Cruise ships and birds

Thursday the 28^th

Cruise Ships and birds

Judy and I are heading to the beach today. No question about it. In all of our years down here I don’t think I have ever gone this long without spending time on the beach. It has hit a week now. We need to see who is here. This is the time that more friends show up.

There are two cruise ships in the bay this morning. You don’t see two very often. You start seeing the tour busses come by taking people up the hill to take a few photos of the bay and Zihuatanejo Centro. It is a great view from up there. They might even encounter a vendor or two up there when they get off of the bus to snap a few photos. The taxi drivers that can speak English do a great business all day long. You can always tell the taxis that are giving a tour, because they are the ones driving nice and slow. Not like the regular go like hell until you have to slow down for the topes, (speed bumps) in front of the house. I spoke with some folks last week from one of the ships. They had just finished a little tour with one of the locals. I think the local was free lancing with a private vehicle. Don’t let the taxi drivers catch you! They were happy with the tour which included up the hill by us, out to Playa Larga, Ixtapa, and finishing up driving through the squatter neighborhood where there are roads. You have to make a living somehow.

One of the reasons for not going to the beach has been wedding plans and our head colds. The colds are almost all gone now, but the wedding plans still have our attention. It doesn’t absorb the whole day though. All of the big items are in place now and little details are being worked out. Sean and Ellie will be here tomorrow and will have a few things to approve or change if they want. Mom and Camille arrive on Saturday and the bulk of the others arrive Wednesday through Friday. It sure is quiet here right now.

We were in the Madera neighborhood a couple of days ago for breakfast at La Casa Café. Took our friends from Ferndale there and then walked into town from there. The road follows along the canal with a couple of foot bridges to get you to the Centro side. The canal is one of my favorite bird watching locations, especially around the mouth where it empties into the bay. The city has improved some drainage issues up stream now and the canal doesn’t flow much water unless it rains. Consequently, I haven’t seen as many birds up stream. This years spotting has been a Roseate Spoonbill that just showed up a few days ago. I ran into my friend Larry the other day at the Comercial Mexicana and he told me what the bird was. He is a much more avid bird watcher than I am. Google Roseate Spoonbill and you will get lots of good pictures and info. There have been lots of the regulars flying around the house and you can hear the Chachalacas calling from the trees up the hill. I went for my first walk up the hill yesterday and saw a few up in the trees. They are hard to get close to see. When you are tasty you tend to be a little more elusive! Check out the Plain Chachalaca on Google. You can even get a sound bite to hear what they sound like.

Got to go to the beach now, I have worked hard enough for the day. Not much in the way of new pictures right now, but a couple of cruise ships might bring a photo op of some sort today.

Warren

Photo post

These are pork rinds from the Mercado. I picked up a couple of bags a few days ago. Judy and Rory love them. They are one of the basic food groups to the Mexicans. I draw the line on eating deep fried pork fat and skin. I don't believe the American Heart Association endorses these.
Our waiter Bruno last night. We asked him to get in one of the pictures. He got me good! Matt would be in a comma today.
Dinner last night with Ferndale friends. It was lamb barbacoa and very tasty.
We see these buses on a regular basis, especially on the weekends. I don't know where they come from. They arrive first thing in the morning, sometimes before daylight. Lots of families and they spend the day on the beach. Yesterday I noticed one of the ice cream vendors and the shaved ice guy by the buses to make that last sale before they leave.

Saturday Evening Post

Mexico is almost like Texas, they grow them big down here. I believe they call this guy a wood bee. I think they burrow into trees and soft wood.

I’m getting a lot of flack for not posting often enough. Obviously you folks don’t know what we are going through down here. Just this morning, I had to go to the Mercado for a few items then to the bank, and then picked up a roasted chicken with rice. Then I had to wait for the bus, and, pay the increased fare. It now is costing another peso to go round trip. Life just isn’t fair some times! Plus, I have to get up early to get the blog to go. My wireless card gets bogged down in the afternoons and evenings.

We have both been fighting colds this week. Mine is almost gone, but Judy is on the beginning of hers. I picked up some cold medicine at the Farmacia along with my other shopping this morning.

Judy went to Ixtapa a couple of days ago with Jeanne for a little retail therapy. It appears to have been a very therapeutic venture. I was not feeling so good with my cold, so I stayed here to rest. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a little bug hit the wall on the back patio and wound up on it’s back. A couple of shots of raid and it finally quit moving a couple of hours later.

I also picked up some junk food earlier in the week for some friends, but Judy wouldn’t let all of it go. Pork rinds from one of the vendors at the Mercado. They are in a big wash tub in pieces about 8 x 10 or so. I will eat almost anything, but I do draw the line at deep fried pork fat.

I might try to catch the Vikings vs Saints game with Dan tomorrow. I believe it is on about 5:30.

We are both ready for a beach fix. We haven’t spent much time on the beach yet. To much other stuff going on. Our company starts arriving next Friday and we will have a house full for a little over two weeks. We will be busy this week with more wedding plans and of course a trip to the bank or two.

I started this entry on Saturday and it is now Monday morning 7:30 AM. We hung around the house for the last couple of days getting over our colds, but we seem to be much better now. I am still having some trouble with posting photos, but might just make one of the posts photos and not much text. I will keep trying to get the bugs worked out.

Last night we went to a place we have never been to. It is a restaurant called El Pueblito. It is a large court yard and they have barbacoa on Sunday. The specialty for the baracoa is lamb. It was very good and we had a nice time. We went with two other couples from Ferndale. I missed the football games last night, but we did follow the end of the Saints vs Vikings when we got home via internet updates. It looked like a good one and hopefully the Superbowl will be a good game.

I will end this now and work on some additional photo entries.

Warren

Sitting at the Marina restaurant across from the commercial fishermen. Early in the morning there are all kinds of fish available for people to buy for restaurants and fish stores. The location is close to the pier so we also watched sweating cruise ship folks headed back to the ship.

1-18-10

Not much going on the last few days. Judy took the kids from the family we help out to get some clothes. School uniforms, some shoes and dresses for the wedding. They were all worn out after the shopping, but very excited about the new clothes. I spent some time watching New Orleans take care of the Arizona Cardinals from an adult beverage location downtown.

We went to the Comercial Mexicana, the local Costco affiliate store, on Sunday morning. That really appears to be one of the better times to go. The store wasn’t very busy. You know you have been coming here for a while when you run into people you know and chat with them at the grocery store. Just like home. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the house. I will hit the Mercado this morning some time to get our veggies fruit, and of course, a little more string cheese from our friend Bernardo.

I was up early enough this morning to give Alfredo a cup of coffee. He looks at me in my shorts and tee shirt and asked me how I can stand the cold. He has on a long shirt and looks a little cold. It was about 72 degrees this morning at 6:30.

Another cruise ship came in this morning. Yesterday the Carnival Spirit was in for the day and this morning is the Radiance of the Sea. Last year the Carnival Spirit was about the only ship that came in on a regular basis. The Swine Flu rerouted most of the other ships.

Right now we are contemplating riding the bus up to Playa Linda. It is located at the north end of Ixtapa. It is the end of the road over there. You can catch the water taxi to Ixtapa Island if you want to snorkel. We have been there and done that one a few years ago. There is also a lagoon there loaded with crocodiles, on the other side of a fence. We haven’t ever spent time at Playa Linda, so maybe we should check it out. When the cruise ships are in, downtown gets busy.

It’s about 9 AM now and I see what appears to be a mother daughter team waiting for the bus back to town. They go up the hill on the bus with the workers in the morning and sell food at one of the bigger construction sites. Then they head home and reload for lunch about 1 PM. I watched them last year also. Everybody has some sort of work going on.

Time to take a break. Hopefully I will have more to report later about our bus ride to Playa Linda.

Well, that plan didn’t come together. Our friends Dan and Jeanne showed up and visited for a couple of hours. They left about noon, so we caught the bus down to the Madera area to look around. We haven’t been down there yet this year. Judy made a nail appointment at Lilyana’s. She is her hair dresser and her daughter in-law does nails in her shop also. We walked up the street to the Casa Café to check it out. They had a large tree limb crash through their kitchen roof last Friday during the storm that rolled through. I helped the owner move a table with an espresso machine on it so he could get up on a ladder to finish some work. Their new roof is a blue tarp. They will be open for business on Tuesday. We finished our walk up the street and wound up at the Marina restaurant for a late lunch. Spent about an hour there right across from where the fishing boats come in after fishing all night long. We watched the cruise ship parade come by on the walkway. It was time to move on, so we hit the Mercado for a few needed items and picked up a couple of chiles rellenos to go for our dinner tonight. We got them from one of the many little lunch counters in there. They were very zesty and tasty for our dinner tonight.

Currently we are trying to stay awake at 8:40. It appears that it will be another early night tonight. We brought some DVD’s with us and we happen to have a TV and DVD player in our bedroom. Looks like Tony Soprano will be visiting us again tonight.

That’s it for today.

Warren

It's been a couple of busy and wild days

Saturday morning 1-16-10
It is Saturday morning and Judy and I are sitting here checking our e-mail, reading the newspaper, listening to NPR streaming into our computer, and of course just saw an old guy from a motorhome across the road walking around in just a Speedo. Some things are just wrong, even in Mexico. Let’s move on from the Speedo sightings, especially the one on the beach the other day that we had to guess if he had one on!
I know I’m a little behind on posting right now. This has been a busy week for us getting set up and working on wedding plans.
Our wireless internet card is working great and allows us to access the internet, use Skype to call out and receive calls, and currently to stream in radio. Judy is working with her Kindle and figured out this morning how to access Facebook and send e-mail. The Voses must be some sort of techno wizards, or maybe not.
Thursday our friends Robin and Sanford came over from Ixtapa for the day. They got here about 9 AM for the day. We were getting ready to head to the Mercado for dinner makin’s so we asked if they wanted to go. They have been here 6 times and had never been to the Mercado or ridden the bus. They are now able to check that off in their dance book. We introduced them to Bernardo the cheese guy, and Poncho and Rosa, our fishmongers. Rosa is a master with the filet knife. Picked up some dorado and prawns for dinner later, some veggies and some bolios. Bolios are fresh rolls like a hoagie roll. They are still warm when you pick them up. Then it was on to Bananas restaurant for a late breakfast, and on to the secret bakery for their first introduction to the chocolate cake with the flan topping. We spent most of the day here around the pool, a short walk on the beach for sunset then a wonderful dinner of dorado, shrimp, and fresh tuna salad on a half avocado.
Yesterday we did a few things here at the house while we waited for Mida, our maid to show up. We went to the beach for a few hours while she was here and visited with our friends Dan and Jeanne. We caught the bus to town about 5:30 for dinner at Don Memos. Nice fish fillet for 70 pesos (about $5). Next was a little window shopping on our way to a haircut from my favorite barber Rigo, (el barbero). I had to wait about 20 minutes for my turn. This was 8 PM and there were 4 more people waiting after me. Haircut, including razor trim around my beard for about 70 pesos.
When we were sitting at dinner we noticed some waiters coming outside looking at the sky and pointing. It was very dark and looking like some sort of storm brewing. A lot of the restaurants are outdoors, so they had a concerned look on their faces. After my haircut we headed for a cab about 9 PM. On the way we felt a few rain drops, and by the time the cab headed for the house it was starting to rain, then harder. By the time we got to our front gate it was pouring down big drops. This was a good old fashioned thunder shower, which we have never experienced here in all our years of coming down here. It was very unusual for this time of year. Then the lights started to flicker and out they went right as we got to the house. The storm lasted about 15 minutes with big wind to finish it up which even brought a roof tile down on the pool deck and into the pool. Just before the rain ended Alfredo showed up on his scooter. He normally comes a little later at night but I think he figured he needed to be here. I carry a good flash light with us now, and shined the light down by the gate as he was bringing his scooter in. He had a large black plastic garbage bag with head and arm holes cut into it for a rain coat. Pretty soon he showed up with some lit candles for us. It was wild to say the least. I am hearing about some trees that came down from the wind. The whole thing lasted about 30 minutes, and then the stars were out again. The power finally came on about 11 PM. We were in bed asleep. The only problem with no power is no air conditioning in the bedroom (and no power for Judy’s cpap machine). It was a little toasty until we had the power. Downtown had power and didn’t stop the live music coming across the bay loud and clear. A little storm ain’t going to stop that on a Friday night.
This morning the air is clean the sky is clear with a wisp of clouds and it is about 75 degrees. All is good again.
Warren

Catching up on photos

Here is another lesson relearned about posting pictures. I have to start with the most recent first and the oldest last. Makes sense to me. You can click on the photos to see them larger.

Alfredo was proud of his Christmas decorations this year, especially the inflatable snowmen. He took them down on Tuesday.

We will work on more photos soon. Our schedule is so busy you know.
I am still getting the hang of uploading pictures. I do know that it works better in the mornings when the system isn't so busy.

This post will just be some pictures that needed posting.

The above photo is our arrival. Try to imagine how red faced Alfredo was that he wasn't here to greet us. We waited about 10 minutes after a couple of phone calls.

Another plan comes together, sorta

I just love it when a well orchestrated plan comes together. I believe I told everyone that we were waiting for our dedicated phone line and internet connection. It was only going to be a couple more days. Wrong! We now have a wireless internet card that our landlady Ita brought to us today. In the long run it will be cheaper for us. The wait for the phone had no date attached. So much for that plan. At least now we don’t have to sit in just the right location and hold your mouth just right to steal the free weak wifi signal from Jacque. This is much better and we are now using our Skype without dropping the signal anymore.

I made my first trip to the Mercado yesterday for a few items. Not too much, just some string cheese from our friend Bernardo and fresh tuna from Pablo. Judy boiled up the tuna with a few spices and made a pound of tuna salad today. It just didn’t taste the same as the canned stuff.

Yesterday was almost a felony offense for us. There were 4 items on our to do list. The Mercado in the morning, while Judy met with our maid to get her started. Then it was up to La Escollera to meet with the manager Celine about wedding plans for a couple of hours. We rushed home in the taxi and had him wait for us while we changed real quick and headed to Ixtapa to meet our friends Robin and Sanford for dinner. They have a time share at the Pacifica in Ixtapa. It looks to the north along Ixtapa beach and a couple of the holes of one of the golf courses. We had an adult beverage and then rode a gondola up the hill to a very fine restaurant. It had a beautiful view of the beach to the north also. Needless to say there was nothing on our agenda today. We didn’t leave the house until about 7 tonight for a little look around downtown and a quick dinner. After a little looking around we settled on a place called Don Memos. Very good snapper fillet and steamed veggies with a very tasty little side of pasta.

This afternoon Alfredo’s son, Christian came over to visit. His English is getting better and he likes to practice on us. He is trying to finish up high school and hopefully get into Army school to finish his education. He is 20 and still has a couple of years left in High School. Christian told us that he dropped out for a couple of years and now is back. In his words, “I don’t won’t to be a loser”. Those were words we liked to hear. He is trying to pass the entrance test with the Army school. It sounds like it is more like a prep school that will give him a good start on an Army aviation school with his High school diploma. We wish him luck. Alfredo is working here in the evening and on the weekends taking care of the house and the bungalows they built next door. He stays here at night as the watchman, then goes home about 7 AM to eat and then goes to a construction job up the hill where he probably is working at least 10 hours. We can see the worksite from here. Tonight when we were leaving, Christian was helping Alfredo take down the inflatable snowmen and lights. Christmas is over!

It appears that I am still having trouble uploading pictures to the blog. I will work on it and hopefully have it resolved soon.

Warren

2010

Here we are at the airport in Seattle. We were able to get onto an earlier flight today out of Bellingham, and will get to LA around 8:30 this evening. It was going to be 10 PM. Sometimes when you are traveling a couple of hours makes a big difference. Our Friends Robin and Sanford went earlier this morning to LA to visit with Robin’s dad. They will be meeting us a the airport on Saturday morning. The flight leaves at 10:40 AM to Zihuatanejo. It is always hard to have everything ready to go, but we always make it. I actually think that we are in the best shape at the house to get away this year. We are not finishing a major remodel like last year. The plane just pulled into the gate and it will time to board soon. Time to put the computer away and head south. We are catching our last view of rain for a couple of months.

Sunday January 10

We are here! Our trip was pretty uneventful. The highlight of the flight was the applause that broke out on the plane when we landed. I would say that the majority of passengers were multiple time visitors. The customs portion of your arrival, after baggage claim, now has scanners. I have never had my luggage scanned after arrival. And of course, I got the red light this time. A little pawing around in our bags by Customs, and we were done. Caught the taxi to the house only to find it locked up. No Alfredo! We looked around for a few minutes then got the taxi driver to call the number for the rental out front. He got Alfredo on the phone. He said he would be right there. About five minutes later, here comes a little yellow scooter going as fast as it could with Alfredo aboard. He got within about 150 yards and it ran out of gas. He was a little red faced about not being here. He goes home in the late afternoon for awhile then returns around 7 and spends the night here. He was very happy to see us and gave us both a big hug.

A quick trip to the Comercial for a few basics and home again.

This morning we are having coffee and then maybe a walk on the beach. We still need to hit the Mercado to pick up some more items. It might happen today, but maybe tomorrow. We are now officially on Mexican time.

When Alfredo returned at 7 PM, I noticed the Christmas lights come on around the carport then the two inflatable snowmen standing up on top of the carport. They are just about at the end of there stay. He said a couple more days. Zihuatanejo is very busy during the holiday season. It appears to be mostly Mexicans on holiday with a mix of Americans and Canadians.

I tested out our Skype phone last night and even with a weak connection from a wifi signal I can pick up, it sounded just fine. Jacque is back again across the street in the RV park. I can pick up a weak signal if I hold my mouth just right. We are still waiting to get our phone and DSL at the house this year. Hopefully that will be within the next few days. That will make life a little easier for us with a stronger internet connection, which equates to a good phone connection with Skype, plus a local phone to use. More to come about that I’m sure.

As I write this I have also watched a cruise ship come in. Town will be busy today. We are planning on going to the basketball court for dinner tonight and whatever entertainment might be going on.

We walked to Paty’s from here down the beach. It is about a mile away. I am still walking a little slow, but spent some time in the pool today working on leg muscles. It won’t be long until I’m ready for some real walking. Saw our friends from Staten Island today at Paty’s. Breakfast was good, and we were about ready to leave when they all showed up. So, a couple of hours later we headed home for some pool time and backgammon.

Change of plan, we went to the Manglar for dinner tonight. Going into town was more effort than we wanted to put out this evening. Had a nice Mahi Mahi dinner tonight. The restaurant is down by the beach about a block and a half from us.

There is way more on our schedule tomorrow than is allowed down here. We need to get to the Mercado, meet with the maid to set up a schedule, meet with Celine from La Escollera about wedding plans at 2 PM and over to Ixtapa by 5 for dinner with our friends Robin and Sanford by 5 PM. This is becoming hard work.

I am not ready to send any pictures yet, but should be sending some soon. We need a little stronger internet connection. You will just have to settle for text for now.

It appears that the bad weather has moved passed for now. Most of this last week there was rain almost everyday. Saturday was the first day of no rain, but it was overcast. Today was very nice with now clouds and 86 in the shade.

Time to go, more to come.

Warren

Zihuatanejo 2010

This will kick off our blog for this year. I had to try and remember how to do the blog entries and manage the entries.

We are only a few days away from our departure to Zihuatanejo Mexico. We leave this coming Friday the 8th of January and will arrive on Saturday the 9th. We like to overnight in LA the past few trips. It makes it a lot easier for us, especially coming home. We don't have to rush from the International terminal to the domestic terminal 3 to try and make our connection back to Seattle. Now we go to the hotel and leave at a respectable time the next day.

Judy and I are ready for the sun and the warmth. We will be there for two months again this year. The highlight of the trip will be our daughter Ellie's wedding on February 6. I'm pretty sure that will make for a lot of interesting entries. We are all looking forward to a fun time, with a little rest when it is all over.

We are staying in the same house again this year and needless to say will have a lot of company at the house and near by for the wedding. I am going to have a few trips to the airport to point people in the right direction. The ones that have been here before know the drill, but there will be a few that have never been here before. Someone has to run interference at the airport to get through the timeshare salesmen. In comparison to some other Mexico destinations we have been to, this is a pretty small gauntlet to run. You only have to say "no gracias" a few times and move forward to get to your transportation.