3-7
Looks like this will be our last entry for this year. We have started page 20 single spaced in the Word document we use to compose the blog. I guess we have said enough.
Today is our last full day in Zihuatanejo for this year. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 4 PM local time. Daylight savings time begins early Sunday morning in the US, and next weekend in Mexico, which makes a little confusion, but it is still Mexican time! We have been getting our things together and packing up the barrels for storage.
More friends are heading home today, and it will be our turn tomorrow.
Last night we went for a wonderful dinner with our friends Dan and Jeanne. They were our neighbors at the Villas Eclipse the last two years. They have become good friends for us. We went to Il Mare restaurant last night. We had never been there, and had heard good things about it. We had a fine pasta dinner with drinks, and a few more drinks! A good time was had by all.
Today, Eric is bringing the girls over while he goes to the beach to sell jewelry. We wanted one more day of spoiling and fun with them. I am sure we will be worn out by the end of the day. Then we will finish our packing this evening.
We went to town yesterday and finished up some last minute shopping. A kilo of cheese, and two kilos of coffee, a couple of t-shirts and we are done with the shopping.
It is very quiet here this morning. Not much traffic and not many people around. Another RV just headed out for home.
Today’s lesson on Mexico comes from our walks up the hill. Early on, I noticed what appeared to be a cucumber type plant hanging off of some tree branches and on a fence. It turns out that they are luffas. http://www.luffa.info/
I have brought a few back to the house to dry and shake the seeds out of them. I soaked them in some bleach water yesterday, and dried them again. They are now ready to come home with us.
- Warren

Yes, indeed, we had a very fine dinner last night at Il Mare. Going out for a fine Italian dinner has never interested us much while down here – we’d usually rather eat at home or small little Mexican places. However, it was truly a fine meal. This time we were too excited to take pictures of our food, as we have done before!!!!

And we are also very excited to see the girls shortly. Eric says they are excited too, as they love to come over. They now refer to us as their godparents. Today before they leave I will give them the first of many annual education talks. I really want them to know how important it is for them to finish school and to learn English. So now, when they are only 7 and 5, they will begin hearing it. Hopefully when they are 13 and 15 and tempted to drop out, as so many young girls do down here, they will have heard the many reasons why they should stay in school and hopefully heed the advice. We’ll try! They are little darlings.

We are all set for our stay here at Casa Ita next winter. Our hosts/landlords are very accommodating and welcoming. Next year there will also be two cute bungalows completed on the property, with a pool of their own, and ready for rental. She has quoted us a special price on them if any friends or family are interested in renting them next year. We will take pictures before we head home – they are almost completed at this point and Alfredo is doing some painting and landscaping. They are round bungalows with tiled roofs – a studio apartment with an outdoor kitchenette. Alfredo has been staying in one of them while we have been here. He looks after us very well!

Tomorrow morning before we head to the airport, we will go out to breakfast with Dan and Jeanne and have our final giggles and hugs for the year. Vera and Richie are heading home this morning; we said our good-byes yesterday afternoon. We have really missed our Montreal friends, Fanny and Joe, this year, and really hope they will be able to make it down next year. As Fanny says, “God willing, we will all be back next year!”

- Judy
And now, the news that many of you already know, but some of you might not. Sean and Ellie will be getting married down here next February 6th. We knew this prior to our arrival this year, but wanted to get a few things in place before we put it out there. We have put together the preliminary plans while we have been here. There will be more to follow in the coming weeks and months. I am sure that we won’t have trouble filling the blog with that happening next year!

Adios for this year!
Judy and Warren
Sean and Ellie from La Escollera restaurant. La Ropa beach in the background looking North. This will be the location of their wedding next year.

One of our neighbors. He is about 100 yds. from the house, and is on no particular schedule when it comes to braying. A lot of times at 2 AM!

Dinner at Il Mare last night with Dan and Jeanne. Judy loved the Cosmos.

Luffas that I found on my walk. The one on the right is out of the hull.