Sunday

Sunday started as just another typical quiet day for us. 

I did a beach walk and Caro did a long walk on the streets, exploring some residential areas off the main road.

In the middle is Darlene (from Seattle) and on the right is Marthe and Serge (Quebec)

Caro and I went to the pool around 4 P.M. and it wasn't long before Marthe joined us, followed by Serge and later by Darlene. Everybody has such interesting stories and have been many places. Serge and Marthe are checking out of apartment 2 on Monday to go visit friends in nearby towns but are leaving some of their things with us as they will be back in town next week ( staying at a cheaper place). We enjoy their company so it will be great to see them again They will be renting our place the day after we leave.

After a quick supper we got back together, sitting outside apartment 2 where Caro and I spent a lot of time two years ago when we stayed here.

Nestor came by and I paid him the extra money that Emma (the owner) had requested. He also brought Caro a big container of Pozole soup. I am not a fan of that soup but Caro loves it.

Our group conversation carried on til midnight but Caro had left a bit earlier to Facetime with Lisa and Vanessa.

 

Lots of walking

 Last night, being a Friday, has usually been noisy with a party or two on the beach but nothing this time.

We woke up to see the Ruby Princess in port. 

We did a walk down to the traffic circle again in the morning (about 5 km round trip) and after our lunch we sat around enjoying the sea breeze and sunshine.

At 2 P.M. the cleaning lady arrived and that was our cue to head out. We first went to the Oxxo store and got a sim card and some cellular time for my old iphone 6s. We should have done this earlier as it would have saved Caro time and energy getting her doctors appointments set up. We now have a Mexican phone number that we will use as needed to make appointments etc and we will keep using it in the future.

A cab dropped us off at the Fedex store but they were closed. We need to send a package to Tete in Mexico City and Fedex were one of the options. From there we walked a few blocks back to La Sonrisa taco restaurant where we had gone earlier. We had a cold beer and some tacos that were just excellent. 

We decided to walk back towards home (about a five km walk) but Caro's foot started hurting so that was the signal to get a cab to cover the remaining distance. A check on our "Mexican" phone shows that we walked 3.1 km. this afternoon.

We came back to find the cleaning lady still finishing up so Caro headed out for an ocean swim and I listened to podcasts while at the pool deck.

Sparkling clean!

The beach is the busiest we have seen it in the four weeks we have been here with many families enjoying the day.

I redeemed myself in rummy tonight, winning three games.

Friday night-Maybe party night?

 We went for a walk together this morning ( for the first time since we got here) and close to the traffic circle Caro asked if we could go to a breakfast cafe nearby. We had a very filling meal that kept us going all day. Caro had enchiladas and I had American style hot cakes with an egg, bacon and ham. 

In early afternoon Caro got her swimming "fix" in the ocean. She was extremely happy! I don't really care for the ocean so I stayed either at the pool or up on the veranda. 

While Caro was in the shower cleaning off the salt I heard the street vendor for paletas blowing his horn to announce his arrival. I asked him to wait a couple of minutes. He's no fool! He is the same fellow that came here  a week or so ago. Very quickly Caro was out of the shower and out on the street seeing what he had.

The fellow left with a big smile on his face as Caro had made her usual big purchase.

That should keep her going for a few days I think!

Tonight Caro made another awesome meal that she remembers her mother making many years ago.

After Caro whooped my butt twice in tile rummy we sat back to watch another typical sunset

It is Friday night at 7:30 as I write this. No signs of parties yet but the night is young.

Doctor update

 After watching another fabulous sunset.....

....we left the apartment about 7:10 to catch a cab to the doctors office. Well we waited... and waited...and waited for a cab and nothing was happening, meanwhile time was marching on. In desperation we decided to catch a bus down to the traffic circle (where there is much more taxi traffic) and shortly thereafter a bus came by. At EXACTLY the same time a taxi showed up (literally five seconds before we stepped on to the bus!). The taxi guy was great and while we ended up going through a couple "suspect" side streets in order to bypass all the street traffic he got us to the doctors office only five minutes late. We asked him to wait for us, which he did.

The doctor was very good (Caro had asked on the local Facebook page for recommendations). He explained everything about the foot and what had happened. He looked at both x-rays and said everything was looking very good. Caro has to be a little careful for two more weeks and then she is good to go. And really good news for Caro is that as long as I help her get across the beach she can go swimming in the ocean!

The taxi guy was waiting just outside the door of the doctors office (about a 30 minute wait). He got us home quickly. When it came time to pay the bill he wanted only 150 pesos ($9.40). We were so pleased with him (and grateful) that we gave him a 25% tip. i.e. 200 pesos ($12.50) which made him very happy.

The doctor's bill was 550 pesos ($34.40). 

Thar She Blows!

 Today was one of those awesome, never to be forgotten days, for us.

It started out as usual and then after lunch we took a cab to Walmart where we did some shopping.

While in Walmart I decided to follow a piece of advice from Serge/Marthe. They NEVER use their debit card to get money from an ABM; instead they use only their credit card and then pay it off a couple days later after the bill gets posted in the credit card account. When I used my debit card earlier in the trip I got an "OK" (I guess) exchange rate of 15.3 peso's/dollar (official rate is 16.1) plus an ABM cost of 80 pesos here and $5 service charge from ATB. With the credit card (at the same ABM) I only got "dinged" the 80 pesos and the charge (when posted) should be exchanged at about 16.03 peso's/dollar. 

Tonight Caro made a great Mexican steak/onions/potato stir fry. Yummy yummy.

While we were finishing up supper Caro happened to look to the sea and saw the momma and baby Humpback whales nearby. The "really" cool thing about this was they started breaching and tail slapping. OMG, to see the whales coming out of the water!  We could occasionally hear the "thump" as they landed back down. They were moving outwards toward the main ocean so we were soon sharing our set of binoculars to see. They kept on doing this for quite a while. One theory I was reading on why they do this is to create a loud sound so other whales could hear them and know where they were. There may be something to this as we could see another whale "blowing" in the distance.

Tonight we are going to see the foot doctor. Caro has a 7:40 P.M. appointment and because of the late hour I will be going with her and we are going to ask the cabby to wait for us at the doctors before bringing us home. Caro is feeling better and better and the visit is just a reassurance on our part that all is well. She really misses going to the ocean and is hoping to get some advice on when she can start swimming etc. again.

A Windy Day

 The morning progressed as it usually does with Caro doing her veranda exercises and me doing a walk (this time on the beach).

In the afternoon I was relaxing on the veranda couch when I heard a helicopter approaching, getting louder and louder until I thought maybe it was going to crash on top of the house. When it flew over it was higher than I thought but my heart was still pounding. The naval base is very close to us so helicopters are not unusual but this one seemed faster and lower than normal.

I decided to put in a claim with Westjet with regards to our last minute cancellation in Calgary. I suspect we might not get far with it because of the covid situation so we will see. They have 30 days to get back to us on it. Their website suggests we could be eligible for up to $1000.

We got an unexpected communication from our landlord today. I had paid her cash in Canadian dollars for the seven weeks and thought all was good but she sent a request for about $188 more as she exchanged the dollars for pesos at a horrible rate and we are also reserved for 50 nights (not 49 as originally expected). It looks like our nightly cost is now about $48 instead of $44 which is not a big deal.

We had a very windy day again but at least we were ably to eat outside. 

We have gotten into the routine of Caro cooking supper and me doing the cleanup afterwards. 

Tonight we were playing tile rummy and at the end of the second game we called it quits for the night and enjoyed this;

Half Way

 Today marks the half way point in this year's time in Manzanillo.

The temperatures are so consistent here. What a great climate (at least in January and February).

This morning we did the usual exercises with the added bonus that Caro spotted the Momma Humpback whale and baby relatively close so we watched them for a while.

Shortly after noon we took a taxi to the lab so Caro could get an updated x-ray of her foot. They took her in immediately for the x-ray however it wouldn't be ready until 3 P.M. to pick it up. Rather than waiting there we went back  home where Caro got on-line to a local Facebook group asking about specialist foot doctors. 

About 3:30 Caro went to get the x-ray and then to a recommended doctor's office where she was able to get an appointment for Thursday at 7 P.M.

The x-ray isn't very clear (IMHO) but here it is;

Some progress but really hard to tell. Caro is feeling better and better all the time so the doctors visit is just a visit to confirm "all is good".

Tonight we caught up with Serge and Marthe, the Quebec couple staying in the apartment we stayed in two years ago. We had a great conversation (including a visit into "our" old place). 

They are leaving next week for a while (out of town) and have put an offer in to rent our place after we are gone but as of now they have not had a response from the apartment owners.