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Our flight landed at 8:30 this morning. Our Mexican adventure has ended.

The approximate center of the photo below shows Ixtapa hugging the shore..

In the photo below the yellow X on the left shows where Jack and Linda stayed and the one on the right shows where we stayed.

... photographed as our airplane made a wide turn toward the mountains after taking off toward the sea. Tuesday's forecast is for snow here. I sure hope they got that wrong.

Last Evening

Since we leave for the airport tomorrow for an overnight flight back home, today was a day of packing followed by a restful afternoon by the pool. Weeks ago I found a free app for my iPhone consisting of all nine symphonies of Beethoven. Today I plugged in my ear buds and listened to the Third. We're a long way from his home town of Vienna but the music is magnificent and although the app does not identify the orchestra or conductor, the rendering is superb.

The pool's water was an exceptionally smooth mirror today as you can see in the photo ...

A nice advantage of our location in this complex is that we are at the far end of the pool and get to see its whole curvy length when sitting out.

Just before supper, which consisted of leftovers brought home from Emilio's last night because that food is too tasty to waste, the sun put on a colorful display that I captured from our rooftop. On the beach we caught many a cloudless sunset, beautiful in its own way, but finally we got one of the cloud-blazing persuasion, a fitting symbol of our delightful stay in Mexico drawing to an end.

Time to go home to see the family faces we have missed.

Rain

After 41 days without so much as a drop we had a couple of hours of rain late this afternoon accompanied by occasional thunder. This was a special enough event to capture on video ...

Our groceries are now depleted and rather than obtain more we plan to sustain ourselves for the last two days with restaurant food. This evening, after the rain ceased, we finally visited Emilio's Restaurant for a meal, which we had intended for weeks. We previously enjoyed their take-out offerings and our table meal did not disappoint either. The place lies a three minute walk from our condo and for most of our meal we were the only clients. A few more filtered in as we were readying to leave. Reportedly the tourist season comes to an abrupt end Mid-March and we have witnessed confirmation of that.

Emilio's provided Carol a handy item which is not uncommon to restaurants here - a bag rack. It is like a midget coat rack made for keeping the purse or bag handy and in view. Here is a photo ...

I finished the autobiography of John Newton. Every so often he expresses an interesting comment related to his readings in the Bible which made the book interesting for me. Because the doctrine of the Trinity was so widely taught in those days he accepted it, but also admitted to confusion in areas of Bible understanding. One statement by Christ he particularly liked, for example, certainly did not make the Trinity more believable: "No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him" (John 6:44). There the superior authority of the Father is so clear that trying to reconcile it to the notion that the Son and the Father are co-equal could not fail to cause confusion.

My three books for Mexico are now read, except for my ongoing re-reading of the Bible of course.
We are down to a day and a half to before departure.


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La Ropa

Before we leave here we wanted to visit the beach at La Ropa and today we did. One bus took us to the market in Zihuatenajo from where we caught another bus to La Ropa. (Transfers? Fuggedaboudit.) This bus driver was in no hurry. Each bus stop in Zihua was a place for a ten minute break so he could get off the bus and shop.

Next he drove us up steep hills from which driveways sprang up further at 45 degree angles or worse. This is vehicular-brake-condition-awareness territory. We intended to get off at the stop for La Perla Restaurant but we didn't communicate that well enough and the driver muddled on until my message finally penetrated. A passenger told us we could stay on board and get off at La Perla on the way back. The driver indicated no no, at the far end he was going to park a while. We could believe it. So we got off and walked back which turned to be not at all unpleasant.

At the La Perla, a restaurant on the beach, we obtained a lunch and enjoyed the view from under the shade of a thatched roof. I love the sunshine here as long as I'm not in it. A fellow approached us burdened with a big stack of newspapers and magazines on his shoulder for sale. I've seen him before boarding a bus we were on, loaded with his weighty merchandise. He certainly earns his money. I didn't really want a newspaper and his prices were no bargain but I lightened his load a bit anyway. All the articles were straight off Yahoo News. Newspapers are over, aren't they?

Beach view - La Ropa

Carol at our table in La Perla

For a few pesos one can rent a combo that consists of two or three beach chairs, a beach umbrella, and a table. Good until 6:00 pm according to the ticket although nearly all are abandoned shortly after five and then picked up and carted off by the entrepreneur. One gets the point and rather than enjoy the shade cast by the fellow who is standing and waiting for you to leave so he can stack your chairs and go home, we moved on like everybody else.

Something else that can be rented if the lounge chair isn't comfy enough.

Carol mentioned that my blog lacks photos of its author so here is one she took at the coffee shop yesterday, in Ixtapa.

The guard at the front gate where we're staying is named Jorge. Today someone told me now he's the pope.

Keep all those cards and letters coming, folks.

Last Meeting in Zihua (Por Ahora)

We had another tremendously warm, sunny day in Ixtapa relieved at intervals by a cold coffee in a place that nailed the art, and a session in the pool which cooled us off beautifully. Yesterday I got a light sun burn on my chest which is peculiar since whenever I'm out I sit in the shade. Seems like the rays are strong even there. Below is a photo of Carol on the first landing of the stairs to our condo.

We attended the mid-week meeting tonight which was as lively as ever and also received a round of applause at the conclusion. Below is a photo of the Coordinator interviewing a young sister about her initiatives to serve where the need is greater, namely in this congregation's territory.

In a previous posting I said I wouldn't talk anymore about the ever-present level changes here (such as the ones below) ...

 One the other hand we encountered this unannounced step in a sidewalk today. During my days in architectural design I recall seven inches was considered the maximum safe height for a step. This one was double that. It will be something if we get home without broken toes or a sprained ankle. Sometimes Carol has pointed out that I passed a stranger who said, "Hola" but I failed to respond. I'm sorry but I'm a little hard of hearing and I have to keep my eyes riveted on the ground to see what my foot must deal with next.

Observations (Part 3)

A peculiar phenomenon we have encountered several times is the challenge to purchase something with a bill worth 500 pesos. Now 500 pesos may sound like a lot of money but it is equal to forty Canadian dollars. I have been trying to break one for quite a number of days, so when I wished to pay for something I'd tender it.

Curiously for many stores and restaurants this presents a challenge up to which they aren't. Either we must pay in smaller denominations or the merchant goes on a journey to find a fellow merchant who can change the bill, not always successfully.

I wonder if this is a measure of how slow the tourist season is for them this year. A taxi driver once told us that the Americans are staying home this year and all they're getting are Canadians. This seems to be substantiated by the number of tourists we've met who are from Canada.

In other news, I've read a little more of John Newton's story (see an earlier posting) which he wrote 250 years ago on the installment plan. The story is conveyed in a series of letters he wrote. Buy his own admission he lived the life of a very stupid person for many years which makes for an unpleasant narrative, but the fellow had more lives than a cat. I thought he had one dramatic incident from which he escaped in a practically miraculous way, but he had legion.

When his thinking turned serious about God the first question on his mind was, How can I know that the Bible is really the inspired word of God? It was my question too when I started to investigate these things and in my case led to a good deal of research and study.

For Mr. Newton the approach was different. He concluded that since Jesus taught that exercising obedience and faith would meet with specified results, now in this life, he would follow Jesus' instructions and look for the promised benefits. If things happened as Jesus taught then it had to be true. One can't find fault with that approach.

He freely admits his Bible reading gave him merely a start in 'experimental Christianity' but he knew he was now going in the direction of truth. Nevertheless his earlier years in Africa, working in the slave trade, did by his own admission expose him to a culture of superstition which he had to some degree absorbed. Although he repudiated superstition, the reader can see that not all traces were eradicated. He admits this too.

Still, he made a serious and humble effort to learn which is certainly commendable.

Four days left.

Interesting Sunday

A mighty warmth descended on us today and there were Web reports of 95 degrees F.

We roe a bus to Zihua to attend the meeting today. The only bus seats were in the back which gave us the bounciest bone-breaker ride we had here so far. At one point I put my head close to Carol's to say something and a hefty bump in the road knocked our skulls together. Good thing our heads weren't close a few seconds after. The bus suffered a jolt magnitudes worse which would have left us unconscious in the back seat until back at the Marina bus terminal.

At the hall we were treated to a talk by a visitor from Australia on the subject How Real Is God To You? On a white board beside him were written the following numbers which for a while passed without mention ...

He spoke of the instinctive wisdom of ants storing food in summer for the winter, the order in the universe, and other examples of wisdom manifest in nature. He mentioned it's possible to consider all these things like the numbers above, just a series of observable facts with no particular meaning. But if we reason on the matter we can discern that in fact there is a clear meaning, such as the example below.

Similarly when observing the abundance of wisdom in creation, it points to a meaning, namely that there is an all-wise Creator. At the end of the talk he erased one number ...

He explained that for some people the issue of God's existence is not so clear because in their view there may be a gap or questions about it. He said when that is the case the important thing is not resign oneself to living with the gap or questions, but pursue the answers because they can indeed be found.

The following is a view of the hall after the meeting. You can see Carol's head at the right side of the center window. She was having a chat ...

Our bus back to Ixtapa was piloted by a disciple of Evel Kneival. The ride is over a modest mountain pass which we covered in the fastest time yet. Some of these buses chitty-bang-bang slowly and then you climb aboard one that takes a curve on two wheels.

The five minute walk from the bus stop to our place involved a sobering encounter with the sunshine. Not only was it very sunny and hot today but of course we were dressed up, me with wool dress pants, socks and shoes. sigh.

Back to Zihua

With supplies insufficient to carry us to next Saturday, today we returned to Zihuatanejo, known affectionately as Zihua (ZEE-wah), to shop. Although many Mexicans comfortably wear long sleeved shirts and long legged pants, a T-shirt and shorts are a must for me here. I own only two pairs of shorts and when the beige ones are in the wash I wear navy ones which have now faded in the sun in an ugly sort of way.

I don't think I'll bring them home. I never liked them. They have an elastic waist, a front button for closing tightly, a cord through the waist for tying up, and of course loops for a belt. I don't know what happened to the designer of these shorts but how much security does a person need?

While in Zihua we took a lemonade break at one of the beach restaurants where, after spending $1.75 each for a drink you are welcome to sit at the table under a thatched roof on the beach for as long as you like. Here is where we stopped ...

Sitting at the far side grants a good view of the beach and opportunity to marvel at the activities of the pelicans. These creatures may appear awkward on land but they are masters of flight. They have a wonderful way of swooping down from the heights to glide half an inch over the water's surface. When wing flapping must resume they lift just enough so the down flap just misses the water.

Then there's the incredible dives. When, at a height, they spot their prey, they dive straight down, head first, into the sea, sometimes into shallow water not far from shore. They may catch a fish but they also hit their beaks on the sandy bottom. The whole body shudders under the impact. I don't understand how the pelican can do that and not end up in a wheel chair.

At one shop specializing in the famous Mexican blankets we found a fellow actually making one. My poor attempt to capture the process is offered in the following video ...

Once in the grocery store I noticed a fellow with a T-Shirt that bore the imprinted name "St-Constant." Sure enough he was a Quebecker. On a jasé un petit peu et il a dit que lui et son épouse font du camping ici.

... à la prochaine.

One Week Left

This morning I climbed to our rooftop to take in the sunrise. I am pleased to share with you a few photos of the event ...

Looking East

Looking West

While up there I noticed my patient old friend Charlie Horse on customary standby in the street below. This is an undemanding beast if ever there was.

Good Ole Reliable Charlie

We're now down to our last week here and although our refrigerator is looking a touch baren we postponed our planned visit to the grocery store today because it was just too sunny and warm. The amazing thing is we actually have a 'Super C' just a two minute walk from here but it is not the one we prefer to patronize. However we went there today to get milk.

Speaking of food items, we often have eggs for breakfast and we've been struck by the vibrant yellow color of the egg yolks here. They're the kind of yellow that tries to be orange if you know what I mean. They make the egg yolks at home look like lemon drops. I'm sure the eggs do not come from cooped up chickens that never see the light of day. The chickens here are probably half tiger. Which reminds me, I heard distant roosters crowing while on the roof this morning.

While walking, every so often one encounters a bounty of flowers enlivening the street, possibly even a vacant lot, with their bursts of color. They appear to be doing well despite the absence of one drop of rain in the five weeks we've been here.

This is not to say it never rains. Here and there a torrent channel offers a reminder that things can get mighty wet mighty fast.

In other news I've started a biography, a very slim one, of John Newton, a man who wrote his life story 250 years ago. He worked for some time as a slave trader and was a nasty fellow until he suffered shipwreck at sea with a clear prospect of drowning. He turned to prayer, managed to survive despite incredible odds, and he afterward became a serious student of the Bible, doing his best to practice Christianity accordingly. He is best known as the composer of the song, "Amazing Grace."

I'm in the early stages of the book and of course he lacked the benefit of Bible research that has been accomplished since his time. In his day the book had relatively recently been rescued from near obscurity by the invention of the printing press. Just as investigation has vastly expanded our knowledge of astronomy over the centuries, in the same way scrutiny of the Bible has led to huge strides in understanding its message. Still, Mr. Newton was apparently an honest and humble man who loved his Maker and made interesting observations about the wisdom he found in the inspired word of God.

It is sad to read of his belief in a fiery hell which belief was fostered by the King James Version Bible by inconsistently translating words such as grave and 'Gehenna', the name of Jerusalem's first century city dump where a fire was kept burning as a rubbish disposal site. If only he knew. Some day he will.

In the meantime it is an interesting story of one man's search for God at a time when individual Bible study was experiencing a new beginning.

Ciao.

El Barberia

Today we found a barber shop in Ixtapa. We left mid-morning to avoid the heat that maxes out from noon to 3:00 pm but, as demonstrated by the photo of the dog we passed on the way, it was still plenty hot.

 The hair-cutting salon was small and also provides manicures and pedicures. I wondered how adept the young lady cutting my hair would be. As we all know, at the best of times it is hard to find a good barber and get a haircut that will not scare young children. Today things worked out happily. My hat now sits an inch lower on my head.

I finally finished my book on Currency Wars. The last sentence was, "The road to disorder has just begun." As informative as the book is, naturally one cannot agree with everything. For example, I believe it can be proven the road to disorder began about six thousand years ago. The author also believes the main problem is systems gradually get too big and complex to function properly. Well, the biggest system we know of is the universe and it is breath-takingly magnificent. On the other hand an example of a small system not working well could be a taxi ride where the driver takes you on a roundabout route. It's not the system as much as the trustworthiness of its users. Re-designing systems to fix problems can be like an architect re-designing a building so it will stand when the reason it keeps crumbling is because the concrete is defective.

We saw Charlie again today and his twin, Black Beauty. Patient horses!

That's it for now. Tomorrow (or thereabouts) I'll tell you about the new book I started this afternoon. Something completely different.

Hasta La Proxima

Today marked the end of Jack and Linda's stay here so we went for a last visit at the complex where they are staying. Jack took in a final dose of rays under a sun beaming from a cloudless sky and he is now assured of arriving home as brown as his shoes. The weather today was perfect.

Someone pointed out to us a whale cavorting in the ocean near a sailboat and we watched it for a while. Alas, it was camera shy which is why I don't have a photo of one of his jumps out of the water but he was doing it just like the Pacific Life Insurance Company's logo.

 

The photo below barely shows the sailboat, never mind the whale playing in the waters near it.

Below is a  detail of this photo. The white spot almost in the center, just below the horizon, is the whale's fin sticking straight up. Hey, you want better a photo of a whale than this go search for 'whale' on Google images. This was the best I could do. Needless to say, we saw far more than we could photograph.

Later a wisp of melancholy descended on us as we gazed upon the last sunset from their balcony. The next one of these for them will be in eleven months.

The four of us wandered over to El Galéon for a supper which turned out to be memorable. El Galéon is a wooden ship anchored at the Marina and converted into a charming dining environment. Our friendly waiter, Cisco, who learned his English in California, served us well and with outstandingly tasty food. Even the concluding coffee was superb.

Hasta La Proxima, Ixtapa.

Tomorrow I absolutely must give attention to a quest for a Barberia. *That* should be interesting.

Quiet Day, Glorious Weather

An ideal day for reading by the pool and we managed to get in a little of that, but didn't go for a dunk.

Sandalias

Today we went to the Sunday meeting in Zihuatanejo. The half hour talk was about the lessons of Noah's Flood for our day. The speaker, a visitor from Vancouver Island, came equipped with a model of the ark and I couldn't resist snapping a photo. That's it on the side table. The side wall dropped down to show the three floors inside which not only enabled it to carry more animals but also made it stronger, therefore more sea-worthy.

The Watchtower subject was about courage, reviewing examples of great courage shown by God's servants in Bible times and how God did not fail to reward their trust in him. The material was excellent, the commenting was excellent, the pace and timing flawless, and after it concluded everyone applauded. This is what I call a kinetic Bible study.

After the meeting we went to the market in town on a quest for new sandals for me since mine finally and decisively fell apart. This was no small challenge. Countless little shops sell sandals that are either too small, made of vinyl, or look conspicuously ugly. I had to press on though because wearing shoes and socks in this weather can not be endured for more than a couple of hours. After that my feet start to feel like Shadrach and Meshach.

Failure to find appropriate footwear prompted Carol to suggest I buy flip-flops. They were plentiful but that was not an option given the profound and irreconcilable conflict between the concept of flip-flops and my world-view. I believe they are called flip-flops not only because they flip on and flop off but because they make a clownish flip flop sound as one walks. I view flip-flops as an intolerable affront to male footery and stuck with an iron resolve to my quest for genuine sandals.

The effort finally paid off in a larger store that had Hush Puppy sandals. Perfection. Comfort. Joy. They even have a leather piece that goes over the front of my toes which adds a practical level of protection against those random level changes and walkway irregularities I used to write about but don't any more.

Warm Saturday

 My cell phone app registered a temperature of 89 degrees F today and reported "feels like 98." It didn't say who it was feeling 98 but it was unquestionably a day to seek shade. Since Becky and Paige are traveling home tomorrow Carol and I visited once more for a few more moments together and to say goodbye. The first photo below is a still from a video which explains the lesser clarity.

 

 The video below I've entitled "Hey, That Was My Lunch!"

 A difference between lounging at the pool here or on the beach in Zihuatanejo is that in Zihuatanejo there are many vendors passing, displaying various souvenirs. Sometimes a minstrel will pass strumming his guitar which also happened yesterday, one of whom was over six feet tall, had blond hair and blue eyes. My first reaction was, "What's my brother Dan doing here with a guitar? making people pay him to stop playing?" But it wasn't him; it was a different six foot tall, blond, blue-eyed man. Mexico is apparently full of them. It was interesting to note that three men who sure looked like Americans passed by offering this kind of musical interlude during our pause. They must have work visas.

And that's it for today.

Zihuatanejo

We boarded a bus for Zihuatanejo today. During the ride a troubador provided entertainment. A brief sample is offered in the video below ...

Walking to the Zihuatanejo Marina I spotted a sidewalk ramp for the disabled which is always encouraging to see but I noticed that unlike the gently sloping provisions to which I happen to be accustomed, this one had vertical curbs that could conceivably trip the unwary and add them to the ranks of ... well you get the picture. Because here it is ...

Carol said I should stop criticizing the way they do things in Mexico and I protested I am not criticizing, just taking note of cultural differences. Nevertheless I have decided to stop making comments about unexpected level changes or other perceived walkway anomalies. I shall henceforth be resolutely silent on this matter.

The Zihuatanejo Marina features several restaurants with shaded tables on the beach. I don't know exactly what the temperature was today but, with the sun melting us, we chose a table for the hottest part of the day and enjoyed cold drinks under a thatched roof. Here is Carol enjoying the view ...

 

And here is the thatched roof. Look carefully and you will see Carol centered between the two right-hand-side posts ...

 

After our sojourn here we went to the "Commercial Mexicana" where we've been before to buy groceries. Incidentally this is a grocery store that also sells clothing, furniture, appliances, tires, and digital cameras. Carol wanted to return an article of clothing that was unfortunately the wrong size. As you know, this procedure in Canada and the USA is smoothly accomplished at the speed of light, no questions asked. Here, Carol almost caused an international incident. After nearly a half hour during which seven persons with somber facial expressions got involved Carol finally got her refund but only after vowing to immediately do further shopping in the store.

When we got home I took the photo below of a pink cloud in our pool.

 

And that concludes all I have to say for the first day of March, 2013.