Zihuatanejo awoke to a smoky morning after another evening of high temperatures and humidity but disappointingly no rain, at least not in downtown Zihuatanejo. I can find no mention in any of our local media what burned that caused so much smoke, but it covered the coast and the sierra in our region as far as I could see.

While the waves from the mar de fondo shut down the pier at Playa Linda, and thus Isla Ixtapa, the celebrations for Día de la Marina went off without a hitch in Zihuatanejo, including the traditional swim across the bay from Playa Las Gatas to Playa Principal and the laying of the official wreath by the Sector Naval at La Piedra Solitaria.

The downtown beach filled up with beachgoers who played in the surf and enjoyed a mostly sunny day with a little less breeze than yesterday. But in the middle of the afternoon the sky darkened to the east and it began to sprinkle. Not much, but it chased off most of the beachgoers. Somehow, what should have been a nice rain, turned out to be barely a sprinkle, and our sala'o status apparently continues. It seemed to rain everywhere else along the coast except here in Zihuatanejo.

As predicted, local participation in the judicial elections was a bust. The voting process and the ability to find any meaningful and useful information about the candidates was simply too complicated and time-consuming for most. A shame the election officials couldn't find a way to simplify the process. I was especially disappointed that the media didn't help inform people about any of the candidates or the process. They seemed to leave it entirely to the people to try to inform themselves via the INE website. But the first thing one notices on the INE website when trying to find out about the candidates is that the information available about each candidate isn't uniform. Hopefully this part of the process will be simplified for future elections. People shouldn't have to spend weeks poring over the resumés and other info. I saw one candidate on the ballot whom I easily recognized to be responsible for corruption in various administrations of municipal and state governments. That he was even on the ballot was quite disappointing. A vetting process was supposed to weed such people out. I hope he didn't get elected.

If you see the police and people from the municipal office of Ecología at La Ropa beach in the morning before 8:00 a.m., please take photos of them and send them to me. They are harassing a handful of people who walk their dogs on the beach in the morning when they should be attending to more important matters. No one at any other so-called Blue Flag beaches is getting harassed, just a handful of mostly extranjeros at La Ropa whom the Director of DIMAREN, Israel Campos, appears to have a hard on for. I have been publicly denouncing this unwarranted and hypocritical harassment, and I intend to continue doing so as well as insisting that if they must have such a program to justify keeping beaches clean, then Playa Platino is a much better one for accomplishing their stated goals of protecting the flora and fauna without treating pet owners and other beachgoers as criminals and running them off to other destinations. Taxpaying residents should not be made to feel unwelcome at their own beaches.

Playa Blanca is a place that still enjoys much peace and tranquility, a place where the stars still appear clearly in the evening skies and where whales and dolphins can be seen spouting and breaching from the shore. El Manantial is an affordable vacation lodging located right on the beach at Playa Blanca offering two one-bedroom bungalows and two houses, one with three bedrooms and the other with six, each with A/C and wi-fi internet, and access to a common pool and a beachfront lounge area.
Vacation Rentals in Zihuatanejo

¡Cuidemos nuestro patrimonio!
#MásSeguridadPúblicaMenosCemento
#BlueFlagNoPlayaPlatinoSí
#PreservemosPlayaManzanillo
#DenunciaElEcocidio

El Cerro Viejo empieza de enverdecerse después de unas pocas lluvias en Zihuatanejo.