News from home and the value of "diversiones"

When you live a life like this, you must plan ahead. Prior to leaving our home in Victoria, we arranged for a 5 month rental, we booked rentals in our single apartment here, we even rented out our own apartment/casita here so that we can travel and study Spanish for a month in January-February 2010. Each time I made these future arrangements, a small little niggly feeling crept into my consciousness...but I tried to overcome my inner voice which said something like "who do you think you are being so optimistic- planning things several months in advance- something could go wrong and change your plans". Being conscious of this inner voice, I did my best to suppress it, reminding myself that negativity, worry and anxiety are familial traits I inherited from my recently deceased Mom, and that I didn't want to live my life that way.

Silly me...the inner voice has given me a big Shout Out this week. We have learned that our beautiful first born daughter who is 28 and at the prime of her life has thyroid cancer. She is having surgery on Dec. 30th in Vancouver and I am going to go through this journey with her. I wouldn't have it any other way and I will not be able to enjoy myself here knowing that she is going through this.

But in the meantime, we have a few weeks until her surgery is booked and we need to have some fun. The Spanish word for fun is "diversione" which I think adequately describes what I am doing...I am trying to divert myself from thinking about our daughter's upcoming surgery and the potential that she could need more treatment. I am a positive person...but not nearly as positive as Francisco our fishing capitan who took our friends, Sue and Paul and Gene and me deep sea fishing this week.

We headed out from Zihua Bay at 0630 and did not even get a bite until approximately 1 pm. During the 6+ hours that we waited for this first fish, he wisely said "I think it will be mas tarde - most probably the fish are sleeping" He enjoyed his lunch, he enjoyed his beverages never losing faith that we would indeed catch fish. And catch fish we did. Sue and Paul each successfully caught and released both a "hatchet marlin"and a sailfish. And we didn't bring bananas on the boat...cause as every good fisherman in Zihua knows...bananas on a boat are bad luck and we need all the buena suerte we can get right now!

Trust and Honesty Mexican Style

We took our friends to Los Gatos Beach on Saturday. We always sit at the same restaurant where our waiter, Franco, knows Gene. Each year he makes a big deal of greeting us and making us feel like we are his most important customers. We spent a wonderful day there snorkelling, sunbathing and watching the Mexican families at this idyllic seaside oasis on the edge of Zihuatanejo Bay. I was dismayed when I got home to realize I had left my "prescription" sunglasses behind. So the next day, we decided to hike over to Los Gatos, get a little excercise together with our dog and see if the sunglasses were at the restaurant. We arrived by 0900 only to find out that Franco has Sundays off and the other waiters couldn't find them. They promised to call us by 6 p.m when they spoke with Franco to find out where he had put my glasses.

Now many people would not expect that I would ever see them again, as after all, prescription sunglasses are very expensive here and a needy person would simply take them. I can recall our children's sports items that would disappear seconds following being left forgotten on a shelf, or bus seat. But I had faith and sure enough, at a little after 6 we received a call that one of the waiters had them and was driving them to my home. I ran back from Domingos Culturales- the Sunday night festival in the local square, and the waiter who I had spoken to in the morning drove up with his infant son and wife. He was flashing the biggest smile, telling me how happy he was to find them in the laundry scheduled to be picked up to be taken to the commercial laundromat that day. I was indeed lucky, and once again reminded of the fundamental honesty of the locals.

Today, my husband had a different experience. He went to our local police station to make arrangements for a Mexican Driver's License. We had been encouraged to do this by our friend Mike who is much more experienced than us with driving in Mexico. He advised Gene that if he were to be stopped by a transit police officer, producing a local driver's license can make a huge difference to the outcome for a gringo.

Gene has never really learned Spanish and relies heavily on his smile and patient locals who accept his Spanglish attempts. On arrival at the heavily fortified police station he was asked to relinquish his immigration document (FM3) at the gate and then proceeded to a licensing office. The 2 young administrators eventually conveyed to him that he didn't have the correct paperwork, and he was prepared to head home emtpy handed, without the Spanish to get him through the process. However, the transit police supervisor appeared and proceeded to take my husband aside and explained in English that he would need to go the Centro de Salud ( for a bloodtest), bring in his passports, visa, electric bill copies. He then asked Gene to step outside and asked him to wait. After approx. 10 mins. he returned and said that for 450 pesos he could make sure the medical was OK. The administrative assistants promptly prepared a license for Gene with a bloodtype selected by the supervisor and a further 100 pesos was removed from his wallet to "pay the girls" for their trouble. The whole process went quickly and smoothly.... Gene now having spent an extra 550 pesos above the normal cost. On the plus side, Gene now has the name and cell phone no. of the chief of transit police in Zihuatanejo...we hope he never needs it, but you never know!!

On the downside, he may have the wrong bloodtype on his license......

Peter and Carol's Party in the Penthouse

We live in a small condominium complex. Shortly after we moved in, we began to realize the nature of living in a condominium. It is a matter of give and take and compromise. Our friend Bob jokingly said that we didn't have to call it a "condominium"- it could be a "commune", and for a while we honestly shared that sense of freedom and comraderie that came with living in a group setting.

Then we hit what we may have called the "formative years". Condominiums require that someone generally must assume the role of administrator, there must be a council and there must be rules and regulations. It would be tremendously fortunate and perhaps a bit naive to think that a mature group of persons who live in close proximity and share common amenities could do so with a natural sense of fairness, respect and tolerance and that the council would always represent everyone's opinions and wishes for their home in paradise. I look back on these last few years of growth and have now believe that we have indeed been fortunate.

Not only do we have a lovely home to live in, we also have a wonderful group of friends, all having chosen our condominium with it's funky artistic Mexican traditional styling. Some are renters, some are absentee owners, some reside in Zihua fulltime and all are close friends. Our little community shares a tremendous bond and we share the knowledge that as a community we are there for each other.

Peter's party which was thrown in honor of his 70th birthday ( wait- have we discovered the fountain of youth?)provided us all with an opportunity to celebrate together our evolving community here in Zihuatanejo!

All Things Beautiful..

Our friends Sue and Paul are visiting us. 'This is their first trip to Zihuatanejo and we are enjoying showing them around. Sue is struck by how Mexican this place really is. Unlike many of the other well known tourist destinations in Mexico, our little town feels like "real" Mexico. North Americans from Canada and USA are definitely in the minority here and we like it that way. It is fun to see our town through the eyes of newcomers and they are keen to try out all the local places that are unique to Zihuatanejo.

We have been enjoying the sunsets, the beautiful flowers, the warm ocean, the food and the signs of Navidena (Xmas) that are emerging everywhere. We are looking for the beauty and see it everywhere. My photos are about "all things beautiful".

But yesterday afternoon we ventured on a little known back road from the far end of Ixtapa, Playa Linda out to the highway. We wound our way through coconut groves and into the little village of San Jose de Ixtapa with it's dirt streets, starving dogs, burning garbage and shabby little tiendas and casas. Sue said rather somberly as we drove through "My goodness, there really is a lot of poverty isn't there?"

I thought about what Sue said and wonder if I have lost my ability to "see" anymore. Or is it that I now realize that it isn't the surface that counts here...it is the feelings and the people who live here with their kind eyes, and ready smiles that makes me see the beauty wherever we go.

Cori's Amigos

As most of you know, we have a dog. He came to me shortly following the death of Robbie our first dog....my heart was broken and we both knew it. Gene has come up with the term "Mexidoodle"when people in Victoria kindly ask what breed he is, as his roots run deep in the puppy mills of Mexico. He's in the words of our friend Capt Mike "Just a Mexican Mutt"...but he is our companion and a great source of fun, exercise and endless frustration. Like yesterday, when he ran under the front end of an ATV hurtling it's way towards us on Playa Larga. Cori doesn't know he's just a small dog, and likes to show that he's a macho guy when being "attacked", so he went for it with gusto. He must be one lucky pooch, because he rolled under the carriage, yelped and popped up on the other side, with only a minor scrape on his hip and back toes.

He has a pretty good life here in Mexico and has a new girlfriend. Our neighbour Eve has arrived with her 10 month old cockapoo "Frida"..she has fallen head over heels in love with Cori and arrives jauntily on our porch each morning and night to give him a kiss and enjoy some of Cori's food. Cori seems to be completely enamored with her and even lets her share his ball. He also has a pack of friends on the street who greet him each morning and evening on his neighborhood walks and a committed group of local nino's who wait for Cori each afternoon on La Madera beach to play ball with him.

We are very lucky to have a multicultural dog who listens to us patiently explain to him in English all of our rules, knowing full well that as a Mexican he has complete liberty to live his life "on the edge"...like all the other Mexican dogs in the 'hood. We just hope he doesn't decide to attack a fast moving ATV again...

Thursdays in Guerrero State

Today was a yoga day. I try to attend yoga at Paty's on La Ropa beach at least 3 times/week. Yesterday, Wednesday, I was the only person who turned up to attend Paty's 9 a.m. class. Paty didn't turn me away but instead said "This is great Trish, we can do a class for us". She and I practiced together for one and a half hours and I left feeling like I had been treated to a private class with a massage. So today, Thursday is my usual yoga class, approximately 12 persons attended with Ana as the teacher. The class is a little piece of heaven here on earth and I've just learned that Ana is the Mexican women's surfing champion. Ana is the "product"of an American couple who saw the wisdom of living in Zihuatanejo back in the 70's when it likely was the small fishing village of the Shawshank Redemption utopian dream. She's a well practiced yoga teacher and my morning was bliss.

This afternoon our friends Bob and Iris and Gene and I decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at El Pueblito Restaurant. It is one of a number of local restaurants that serve the state dish of Pozole on Thursdays. In fact, some restaurants exist solely for their once/week Thursday Pozole crowd. Pozole can be made with chicken or pork and is a soup with white corn (hominy) and meat and varying degrees of chile spice...white, green and red in progressive order of heat. We ate to the ballads of the local "troubador" Jose Luis Cabo who sang from his repertoire of Mexican ballads. We were the only non-Mexicans in the restaurant and were surrounded by families and friends who make this a regular Thursday afternoon outing. A three hour lunch, now that's a great way to spend an afternoon.

If we had a provincial food day in BC...what day would we pick and what would it be? Friday night Pizza comes to mind....

A Street where everyone knows your name

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This year, Gene and I decided to travel from Victoria to Zihuatanejo separately. Gene has a deadline to be in Mexico, although it is not correct, because last year his entry stamp into Mexico was stamped with the wrong date, October 31st, because the border official had not done the update. Gene together with Cori arrived with sufficient time to complete all the paperwork needed to update his FM3 and have our car legally in Mexico again. I wanted to see my friends in Calgary and to fly on the new Westjet flight directly from Calgary to Zihua. It proved to be a great weekend and a great flight, complete with mariachis, champagne and a Zihuatanejo welcoming committee at our small and modern airport just outside of town.

La Madera is the name of our neighbourhood and is a charming colonia to live in. This area had a hard time last year with the loss of tourism and I was anxious to see how the small hotels, restaurants and shops had faired. There are changes, but I see the same happy faces and the same sense of gratitude that I (one of many regulars) have returned safely to our winter homes. Calle Adelita is a street where everyone knows your name. Isabel with her juice stand, Lilia with her beauty salon, and Monica and Anibel all had warm hugs and a sincere "como estes"? for us.

Of course our other American/Canadian friends are also here and we have already spent many evenings catching up on their summers and their families. My travels on the Camino have proved popular, and we have hosted many friends on our terraza. Despite the heat, friends sharing good food and wine together happens here on a regular basis. The heat seems more intense this year. I can always tell when it is really warm here because it feels like even my elbows are perspiring. When you feel a tickle on your wrist and you realize it's sweat running from your elbows, you know you are in the tropics.

So, we are in the early days of our winter getaway. I find myself setting goals for the 5 months (I say 5 months knowing that a few things at home may change my ability to stay, but I'm trying to be positive). I want to learn Spanish, exercise more at both swimming and yoga, and continue to assist Monica with the cooking school. More about that later.

Oh, and I always have a few ideas on changing and improving the decor in both our new apartment and our first apartment which now accomodates friends and family. But I really didn't expect to have the opportunity to buy the ultimate in bathroom decor items....Vanessa is supporting a friend in the community and I couldn't say no when as always her kind and smiling face asked me to consider buying her friends handicrafts....Gene has since moved to the other bathroom.