LIFE'S A BEACH HERE IN ZIHUA

Or well it has been for us for 3 weeks now! If you can believe - we came to Zihuatanejo for a night and stayed for 21. It's THAT kind of place. We got Zihuaitis as our friend Freddy would say.

Sorry to disappear on y'all for a week ..... too much beach time over the weekend mixed with the three of us coming down with some illnesses - me my stomach and D and C head colds, we've been out of commission the last few days.

Don't worry - you didn't miss much. And what did go on is right here for you now.

I thought I would sum up our time here at Playa La Ropa with a post dedicated to it - life at the beach - the Playa La Ropa beach that is. Things are NEVER boring here that is for sure!

Just sand and water you say - nope - a ton more! Mostly in the way of food! LOVE beach food!

But first! Sorry that I scared a few of you with our crocodile post - guess a little too close for comfort! I should have mentioned that I don't believe there has ever been an issue here with these guys. They are kept well fed by the El Manglar crew. Plus there are all sorts of little things running around here with no problem - cats, dogs, kids. I'm not saying we'd take our chances but we didn't feel any threat at the distance we were keeping.

That is until the day after my crocodile hunting post! For the first time we actually came across a croc out of of the water AND had to walk right by! Can't say THAT wasn't a tad unnerving! (We left Derek to take the pics!)

Quickly Cas - Q U I C K L Y!

I don't think he cared much - didn't even bat an eyelash - and from the distance we were I WOULD have been able to see that. Seems he was just trying to deal with the heat in his own way.

The rest of the pics are random shots that I took over about a weeks time. I started to realize that we were spending a lot of time watching and with the vendors. Figured I may as well take some pictures - they seemed to be a huge part of our beach life here at La Ropa. Little snippets of our days....

Here we go.....

The taco lady. I won't even admit to how many times this little event took place. Let's just say that the taco lady ended up telling us her beach schedule.

We could NOT resist her pescado, camaron and papas tacos. We'll miss you taco lady!

Not a bad deal for $60 pesos for the three of us ... beach prices of course!

And always room for the Nieve guy! But darn if he went missing for the last week or so. 

The fresa nieve was beyond good! Right Cassia?!

We never did buy from this guy but I had to admire his energy pushing his cart around. Shaved ice with fruit flavouring.

The dulce guy - you'll see him again in a minute.

All sorts of ladies selling all sorts of snacks. I felt a bit awkward taking a picture straight on as they could see me do that - so I ended up with quite a few back shots. Sorry!

And not just food! Lots of music at the beach. Which is quite nice to listen to in the background. Makes it all feel so festive. But boy do I give these guys credit - baby it is HOT outside. They are wearing that AND carrying their instruments AND playing, while the rest of us can barely handle the heat in our swimsuits and dips in the ocean!

Another round of nieve!

Ahhhh we FINALLY succumbed to the dulce fellow. Boy - was he a nice guy! Glad we bought from him - wish we'd bought more really. He even went and found change for me. 

We went with the Mexican coloured coconut - NOT Derek and I's first choice but Cassia's of course, and the nuts on the far right. 

And here is the fruit lady. Another bright star - super lady with a great hat. Again - won't mention how many times we bought from her either. We always said good bye with mañana!

A mixed fruit cup for Cassia today.

Hey more music. Again - can't BELIEVE these guys are out all afternoon at the beach in these clothes!

Coming.....

..... and going. Actually, it was pretty funny - the minute I snapped this pic someone came running to call them back so they passed by me a third time! All smiles!

Some vendors take a creative approach to carrying their goods. A cooler of popsicles in this case. Yup - sampled a few of them too!

 A mango on a stick from the fruit lady.

Our hearts did go out to a few of the vendors in particular. All the necklace ladies for sure and this mum with I believe five kids - that we saw anyway. We watched her each day trying to sell her painted animals and coral her kids. One day the little boy on her back in this picture refused to go any further. They had a bit of a stand off and she was all smiles - bet she didn't feel like that inside. I really felt for her.

Ice cream the other day with our friend Joan.

After a few days of not even stepping foot on the beach we returned today for our last Playa La Ropa visit this year. We decided to get a late lunch. El Manglar would have been our first choice but they are closed on Wednesday's. We went to El Pirata instead and were a bit disappointed with our meals. Can you guess how Derek feels about his fish soup?

Berny - the cheese guy was making his way by so we had a chance to say our good byes to him. We had already done so yesterday when buying our last bag of cheese. Joan was with us at the restaurant.

A little later we decided to buy Cassia a beach memento - she was picking out a shell necklace.

We were glad that we could buy it from Julia. She was one of our favourites over the weeks. She always stopped to speak with Cassia. One day she was telling me that Cassia is a flor (flower) which is true - a flower and cinnamon oil. Super lady.

And one last trip for Cassia to get some gum. The three of us went this time - it was usually a dad and daughter trip. 

She's very particular about her gum choice. Bubbaloo the current favourite.

And don't forget. If you are EVER in Zihuatanejo or Ixtapa make the trip over to the El Manglar restaurant. We didn't try many restaurants here but we didn't have to - all the meals are great at this fine place - everyone agrees. Also a great choice for camping.

So, the sun sets on our time here at Playa La Ropa and Zihuatanejo.

You may have noticed that we didn't do a whole lot here - the Basketball courts once, the market once, grocery shopping a few times and a death march. The rest was beach or hanging out at the van.

We did meet MANY MANY great people here though. All I can say is -- there are some super folks hanging out at Playa La Ropa. One of the reasons that kept us here so long...... Thanks to all of you -- hasta luego!

Tomorrow we will TRY to make an early start of it. First stop - the Commercial Mexicana to load up on groceries for the next week or so. We figure it will take about that long for us to get back to Villa Corona. We are headed up the Michoacan coast - it is supposed to be quite breathtaking. We are going to stop here and there along the way. The first night not too far - only just past Troncones - to La Saladita - another quiet little beach side community.

I sure hope I can get wifi along the way to keep you up to date or that our telcel stick works. If not - I'll post when I'm able even if it means not until VC.

See you up the road!

Teresa

TODAY'S INTERESTING LINK: There is a family staying at Playa La Ropa with a blog of there own. They are a family of four from France traveling in their RV for two years! Canada to South America. Here's their blog -- Ensemble autrement au bout du monde - no way to translate as far as I can see - but pictures don't need translating - right?! Check out their map - makes me shudder! All that driving!

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