Leaving Manzanillo

Lazy Days was gone when we got up this morning. Ron wanted to go surfing on their way to Zihuatanejo, so we’ll probably catch up with them there. We should be able to leave tomorrow. Package tracking indicates that our mail has cleared customs in Guadalajara and is on its way to us here. We should get it today. Volcano hasn’t caught up with us here yet. They’re probably hanging out in Barra de Navidad, but maybe they’ll show up today.

Most exciting is that we were able to connect with Jim Stork and Mags Petela yesterday evening. Jim hired me at my last job and then retired and moved to Mexico a couple of years ago. They live in Ajijic, but they’re vacationing in Manzanillo. They’re the reason we planned to stop over here in the first place, so it was great that we were able to get together. I started calling their hotel before they even got there, but my Spanish wasn’t good enough to leave a message, and the hotel reception desk’s English over the phone wasn’t up to it either. I tried again yesterday morning, but they were out. That time I did leave a message, but they didn’t get it. Finally, using two different parts of our Spanish phrase book, I was able to get through and talk with Mags. They came right over to pick us up, and we all went out for dinner. The funny thing is that while I was trying to reach them yesterday morning, they were sitting at Las Hadas trying to figure out which boat was ours. Later when John and I went shopping, they were at the same mall, but our paths simply didn’t cross.

Besides all the catching up we did, Jim and Mags were full of good information for us based on their experience as ex-pats in general and Mexican residents in particular. We’re all politically on the same wave length. (Kucinich is more than just a guy with a beautiful wife, and what’s wrong with the Democrats in Congress: get a backbone!) Jim and Mags are active in Democrats Abroad Mexico and gave us a URL to register to vote and vote from abroad. We’re registered for absentee ballots, but the reality is that we might not get them – and be able to return them – in time. So, Democratic cruisers and ex-pats who are reading this, here’s the link for Democrats Abroad and to register to Vote from Abroad.