Zihuatenejo, the first couple of weeks

The winter storms were able to rebuild the sand bar in front of the Estuary we were happy to see. There are several more feet of water in the estuary this year, much like it was before the small tsunamis from the Japanese Earthquake scoured mouth the estuary.

We took a while to set everything up, for now just the ground cover, water jug table and a couple of chairs. The rest would wait until after the motorhome gets its wash and wax.

First on the list was grocery shopping and not far behind was the laundry—besides everything we had been wearing the last couple of week or so we had the cool weather gear that we wouldn't be needing for the next three or four months and could be stored under the bed until then.

And of course the dogs' bedding—and we have a lot—probably as much as our own: Two blankets, two thin fleece pads, two newer thicker fleece pads and two doggy beds! We did the blankets and beds this time, leaving the fleeces for now.

Art has worked out a routine for washing pet bedding at the laundromat with the agreement and appreciation of the owner: dog stuff goes in and when done he wipes the washer out and puts in a load of our own clothes to make sure there is no dog hair left behind. Nor do we put the dog bedding in the dryer—that really finds any remaining hair! It will hang in the sun for a few hours to dry.

En route to the Commercial Mexicana for a few groceries Art stopped at our favourite Auto Lavado (Car Wash) to get the Jeep done. Washed inside and out, vacuumed, mats cleaned—not a single dog hair left behind; 50 pesos, a little less than $4.00. He also arranged for the crew to come to the park on Monday to wash and paste wax the motorhome.

Monday; car wash crew was a no show—until late in the day. They quoted a price--tried to add three hundred pesos to last years price and we weren't going with that—already paying over the going rate—no argument, be back Tuesday to start at 8:00.

They arrived at 8:30 and were done by 2:00 They loved Art's new random orbital buffer—much easier and faster than by hand!

We let the ground dry out then moved the mats etc back later in the day.

Now the BBQ could be set up,--a WeberBaby Q. That and the microwave are our main cooking devices, we try to avoid using the stove in the heat. Then the large table came out as did the recliners, life is good

We also began searching for an Air Conditioner tech and found one through a friend.

Long story short (for once) it seem the heat pump has a faulty compressor. Eventually we found a source in Sacramento and as luck would have it the tech is flying to Sacramento in a couple of weeks and bringing back a load of ice machines and has offered to bring the parts back. We may get our AC back sometime in January.

Monday morning while going for a stroll through the restaurant to the beach Art spotted a young crock, a little over 2 meters in length. First one he had seen this year. Then a fisherman who had been filleting his catch, a fairly large Yellow Tail, and through the remains over the fence into the esturary.

The fisherman are pretty good with a knife; one slice from tail to head takes off the entire filet, flip the fish over and do the other side. Head, skeleton, guts and tail stay together. A nice meal for the crock.

The croc heard the splash and went to investigate. He walked to the middle of the bridge to see the croc just below the surface swiming towards him, the fish crossways in it's mouth, bloody water streaming from each side. The croc passed under the bridge directly below Art then dove a little deeper and disappeared from sight. And Art of course had neglected to bring the camera this time!

 

Art returned to the rig and a few minutes later Julia, our friend and neighbour came up from the restaurant telling Art to get the camera, the croc was back.

It was fascinating to watch the croc trying to shift the remains of the fish so he could swallow it. Julia and Art watched for quite a while and managed to get a few good photos. The croc shook his head so fast and in so many directions at once it was difficult to get a good focus.

And Tia's UTI reappeared. A quick visit to the vet who prescribed another round of antibiotics,a different type than what she had been on. The vet explained that UTIs are common in geriatric female dogs, he looked at the lab report that we had from San Antonio and said there were no signs of cancer or tumor.

We've been to a couple of nice restaurants and have just been taking it easy. The hardest part for Gillian is getting up early enough to walk the dogs in the morning before the heat of the day climbs too high!