We don't have a ton of information yet on all the ins and outs but we'll let you in on them as we learn more. There probably won't be much more to know until we arrive back in March. I know I can't wait to see in the inside of that cute little house - whose with me on that!?
Cassia's 'bath tub' is working pretty well although it isn't as good as when she was three. She has to work to get herself in these days. But still - a good way for her to clean off the salty water.
Many of you asked or suggested that she may be attending school now that we have a home base and won't be traveling. We thought about that to until I realized that the two closest cities to us - Vernon and Westbank are still almost an hour away. So - now we aren't sure. Our friend Rob (who was so generous to lend us his 5th wheel at K-A last summer) knows the area well and lives in Vernon. He's checking into it for us and we'll do more research when we get home.
We weren't necessarily just homeschooling Cas because we were on the road. We - in addition to many others of course - have some issues with the inherent problems that seem to plague public schools these days. Yup - that's a whole other topic isn't it? Anyway, in the end, based on Cassia's personality I think she could handle school just fine. Now to see if it's even possible - two hours on a bus doesn't sound like the best plan to me however.
Sadly, our friend Cous Cous (otherwise known as Whiskers) has gone missing. We are pretty torn up about it. We had finally gotten him over to our side of the cul de sac just outside of the El Manglar gate. All was well until last Saturday night when the neighbours had a huge, busy and loud party with a lot of coming and going. Derek tried to get the little guy over to our site, which he did, but when Derek returned from the restroom, he was gone and hasn't been seen since.
We are thinking the worst but are still hoping he'll turn up.
Friday evening we enjoyed a beach walk. We were actually trying to find the nieve/helado cart guy for dessert.
Very busy with a group flying homemade kites.
And creating sand art.
During the evening setting sun must be one of the best times to take pictures I think.
And to jump on found sand mountains.
An accidental picture but I thought it was pretty neat - would be a great painting I bet.
This one too!
Another great sunset over Playa La Ropa. We are so spoiled.
We haven't done a ton of exploring at the other end of the beach from us. We decided to walk up here to see what there was to see - Derek had heard that there were businesses. And sure enough there are. We helped ourselves to two popsicles and an ice cream cup for Cas. Only then to be charged 78 pesos. Ouch! Over $6!
So - guess we won't be doing that again!
Many of the restaurants along the beach have fancy lights.
I figured it would be a good shot with the fishing boat. On the horizon you can see the lights of the other boats.
I haven't had a chance to show you one of the ways our neighbours are dealing with the heat - in addition to their air conditioning that is…
So when Bill, our neighbour across from us offered his white tarp we thought we'd give it a try. And …. it actually works - much cooler - relatively right? - in the van and well, now our tires are protected as well.
As I mentioned, we've reunited with our taco lady on the beach. The good news is that I don't have to call her the taco lady anymore - her name is Alexandra!
Just look what Cassia is sporting these days. It really, really doesn't help us that we have to walk right by a beach toy store on our way to and back from the beach.
Mom and Dad - well, dad first, finally caved.
Dad gets to take Cassia out to the deep water - mom is completely neurotic about getting hit by a rogue wave!
Yesterday, this thing rolled in right by where we were swimming. Very dead - but still. We kept making sure he was caught up in the waves because really - who wants that thing swimming around our legs. Sure got us thinking though….
One of the things we like about El Manglar is the lack of a regular happy hour each day - common in many snowbird RV Parks throughout the USA and Mexico. That works for us because we aren't very social, let me rephrase that, we aren't social like an extrovert. On the other hand, we do like to visit with our neighbours now and then. Last night was our first dinner get together hosted by Bill and Jean. There are five RVs here (3 BC, 2 Quebec) plus Julia who is also Canadian but lives here full time in her motorhome - she's been here 10 years!
It was a very nice evening with very interesting English, French and Spanish conversations. We did what we could. Tanned, is the official skin colour here….
Today is Tuesday, which for us means our shopping day at Commercial Mexicana. Last week on our way out we realized that we can get soft ice cream for 10 pesos! So - this time when we arrived - after our gruelling walk along the canal, we rewarded ourselves prior to shopping.
Christmas is definitely around the corner. Easy for us to forget at the beach but not at the stores.
Julia gave us a little Christmas tree so we bought a few balls for it - I'll post a picture soon.
So, that's how it's been around here.
Last Sunday marked our third week here in Zihuatanejo - the amount of time we were here two years ago.
We've really gotten into a groove here - strange how fast the days really do go. For me - I spend much of my time reading - I've been just thrilled with the selection I have found on the new book shelf I showed you at the restaurant. The latest was The Witness by Nora Roberts and before that a book of 515 pages by Irish author Cathy Kelly.
Gee, we sure wish Mexicans weren't as in love with fireworks as they are…..two days and counting. As we sit here they randomly go off at night - each time giving us a bit of a heart stop.
Teresa
