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.

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.

3-5
Perhaps I was a little premature in chastising “Jacque” for cutting off our wifi connection. We are connected again. It makes you upset when your routine is changed. We are on a tight schedule here.
The blog entries are reaching a close. I might get one more after this one.
Judy and I went to Paty’s yesterday for most of the morning to say adios to a couple friends. Two more friends went home yesterday, with two more tomorrow, and two more on Saturday, and then us on Sunday! It has been a wonderful escape for us. Every year we make more new friends and get to know the locals a little better. Tuesday I headed to town mid day with intentions of walking. It was getting hot so I decided I would catch the next bus. A Mexican gentleman stopped and gave me a ride. He is a local merchant with a couple of stores. One is a tienda and the other sells small furniture and decorating items. He didn’t know me from the next guy, but gave me a ride to Centro. In spite of the bad press you hear about Mexico, the majority of the people are just plain nice folks. We have not lost sight of that fact, and it is a big part of what brings us back year after year, and of course, maybe the 88 plus degrees everyday in January and February.
I was headed for my third haircut from Rigo. Haircut, beard and mustache trim and a shave. He only wanted 50 pesos, but I always give him more.
Last night we went into town for a little shopping and dinner. We had a great traditional Mexican meal and a very pleasant evening. This afternoon I believe we are going up to La Escollera for lunch and pool time. We have enjoyed our dinners up there and will try the afternoon time now.
Tomorrow we have told ourselves that we will get most of our things packed up. I purchased another plastic barrel downtown and that will make two now, plus a couple of beach chairs and umbrella. We have a lot of kitchen items, beach towels, some clothes and etc. We will store them here at the house until next year. We just tape them shut to keep the critters out! If they are not here when we return, oh well. They always are though.
Saturday, Eric’s daughters Erica and Perla are coming over for the afternoon. Judy wanted to spend a little more time with them. They are the kids we help with school funding. They will be here while Eric goes to the beach to sell silver jewelry. It will be another swim fest in the pool and probably to the beach for lunch.
Alfredo just popped his head in the door to let me know he was going to Centro. We always let him know where we are going. He keeps a close eye on us. We will miss him very much. I reminded him yesterday morning as I handed him his morning coffee, only cuatro mas coffees! It was in my very best “Spanglish”!
- Warren

Warren does such a good job of telling it all, that there is very little left for me to tell! But we are both leaving with mixed feelings. We love it here so very much, but it is hard to be gone so long from friends and family back home. This year a lot of you came down here to join us, and it was delightful. Hayden – I hope you haven’t forgotten auntie and uncle!!

I have a lobster salad coming up in my very near future today at La Escollera – that’s all my agenda holds for the day! That and a little more sun and view with our lunch.

I just went for a morning visit with my friend Vera. We have only a couple more days to go before we won’t see each other for another year. So we are getting in as much yakking as we can. She is already packing – worrying about where all her treasures will go and how she will make it home. She always makes it!! Warren and I have that chore to do tomorrow so we can be free on Saturday to entertain Perla and Erica. What a great way to spend our last day! They are 5 and 7 and look forward to playing with us – even though communication is difficult! Nothing difficult about playing with them in the pool or at the beach, however. Spoiling is easy.

Hope to see all of you soon!
- Judy
These are some catching up photos from last weekend and Monday's trip to Los Gatos. We were just able to choke this lunch down. It's the same Hell, just a different day.

This is what we had to put up with after hiking over to Los Gatos.

Hiking over to Los Gatos along the shore. This was the first time we made this trek. It wasn't to bad, and the trail starts just down the street from us.

The girls enjoying pool time last Saturday.

2-28
It is a beautiful night in Zihuatanejo. It is quiet, and we are heading to bed soon. Camille will be heading home tomorrow afternoon leaving Judy and I alone for our last week. We are officially at 1 week left to go. We will accomplish a few things this coming week that we promised ourselves we would do. We got the Dentist out of the way, so it will only be fun stuff.
Our friend Eric, the jeweler from the beach, brought his wife and kids over today to the house. They are kind of an adopted family for us. We have helped them with school inscription fees, and other school supplies the last couple of years. Judy and I decided a couple of years ago to help them with school rather than try to find a school to donate to. We at least know who we are helping, and the real cost is nothing in the big picture. We don’t talk about it much, it is just something that we do for a young hard working family down here. The kids had a great time in the pool today, and we had lunch at the house while Eric made the rounds on the beach selling his silver. It sounds like it was a good day for him, partly due to the fact that there was a cruise ship in. He caught a few people off of the boat on La Ropa today.
I am heading for another Sunday hike with my friend Mike in the morning. There might be a couple of others joining us also. Judy is one, and our friend Katie. We are going to walk the new road heading toward the southeast.
While the kids were here, our friend Bernardo, came by to sell goat string cheese. It is one of my basic staples down here. He comes around to the beach on Saturday and hits a few locations that he knows his customers might be located. He came to the house one day while I was gone. He recognized my hat and asked where I was. Today he was half way back down the driveway, when he stopped and came back asking if he could get a picture of me and him. Alfredo and his son, Christian were standing there, so he asked if he could have a picture of the two of us. Before he would take the picture, he asked if he could get it with the two of us. He whipped out his camera, and asked if I could go get my panama hat first. I got a picture of the two of us together.
I’m not used to Mexicans asking to have a picture with me. I guess that I am still a little humbled by him asking. Usually it is the “Gringos” asking to take the pictures of the locals. He is a very nice man, and his teenage children help out at the Mercado on the weekends. I was honored.
Alfredo came up for a beer this evening after he arrived back for the evening. He told us that his youngest son, Christian, is heading to the Mexican Army to be a pilot. He is a very nice young man. He was here working for Alfredo moving some sand for landscaping work. We both agreed that it was a good thing for Christian, and working on the end of the shovel moving sand, was a good reminder that the Army would be a good thing.
3-2
The internet appears to be down in the La Ropa area. I am seeing some of the wireless routers, but no internet connections. The router that I have been using since we have been here is not even showing up. I can’t believe that “Jacque” could be so inconsiderate to shut off his router. Hopefully it is only off due to the server problems.
We are talking about heading to Los Gatos this morning to spend most of the day over there. It is one of the 4 main beaches on Zihuatanejo Bay. It is lined with beach restaurants where you can spend the day. I think it has been close to 8 years since I have been over there.
I went for my Sunday morning hike with Mike and some other friends yesterday. We explored another part of the roads they are pushing in to the south of us. We made a big loop because we found the roads connect. We have now seen almost all of the development roads going in. It will be interesting to see what they are like next year.
3-3
Our trip to Los Gatos was great. We walked over along the shoreline. There is sort of a trail along the rocks. You have to pick your way along, but it was fine. We hadn’t been over there for a few years, and we’re pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. The water is shallow and very warm and clean. We had a nice lunch and had our own lounge chairs and umbrella. We headed back about 3:30 and then to dinner at some friends place down the road. There were about 15 people there. Jim made chili.
Today I am getting ready to head down the street to get an internet connection. I really think that it was inconsiderate of Jacque to leave before us. He was one of the French Canadians in the trailer park across the road from us. He was putting out an unsecured wifi signal that we have used for the last 7 weeks. Now I have to walk down the street to get connected again. I will send out this blog entry and probably one or two more short ones before we leave.Warren
Judy and the kids in the pool last Saturday. It was a wild day for us.

Our friend Bernardo. He sells string cheese in the Mercado, and comes around to the beach on Saturday to sell. He wanted to have his picture taken with me.

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!