Wednesday, January 7, 2015

EL CENTRO, NO PESOS AND A WALK AROUND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

As mentioned - and as many of you are used to the drill by now - we went into El Centro and grocery shopping on Monday. We used to go Tuesday's but with low supplies a few weeks ago, leading to a Monday trip, we have kept with that day now. 

Since the combi goes to the Central Market but not the Municipal Plaza, we usually get off at the Kyoto glorietta and walk quite a bit to the Humane Society. That's ok but it is a bit of a trip. On Monday we worked harder to get dropped off a little closer to our destination. Since we had a few minutes to talk to our driver before we left we were able to communicate in our little bit of Spanish what we wanted. All went well as the driver understood and stopped at a place closer for us. 


A little past where we got off the combi we noticed a hotel with a huge poster on the wall. We wandered over to take a look at it - you can see Playa La Ropa - where we are on the right - Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa. Boy - we didn't know Ixtapa had so much stuff. We still don't want to go but sure looks like they have a lot of stuff.


Here's our puppy for the day from the Humane Society - the same little frisky guy from last week!

Here we are crossing over the bridge. 
We decided to head out of the main downtown area with him this time.




A walk down these steps to see if Frisky likes the water. Not so much.


He likes Derek though….


So cute.


Rock climbing.


Looking back towards the Zihuatanejo Bay.


A very interesting shrub - tree - not sure what it is - the only one we have seen here. Anybody?


A nice looking restaurant.


Heading back down to the bridge and then to the Humane Society.

We sat a while for our usuals at El Cafecito - Derek and I stuck to our coffee but Cassia went with the blueberry Italian Soda this time. 

Then it was off to Commercial Mexicana (CM) for our grocery run.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get as much as planned. There are four atm machines at the CM. We used to use the Scotiabank because we have Scotiabank cards. This worked well - and has worked in Mexico the last time and this time - until a few weeks ago when our card no longer worked there. The message says that our cards have been disabled at that machine. A mystery. 

Frustrating, but I slid on over to the Banamex and was happily supplied with my money. Too bad we now have to pay 30 pesos each time instead of the 9.5 pesos at the Scotiabank atm. - but at least we have money. 

Monday, none of the three atm machines would give me money - I didn't even bother with the fourth. Darn.

We are so hoping there was a glitch somewhere between Canada and Mexico that will be resolved by the time I go with Therese and the boys to the CM tomorrow. 

Or - we'll have to figure out a Plan B.


Yesterday, January 6th was Dia de Reyes - Three Kings Day. This is a King's Cake the traditional holiday dessert. Last time we were in Mexico we were in Patzcuaro and saw all the Rosca de Reyes on sale.


Now here in Zihuatanejo at the Commercial Mexicana. The panaderia was filled with them. An investment at 275 pesos.


What are parents to do when the ice cream cart guy parks himself right at the gate and honks his horn? With Cassia we have been able to ignore him but with three kids? No way. Thankfully it was the guy with the good quality paletas. Think these kids have posed for pics before?

After dinner, Cassia and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood. It was nice.

When we reached the beach I was amazed at the sunset. Yes, we get some stellar ones here but this one was the best so far.




Cassia waiting for me at another temptation shop - the term I use for the beach shops. We have three in our neighbourhood. Fun to look each time - you just never know….


This restaurant is beside Rossy's. We've never been - actually we've never really paid attention to it but it looked pretty tonight. I think the red is new - that's why it caught my eye.


I was drawn in even further with these lamp shades. Most of the restaurants here have wicker lamp shades which are good - but these are great. It was hard to get close - especially with the light shinning in my eye. I'll have to go back in the day but I think they are ceramic.



Another sunset pic from that restaurant!


"Just one more sunset shot Cas ….. "

 No, it really isn't cool enough for pants and a long shirt. For some reason in the last few days Cassia has decided to work through all the clothes in her closet. They didn't last long once home.



Ok - just one more - taken down our alley …. nice with the palm.


With all the sunset photo taking I decided to turn the camera on Cassia. 
This one - although blurry - was the best.


And the last picture before we headed back - a mom and daughter selfie (does that exist?). 

So - that's been the last few days other than our time at the beach with Therese and the boys. 

It's been fun - hard to believe we only have three weeks left here in Zihuatanejo!

We'll make the most of them.

Teresa


23 comments:

  1. Love the sunset photos, especially the one with the palms.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the selfie , wish we down there with you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm getting better at them - wish you were here too George!

      Delete
  3. So beautiful.... That pup too cute. I can just imagine how happy it was too be free. Best selfie ever!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So true - Cj……that's why we are so happy to walk the pups - a moment of partial freedom.

      Delete
  4. Our bank card got blocked in Texas. The security software thought we were compromised and blocked it. We called the bank and they directed us to security company who removed the block. Might be worth a call to your bank.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That will be Plan B Kim - I know that goes on …. we've never had that in 6 winters south - but there is always a first time - right?!

      Delete
  5. Beautiful sunset! Looks like life down there agrees with y'all! Enjoy your last weeks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I would try going to the Scotiabank branch in Zihuatanejo. Then calling Scotiabank at home. Because we do a lot of traveling, we have learned to have backup cards, and even a backup card from another bank. Never want to be stuck without cash!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We thought about going to the Scotiabank here Kevin but not sure if there is English and we don't fee that we can communicate the problem well enough in Spanish. I would probably try calling home first. Since we've never had a problem we haven't gone the back up route but I can see why that would be a good idea.

      Delete
  7. Great pictures as usual and I know you will all have a great three weeks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kevin and Tracy! We will - especially with Derek's mom coming to visit!

      Delete
  8. Great sunset and photos. As to the ATM, sometimes I have just tried 3 times in a row and then finally got money. Once all the ATM's were out of money, once they just did not work and I called our bank at home and they said there was nothing wrong with our card, so we went to 3 different banks and no luck. Finally a few days later we went to the Golden Zone to try and it worked. It's Mexico, what else can you say.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed Contessa - that is why I am concerned but not overly concerned. That's how it goes here. I was thinking out of money until I saw everyone else doing just fine. I just think that there was something with connecting to the bank system.

      Delete
  9. We used to use the Banamex machines but now they won't take our Royal Bank card so we use Scotia Bank right at the actual Scotia Bank. The first time it took three tries before it would give us money....no problem....just stubborn. Ah Mexico! I love your "day in the life of..." posts. That's what all of this is about.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kathy! Ya - you just have to roll with Mexico. We swim you guys plays bocce! Ha - actually I quite enjoyed your bocce recap because everyone was having so much fun there! Looking forward to your next ladies lunch.

      Delete
  10. Your days are filled with fun and interesting activities - wonderful memories made forever!
    Connie in PA

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are big on good memories that's for sure. We actually spend most of the time low key but it does look active with the pictures.

      Delete
  11. Nice pic of the beach with the palm tree! Glad to see you're not suffering :) Enjoy! Oh, love the new dog, he looks like a keeper.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...