Trip report

Day 1: April 7. Drove one hour from Hamilton MT to Missoula to catch a Horizon flight to Seattle and another one to LA where we spent the night in a motel. It used to be easier to fly twice the distance from Alaska.
Day 2: Alaska flight SEA to ZIH. Left late, but arrived on time thanks to a tailwind. Unpacked, changed and went to dinner at Daniel's. We shared a salad, Belenda had Camarones Al Ajillo and I also had shrimp, but stuffed with cheese and wrapped in Bacon. Both were delicious.
Day 3: Hiked to La Comer for supplies. We were amused to see the big tree at the start of the Parque Lineal covered with chewing gum. Is that the Zihua version of the bridge with locks in Paris? We're not fans of graffiti, but the artwork on both sides of the wall in the middle of the canal is first rate. We had dinner at La Portena; shrimp for Belenda and octopus for me. Previously, when I've had octopus, it's been cut into pieces, but this was a small one, grilled and whole on my plate. Weird, but tasty.
Day 4: Worked around the house and stopped by Lupita's boutique where Belenda bought a nice dress and we chatted with Rob. Dinner at El Mediterraneo.
Day 5: Back to La Comer for a few things we forgot, stopping at Carnitas El Pelon, which replaced the late and lamented Fru-Tacos, which had something like 16 choices of fillings. El Pelon offers 3: pork, pork skin or the 2 mixed. We had the pork, which was OK. Seeing cops riding around in pickup truck without guns was a strange sight. Dinner at Papa Loca; Belenda had Tacos Al Pastor and I had a baked potato. We hung out upstairs enjoying the breeze and the view, watched "French Kiss" and hit the sack.
Day 6: Walked to the pier and took a water taxi to Las Gatas, spending the day at Otilia's. They really need to put a floating dock at the Zihua pier; it's getting harder and harder for an old fart like me to disembark from a panga when the tide's out. Caught a cab home at the Cancha, driven by Pedro Moreno, who was taken to the US by his parents at age 4 months and kicked out of the country at age 19 years.
Day 7: Walked to Playa La Ropa for lunch at El Manglar. It must have been bird breeding season: the racket they made was unbelievable. We were expecting to see Tarzan swinging through the mangroves with his loin cloth flapping in the breeze. On the way out to catch a cab, Memo, the owner, showed us a crocodile digging a hole in which to lay eggs, not far from the tables. We got a little too close and she slowly slid into the water and swam away. This was her second year there. Last year 7 babies hatched. Dinner at home.
Day 8: More house maintenance to be done. Lunch at home and dinner at Daniel's.
Day 9: Went fishing on the panga Don William en route to Isla Ixtapa, where the folks at El Indio prepared some of our catch for lunch; Bonito tiritas and al mojo de ajo. We caught 8 Bonitos and lost 2 Jacks. We shared the remainder with the captain and our manager. Dinner at home.
Day 10: More stuff to do around the house. That climate really destroys anything man-made. I tried to prune our lime tree. Not recommended; they have nasty thorns. Dinner at Il Mare with one of our neighbors.
Day 11: Day trip to La Barra De Potosi with Roberto, our manager and his family. The gate to El Refugio was open, so we drove in to admire the assembled whale skeleton on display. It's a real shame that Laurel is no longer able to keep the animals that used to be there. Excellent lunch, as always, at La Condesa. In addition to the women hawking their wares, the was now also a tone-deaf guitarist/singer...On the way out we chatted with Laura Kelly, the owner of Casa Encantada, who has done so much to help the kids in the village. I told her how much I missed her posts on this board. Maybe she'll start again? Dinner at home. While I was sitting upstairs reading, a young (I think) small, black bat crashed into something and was lying on the floor flopping around. Since bats are known to carry rabies, I didn't know how to help it up, but it finally managed to fly away.
Day 12: Spent all morning at Banamex trying to arrange for homeowners insurance. Not recommended for folks short on patience. Lunch at Dona Licha and dinner at La Portena.
Day 13: Bummer, time to leave! We packed up our luggage, put everything else away and "summerized" the top floor. All furniture small enough to fit into covered areas was put away along with all the cushions and the hammock. The dining table was covered with a sheet of plastic. Roberto picked us up at 14:00 and drove us to the airport. Alaska was on time. Global Entry got us through Customs and Border Patrol fairly quickly at LAX. The 1/2 mile walk there from the arrival gate was less than entertaining. Being cheap, we spent the night in the kiddie playroom in terminal A in Seattle (works fairly well after midnight when the little screamers aren't around) and got to Missoula a little after noon the next day. Picked up a huge box of mostly junk mail and took a well-deserved nap.
This was pretty much one of our nicest trips to Zihua. The weather was excellent - only 1 overcast day - and no nasty humidity. While a couple of the restaurants we like were closed for the season, most of the Gringos were gone, the Easter crowd had left and the summer crowds had yet to arrive. Now it's time to enjoy our new house in Montana and look forward to our return to Zihua next winter.