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Friday, December 24, 2004

Christmas in Mexico

December 24, 2004
Zihuatanejo, Guerrero Coast, Mexico (17o 38' N 101o 33' W)

"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful
and as long as we've no place to go: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow"

That's what the singers on the town stage are singing, if you can believe it. Of course they're singing in Spanish, but the tune is unmistakable and remarkably the 'let it snow' part is in English. Did I mention the low temperature today was 78 degrees? I'm not holding out much hope for snow...

We went to Pozole Thursday yesterday for lunch and had a great time. It was set up by Rick, of Rick's Bar, an American who runs a cruiser hangout in town. Linda and I and six other cruisers boarded a set of taxis which took us to the restaurant. Pozole is a traditional meal served on Thursday. We're not all that sure why it's served on that day, but the story is that pigs are traditionally slaughtered on Wednesday and in an effort to eat all the pork before Friday (meat not being allowed on Friday) soup was made on Thursday. Pozole is a light brothy soup with hominy and meat, either pork or chicken. The meal began with a plate of tapas (taquitos, small chili rellenos, chips, pork rinds, avocados and beans) and would have been very reasonably priced except for the tequila we began sipping. We all blame Roberto for starting it, but in the end we (Roberto, Joe and I) had consumed almost $60 USD in tequila. It was worth it though. This amount of drinking took the better part of the afternoon and as a result we were there long enough to see three excellent performances. The first was a solo singer who played the guitar, the second was two young men and two young women who did traditional dances on the tiny stage, and the third was a much larger guitar/percussion band who were still singing when we staggered out.

Unfortunately, we returned to the beach to find our dinghy less than fully inflated. The large repair patch from the panga propeller in Bahia Santa Maria must have gotten blown off by the increased pressure caused by the heat. Not the greatest Christmas present, but at least we're surrounded by friendly cruisers who will no doubt be very helpful in repairing it again.

Merry Christmas every one!

John and Linda