Z Papaya Chronicles - To Market, To Market....

There is absolutely nothing you cannot find at the mercado in Zihua, from clothing, to goats, to toys to kitchen utensils and of course the amazing array of fruits and vegetables. Saturday mornings the number of vendors increase and the streets outside are lined with people hawking their wares. Clothing is placed out and hung up along the walls and Pick-up trucks line the road, laden with fruits and vegetables for sale and if you desire, you can even buy sausage from the trunk of someone's car.  This morning Mr. Granny Pants and I set out early to capture Saturday morning life at the market. Following is a photo tour of our morning.

Z Papaya Chronicles - Things that Go Bump In The Night

Living in our apartment is akin to living in a treehouse. With its bamboo ceilings and open-to-mother nature design you never who will be visiting while you lay snuggled in your bed at night. One of our first nights here I had the pleasure of sharing my bed not only with my husband, but with a tropical cockroach as big as my head. Okay...I'm exaggerating but it was pretty darn big (see picture below courtesy of my sister who placed a tea candle by it for perspective) and it felt even bigger when it decided to take a stroll along my arm. As I screamed and jumped saying something is crawling on me, Mr. Granny Pants, in his understated way said "yeah, it was huge."  Gee thanks Sherlock. At this point I bolted out of bed and began wacking the bed with my pillow. Unfortunately Roxy was on the bed at the time and took it personally.  We couldn't convince her to get back on the bed for the rest of the night. In the morning I found the beast lying on its back, its little legs all a twitter. We, and by we I mean, Mr. Granny Pants, scooped up the little bugger and set him free so that he could continue his reign of terror.

We also share our home with geckos...lots of little geckos and even have a family of them hanging around. Geckos are your friends.  They control the mosquito population and pretty much mind their own business. That is until you turn out your lights and go to bed. Then the get up to all kinds of no good. They eat holes in the bananas (see pic below), gnaw their way through the plastic bread bag and happily chew a hole right down the middle of the bread loaf, play soccer with the tomatoes and even manage to knock an almost empty nutella jar out of the cupboard. And after they have feasted to their little hearts content its time to get down and dirty  on the curtains (Third pic below, Rated AA, courtesy of my sister again). Ahhhh Gecko love. Yes, we now have bins and tuck our munchables safely away at night.

At this point you are probably wondering why the heck we don't just get a mosquito net around our bed. Life is all about adventures and I guess we just like living on the edge. That and the likelihood of me getting up in the night to pee and entangling myself in the darn thing, hence bringing the entire roof down is also a factor. Hasta Luego.

Z Papaya Chronicles - Familia - January 17-26

The last of the family flew off into the sunset yesterday and I was surprised I was feeling so melancholy. Its so quiet here! We had some lovely evenings with great tequila fuelled conversations in the little courtyard in front of our Z homes and I do believe we solved many world issues.  Tequila is good for that. While my sister ran around like a pollo with its head cut off tending to her brood I was crazy busy making sure mine were all happy and fed. Sometimes we combined our brood and broke bread together and other times we hung out separately. Most day trips included almost all of us though a couple of family members came down with a cold so just spent time taking it easy. I can honestly claim we are solely responsible for the boost in Zihua's economy this past week. We shopped, ate out, tootled around in taxis, busses, paseros and any other mode of transportation available. We visited Las Gatas, Barra de Potossi, La Ropa, Madera, Playa Principal, the zocola and rocking at Rossy's one evening. The day we went to Barra de Potosi the waves were unusually big. My daughter got tossed around and had a slight back injury so be careful when playing in the waves. While my daughter and her partner hunkered down at night in Hotel Irma (which they absolutely fell in love with),our teenage granddaughters opted to stay down at the apartment with us. They are amazing young women and even though I was expecting, and prepared for, some teenage angst it was non existent. We had mosquito nets put over their beds (Hanibal and family were so accomodating and helpful!) and they loved their little nooks and I loved that they want to spend time with us.

I think it is safe to say Zihuatanejo has won the hearts of my family, just as it has Jim and I and they are already talking of returning. As my daughter put it "this is my paradise."

My beautiful family

Waiting for the Pasero, Barra de Potosi

Getting some refreshing shaved ice with syrup

Crazy Waves! Barra de Potosi

My nephew and my great nephew on water taxi

Heading to the pier to catch the water taxi to las gatas

las gatas

Family! (minus Mr. Granny Pants, photographer and Jacqueline who was sick)

Lost in thought on Playa la Ropa

Siesta

Jim (aka Mr. Granny Pants) and Sebastian

Sebastian napping in the hammock, Barra de Potosi

Z Papaya Chronicles: Dos Hermanas do Zihua - January 11-16

Its been a whirling dervish of activities in Zihua since my sister arrived last Saturday. In between shopping for necessities and setting up house in preparation for the arrival of family next week, we managed to fit in some fun activities.  Monica's Cooking School at Patio Mexica was on the agenda and the trek there was easy as it was right out our front doors. We did the five different ways of making Chiles Rellenos class. The setting was idyllic as our group gathered under the palms outside to learn how to make this traditional dish. Monica and her assistant made sure we were comfortable and protected from the hot sun.She shared stories of her grandmother who was a chef and her inspiration and also provided some Mexican history. Monica speaks English and has a few different cooking classes and we will definitely do more.  I highly recommend one of her classes if you are looking to step outside typicial vacaton mode and are up for a unique Zihua experience.

www.patiomexica.com

The Traditional Chile Releno, Colors of Mexico

Me hermana dipping the Chile into the batter ready to place it in the hot oil

The talented and very patient Monica

Sunday we decided to hop on the Micro bus and head down to Playa La Ropa. I was a little nervous as it was our first attempt at taking Roxy to the playa.Would they let us on the micro? Would the doggie police on Playa La Ropa chase us down, place Roxy in doggie handcuffs and cart her off to doggie jail? All of these fears took a back seat when we encountered killer cat while waiting for the Micro. Now we have encountered several wild beasts during our morning walks but nothing compared to the machismo and aggression of this massive ginger cat. He was determined to get a piece of Roxy and nothing was going to stand in his way. Using bags and whatever else we had as shields we protected her, all the while shaking in our flip-flops. Eventually he realized it was futile and moved on. Sorry no pictures. We were just too busy protecting the litttle beast. We chose to hang out at Rossy's on La Ropa as my research told me it was pet friendly and it certainly was. We spent a lovely couple of hours over some drinks and guac while Roxy relaxed in the sand. Good service, great Guac and friends to the doggies. Couldn't ask for more!

Some friends of my sisters are here to stay for a while, Ken and Sue. They are taking some time to just travel around and go wherever their hearts take them and for the next few weeks Zihua will be where they rest their heads. We've shared drinks, dinners and laughs and Ken is solely responsible for introducing me to Mescal which apparently brings out my naughty side. Apologies to anyone who may have been sitting around us in Serena La Gorda (Fat Mermaid) a few nights ago. Conversation got a tad raunchy.

Serena La Gorda sink in men's washroom

Serena La Gorda Sink in women's washroom

We did the trip to Barra de Potosi via local bus (17 Pesos = $1.40 CAN) and Pasero (12 Pesos = 98 cents CAN). The Pasero is basically a pickup truck with a tarp and bench seating that takes your from the town of Los Achotes to the fishing village of Barra de Potosi. Park yourself at an the enramada, eat, drink, snooze in a hammock, play in the waves, walk the beach...its a perfect day.

Preparing for the family to arrive has involved lots of trips to the mercado to make sure we are well supplied to feed the masses. I am still in awe of not only the abundance of fruits and vegetables but also the cost. One can eat extremely well and healthfully here for very little. Here is a pictue of today's fruit and vege haul. Total costs was a little under $10.00. Not only does it look delicious, the tastes and flavors are a party in your mouth.

I now leave you with a few pictures out and about in Barra de Potosi that Mr. Granny Pants took with his spiffy camera,

Z Papaya Chronicles: Out and About January 8-10

Sitting at our kitchen table last night, a breeze rambled through our apartment. Both of us jerked our heads towards the fan, thinking we had left it on as this is the first breeze we felt since we arrived last Saturday. We have been very conscious about not using our fans too much in an attempt to acclimatize as quickly as possible and also trying to be good citizens and conscientious about how we use the electricity. Welcome breeze and please stay a while!

Yesterday morning we ventured down to the fish market on Playa Principal for our first foray into the buying of fresh fish. Its funny how intimidating something can be when it is a completely foreign experience for you. After a couple of "you go, no you go" minutes I finally parked myself behind a local woman and when it was my turn just said "I'll have what she's having." We took our treasured fish home feeling very proud and accomplished. I am not a fish eater, having never grown up with it, but made the decision to eat fish while here and it was delicious! Of course, the fact that my husband is one amazing cook helps. Here is a picture of our dinner from a previous night, Shrimp Rizotto. Who needs a big stinkin' kitchen anyway. Half the fun is improvising with what you have on hand.

Jim's Shrimp Rizotto ala Zihua

Getting My Fish Filleted

We decided to take the Micro down to La Ropa for a couple of hours and just hung out at Rossy.  Lots of returning gringos connecting on the beach so there was much hugging, kissing and raising of Margaritas.

The one thing I love most about travel are those magical moments. Last night (Friday) as evening fell and Z came to life with its night-life and all the sounds that come with it, we were captured by some amazing guitar playing. How great was it to step outside, wander down a couple of doors to a place called La Camarca (previously Nardo's) and park ourselves with some Margaritas and sway to the music of the band (sorry no pics; I forgot my iphone).

Today my sister arrives for two weeks, and next week the rest of the family descends.  There will be nine of us meandering about Zihua doing our part to help the economy just a little bit.

Z Papaya Chronicles: Home Sweet Home January 3-7, 2015

After a bit of a delay due to having to have the plane de-iced we arrived in Zihuatanejo to beautiful balmy tropical weather. Roxy did okay on the flight. The tranquillizer the vet prescribed for her took the edge off without rendering her comatose and she tolerated her entrapment in the carrier with only the occasional scratch. Note to Canadian travellers taking their dogs:  You need to have the official form (Canadian International Health Certificate) filled out by your vet which you can download from the Government of Canada website. You then need to take this to your local Canadian Food Inspection Agency where it will be offically stamped and signed for a cost of $20.00.   No problems at the airport. The inspector noticed us in line and came and took our paperwork and processed it while we stayed in line. Once we were through customs he was there waiting for us, I signed the form and off we went. No problem bringing in dog food. We told him we had some and he smiled and said "no problemo". A very nice man.

We are now settled in nicely here at Casa JimBa (our own name for our apartment).

 Our landlords Monica (of Patio Mexica cooking school fame), her husband Hector and their son Juan are lovely and so helpful as we navigate our new life. Roxy has settled in and is starting to be accepted by the various adopted street dogs here.  They are getting used to seeing the dog on a rope and no longer snicker when she passes by.

We did a big Shopping at Commercial Mexicana, the Mexican equivalent of  Wallmart and stocked up on a few gringo necessities like a toaster, a garbage pail and a lidded tub to store dry foods like cereal and such to keep the critters out. Our space is pretty open to the elements and we don't want to encourage the jungle rifraf more than necessary. We tried as much as possible to buy local and though We are definitely in need of some other "stuff" for now we are settled. We also walked down to the local market, mercado, which is massive and has everything under the sun, including the kitchen sink. The display of fruits, vegetables, meats, and fish are a symphony for your senses.  Bought a few things and it was less that 40 pesos (approx. $2.50) - one large papaya, carrots, garlic, onions and a cucumber and man did that carrot every taste sweet!  So nice to have fruit and veges in season. There are some things you definitely don't see at home - green sausages. Yum!

Late afternoons on the rooftop patio is very entertaining. Sipping tequila, we are entertained by many visitors, including this handsome fella and birds.