Friday Jan 31st

The last three days have been very quiet, but enjoyable.

Wednesday started off by taking our plastic chairs down to the beach (together with our big umbrella) where we settled in for a short while, enjoying the ocean. Not too long afterwards Nestor (the co-host) came out to us and asked us, as a favour, to please pay the restaurant for chair rentals rather than use the apartment ones; the reason being that the owners of our apartment do not want to offend the restaurant people because part of their business includes rentals.  Hmmm OK,so we paid 60 pesos (about $4.50) rent for two chairs, for the day, only for the wind to come up and blow our umbrella over..... we gave up our chairs shortly thereafter and came back to our place.

We spent a quiet day reading or watching Utube and at night we went across the street from Oxxo to the Cocina Economica to buy their pre-made supper special of the day. It was only $5 per plate but wasn't that great so I think we probably won't be using them very much in the future.

Yesterday (Thursday) was another typical day for us as we are settled into a routine now.

We walked up to the vegetable store for some purchases and then came back to relax. We had a great conversation with Roy and Dalaina, and before bed we played a few games of tile rummy outside on our veranda.

Today (Friday) the local navy had their firefighting boat out to welcome Dave and Sue Slaght into Manzanillo from Calgary.

Dave and Sue came by at 11 AM and the next five hours flew by as we caught up on our respective families, discussed travels we have been on ,and our future plans. A wonderful time with wonderful people. It is pretty funny we meet here because we don't seem to be able to get together back in Canada.

This evening we facetimed with Vanessa, and later with Mike and the kids (no Michelle there as she was sick in bed).

The beach is quite noisy tonight with the sounds of kids playing and having a good time on a Friday night. Time will tell if there are any parties out there or not. Caro tends to hear them more than I do anyway so she will let me know in the morning.

Tuesday Jan 28th

Yesterday afternoon we caught the local bus and went to the central market downtown where we purchased a bag full of vegetables and fruits, and Caro picked up her shoes that a shoe repair fellow had stretched for her over the weekend. We also got some flowers to brighten up our place. It is pretty hard to turn away from a bunch of chrysanthemums (one of Caro's favourites) costing $3.60! When it comes to pleasing her I go to great lengths!

After a walk down the malecon (photo above taken from the malecon) we caught the bus back home and spent the rest of day doing what we are learning to do; that is, relax.

In the evening, due to high winds, we moved inside and played tile rummy with Caro winning  two games to one.

This morning Caro went for a long walk while I waited to watch a SpaceX flight blast off (on Utube). Unfortunately the launch was scrubbed until tomorrow so after breakfast at 0900 I went on my own walk. It turns I completed the same walk as Caro had earlier which was about five kms on the main boulevard behind us.

In late morning we put our, (supplied with the apartment) beach umbrella out into the beach; took our plastic chairs with us and had about two hours sitting there enjoying the waves rolling in. It dawned on me while sitting there that what has been very enjoyable here is that there have been NO PEDDLERS hassling me to buy things. We moved back to our place when the umbrella became a sail due to the increasing wind speed.

As we talked about our time here the thought occurred that there may be a good chance of coming back next year. We are only one week into our time and we may change our minds in the next three weeks but for us to even think that is a dramatic change.

In the afternoon we went to Soriano's to purchase food to keep us going for a bit.

The photo is an example of the flowers we see on our walk. Very beautiful at this time of the year.

We changed out our dirty bed sheets and towels with Nestor (the apartment building co-host). The cost to get cleaned ones is 100 pesos ($7.15) which covers the cost of getting them professional cleaned and ready for when we need them again. A bargain!

We spent a bit of time chatting with Roy and Dalaina (Burns Lake folks) about their day. They took the local buses out to the far ends of the routes to see what there was to see. Sounds like fun! They suggested we may enjoy the small towns just north of here even more than Manzanillo! They are a good source on info as they used to be full time RV'ers and have been here before.

Monday morning January 27th

Things are slowing down here and as such there is not too much to write about (or even to have photos to publish alongside).

On Saturday Caro took the bus to Soriano's as there was a temporary market in the parking lot of the store. She picked up some special cecina meat which we froze for later meals. MMMmmm yummy!

I lazed around the apartment for the day. One hi-lite was Lisa facetiming from the mountain at Fernie. I thought it was quite neat that we were able to watch her skiing down the mountain while her friend Krista videoed her (Lisa) as she herself was skiing behind (all live on Facetime).

Yesterday Mike and Michelle and kids facetimed us as they were at the breakfast table.Very neat beginning to our day. A while later Vanessa facetimed us to tell us of her and Nathan's "Who done it" Gatsby inspired mystery murder party from Saturday night. We sure are not getting lonely with the modern communication.

In the late afternoon we (along with the lady from Burns Lake) took a cab back up to Soriano's parking lot where a temporary stage and seating had been set up for a special presentation of dancing from Oaxaca State. Very nice presentation although I left early after one hour to go buy from food from the store. I was back in time for the finish of the dancing at which point we grabbed a cab and were home by about 9 PM.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday we went to the old downtown area for the first time. We caught the bus at the local Oxxo store and made our way over to the central market. Caro went only partially crazy there! She even found a type of fruit that she hasn't had since she was living in Mexico City so she immediately bought a bag full. The fruit has the consistency of a Bartlett Pear with a somewhat different taste.

There was another cruise ship in port. This one was a 42 night Southampton to Auckland cruise so the smallish downtown was filled with Brits. There wasn't,however, that much interesting to see (not even a central zocalo) so after  couple of hours we were on the bus back home.

Later on in the day we lazed around reading,listening to podcasts etc before we had another magnificent sunset while enjoying shrimp cocktail on the veranda.

 Today was my birthday. Thank you to everyone who remembered!

Caro needed to go back downtown to get some shoe repair work started so she went by herself. When it comes to shopping I can't last as long as she can! While she was shopping I completed a walk up the boulevard to the restaurant area. It was an hour long stroll and felt good to do. Caro has been doing her running and walking the same as at home however I haven't been as diligent.

Tonight to celebrate we walked to the restaurant I chose (about 1 1/2 km) where we had a decent meal with a stunning view of the ocean. The personnel there gave me a complimentary dessert which was very nice of them, I thought. One year ago today we were at Iguazu Falls in Argentina so it was going to be very hard to top that experience!

Since our walk back we have been sitting out on the veranda enjoying the ocean breeze listening to the waves crash on to shore. There must be as storm somewhere as the ocean is a bit angry today.

It was a wonderful birthday.

Wednesday Jan 22/2020

I thought when I planned this trip to Mexico that I would only update the blog every so often as I thought not much would be happening but this turns out not to be the case.

Caro got up about 45 minutes before me and sat on one of our plastic chairs at the beach with her coffee enjoying the morning quietness.

After breakfast we caught the number 8 bus which took us on a roundabout route through the  city and up through the highlands at the top of this bay. The route took us past the Tesoro resort where Caro and the girls vacationed at many years ago, and then past the famous Las Hadas resort. What beautiful views we saw from up there!

Once back down the mountain into the main part of the city we got off at Walmart to pick up items to make our life easier here (things like a plastic pan to wash our feet with, extra soap etc). Caro went across the street to Commercial Mexicana to pick up some pre-made food for supper while I paid for the Walmart purchases.

We were in our cab on the way home when we saw a motorcycle take a corner WAY TOO fast and have a wreck. The fellow hurt himself a bit and the bike slid across the road,smashing into the curb. Yikes!! Help was there immediately for the fellow from bystanders.

The afternoon was spent back at the apartment, in the ocean, or on the veranda.

Yesterday, while shopping in Soriano's for food they had a fire drill and asked everybody to leave their shopping carts where they were and go outside the main doors until the drill was over. We didn't think too much about it but it turns out the sirens and excitement I wrote about yesterday were tied into the fire drill as part of a national emergency response exercise.

Tonight we watched the Holland America cruise liner Oosterdam leave port on its way to Huatulco.

A couple of games on Rummy on the Veranda later and we were inside relaxing. Another great day!

Lots happened today-Jan 21st

I was awakened this morning with the sound of a vehicle driving up this (essentially) pedestrian walkway outside our apartment.

Caro was already on the beach reading her book and as I looked out the front door to see a Navy vehicle had driven up. I saw two navy guards with machine guns standing at the steps down to the beach. Hmmm  I thought-protecting the tourists, nice!  Soon afterwards however about 40 naval personnel came marching down the walkway with some of them carrying a large zodiac; going past me and onto the beach (and requesting that Caro move to the side to give them the whole area). There were guards on both ends of the exercise area and for the next 90 minutes the men split up into three groups and rotated through various swimming and/or zodiac maneuvering programs. Turns out this is weekly exercise time to keep the men in shape.

Later in the morning a ship horn started blowing constantly in the port area, and sirens started up non-stop. The naval yard is there as well so I am not sure if this is part of a training scenario or not. Anyway nothing appeared to come of it

We  spent the afternoon around our place, some of the time chatting with a couple from Burns Lake BC who are in another of these apartments. They are here until March 8th so we will see them often. The other two couples here are from Quebec and they are friendly but I think are uncomfortable speaking English or Spanish so other than waves and hello's we don't have contact with them.

We watched a whale in the bay for quite a while. It was at least 1/2 km off shore so our view wasn't great but we were able to see parts of the back and the flukes numerous times.

We decided to order Huachinango fish from the beach front restaurant. They brought the fried fish (with rice and salad) right to our place. I believe we may have been their only customers today as the beach was mostly deserted.

As sunset was coming on we walked on the beach towards the entrance to the port about 10 minutes south of us. We caught a lucky break as a huge container ship was just leaving (pretty sure I saw this one come in yesterday).

Today was 30 degrees but seemed to be easier to handle. Either the humidity was lower or we are acclimatizing. As I write this we are enjoying the veranda,the freshening sea breeze and the sound of waves lapping on the shore.

The photo above shows the steps to the beach and 15 steps behind that (and across the walkway/occasional vehicle access ) you can faintly see our blue inflatable mattress. The restaurant can be seen on the left hand side of the photo.

Manzanillo Mexico

Caro and I are in Manzanillo Mexico for a month.

We left Edmonton yesterday at 0630 for Calgary (Thanks for the ride Vanessa!) where after a two hour wait we got on our direct flight to Manzanillo. As we backed out from the gate I knew there was a problem as there was a lot of smoke from the left engine and for some reason the pilots decided to spin the plane in a back wards motion about 360 degrees (i.e. a circle). The upshot was we had to go back to the gate and a repair crew did their magic fixing a leaking fuel line so we were on our way 100 minutes after we were supposed to.

Arrival and Mexican immigration went smoothly and a 40 minute taxi ride later we were at our home for the month.

The apartment is quite nice and suitable for us-certainly not 5 star status as there needs to be a fair bit of TLC inside it, however the location a few metres from the ocean is perfect. The bedroom is fine as well. We are not too picky, and the air conditioning and wi-fi works so all is good!

We managed to find a restaurant still open about ten minutes walk away. It appears that places close early here (by our standards anyway) so if we chose to go out for supper we need to make a decision before 7 PM (closing time!). We do have the option of using a beach restaurant very close to us and they will bring our desired cooked fish to our apartment if we wish. Now that is great!

This morning we caught a cab to a Soriano's store where we purchased items that we will need here (the apartment doesn't have enough frying pans for example). Anyway we were able to purchase a lot of food etc. I also purchased a CHEAP bottle of Bacardi rum (go figure!). Our total bill was about $170 which includes things like a deck of cards, rummy-o, condiments, inflatable toys for the ocean or beach etc. Needless to say we bought lots of Oaxaca cheese, Manchego cheese, cecina and other meats. Of course Caro bought a whack of fruits and other typical foods that caught her eye.

This afternoon Caro took her first swim in the ocean and said it was really nice. I will get in the water at some point I am sure.

Caro watched a Princess Cruise Liner come in this morning as she sat out on our veranda enjoying her morning coffee.