Sunday in Zihuatanejo

2-28

Sunday in Zihuatanejo

It is going to be another quiet day for us. Our plan today is to lay low and do whatever later. Probably a walk on the beach and a visit with friends down the street. Our friends Vera and Richie are heading home tomorrow. They, like many of the other east coasters, are heading home to snow. Hopefully they won’t have major flight delays.

We walked to town yesterday morning and had breakfast then headed for a haircut. I needed one more of Rigo’s haircuts before I head home. Then we walked down by the basketball court for a beverage and to watch some of the cruise boat parade from the pier. After talking with a few local folks, we found out about the earthquake in Chile. They asked if we had heard about the tsunami warning. Of course, we hadn’t. There were conflicting reports about when it might arrive here, but the most common one was about 4:15 PM local time. We decided that we would be on the safe side and start toward home. There was still plenty of time to walk for most of the way, so we headed for the beach walkway along Madera beach then caught the bus from there to home. When we arrived home there were a couple of e-mails from friends down here. They had headed up the hill with passports in hand to La Escollera. They spent the afternoon up there waiting out the all clear. Our house is higher than where they are staying.

There was a couple of reports of the water going out about 50 feet, then surged back in about 5 feet higher on the beach than when it went out. The Carnival Spirit was in the bay and wasn’t scheduled to leave until after the tsunami was scheduled to arrive. I heard that the Mexican Navy was a little nervous but there was no order to evacuate. In true Mexican fashion, there were no warnings until everything was over. I did notice that the ship had fired up their main engines, which you don’t normally see until they are almost ready to depart. We watched the news and reports on the internet closely but didn’t feel like we needed to head to higher ground after seeing some of the NOAA wave mappings from the quake area.

We had reservations to go to a restaurant down the street last night. There is a local singer that has been singing there on Saturday nights since we have been here. We saw here a few times last year at a couple of local restaurants. Mostly for just a couple of songs and a few tips, then she would move on. Her name is Michelle LaValle and she has a great talent. She sings in French, Italian, English and Spanish. She is originally from Montreal, so French was her first language. It was a wonderful evening of songs with some great backup artists with her, once they showed up. The lead guitar player was at least 40 minutes late and the base showed over an hour late. Right on time for Mexican time! It was still a wonderful evening of song. We sat with some friends from down here that work with Michelle and have helped her get some recording done. Here is a link to U Tube with some photos and her singing. Hopefully it will link up for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXiZQgN8-Ag

Another cruise ship in this morning, the Radiance of the Sea, I think they leave in the early afternoon. According to the cruise ship schedule, we will see one more ship before we leave.

We are heading to a timeshare presentation in the morning. We have made friends with one of the presentation solicitors. We stopped him yesterday to chat for a few minutes. He is a nice guy just trying to make a living. He also waits tables at one of the restaurants downtown along the water. He makes a $100 bucks for bringing people to the presentations for a “FREE” breakfast. He knows we have no intention of buying anything. If I’m going I might as well be entertained. I always like it when the closer moves in for more writing upside down on the paper in front of you. Sales is like fishing, some days you catch em, and some days you don’t. My money is on don’t. I will have more to report in the next entry.

Looks like I have run out of things to report for this entry. We head home in one more week, and that time is filling up fast with getting together with friends at least one more time. This year has been a whirlwind for us. Next year will be calm, as it should be.

Warren

Our evening last Saturday night, just down the street from our house. The singer is Michelle LaValle. She has a great voice and a great talent. She really can sing the blues.

This shot is from the walkway heading from downtown toward Madera beach. It is also known to the locals as "lovers lane". This is looking to the southeast.

Playa Municipal. This beach is right along the downtown area. It was real busy on Saturday mostly with locals. The cruise ship was also in and the beach restaurants were busy. This shot was taken from the beginning of the walkway that goes from downtown over to the next beach, which is Madera.

Judy made a new friend while she was waiting for me to finish my haircut with Rigo. She lives next door to the Barber shop and wonders in and out. They had fun. I think she is about 6.

A catch up photo. This is Alfredo's old scooter. The "Flintstone" scooter. One of the last straws was the kick stand breaking off.