The Clean Plate Club

Sarah's Thanksgiving dinner used to be on this plate. We had a very unique Thanksgiving dinner- the turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes were delicious; the cranberry sauce was straight from a can (a la Bart, for those Simpsons fans out there) which is how I like it (Sarah expects more for $12 a plate!). The pumpkin pie was definitely different, it tasted like the Mexican chef had probably never actually eaten American pumpkin pie (or made it) in her life. Regardless, it was a delicious meal and we celebrated all the things we are thankful for.

Meanwhile, earlier that day we had decided to take a jaunt over to Ixtapa, a much more touristy, resort area. As soon as we get off the bus, José flags us down and offers us a free bottle of tequila for sitting through a timeshare presentation. Our first instinct is of course to say no and keep walking, however, who can resist a free bottle of tequila? Not to mention the fact that it was well over 90 degrees out, and when I asked if they had air conditioning, I got a resounding, "¡sí!". A nondescript white van came and picked us up to take us to the hotel. The shpiel actually sounded pretty appealing if we weren't a month into our yearlong voyage, and it was air conditioned while we drank a few free piña coladas. After we said no, we took our free bottle of tequila and went to the beach. The beach in Ixtapa is very nice, much better for swimming than playa madera or principal here in Zihuatanejo. We eventually found our way back to the bus, headed home, and got cleaned up for Thanksgiving dinner. However, we managed to pick up a few aguas frescas on the way to mix in the tequila.

Today we decided to go to playa las gatas. We took a very seaworthy-looking lancha (small boat) and headed over. This beach is protected by a large barrier of rocks and coral and has excellent snorkeling. We rented some snorkels and fins and saw many fish, crabs, urchins, tigers sharks, etc. Eventually we caught another lancha back to civilization and had a delicious dinner; I had a seafood soup, Sarah had cecina de res (see the Facebook pictures on what cecina de Res is). Tomorrow we leave Zihuatanejo and head for Oaxaca which may be a lengthy journey as it looks like we have to head south for a while and then cross over the mountains. In the meantime, check Facebook for some more photos.