I get tired of food pictures but I had to take this one.
We spent the day at Las Gadas and I ordered Cocoanut Shrimp.
It tasted as good as it looked.
We walked back to La Ropa beach from Las Gadas instead of taking the water taxi.
I wanted to take a Combi home from there but it was standing room only.
It took almost a kilometre of fast walking to catch up with my friends who had decided to walk.
The next day was Natalie's birthday.
I happened to be wandering past a restaurant that she was having a birthday lunch at.
The owners of the restaurant surprised her with this dessert.
She makes friends with everyone. I think it pays off.
When I got back to our condo I decided to clean the floor on our outdoor palapa.
It was disgusting. Lots of residents use this palapa but don't clean it.
First I swept everything up.
Then I got our mop and pail for a major washing.
Finally we can walk barefoot to our hammocks and not have dirty feet.
Almost evertime we pass a fruit stand Ruth makes sure she has a couple of oranges in her bag.
Waiting for a combi she wanders up to the back window of this other combi.
I was wondering what she was doing.
I stayed in the shade watching.
She loves little kids. There was a young mother sitting in the back
with a 1 1/2 year old and the baby was fussing.
Ruth went over and played peek-a-boo for a few seconds and the baby quit fussing.
Then she gave the mother an orange .
These young mothers are so nice. Big smile. liked the orange.
My friend claims he can fix anything.
I'm starting to believe it.
This made me laugh.
I've been watching this guy push his one wheel cart around town
for about 4 months wondering what it was for.
Now I know.
He flips it over and starts pumping a pedal with one foot.
That in turn spins a small grinding wheel and then he sharpens knives and machetes .
He's the mobile sharpening company.
At 6:00 we went to a fundraiser for an old folks home and orphanage
that are located about 25 miles out of town.
They block off the street and have music as well as a silent auction.
The kids from the orphanage showed up around 7:00 to do a dance and collect some money.
This old folks home and orphanage receive no government support.
They exist strictly on fundraising and the kindness of the general public.
I met a man named Cliff at the fundraiser who was telling me that he does volunteer
work at the old folks home as well as at the orphanage.
I said I'd like to help and so here we are.
Next morning . Entering the orphanage.
Cameras everywhere. It's sad but they do have to be vigilant.
Kidnapping is something everyone has to be aware of here in Mexico.
It's a beautiful building.
Right now there are 8 young girls and 3 young boys living here.
When we arrived they invited us to sit and eat with them.
So gracious.We declined. The kids are all smiles and are very happy.
The pastor and his wife seem like such nice people.
I got a VIP tour of the facility.
This gave me a lot of interest.
In the corner of the yard they have started to build a pizza oven.
Beside that they want to build a wood fired BBQ for chicken and ribs.
As well as a prep area.
I'd like to build something like this for our home in Canada.
Out back I met 3 other Canadians building a septic system.
On my interior tour I was taken into an activities room where I was shown
some art that these kids have been working on for over 4 months.
It is amazing.
There is a fundraiser happening in Ixtapa tomorrow evening
where this art will be auctioned off.
Because there is no government finding being given to this orphanage
I know that these fundraisers are very important to this facility.
Here is the old folks home.
It was the vision of a feisty Mexican woman who wanted a place
for the old and sick Mexican people.
These are the one's who have no family , no money and no place to go.
They would likely be on the street.They all need 100% care.
It's a beautiful facility.
There are a couple of lovely gardens around this property.
Unfortunately everything is laid out within four concrete walls.
There are plans to build a small park adjacent to this building with a concrete sidewalk
joining it to the entrance.
Right now it is next to impossible for the residents to get outside in their wheel chairs.
I was taken up onto the roof to look down on the chicken coup.
10 chickens and 1 rooster.
They get 10 eggs daily and are thrilled with that.
The chickens they use to have were 5 years old and didn't lay.
My friend Cliff had them kill the old chickens and he bought the new stock
once he had build this new chicken coup.
One of the volunteers build raised beds and now they have fresh vegetables.
The chickens and garden are maintained by volunteers.
I'm going back on Friday to finish a job we started on Monday.
I hope to be more involved with these two facilities.
So Ruth is at home and sends me a text.
She went upstairs and have a nap in a hammock
and found some Mexican sleeping in one of our hammocks.
He's farting and snoring to beat the band.
Woke up with a jolt when he realised she was there.
It was the guy who owns this building. Haha.
Wonder if we can get a discount on our rent if we let him use our hammocks?
This is the wall painting across from Tonio's restaurant.
We had Tonio and his son Sebastian over for dinner tonight and he brought
this lovely bottle of Tequila and glasses as a gift.
It was too much but we appreciated it.
We've made some wonderful friends while living here in Zihuatanejo.
Tonio was likely the first friend we met.
He's such a nice young man and his son is a real prince.
It was a good night with interesting conversation.
