was muy caliente! It was 600 pesos each, or about $40 u.s. Can’t beat that! But I think I’d rather have my root canals at home, thank you.
Warren, Camille and I spent the day at the beach today, for the most part. We hung out at Paty’s and soaked up the ambiance. We visited with friends, read our books, dipped in the water, and enjoyed some guacamole. Just another normal day. We know it will be coming to an end soon, and we don’t take it for granted! Tomorrow Camille wants to do a little shopping, so we’ll head into town fairly early. Then I need to do a little grocery shopping for our Saturday visitors . . . . .
Saturday Eric (the jewelry vendor) and his family are coming over for the day. He is bringing his wife and his 4 children: Perla (7), Erica (5), Ariel (3) and Aaron (7 weeks). The kids will have a little pool time and we’ll all have lunch together. Then we are going into Zihua to buy the girls school uniforms. It should be fun. This will be his wife (Adriana)’s first trip out since the baby was born. We’re eager to see how the kids have grown and to meet Aaron. Eric says the girls are very excited. I don’t think Ariel remembers us, but he’s getting to the age where he might start remembering.
You have probably seen a lot in the news about the drug cartels down here. They are fighting hard against them down here, but the police really need some help with both manpower and weapons from the U.S. There were 4 policemen ambushed and killed this week in a nearby town. The reason for the drug cartel targeting the police is because they are refusing to take bribes or to ignore what is going on. But now the police have staged a walkout, because their wages are very low and they have no health or life insurance. Why would anyone want to join the police force and face down the drug cartels, who are heavily armed??? Luckily they are not the least bit interested in tourists, so we don’t feel threatened or unsafe. We just hear a lot about what’s going on. I think it’s much worse in the border towns. I read in a local paper today (English translated paper) that 90% of the weapons that the drug cartel has an ample and updated supply of were purchased from the U. S. Not a good thing. We understand there is legislation afoot that would halt this – hopefully that’s true. I think we get a little different slant on the news down here than you do at home on the national media. If the tourists stay away because of these types of activities, then the terrorists win.
Time for bed. Camille headed down to bed about 8pm tonight – she’s getting her rest this week! Things are very quiet here tonight in our neighborhood, as usual. Guess we’ll close up and head down, too. We miss all of you – will be home in another 10 days. I think I’m ready!
- Judy
It is a slow day for pictures, besides I don't have pictures of the Police and the drug cartels shooting at one another. I thought you might like to see some transportation pictures. Some of the buses have pieced together sound systems that the drivers put in. It's great to have some music while you ride to town, all for 5 pesos.
The bus waiting for the workers coming off of the hill. This is one of many buses that passes in front of our house.

Some of the workers catch a ride down the hill in the back of a dump truck. OSHA would have kittens over this practice. You do what you need to do to get home. They work long and hard for their money.

Construction workers heading down the hill from their job sites on the hill above us.

2-23
Not a lot of new things to report this entry. I hope we haven’t bored you to much with our vacation tales. Camille is here this week and she is getting relaxed after her trip here on Friday. I went to the airport to pick her up. I took the Combi from downtown to the airport. Combi’s are Toyota vans with bench seats against the interior walls. That got me to the airport almost as fast as a taxi, and for only 7 pesos or about 50 cents. When she arrived she only had a carry on bag. So, I said follow me. We went back across the parking lot, about 100 yards to the combi stand. One was just pulling up. The taxi ride from the airport is 320 pesos and about 210 pesos for the ride back to the airport. Different companies. It has to do with supply and demand. They have you most of the time.
Now for the math.
Bus to town - 5 pesos
Combi to the airport 7.5 pesos
Combi back from airport 15 pesos for 2 people
The big one, cab from downtown 35 pesos

Total 62.5 pesos

Airport taxi 320
Taxi to airport 150
Savings 407.5 pesos!!!!! Or 3 bottles of JB scotch
I asked her if that was cheap or thrifty. She said a little of each, but, I did pay!
I went for another hike with our friend Mike yesterday. We had another road to explore that is being pushed in to the south of us. It is all part of what was billed as the new shortcut to the airport. It is a shortcut to another development. If I give them the benefit of the doubt, I guess you could keep pushing the road to the southeast until it tied in with the highway. We agreed that it probably won’t happen in our lifetime. They will have great views when they are done, but us common folks won’t be invited up their. We saw some interesting animal tracks up there, including a pretty good size imprint of where a snake or two had crossed the road in the soft powdery dirt. I’m glad we didn’t see those guys.
Camille, Judy and Vera are on a shopping safari today to Ixtapa and other locations unknown. I have just been hanging in at the house today.
Warren
Camille and the Grinch. He is the mascot from her department at Starbucks corportate. He has been all over the world. The brought him by on her last day with the swim suit and shades. How could she say no.

Dinner with friends at Jungle Pizza. It is about a 1/4 mile down the road from us. They have great wood fired pizza.

We have seen a few animal tracks like these and some other types also during our hikes. These are about the size of my hand. Also saw some big snake prints in the soft dirt of the road. Yikes!

Warren

1-20
Sorry for the delay in blog entries. I have been busy. Doing what, you ask? Just busy! Judy is feeling better now, but still not up to full speed. I have been getting in a few walks in the morning up the hill and on the beach. My friends Mike and George and I are planning another big walk to the South East of the house on Sunday. We are heading up the new road they are paving that was billed as the shortcut to the Airport. We are going to look at where they are pushing in more building lots just over the hill to the south of our house. It will be a good walk.
Our friends Mel and Bertella have to go home today. They enjoy the relaxing time here. Mel brings a big stack of past magazines that he hasn’t been able to get to for the last few months. Bertella has made it through a few books. Like I said, we have been busy. We went to dinner at La Escollera on Wednesday night. Vera and Richie joined us and that made 6 at our table. There was another table of friends next to us. We had a wonderful dinner and a very enjoyable evening. It has a great view of the bay, the beach and the city.
Camille is on her way to Zihuatanejo as I write this. I get e-mail updates from Alaska Airlines as flights depart on her itinerary. She will be arriving about 4 PM our time today. Judy and I will ride the combi out to the airport to pick her up. We will probably take the taxi back, depending on luggage.Mel and Bertella go out on the plane she comes in on. She was here last year for the first time and loved it. She is really in need of a little vacation, after going through and surviving layoffs at Starbucks. She will be our last visitor this year, Judy and I will be here for a week before we have to return home. Please make sure the ambient temperature outside is above 65 in the mornings! I walked back from Paty’s yesterday with our friend Dan. We were talking that we think it is a little cooler, but then our blood is probably a little thinner after 6 weeks. January is definitely hotter here. The humidity makes it hotter. This is all part of what we have to put up with for 2 months.
The Chachalacas are kicking up a ruckus in the trees up the street. The are a little elusive to see sometimes, but if you tasted good you would be to. Here is a link that shows the bird and there is a audio link about half way down the page so you can hear their call. http://whatbird.projectwildbird.org/obj/1071/_/target.aspx . Hold down the control key and click on the link above to access the web page. There has also been some Great Tail Grackle’s drinking out of the pool this morning. They can be pretty vocal about their turf also. Here is another link with the same control key click with the cursor access. http://whatbird.projectwildbird.org/obj/537/_/target.aspx
Those should keep you busy for the rest of the day. I’m exhausted after all this activity this morning.
Warren
Judy and Bertella in the side yard of the house. Note the banana tree in the background with bananas on it.

I enjoyed my dinner! Note that I drew the line at eating the eyes. It was a whole red snapper, or better known as Huachananga.

Mel and Bertella enjoying our dinner at La Escollera on Wednesday night.

Warren
2-16
The real beauty of the computer is that it will do a lot of things for you. As I start this entry I marvel at being able to see what time it is, and what day and date it is. Without this, I could be in trouble.
Judy is still not feeling well, even after the Doctor was here. She is having trouble tolerating the medication. It hurts her stomach. I walked to the Doctors house about 10 this morning, but they said he was still sleeping. He is a good Doctor and appears to have is priorities right. I noticed a surf board on top of his car! We will go to his office downtown after noon today. She will be fine, we just need a different medication. The medication she is taking helps with the problem, but creates a different one.
We had a first a couple of nights ago. Judy was up most of the night with her stomach ache from her medication. About 2:30 AM I woke to an OH MY GOD, there’s a scorpion on the floor. Sure enough it was a little brown scorpion sitting on a towel by our door. I located a shoe and flattened him. He was about 3” long. This is our 13th trip here and this was the first one that I have seen. Alfredo has gone to town this morning to pick up spray. He will be spraying around the property and the house this morning. Spraying is a big part of living here for everyone.
What say we move onto something more fun?
I talked about Valentines Day in my last entry. It is a very big day down here. It appears to me that what ever your economic status there is always enough for some kind of Valentine. The flower shops are full of bouquets, there are guys hawking big red heart balloons everywhere. It seems like every other person is selling single roses. Our friends Mel and Bertella arrived on the 14th, and seeing how Judy was not feeling to good we went down the road to Jungle Pizza. We were going to walk, when the owner drove by. I hollered at him and he picked us up and drove us to the restaurant. Not only do they deliver, but they pick up! When we were done, he drove us home on his way to make a delivery.
The restaurants do a bang up business. La Escollera, up the hill from us had a wedding reception for 200 and 120 reservations for Valentines dinner. There was a steady stream of taxis up there. It’s 30 pesos up and 40 pesos down. Go figure.
I will close this out with an update from the Doctor. Since I started this report this morning, we have been to the Doctor. I finally got him on the phone about 11:30 AM and he was at his office. I asked if he could see us and he said yes just before the phone call was dropped. Judy got dressed and I got a cab. We were at the office within 15 minutes. No waiting room full of people waiting for their appointment to be within an hour of the original time. The office is downtown on one of the main streets. It is only about 8 x 10. His desk and an exam table. The waiting room is 4 chairs out front on the inset porch along the street. The office call was a little cheaper, it was only 200 pesos vs the 400 for the house call.
Hopefully we are on the right track with the medication for Judy now. I took Judy back to the house and then went back to town to hit the Pharmacy. They don’t fill prescriptions with the Pharmacist into the little pill bottles. Everything is pre-packaged. The generic brand was 92 pesos and the Phizer brand was 460 pesos. I watched someone next to me ask for a different drug and it was 92 pesos for the generic and 460 pesos for the Phizer. Funny how that works, different drugs same pricing, I guess that makes it easy.

Warren
Mike, George, and I walked to the top of a hill to the east of our house. They are pushing a road up the hill that everyone thinks is a short cut to the airport. Wrong, it is a shortcut to more development that we probably won't be able to walk in next year. We say some interesting animal tracks up in the soft dirt, You can see Zihuatanejo bay and clear to Bera de Potisi about 10 miles away.

My friend Mike from Staten Island NY. We walked to town for some errands and he bought flowers for his wife on Valentines Day. I purchased the day before to avoid missing out. His biggest concern was his house mate George is going to "bust my chops" for getting flowers.

One of the flower shops the day before Valentines Day.

Observations

2-13
Observations from Mexico
We pretty much have a routine going. Get up, have coffee, check our e-mail, maybe pay a bill or two, find out how much money I lost in the stock market the day before.
Same old boring stuff. I thought that I would include a few observations from living in Mexico for a couple of months.
Drivers and transportation: I have never had an interest to drive down here. The public transportation works well, even though it looks a little rough. There is the occasional time that you wonder why I took this bus with this driver! We catch the local bus in front of our house and can ride to the Mercado in the center of town for 5 pesos, or about 40 cents. Some of the drivers leave a little to be desired, but every country has that. The only way to control the speed of vehicles in and area is to create a zona de tope, or in English speed bumps! There is a zone in front of our house. I am not sure what the speed limit is supposed to be, and if they did take the time to put up the signs, it would only be a suggestion. Everyday I watch cars go wide open then slam on the brakes just before the speed bump. Maybe brake jobs are cheap down here. Sometimes you hear the water trucks coming down the hill with the brakes rubbing metal to metal.
Shopping: Shopping for groceries is always great fun. We only go the big modern grocery maybe once a week. The rest of our groceries we buy from vendors in the Mercado or in the streets behind the Mercado. We know what we want and it is always so much fresher and ripe. The tomatoes are out of this world. We have some favorite vendors, but mostly we look around and get what ever looks best to us.
The locals and work ethic: Like any city, you have a certain amount of crime. If you look for it, you can find it most likely. The majority of the people are hard working and very honest. They are just trying to survive and take care of their families. Six days a week we watch the construction workers head up the hill to different sites to work a twelve hour day. This year I have seen more concrete pump trucks, but most of the time the bricks and mortar are all packed by hand. You will see a truck load of bricks go by with a couple of guys riding on the back. The bricks are never stacked on pallets or have any sign of having been loaded with machinery. If you walk past one of the construction sites, you will see them unloading the truck by hand. The rebar is all cut and bent by hand, and they use lots of it. This is earthquake country. The women get in on some of the construction action also. Where there is a bigger construction job going on, you will have hungry and thirsty men. Almost every site, you will see a couple of ladies out front with a folding table, some pots of some kind of food and beverages. Usually you will see the whole crew sitting down having a lunch break around 1 to 1:30. I’m not sure how long of a break they take, but they have earned it. You will see the ladies heading home early in the afternoon to get ready for tomorrow. Not sure what they charge for the lunch, but rest assured it is reasonable. It’s called sweat equity.
Creepy crawly things: It is no secret that Mexico has lots of creepy crawly things. You don’t see them often, but when you do, you are always fascinated by them. The other morning after delivering Alfredo’s coffee to him, I saw what I believe was a spider. It was slowly making it’s way across the wall to retreat to the bushes by the door. The only way I can describe it, is that it looked like a daddy long legs with little crab pinchers on it. Did I mention that the leg span was no less than 10”, not sure if it was bad or harmless. It disappeared before I could get the camera to get a better look. I have looked on the internet to see if I can find a picture of it. There are a lot of spiders in Mexico!
Doctors: Judy has felt like she was coming down with a cold for a few days. Last night she started to lose her voice, and her throat was getting sore. We got some Robitussin today, but it was getting a little worse. I was down at our old apartment talking with friends today, when I spotted a young man from next door, who I know is a doctor. He is the son of friends of Joe and Fanny. Fanny used him last year when she was sick. He lives next door. I went back down about 4 today and talked with him. He was having a meal with his parents and brother. I felt bad about disturbing them, but he said he would come up in about an hour. That’s right, a house call. Very common in Mexico. His name is Roberto and he is a very nice young man. He covered all of the basic checks with Judy then gave her a couple of prescriptions. We just didn’t want this to get worse before we did something about it. His fee was 400 pesos. Less than $40. The co-pay for an office call, if your lucky in the States. I went to the Pharmacy and picked it up this evening. She is taking it and hopefully it will do the trick. He said to give him a call if needed and he will come back again.
There are many more observations to be made and reported on, but it is time to move on. I will get this posted tonight. Sorry no pictures this evening, but we will try to get some others out soon. The next topic will probably be Valentines Day. It is very big down here.

Warren

Photo viewing note: If you click on the photo it will enlarge for better viewing. I forgot to mention that with our earlier posts.
2-9
Things are pretty quiet at Casa Ita today. This is the beginning of the 2nd of 3 weeks Judy and I will be alone, except for Alfredo of course. Judy has been busy with laundry today. It doesn’t take long for the wash to dry on the line down here. You can dry a couple of loads a day.
We went to the Mercado and to the Comercial today to replenish a few groceries. We picked up some fresh red snapper at the Mercado fish market from our favorite fish monger. He speaks excellent English, his parents were Americans and they spoke English at home. His wife is a wiz with the filet knife. We have been buying from him for a few years now.
Our friends Vera and Richie arrived yesterday from New Jersey. We met them on our first trip to Mexico, in Cabo San Lucas. We all came to Zihuatanejo the following year and have been coming here and meeting up ever since. We have seen them on the East coast a couple of times and Vera came to our house a few years ago for a short visit.
Last night we went to the basketball court for the regular Sunday night function. It is a gathering of many of the locals, especially families. There is always entertainment and food vendors. Last night they had traditional Mexican dancing. Some great costumes and musicians. We didn’t stay to long, but did see some of the dancers. The master of ceremonies loves to hear himself talk. We don’t know what he is saying but by his body language it sounds like he is going to stop and the music is starting. Then he just keeps going on and on and on. Last night they were also giving some recognition to some retired teachers. Lots of introductions and on and on. When in Mexico do as the Mexicans do. I think that is how that saying goes.
Tonight’s task is going onto Zihua Rob’s web site and coming up with some names of dentists. We are planning on getting our teeth checked and cleaned while we are here. Everyone swears by the Dentists in Mexico. They are good and very inexpensive. We will have more to report at a later date.
Judy and I are also making our plans for next year. We have contacted our landlord and it looks like we will be staying here again. Our plan is for another two months next year. We will be looking for some house guests except for a few black out weeks in early to mid February. Think about it. We have gone back and forth about moving to a smaller place again, but we do love this place. It is a home, and we have had no complaints from our guests so far.
We have a couple of errands tomorrow and then maybe some beach time. It seems like we haven’t spent as much time on the beach this year, partly due to the fact that we have our own pool off of our living room.
Think I will close out for today and get this sent out. There might be some backgammon tonight. Judy beat me 5 straight this afternoon and I am not pleased about that.
Warren
One of dancers from a group about to perform They had their own band to accompany them. She was very proud to pose for us. Lots of teenagers in costume and with the dance groups. Just like home, not all kids are into finding trouble.

This is the basketball court downtown. It is right along the centro beach. The locals gather there for events. This is the regular Sunday night family night gathering. There was some recognition for some retired teachers going on between one of the performances.

One of our favorites. The tostado ladies. You get three little tostados with beans,chicken, shredded cabbage and some gratted goat cheese. They have a green hot sauce on the side that will burn your lips off, but I keep putting it on anyway.

2-08-09
Well, another Sunday has arrived and all is peaceful in Paradise. Warren is playing his “Sunday morning music” and we are drifting the morning away staring out at the birds and the breeze.
Sean and Ellie just headed in to town for breakfast at Casa Café; Heather and Robb are taking a walk on the beach and will probably have breakfast down there. Both sets of kids fly out for home this afternoon and have had a good vacation. Sean didn’t let his shoulder injury get in the way of any fun he intended to have! He, Ellie and Warren went fishing as planned and had a wonderful day, including bringing home a nice, fat tuna for our dinner! Robb spent a couple of days under the weather, but is out and about and feeling fine now. He was pretty sick for awhile.
Heather and I had a fantastic “girl day” while the fishermen were away and Robb was sleeping. We shopped and lunched and gabbed and had lots of fun. We both managed some fun purchases. The peso continues to decline in value here, which is not good for the locals and the economy, but is very good for shopping.
Last night we all went for a nice dinner for their last night here. We went up the hill to a place called La Escollera and had a great dinner while we watched the sun set on Zihuatenejo Bay - a beautiful view. All our dinners were yummy and we had some great laughs. At home we had a fresh chocolate flan cake waiting from our favorite bakery! So we had a bit of a swim and some dessert and wound down their last full day.
Warren and I have this next week by ourselves here in the big house. We plan to do a lot of nothing. However, our good friends Vera and Richie will fly in this evening from New Jersey for the next month, and Vera and I will have lots to catch up on. Their son and his girlfriend arrived from Kentucky a couple of days ago; I haven’t been able to catch up with them yet, but they met Sean, Ellie, Heather and Robb on the bus to town yesterday morning. Ellie figured out who they were so they got to meet and chat. Small world. Too bad all the kids didn’t have more time to hang out and get to know each other, as Ellie said they would have hit it off and had a good time.
Our Alfredo (our caretaker at the house) has been ill the last few days with a bad cough and congestion. He took the day off yesterday to go get a shot and came back with a dramatic tale of getting the shot in his hip by his “el sposa” (wife). Evidently they just gave him several syringes with medicine and his wife gives him a shot a day for 3 days. He was complaining last night of a sore butt! But he still managed to sit down on it and have a piece of flan cake with us last night. He’s just headed home this morning for the day. He usually takes at least a half day off on Sundays, as it is family day. Sunday is definitely a day of rest for the Mexican people.
So we are still not ready to come home and are officially at our halfway point now. Hopefully spring is hitting the northwest and Mother Nature will be in a more gentle mood when we arrive home. Miss you all – thanks for keeping in touch.
Love, Judy

I will add a little to the blog also. The fishing trip was more of a good boat ride. We went out with David, who owns the panga that we went in. His nephew was with us also. He was about 12. We went out of Zihuatanejo bay to the south clear to Berra de Potisi, which is probably over 15 miles. We fished around some big rock islands down there. The islands are all white. I guess hundreds of years of bird roost can do that to them. We saw sea turtles, some black dolphins and what appeared to be a large grey whale and calf. They were jumping out of the water. It was a great show. I got to see a lot of the coast line that you don’t see from the beach area. There was lots of fish jumping out there, but they just weren’t biting. We did manage to get a black tuna about 7 pounds and a small groper.
Like Judy said, we will be on our own this week. It will be quiet, but that will be fine for a week.
Warren
Zihuatanejo bay and downtown area from La Escollera.

As you can see, we continue to suffer through our days and evenings here.

Ellie, Sean, Robb, and Heather. Everyone has enjoyed the pool.

Sean with the catch of the day. A black tuna.

Breaking news this evening: We got an e-mail from Camille and her job at Starbucks is safe. Everyone is real happy for her. She is ready to come to Mexico and have a good time in a couple more weeks.

Note: We are still getting to know our new camera, and the images that we took are to big to upload. I have readjusted the camera to a lower resolution now. Hopefully we will get photos in on the next entry.

Warren

2-5-2009
Well, Paradise isn’t so great today. The boys (Sean and Robb) are both under the weather. Sean took a header down our stairs yesterday after jumping out of the pool and drying off quickly, then bounding down the stairs to go with Warren to the beach. All in all he was lucky, considering he fell down a full flight of cement stairs. He caught himself with his right arm and dislocated his shoulder – it went right back in, but his ligaments are all very strained and he’s in quite a bit of pain. Luckily, with Heather and Robb here, he was well taken care of. (Robb is a surgical tech and Heather is an RN.) Nothing much keeps him down – he and Ellie just left for town this morning, not wanting to miss out on any fun.
To top it off, Heather knocked on our door about 2:30 a.m. this morning; Robb was achey with a fever and diarrhea. Since we always have drugs with us down here for that, he is a bit better this morning but still sleeping and will be out of it for awhile. There’s not much you can do to avoid that down here – it happens. But with some good drugs he’ll be back at it in a day or so.
It’s been pretty HOT here the last few days. Warren and I went to town yesterday morning, but I faded pretty fast and caught a taxi home. Sitting in the pool or on the beach under a palapa works best! The humidity was up a bit the last few days, too, so life is pretty slow. The kids all went to town to watch people arrive off the cruise ship that was in yesterday – great fun, I guess! They had breakfast and did some great people watching and had a wonderful time. . . . . . until they came home and Sean took his header.
Warren, Ellie, and Sean are still planning a fishing trip tomorrow. Don’t know how Sean is going to handle a fishing pole, but he’s bound and determined. Maybe we can convince him to catch some tuna at the Mercado instead. Heather and I have a day of shopping planned – we’ll see how Robb is doing by then.
Today will be full of swimming and reading, hanging out by the pool, and making a paella for dinner. That’s enough for one day!
- Judy

2-3
Alright alright already, I will put an entry into the blog. The kids arrived on Saturday the 31st after a long day of travel. We welcomed them with charcoal grilled chicken from Pollo Feliz downtown, and a few other trimmings. After a little circling around with the ATMs and banks wondering what is going on, all is good again. They have been to the beach, to the Comercial, downtown, the Superbowl at Paty’s on Sunday. It’s hard for us to keep up this kind of pace. Judy and I are beyond full slow now. Sean and Ellie were here last year, so they kind of know some of the things that they want to do. We are going fishing on Friday. We had to change the time because the cruise ship is coming in tomorrow. Sean and Ellie like to watch the cruise ship folks wonder through downtown. They already have their spot to watch picked out.
It was cool the last couple of mornings, below 70, but this morning we were back on the regular temp. My niece Heather and I walked up the hill this morning, and ran into one of the people we know that own a house up there. She smoothed the way for us to get past the security and walk around the top of the hill. There are more and more houses going up and it is a beautiful view. You can see all of Zihuatanejo to the north and to the south for miles.
Tonight Ellie and Sean have gone to the beach for dinner, and Judy, and I and Rob and Heather are staying in. Judy is making something out of what was in the fridge. Those of you that have been here know what that can be. It isn’t just something heated up in the microwave.

Our trip to downtown today included shopping for a new digital camera. Our other camera quit on us, and we didn’t want to be without for the next 5 weeks. We settled on a Samsung from the Comercial. I am a stock holder in Comercial you know. Even though the stock is down 90%! We are now back in the digital picture game and we will try to get some attached to the blog.
Alfredo has been sad since the two easy targets left last week. He now commented on how much the pool level went down when the three grande pescado hit the water in the pool.
Right now it is a balmy 82 at 8 PM. Looks like there might be a domino or Phase 10 game tonight.
The beach was much quieter today, the Mexican holiday is over and people headed back to work. That is the ones that have jobs that give holidays. The cement mixers and brick carriers were back to work yesterday. The lines were out the door at the banks today, after being closed for 3 days.
I will try to get a couple pictures out tonight with this blog entry.
P.S.
Matt, it’s Tiffany not Kim. We must not of been paying attention when she told us her name the first time. It is now burned onto my hard disk.

Warren
Cooling that core temperature in the pool this afternoon.

After the power walk to the top of the hill and a trip to town. I am just resting my eyes.