Zihuatanejo, The Last 2 Weeks!

Thursday, 21 February

Two weeks from today we'll head north.

Today we took advantage of yet another beautiful day to take the ferry (a Panga--an open skiff) from centro to Playa Las Gatas beach which is just to the south of Playa La  Ropa where we are, but the last bit of the footpath become a scramble over the rocks which is outside the bounds of Art's idea of a fun time.

We were soon skimming across the bay and then strolling across the sand to Otillio's Restaurant. They had donated a 300 peso gift certificate to Sailfest which Art had won in a raffle.

We sat and relaxed over a couple of cold beer and had a lunch. Art's grilled filet of fish stuffed with seafood was beyond what one might expect at one of these many beach front places, and Gillian's seafood brochetta was also very good.


We stayed in the shade but there were many others enjoying the sunshine and the water.

Though we had taken the bus to centro then walked to the pier, on the return we took a taxi home to be greeted by a couple of happy dogs!

Friday we joined friends--about 20 of us--at a local small unprepossessing cafe where the cook had decided to make Chile Rellenos. Stuffed Poblano peppers. Served with rice and black beans and iced watermelon juice they were wonderful! Cost per person: 40 pesos, $3.00!

Though Gillian had bought a couple of nice steaks to cook for tonight's dinner, we weren't hungry enough to do them justice so they stayed in the fridge while Art made a small 2 egg frittata with onion, tomato, zuchinni and green beans, which we shared along with a bottle of wine and some drivel on the idiot box.

February 25th—second last laundry day—next week will be a big one! Just the usual week's wear, only one washer and one dryer; 35 pesos each, roughly $6.00 total. He followed his usual routine; clothes into the washer, to a local restaurtant for breakfast, read the local paper,back to move the clothes from the washer to a dryer, then to Zen Wishes, a coffee and sandwich restaurant, for his regular espresso doble then back to the laundry, fold (more or less) stuff them back into the bag and home.

The 26^th was Gillian's second last prepaid Yoga class. When she returned Art decided that it would be a good day to see if his electric bike was up to Playa Linda and back.

What had been a slightly cloudy morning had turned into a sunny afternoon. Helmet, water bottle and camera in place, he set off shortly after noon. The first hill out of Playa La Ropa he was familiar and took it easy, Medium Assist level (80%) and was able to climb it in second and third gear.

Through town to the highway was mostly at the Medium setting, some of the very flat or slightly downhill areas he used the Low (50%) setting. Traffic was not too bad and he was able to angle across the three lanes of traffic to make a needed left turn in the middle of town. A taxi even yielded for him!

The traffic light at the highway made it easy to make the left turn north, and being relatively cautious elected to take the lateral rather than the through traffic centre lanes! Just a very short distance on the lateral he was at the start of the Cyclopista which let into Ixtapa.

This first section was all up hill, not as steep as the La Ropa hill but was a bit longer. He was surprised to find that at low assist he was able to climb it in first gear. Half way up he stopped for for a photo and was passed by another cyclist on the way up. Art slowly overtook him and they chatted in Spanish until they reached the top. Here the Mexican took the downgrades a little faster than Art was prepated to do and was soon lost to sight. 

 The bicycle route led through a part of Ixtapa known as the Vivero, which means a Plant Nursery in Spanish.

This section passing under the highway into Ixtapa is where Art had the difficulty on the way home.

And into the Vivero Area

Self Portrait!

Then the marked bike path faded out and became a sidewalk which soon deteriorated to the point where Art rode on the street until joining the Cyclopista that starts at the Ixtapa Marina.

  Interestingly, on this stretch, the cyclopista changes sides of the road and south of Playa Linda it is sometimes between the two sides of the divided road. And cyclists have the right of way at the crossings!

A little further on the tracks devides, one following the road and the other through a biosphere preserve, which is the route Art took. Several kilometers later this path rejoins the other at Playa Linda, a popular beach area.

From Playa Linda Art continued on a few more kilometers to Playa Palma where Fonatur (The Mexican government resort development authority) cleared a coconut palm grove and built an RV Park. Not too successfully—they made quite a few errors, including a no pet rule. Of the 74 spaces, 8 were occupied. 

 

On the way back to Playa Linda he saw Gillian approaching in the Jeep. We were meeting for lunch and had spoken on the phone shortly before. She was going to the end to check the mileage. Art arrived at Playa Linda one hour and fifteen minutes after leaving El Manglar.

Settled into La Langosta Loca (The Crazy Lobster) we enjoyed a refreshing lemonada, a beer and a very nice lunch, starting with some very fresh and a little piquante guacamole.

At three PM Art was homeward bound again, watching the battery capacity meter closely. Would he make it or would he have to call Gillian? The meter was reading 3/4 but would drop to 1/2 on any sort of hill, and if he used the throttle to speed up it would drop to 1/4

Through the Vivero he was into the steepest part of the cyclopista and went into it using High Assist (100%) where all he had to do was keep the pedals moving. In second gear at the very steepest part he realised that he needed to shift into first but his thumb hit the up shift button shifted into 3^rd and the pedals stopped turning! And of course so did the motor, and the bike, already moving very slowly stopped dead. He should have just used the twist throttle instead of trying to shift but it was too late.

Art pushed the bike up hill perhaps 20 or 30 feet when the grade seemed to be perhaps a little less steep and tried again. He used the throttle to start off then it took the hill pedaling quite well.

At the top of the hill was the last part of the cyclopista, downgrade all the way to the entrance to Zihuatanejo. 40 minutes from Playa Linda. At the bottom he had to wait for the traffic light to cross the highway as we was now on the wrong side, facing oncoming traffic.

Across the highway and southbound on the lateral, shared with buses, taxis, delivery trucks and private cars once again, in a few blocks he turned off towards the town centre. Recalling the relative weight of discretion and valour, Art decided not to take any photos while riding through the traffic!

Again he had to cross three lanes of traffic to make a left, them get back to the right for his next turn. Soon he crossed the roundabout known as Kyota Circle and the road to Playa La Ropa. Going up the slight grade at the Bomberos (Fire Department) he notice the battery indicator now down to 1/4. Around the curve and up the steep hill, the single lite stayed on as he went up using Medium Assist but kept it slow, using 1^st and 2^nd gear. When just returning from Centro or the Commercial Mexicana he would usually be in 2^nd and 3^rd gear, but this was a long steep hill and he didn't want to push! This hill is not as long or as steep as the one he has to climb coming out of Willis Point but that is done will a fully charged battery!

He flew down the other side and along the last kilometer or so put it in High Assist and even moving at about 20 Km/H on the flat the battery capacity was showing 3/4 again!

Home at 4:00 PM, 15 minutes faster than out bound, though shorter of course, he plugged in the bike and went inside to lie on the couch. Those bicycle seats get quite hard after a couple of hours! His legs too were quite sore, but inspite of the pain, he had quite enjoyed the ride. We'll have to see how he feels tomorrow!

Next day: a bit sore, but surprisingly good!

We filled out the week starting to pack a few things away, cleaning the worst of the dust off the motorhomes roof, and of course, dining out in a few more restaurants.

Friday, March 1st Art decided that he had better tackle the batteries. A couple of month ago when he checked them he found that the chassis batteries (the ones that start the engine, the hydraulic pump for the jacks and slideouts,  and run a few other things such as the alarms and detectors, the steps, etc.), had been left too long! The electrolyte had been seriously depleted! There was between 1/8 and 1/4 inch of exposed plates in every cell, in both batteries. This is permanent damage: the parts of the plates exposed to the air will no longer work; their capacity will be somewhat diminished.

He again noticed that one terminal was covered in corrosion. This particular connection has had this problem for some time. This battery has a problem, possibly a small crack around the post.

The batteries are2 group 31 "RV/Marine?Deep Cycle" in parallel and Art had considered replacing them before we left last fall, since the date of manufacture was June, 2007, already more than 5 years old.

They took all the distilled water that he had, covering the plates by barely 1/4 inch, and there was room for more.

He also checked the front two 6 Volt Golf Cart Deep Cycle house batteries looked to be down a bit but the plates were still well covered. Fortunately, since these were new before we left! The rear two can't be checked without removing the front two as the tray won't pull out far enough! (The house battery bank consists of 2 paralleled rows of 2 6 volt batteries in series to give 12 volts.)

Saturday he bought more water--5 litres should do it!

And Sunday he continued with the batteries.

The two bottom batteries are the chassis batteries and the two seen above them are two of the 4 house batteries. The piece of equipment attached to the door is Xantrex Echo Charger. Normally the chassis batteries are only charged by the vehicles alternator and are not recharged when we are parked. The echo charger keeps them topped up from the house batteries when the house batteries are at 13.2 volts or higher; ie when they are being charged by the charger, solar panels or whatever.

The chassis batteries took a little more water to bring them up to the correct level.

Then the house batteries. The tray pulls out far enough to get to the front two batteries and the terminals of the inner two, but not far enough to access the caps of the cells. So the front two have to be disconnected then lifted out and the inner two pulled forward.

Since each battery weighs in at 66 pounds, and there wasn't much to lift by, Art went looking for the battery strap. He knew he had one. Somewhere. It was finally located at the bottom of the spare parts and miscellaneous  tools bin--the large one, that is stored in the tool compartment--under everything else of course.

The cells were in pretty good shape, water-wise, each one taking a hundred or so mls of distilled water. Including today's addition to the chassis batteries, he has a little more than three liters leftover.

Then of course he had to reconnect and pack everything away, have lunch and a nap before we went out to the Opening Concert of the Zihuatanejo Guitar Festival. held on the beach on Playa Madera.

The first table we sat at was quite near the water's edge and a fast moving wave convinced us to move ourselves! We visited with several friends while waiting for the7:00 PM start of the music which got under way promptly at 7:30 or so.

 



 Besides guitarists from around the world there was a fine assembly of food! Local restaurants had booths set up around the beach where tasty samples ranging from sushi to pizza could be purchased. I think we each visited three locations! The beer and alcohol tent was run by volunteers, all proceeds going the the Guitar Fest.

 We left as the second piece by the last group was playing (Los Pistoleros) since there at least still 200 people and we thought finding a taxi could be a problem. We walked up to the street and took the last remaining taxi home!

When we opened the door Trekker greeted us excitedly and we notice a couple of things right away: Many of the things that stay on the dash were now on the floor, the smoke alarm was beeping it's low battery signal, and Tia was missing! A quick investigation showed that the driver's window screen, which was behind the curtain, was on the floor so the window was open. Tia had obviously made the 6 foot jump from the window to the ground.

While Gillian took Trekker on a "search", Art set off in the Jeep. He found no sign of her in Centro (which used to be her favourite run away place) and was almost back to the RV Park when Gillian phoned to say that she had Tia. She had not been far away, and appeared from behind a local beach restaurant when called. Trekker was too excited to really concentrate on a search and kept headding to the beach, his favourite place for a walk,k though he may well have been following her didn't indicate to Gillian that he was concentrating on a "track".

We assume that she was trying to escape the sound of the smoke detector, which was not loud, although it did bother her when the low battery signal sounded. (That's another problem: this thing eats batteries every month!)

Next day Art examined the screen; it was a bit bent and creased but with at little judicial tapping with the back of a hatchet (the small hammer was in the bottom of the tools bit previously mentioned!) it went back into place and still slides!

Monday morning: The BIG laundry day.  One very large machine, one medium and one large dryer.
Again washers, breakfast, newspaper, dryer, coffee, "fold" and back home to hang those items that don't go in the dryer.

In today's newspaper there was a very interesting article quoting Enrico Nieto, Mexico's president that corruption will not be tolerated. Point of fact: the President of the very corrupt Mexico's teacher's union is now in jail. Here is a link to a CBC story.


Art passed an interesting 20 minutes or so chatting about this and related issues with Fernando, the owner of Zen Wishes cafe over his double espresso.

Tuesday, the day before our departure, Art decided that it was long past time for a haircut, and since he had to go to centro to send a fax to Mastercard (we had had some fraudulent use issues--since resolved) he jumped on the electric bike and set off.

Fax sent he carried on towards the mercado, the peluiqueria (hairdresser). Crossing a street wide drain the rear tire fell hard between the steel ribs of the drain cover, but carried on seemingly OK. But by the time he had turned onto the main road the tire was flat!

He called Gillian but she hadn't turned her phone on yet. He pushed the bike the few remaining block, got his hair cut, tried Gillian's phone again, left the bike in the shop and took a taxi home.

Fortunately she hadn't left for the grocery store yet and yesterday we had put the bike rack back on the jeep!  Jeep firmly attached to the rack we carried on to the Comercial Mexicana for our shopping. No milk! They rarely stocked skim milk (Gillian's choice) and were often out of "low fat" so sometimes we had do make do with whole milk. But today they had none at all. At least no regular pasteurised milk. They had the UHT or super pasteurised milk which neither of us liked so it looked like yogurt on Gillian's granola and Art, not a yogurt fan, would have to settle for toast and cheese. Looks like a stop back there in the morning on the way out of town.

Tonight was the "Last Supper", a habit we have gotten into over the years, dinner with friends at El Manglar Restaurant.

The RV Park has a Facebook page if anyone is interested in seeing other photos.


Leaving Tomorrow, Wednesday, March 6th 2013

(A little more to come)

Zihuatanejo, the next 2 1/2 months!

It's been a while since the last post!I'll try to keep it brief without missing too much.

By the second week of December the regulars were starting to fill up the empty lot. Nice to see old friends again.

Art found that his new electric bike was all he hoped to be, up the La Ropa hill without strain, sitting down and pedaling lightly, the 350 watt motor took him up in second gear. To centro and back with lots of battery left, easy run to the supermarket for small things, (the carrier won't carry much).  Art is looking forward to a run out the other side of Ixtapa via the cyclopista.

He should know better than to plan.  He woke one day with a fever which soon progressed to a high fever with sore throat and cough. Eventually our good friend Jorge, from Morelia,  who had arrived a few days previously and was parked across from us, came over with his stethoscope to investigate the coughing sounds he had heard. Bronchitis.

After the fever had subsided, though with the cough still very much present, he recommended that Art go for a chest X-Ray, which cost all of 250 pesos if memory serves right, ($20.00) Jorje had a look and said that there was nothing serious to worry abouts, continue on the meds to loosen the phlem and help clear the lungs. He also had a culture done on the expectorate to check for bacteria (about $60.00) which came back negative. Nice to have an Internist handy!


However the cough and sore throat persisted though Christmas and New Year, and as Art began to feel better in the new year, Gillian decided that it was her turn! The dogs enjoyed their Christmas toys though!

Through all this of course , we had no air conditioner. Inside temperatures were in the high 20's to 30C even with both fans running on high.

Jim,the Air Conditioner Guy, had returned in the second week of January with the new compressor for the heat pump. It was a real chore getting the heat pump out, I'm glad we didn't tackle it ourselves although our friend Brian had come over to help.

  There was very little room to work. Jim had to remove the last 4 screws along the top lying on his back under the unit, one arm up each side and working strictly by feel. Better him than me.


 It took about 4 days to get it up and running! The first major problem was the reason the compressor had failed in the first place: A copper line had fractured, all the cooling gas was gone, the compressor had been running empty.

Tested for leaks,

Old compressor out and new one in:

Fired it up: Fans working but when the compressor tried to kick in everything stopped. I won't go into all the details but it had new start capacitors, even a hard start kit, but it would not run. It kept trying but as soon as the compressor tried to start the unit quit.

Jim tried everything he could thing of, so Art called RVP Tech support in Illinois on his Mexican cell phone and we got the answering machine--it was Saturday!

So we covered everything up and Jim left for the rest of his weekend.

Monday he had an emergency at work but later contacted tech support and arrived Tuesday with some info they had faxed to him. Nothing worked. We thought that perhaps the power in the campground wasn't adequate so Art fired up the 7.5 KW generator. Same problem.

There was nothing left but to call Tech Support Again. Jim and the tech conversed for some time then Jim began a series of tests and measurements. Art checked the balance his cell phone--there was only 3 pesos left! He dashed off in the Jeep to the nearest OXXO, a chain of corner stores, to add some money to his balance. On the way Art remembered that some weeks ago he had reset the low voltage parameters on the Xantrex Inverter/charger which monitors the incoming voltage and temporarily cuts it off is it is too high, two low, wrong frequency etc.

Back at the motorhome Art reset the low voltage cutoff and we were off and running! It would appear the the just as the compressor starts there is an instantaneous high current draw, too fast for our meters to see it, but enough for the Xantrex to respond to the ensuing voltage drop.

Sometimes the second stage wouldn't start, and the problem would reappear so for now, we have switched off the breaker for the second compressor and all is well. At least we're cooler now.

The daytime temperatures here are in the high 80's. usually around 88F and the humidity is relatively high. We usually set the thermostat to 79 or 80 which is comfortable i.f the AC had taken the humidity out. With just the first stage running we have found that if we wait until the inside temperature gets of 82 or higher it's all the unit can do to keep it at 82 until later in the afternoon when we get a little more shaded. It runs continuously without a break until about 5:30 or 6 and is usually off for the night by 7.  If we start it a little earlier when the inside temp reaches 80 it will maintain that relatively easily and will cycle on and off a few times during the day. When the second stage was running it cycled on and off regularly and had no trouble keeping things cool. When we next run the generator for it's monthly exercise we'll try the second stage.



A few days later we had major shore power problems with the voltage rising and falling very quickly and upon investigation we trace the problem to the breaker box on the campground wall--it was very hot, and looking inside we could see that the breaker was burnt along with the mounting screw and a foot or more of wire! The breaker hadn't tripped, and would still pass a little current but we shut if off and went to the inverter until it could be fixed the next day.

Next day Mundi, the owner, arrived with the electrician who changed out the box and installed a new breaker. Art noticed later that although he had cut back the burnt wire it wasn't as clean and shiny as it should have been, still looking a little burnt.

That evening the neighbour called me to say that the breaker box was very hot. It was! Art called Mundi and we reverted to the inverter and batteries for the night.

The electrician arrived again with a new box and this time only put in a 20A breaker because I was "using too much power which is why the 30A Breaker burnt up" !!!??? I mentioned that the high resistance of the burnt copper that he had attached to the screw was more likely the problem. He insisted that he had cleaned the wire first, which he had not done, but at least he cut back to good wire this time.

Now we can't use the microwave with anything else that draws much power, but we can live with that. Next year we will insist on 30 Amps or a reduction in the rates.

The trade qualification required here to be called an electrician, plumber or what ever is just to have a few tools and the willingness to tackle the job! Though many are very skilled there is often a serious lack of knowledge.

Bronchitis had pretty much slowed us down throughout December and January, we weren't really up and about and doing much until February. Just in time for Sailfest, where we both volunteer.

We enjoyed the Benefit Concert, the Chili Cook-Off and Street fair, Art won a couple of raffle prizes--T shirt, bracelet for Gillian, Bobble head armadillo (Just what we need!) and a 300 peso voucher for lunch at one of the restaurants at Playa Las Gatas.

One Friday Art volunteered to stay home with the dogs (too much walking for him!)while Gillian took two other couples, friends of ours from the campground, in the jeep to the ruins and museum of Xihuacan at La Chole.

We had been there for the first time about 9 years ago, prior to the authorised dig, and had visited the small museum that Adan had put together in his home in the nearby village of La Chole. During that visit Adan had take Gillian to a hilltop where a huge cactus grew on the summit and told her that he was sure that there was a pyramid beneath. Seems there was! Although the cactus has since died. We have a photo of this somewhere but I believe that it is on our backups and Art's computer, both of which are at home. It may get added later if I remember to look for it!

Much of the ruins have had to have been rebuilt as unlike most ruins in Mexico they were not built of blocks of stone but of adobe bricks. They did not fare well when a tsuname roared through the area centuries ago.

After the ruins Gillian drove a little further south to Bahia, Papanoa, where they stopped for lunch.

Gillian is thinking of kitchen reno's at home in a year or so; Art was a little concerned to see her return with this photo of  this very functional stove in the restaurant.

 

Other than that, we visited a few restaurants have spent much of our time resting and recuperating, doing lots of reading, when we could get at the books on the restaurant "library" table, often occupied by Totopos, one of the restaurtant cats who seems to read herself to sleep quite regularly.

As of the third week in February Art has yet to do the cylopista! Though he did ride to and from his volunteer stints in Centro, the last time getting a flat and having to call Gillian to bring the Jeep instead of taking the bus when she came in for her shift at the desk! He has two weeks to get it done.

Here is a link to a video of the same model and year of  Art's electric bike a 2010  Wisper 905SE, climbing Kootenay Pass in British Columbia. 2010 Wisper 905 SE