January 13, 2008

Breakfast, flat tires and a mermaid on the shore

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - Dylan's last day on the beach began with a death march, er, long walk, around the upper reaches of La Manzanilla, followed by a fabulous breakfast of chilaquiles, eggs and refried beans at a small restaurant on the main street in town.

The restaurant is, like so many here, a family affair, with grandmom cooking tortillas on a grill, daughter cooking the food inside and grandchildren all over the place.

A very serene morning, until we came home.

Flat tire
Flat tire slowed us down

The left rear tire was flat - not just low - flat. And so, just like weeks before when son Dustin had to fix his leaking radiator, we pulled out the jack, got the spare ready and changed the tire. Upon inspection, we could see that we picked up a collosal-sized spike, probably out at one of the many construction sites we have visited in the past few days.

Luckily, the spare tire was full of air and with Dylan's help, we were back in business within a half hour. (He had special incentive to get it fixed - we were taking him to the airport a few hours later.)

Monday, the tire will go to a village tire shop for repair and then, most likely, I will be putting the repaired tire back on myself.

We dropped Dylan off in Manzanillo at the airport so he could fly back to the U.S., bought groceries for a week at a store called Comercial (the total was about $80 U.S.) and returned just in time to walk on the beach, catch a sunset - and see a mermaid on the sand.

Dylan Fox & Mom at Manzanillo Aeropuerto
Dylan and Mom at Manzanillo aeropuerto

Here's a short video. The mermaid is at the end.

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