http://www.elrefugiodepotosi.org/html/GuerreroBirdingGuide.pdf

The bird in the picture is beautiful, what is the name of it? thanks.

Locally we call it Luisito, but its Latin name is Myiozetetes similis.

This report is making me think again about our plans to visit 11/1. With unreliable numbers and concerns about hospital it makes being a tourist in Z questionable.
I will hope for a rapid change and pray those fighting the virus recover. Not cancelling yet.... hoping for more encouraging reports soon. Sure appreciate your daily report on status of Z and virus. So much fake news.

I don't see anything unreliable about the numbers, only that since not everyone who is admitted to the hospital for Covid-19 receives test results immediately, it can't be determined if they are infected or not. The Covid-19 unit is 35% occupied, according to the mayor. Our major illness locally is diabetes. Its victims make up the largest part of our unhealthy population along with people with hypertension. One due to the overconsumption of sugar, the other mostly due to vices such as smoking and drinking alcohol as well as obesity. Ours is the only "major" hospital serving quite a large but remote part of the state. It has been obsolete for over two decades, so nothing has changed in that respect since most people reading here have been coming here.

I moved here permanently with my eyes wide open back in '89. I knew about the violence and lack of public security and the lack of services and other aspects that most folks from north of the border would find frightening or extremely worrisome. Frankly, I'm still a bit surprised the government chose to build the tourist resort of Ixtapa here knowing what it knows about our region without attending to any of those problems first, but greed usually wins over practicality. So here we are stuck between the Twilight Zone and the 1950's in many aspects, but if you visit most of the rest of the state you'll see many folks still living in the 19th century, so in comparison we have it pretty good here. Yes, living here is quite a bit like living on the edge of civilization, but personally I'm comfortable with it. Yes, it's a bit of a hassle to have to go to Acapulco or Morelia or Uruapan or Querétaro or even Mexico City for many types of specialized health care, but most of us who live here accept that tradeoff and adapt to our circumstances. I can't tell other folks how to live, and gee, I got called "condescending" in another conversation here for even suggesting that folks try to worry less, but basically living or vacationing in this region means taking certain risks and weighing the tradeoffs. That's why I try to be frank and honest without trying to focus on the negative. But different folks with different experiences read what I write with different interpretations, and it's impossible to write so that everyone walks away with the same idea about what they just read.

Thank you for the kind comments. I'll do my best to keep you informed with honest and useful info.
Saludos.

Thanks for the pictures amigo!

As of today Zihuatanejo has registered a cumulative total of 1,317 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 93 that have resulted in fatalities, 35 that are currently active, and approximately 1,317 that have recovered. Unofficially I've been notified that things aren't good at the Hospital General, that they have a lot of probable Covid-19 patients, but the official stats would seem to conceal this.

Still no signs of any public policy changes or even the enforcement of any protocols to reduce the spread of the virus. Just talk but no concrete action that I've seen. Yes, some police and other public servants have been passing out facemasks. It doesn't mean that people use them.

Folks here are thinking about their friends and family in the Yucatán peninsula about to get slammed by a cat 4 hurricane named Delta (they ran out of English alphabet and are now on the Greek).

T.S. Norbert is moving away from us off our own coast and didn't give us any rain, just some wave action and coastal erosion.

Locally we'll be lucky to see any rain at all in the next few days. Nothing in the forecast, and we sure could use it. I'm gonna have to water my plants again. Not normal at all for this time of year.

Late afternoon in Las Salinas lagoon.