February 2005

I think the hills are about at their height of green - those good, heavy rains we had a few weeks ago are showing the vegetation off at it's best...

For Sailfest this year, which ran from February 2-6, we signed up for spaces on the Trimaran "Klanoki" for the Sailfest parade held last Sunday. We had a great time on the boat (getting certain tender parts of us somewhat burnt, however, but we're over that now...). After doing our "salute to the Port Captain" off Ixtapa's Playa El Palmar,we hightailed it over to Ixtapa Island where we anchored, jumped into the water for a refreshing interlude and then gorged ourselves on some wonderful-prepared snacks. We were hoping to put up the sails for a restful and silent return into Zihua bay but unfortunately there wasn't enough of a breeze up to do so. Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon and the company onboard.

It seems like Sailfest just gets more and more successful as the years go on. There was tremendous participation from cruisers, local residents and visitors, and we hear that something in the line of $40,000 USD was raised during the event, proceeds which will be going totally to charitable causes. There'll be updates, photos and full information soon on the Sailfest website at http://www.zihuasailfest.com so please stop by and check out those pages in the near future.

Wow - this years Guitar Festival (April 3 through 10) is shaping up to be something totally incredible... not that last years inaugural Festival wasn't an astonishingly successful and fun event... but Guitar Fest 2005 is really going to rip!

Here is a rundown of just a few of the musicians you can expect to hear around town during the Festival:

- Mark Selby and Tia Sillers, out of Nashville, TN - The voices and lyrics of these award-winning singer/songwriters team up with Mark's excellent guitar for headline performances of the Festival. Mark, who has recently released his second critically-acclaimed album, "Dirt" on the Vanguard label, has toured extensively in Europe and North America, opening for such as Jeff Beck, B.B.King and Levon Helm. Tia is a tremendously accomplished songwriter with tunes brought to the public by artists such as the Dixie Chicks, Pam Tillis and Kenny Wayne Shepherd - tunes that have been on the rock, country and blues charts for weeks at a time - and Tia holds the Grammy (as well as every other possible music award) for song of the year, "I Hope You Dance", initially recorded by LeeAnn Womack.

.. A fan and supporter of this duo has so rightly said: "these guys are gonna knock your socks off"

- Peter Byrne, singer/songwriter and the lead vocals and rhythm guitar of the Glass Onion Band, comes to us out of Ireland.- Peter's love of music began in Dublin, listening to his father play the piano as a child; since then, Peter has accummulated 20 years of guitar-playing, singing and composition under his belt and will be treating us to his folksey-bluesy style during the Festival.

- Gipsy Trio, from Spain by way of Canada, promises to regale us with New Flamenco and Rumba Flamenco reminiscent of the Gipsy Kings. This cohesive group has toured in the Far East, the U.S.A. and Canada, and has sold over 40,000 recordings.

- Goh Kurosawa - An offering of world fusion and cultural co-mingling. Goh is a classically-trained musician who now plays a wonderfully unusual mixture of jazz, flamenco, asian and balkan music.

- Juan Gaspar - A native of the city of Puebla, Mexico, Juan Gaspar was introduced to music study at the age of 7 at Julliard under the tutelage of Natalia Gudkov. Juan has a long trajectory as accomplished composer and concert guitarist, having toured extensively and participated in numerous classical festivals and workshops in both Mexico and the United States.

Other musicians that will be joining us include: Jim McCormick (musician/songwriter and regular performer at the New Orleans Jazz Fest), Kathleen Haskard (singer/songwriter who has played in SXSW, NXNW, The Folk Alliance and Durango Festivals), Nick Vigarino and his "mean slide guitar", Nelson Graham for some grassroots country/folk music, Tom Freund with some smooth Americana/roots/rock, and a whole lot more!

Guitar Fest is sponsor driven and funded. The Festival is looking for sponsors - Advertise your vacation rental, restaurant, store, business of any kind in Official Guitar Festival Program - or buy a logo space on the poster or T-Shirt (they're going to be a cool, blue this year!). Prices and information available at http://www.zihuafest.info/2005/advertiser.html

Guitar Fest is also looking for VOLUNTEERS! There's a tremendous amount of work required to organize and prep for a festival - we need helpers to sell ads, tickets, T-shirts, man the gates at the venues, schlep equipment, drive musicians around,

If you have a restaurant or food service, please consider donating a few meals to the musicians during Guitar Fest week - just one more of the services that has to be covered by donations during the event.

Click here for the sponsorship form - http://www.zihuafest.info/forms/zihuafest_sponsors.pdf

The February, 2005 issue of Another Day in Paradise has been published

It's all ready to read on the Another Day in Paradise website at http://www.adip.info, or look for hard copies all around town

Please note that most of the photos and illustrations associated with print articles are not posted on the website. Print ads are no longer reflected in the on-line version and those who wish ads leading to their websites from the on-line version must purchase these separately. Prices for these are posted on the website.

Other things to look forward to and mark on your calendars:
(check the ADIP Upcoming Events page for a full list)

Photography Exhibit, Coconuts Feb. 11
A showing of images by world renowed photographers who are visiting Zihuatanejo for their annual creativity seminar will be held at Coconuts Restaurant in downtown Zihua on Friday, February 11, 2005, starting at 7 pm. All proceeds from this event will all be donated to various charity groups to help with education here in Zihuatanejo. For more information, call 554-2518.

Zihuatanejo Carnival will be held from February 15-22. Street fairs, parades, floats, costumes, dance and general revelry. More info available from http://www.zihua-ixtapa.com/zihua/events/carnaval05.html

2nd Annual Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival, a week of live music in Zihuatanejo - April 3-10. A great music filled week benefiting music education in Zihuatanejo. www.zihuafest.info for more information.

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Inquiries and reservations are now being accepted for a new place currently under construction in Troncones Beach, due to open next November. This is the Present Moment Conscious Living Retreat - the retreat will offer beachfront bungalow accommodations designed with native materials, a restaurant serving exquisite and natural spa cuisine and an entire range of yoga, massage, meditation and bodywork classes and workshops for a particularly special vacation interlude Visit the website at http://www.presentmomentretreat.com

For other suggestions for lodging in and around Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, please visit our Featured Lodging page at http://www.zihua-ixtapa.com/lodging.shtml.

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Regards to all,

Carol & John
Zihrena Systems