We had finished cleaning the boat from top to bottom in Ixtapa marina and were now in the anchorage at Zihuantanejo for the beginning of Sailfest. We volunteered and keep our friend company and help out at the desk in town for a few hours one afternoon which was fun because you got to meet a lot of people. Sailfest is all about raising money for the indigenous children, in past years they have raised enough to build a school and now they are raising funds to help the children learn Spanish as they need this in order to attend a Mexican school. The second night we attended a concert which was more than we ever expected, the variety and talent of the participants was fantastic! On Wednesday they had the pursuit race, eight boats participated and we helped out on the committee boat, another great day in paradise. The next day it was time to wax the boat and finish cleaning the rest of the stainless before it gets all salty and dirty, this took us pretty much all day, luckily it was cooler weather with clouds overhead. Wow did it ever look nice. On Friday we participated in the sail parade, Sailfest sold tickets for people to come on the cruisers boats and sail/motor from Zihuantanejo bay to Ixtapa and back, we were lucky enough to have 3 Mexican women and 3 children and one American fellow from Zihuantanejo on our boat. We had a great time, Ken took the young boy and girl under his wing and showed them under close supervision how to steer the boat, the young boy was so quick to learn, that he knew which buttons to push to switch from Autopilot to standby just by watching. We all had a great time. Now it was time to wonder around town, we can see why people come here and stay here it is a great little town, they have built a core area that is very pedestrian friendly with lots of little shops. People here are so helpful and friendly. We said goodbye to our friends Ellen and Ian on Kasasa and wished them well on their journey back north for the summer. Thank you for the great dinner Ellen and Ian, we will miss you. Our good friends Gil back home has a sister living in Zihuantanejo, we were able to get in touch with Tracy and Frank and arranged to have Frank come with us on the boat when we head up to the marina for a last cleaning and wash before heading south. We headed into shore to pick up Frank along with friends of theirs, Paddy and Sandy (visiting from Penticton) and headed off to the marina, once we got to the marina we went over to Tracy and Franks condo and then lunch. Sunday evening Tracy was singing at the restaurant where we had planned to eat along the boardwalk at the marina. We had about 12 of us cruisers at the restaurant that night and everyone enjoyed Tracy and her band. We had a nice visit with Tracy, Frank, Paddy and Sandy at the restaurant. We spent yesterday provisioning and cleaning, phew got it all done just in time to have another visit with Tracy and Frank. We went to bed early last night as we knew we were leaving at 5am this morning. We are now on our way to Acapulco for a quick stop and then onto Huatulco. #