Spanish lessons, Sailfest, Crocodiles and El Manglar

(click on pictures to enlarge)

Some time ago several of the local ex-pats began Spanish lessons taught by a young lady who lives in a small village south of Zihuatanejo. They met her through her brother-in-law Luis, whom we have all known for a few years–he rents kayaks on the beach.

Iracima is a student at the local university studying Tourism, taking English lessons here in Zihuat and lately also studying computer repair. She is about an hour away by bus and comes in twice a week for her English and computer classes in the late afternoon, teaching Spanish classes in the morning. In her spare time she teaches introductory English to children in her village who are interested. Her dream is to have a language school there.


The Spanish classes are held here in the RV Park on Saturdays, or in the restaurant on Wednesdays when the restaurant is closed. (Yes that’s right, when it is closed–there are no walls let alone doors on the restaurant.) She charges 50 pesos ($5.00 Canadian) per person per one hour lesson. A few weeks ago we decided to ask her if she would take the two of us for a somewhat more advanced class. She agreed and we now have homework! Her English is very good and she is eager to become proficient so after our Spanish lessons we spend half an hour or so helping her with some of the subtleties of English. Sometimes she is accompanied by her friend Fanny who assists or just listens in. (Surprisingly, Fanny is a common nickname in Mexico.) Our Spanish is slowly improving -- having our mistakes corrected immediately is helping, though Gillian is a bit surprised at how attentive Art is in class! Last Saturday after class we took Iracima (headband) and Fanny to a local beach restaurant for lunch and English/Spanish practice; they had to order from the English menu while we ordered in Spanish from the Spanish menu. Happily, we all got what we meant to order!

Saturday (February 7th) we got the day off as Sailfest is in full swing and the other students are very involved with that so they cancelled their classes. We realised that it wouldn’t be worth her while to make the trip for just the two of us so we cancelled as well. Gillian made up for it somewhat by reading a local newspaper, while Art went back to the camera shop to explain that the repairs to the camera had only lasted a month or so! The camera should be ready by Thursday evening; fortunately we have a spare. The technician had warned us the first time we took it in that it needed a new lens assembly but he could do a temporary repair. Hopefully he can do the same again. Art may go in on Monday to see if it is worth ordering the new parts here.

Sailfest is an annual fundraising week to raise money to support several schools for the very poor. Surrounding the town there are areas of unofficial residences commonly called “shanty towns” in English, populated for the most part by very poor people, many of them indigenous peoples, who have come to town looking for work, of which there is not a lot. Since the barrios are unofficial, the kids don’t qualify for government funded schools or even medical care! If you want to learn more here are the pertinent web sites:

http://www.losninos.us/index.html http://www.porlosninos.info/

http://www.zihuasailfest.com

Wednesday evening we attended the opening fund-raiser and launch of the “Sounds of Zihua 2009" CD. We already have the 2007 and 2008 CD’s and loved the music so the decision to attend this evening was no contest! Some of our favourite local artists compile a new CD every year and donate the proceeds to the cause; Jimi Mamou, Josie Kuhn and others. (Jimi has been part of the rock and blues scene for 40 years or more–-if you are into music google Jimi Mamou and Jimmy Mamou). That's Jimi on the right.





At the do, while seated with friends from the RV park, someone noticed at a nearby table another resident of the park and long time friend; “There’s Julia! What, she’s too good to sit with us?!” As Art turned to look his jaw dropped as he “recognised” another person sitting at her table. He said to Gillian, “remember someone said that I had a double down here? Look who’s sitting across from Julia!


Face-on the resemblance was close, but in profile it was scary! Julia was there as the official photographer and later took a couple of pictures. You be the judge. Which one is Art?

To add to the strangeness of this, it turned out that he and Julia were in the Canadian Navy at the same base at the same time and had many common acquaintances, some 30 years ago!


Friday was the Chili Cook Off and silent auction, held in one of the many pedestrian streets in Centro. There were about 7 versions, you got to sample 5 for 100 pesos (less than $10.00) and to vote for your favourite you dropped a bean in the cup in front of the pot. We both agreed on our favourite but it wasn’t the winner–perhaps it was the Indian spices. The chef (blue shirt) who is originally from Middlesborough, owns Pangea, a local restaurant that specialises in Thai and Indian dishes!



In the silent auction Gillian was out-bid on the gourmet meals (she was seconds too late in putting in a last minute bid) but was successful in getting Art a new jean shirt.

Watching the goings on from across the street was a family that owns a small shop selling snack foods, sandwiches, soft drinks etc. Their young daughter was holding something small and furry; on inspection it was an eleven day old Chihauhau puppy! They did no business while we were there but were very supportive of the affair by allowing people to take their chairs and tables out into the street!






While there we also ran into our friend Minerva, who owns the “Zihua Pancake House–the Only Pancake House with a Liquor Lounge!”, with her young daughter Lara with her friend. Lara is 4 years old and completely bilingual. We have known her since she was born! In previous years Lara was a bit intimidated by Trekker’s boisterousness but is now quite fond of him, though Tia is her favourite.





Crocodiles!

The mangrove (el manglar) estuary that runs alongside the El Manglar Restaurant and RV Park is a protected wildlife sanctuary populated by crocodiles, turtles, iguanas, squirrels, fish and many different kinds of birds including several varieties of heron, wood ducks, grackles, king fishers and egrets. The noise during the early evening and occasionally through the night is something that has to be heard to be believed. The herons and wood ducks sometimes sound like arguments between prehistoric monsters!

We had always thought that the estuary was naturally populated with crocodiles, but the other day on the Zihauatnejo web site and message board, there was a statement by a long term Zihuat resident, and owner of the web site, that the crocks had abandoned the estuary many many years ago and were reintroduced by the manager of the restaurant and hotel on the other side of the estuary so as to add to the “eco-tourism” appeal of his establishment. He also had monkeys in cages, a parrot on a perch, a coatimundi on a chain as well as baby crocodiles in tubs!

The crocodile population soon out-grew the small estuary and began leaving for the ocean in the evenings in search of food, returning in the morning. The tourists were not surprisingly a little alarmed, but this was the state of affairs when we first arrived 5 years ago. There have been many attempts to fence off the mouth of the estuary but the fences don’t hold them in for long. There will soon be a corner knocked down and each year the heavy summer water flow washes away the fence completely so it has to be rebuilt in the fall.

When crocodiles get too big they are taken out and transported by truck to Playa Linda just north of Ixtapa where there is a very large estuary with a thriving crocodile population. This year they apparently took out 4 large crocs. We got a picture of one and later saw another trussed up on the sand. Unfortunately the care taken is not always what it should be, animals are frequently treated quite casually here. Tamakun, the local “Crocodile man" is appointed by the government to trap and move them and frequently has an injured crocodile living with him at home while it recuperates! The unfortunate part is that in order to make any reasonable money he has to make a tourist spectacle of it, posing for pictures etc. This poor unfortunate croc was kept trussed up for most of the day in front of the aforementioned restaurant (NOT El Manglar!) on the other side of the estuary before being dragged across the sand to the waiting truck.



The El Manglar Restaurant consists of a concrete block kitchen building with clay tile roof which is open at the ends. The front, facing into the eating area, is largely open, secured by a row of wooden posts. There is no hot water; dish washing and cleaning is done with cold water and bleach! The cooking is with gas and surprisingly the electric power is sufficient to run the refrigerators and freezers without dimming the lights.










The restaurant floor is painted concrete under a tile roof, open on all sides to the elements. The end against the kitchen is somewhat closed off but open at the top, while the south is protected by the wall of the neighbouring property. The estuary is along the north and west side, crossed by a wooden footbridge to the beach to the west. There is almost continually a breeze from the ocean, everything is surrounded by trees--manglars, (mangrove) coconut palms, royal palms, nut trees among others. The net result is a very cool and comfortable place to sit and relax. A couple of hammocks on the estuary side provide a great place to spend a hot afternoon–a word to Martin, the waiter, (we call him Manuel as in “Fawlty Towers”) will bring a cold beer or freshly squeezed limonada.


Of course we have to mention the food. The restaurant just began opening for breakfast last month and already a great success. They have been open for lunch and dinner for about 5 years, the owner, Memo, talking about doing breakfasts for the last few. This year he contracted with an American woman to design the menu, train a new cook and generally get the breakfast opening up and running. Kimmy is the same lady who did the same thing very successfully with the Zihua Pancake House in centro last year. Breakfast items range from Chilaquiles to poached eggs including fresh squeezed orange juice from oranges grown by the owners parents and coffee grown in the hills above the town. None of the Mexican staff had ever seen let alone heard of poached eggs! There was a lot of learning going on before the first breakfasts hit the tables!



The afternoon and evening menu is also a list of things to tempt the most discerning palate: 27 spiced blackened tuna, calamari so tender even Art will eat it, shrimp tacos–the best in town, tortilla soup, . . .Watching a crocodile cruising slowly by or an iguana crawling through the trees above adds a certain exotic something to the dining experience.

The chef, Rosa, has been here almost since the beginning as has Orelio, the kitchen helper. Martin the afternoon waiter came late last year, while Petra the breakfast cook and Fabiola ("but you can call me Fabulous") the breakfast waitress, are new. You may have noticed that Petra is about as tall as an 8 year old. We don’t know how old she is but she has a 4 year old son who comes up almost to her shoulder!

L to R in the photo: Memo (owner), Martin, Rosa, Orelio, Petra and Fabiola or "China" (pronounced 'cheena'--means Curly)

I should mention that Fabiola's English is excellent; she has a good colloquial vocabulary and excellent pronunciation--entirely self taught from working in restaurants and from TV and movies!