Vegan? Me?

When I left Oregon in 2010 in order to spend the winter in Mexico I was suffering from fairly regular bouts with mild indigestion. My hope was that after a while in Mexico, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, that the problem would be a thing of the past. But after three months I still found the problem haunting me. About the same time I had met Ivone and she told me that she was vegetarian and over the next two months she introduced me to some very tasty dishes. When I returned to Oregon for a month I went back to eating meats and the indigestion started again.

On my return to Zihuatanejo I told Ivone that I was willing to try the vegan lifestyle. It has only been six weeks but I have not had a single episode of indigestion. Ivone is a marvelous cook and yesterday she made a vegan lasagna that was fantastic (with chayote squash, carrots and mushrooms). Today it was cheese stuffed Swiss chard in a savoy tomato sauce (yummmmmmm).

A friend here asked "Doesn't it bother you when you pass by someplace where you can smell the meat cooking?" And I told him that it was interesting that I can enjoy the smell but not fell the need to eat it. I don't have any cravings for meat, fish or poultry. Time will tell if this continues to work for me and I will be blogging more about the change. Vegan? Me? Yup!!!.

Rain - wonderful rain ...

Last year I came to Zihuatanejo to spend the winter away from the rain in the Great North-wet. It was wonderful to be without rain for five whole months (November through March). In April I went back to Oregon and faced the cold, wet, windy weather for a month before returning to Zihuatanejo. All through the month of May the weather just kept getting hotter and there were days when I didn't want to wipe the sweat from my face because it felt like it was melting. I was told that the rain would start on the first day of June and it did. It was a nice gentle rainfall in the early morning hours (3 am) and only lasted for an hour. This happened a few more times and it was always refreshing. The last few days have been a bit different. It has been raining monsoon style and today has been the heaviest I have seen since I was in Malaysia a few years ago. But it is wonderful rain. After many days of sweltering heat it is refreshing. It is washing the streets clean and flowers are in bloom everywhere. Everyone is saying "Enjoy it while you can, the heat will be back soon" and I am sure they are absolutely right.

It took me 40 years to get tired of the weather in Oregon. I hope it takes me that long to get tired of the weather here in beautiful Zihuatanejo.