Life's A Beach!

Hi Family & Friends! How's life going for you guys? I hate telling you this but Man Life is Good! Bob & I are continuing to have a fabulous time. If you guys don't have Puerto Escondido on a list of destinations to visit; add it. Nothing fancy about this place; no "resorts"; no restaurant chains just a small town that has miles and miles of large beaches. We really like how this town has protected their beach. They only allow wooden structure restaurants on the beach & no hotels. Hotels are across the street & hillside w/magnificent views of the ocean. No obstructions or "private" beach area reserved for monster resorts. All the hotels are Mom & Pop places; they are nice hotels just small and nothing over 3 stories. Surfing tops the list for most travelers here but there's areas to snorkel, swim, relax and great restaurants. Yesterday, we took a cab over to Playa Manzanillo. By the way we have our own Cabbie. His name is Joaquin. We have his cell number and is always ready to pick us up at a moments notice. Very nice guy and doesn't rip us off. Taxis here are very cheap anyway $2 - $3 to go across town but the door to door service is nice otherwise its a short walk up to the main road to grab a cab. Anyway back to Playa Manzanillo; it's about 15 mins from our apartment. The green-blue water was calm and the white soft sand was warm. There has to be 15 small restaurants on this cove, all calling out we have the best food, coldest beer and lounge chairs for your convenience (along w/umbrella). Bob picked out a place for us to spend the day. It was fabulous. Finally, I was able to enjoy the ocean and swim with minimal waves. I think I mentioned the beach we are living on called Zicatela is for the surfers. The waves are huge and the currents are strong. So we don't swim in it; we just get wet and cool off. On Tuesday there was a small parade in honor of Fat Tuesday. There may have been 15 floats and not much crowd. Most of the people were "local" Mexican folks and not many tourist or expats. We had a good time though. We were able to follow the floats that were handing out the free libations without being trampled. I'm curious to hear about the Mardi Gras in Mazatlan. They have the 3rd largest party in the world. (Rio de Janiero first followed by New Orleans.) I'll have to send some emails out to our friends in Mazatlan. Other than that...we watch the sunset every evening and never get bored. We're lazy, read a lot in the hammocks, hang at the beach in the afternoons, watch movies and play backgammon daily. We're both competitive so it's best not to keep track on paper but I think I'm ahead....shhhh! I keep track mentally. We heard from several of you with concerns of the news back home & drug cartel. We haven't seen anything to that nature and everyone we've met has been so nice. I'm not saying the news is incorrect but maybe just a little stretched. We do stay alert but all has been wonderful. With the peso continuing to get stronger (its now $15 pesos to our $1.00) I would love to hang in Mexico a little longer. We heard of new places we "need" to check out and they sound so cool but we do have to leave the country at least for a day or two before re-entering. Who knows what are plans are. We are looking into Belize as our next country but man, are apartments high. We're not giving up. We keep looking and hopefully we'll find a place. I know a few of you say you'd like to visit us in Belize so we're trying to make it work. We miss everyone dearly and hope you guys too are living a good life. Love - Bonnie & Bob