There is a ship's bell at the entrance of Las Olas ("The Waves") restaurant which looks over the beach and pounding surf in front of our hotel. It is rung when the whales (greys and blues, among others) or "las ballenas," which migrate down the coast, swim near to shore and are spotted breaching or blowing along the way. They are most abundant from January to March. This morning as we eat breakfast, the bell is ringing near constantly. Every couple of minutes, we, along with other guests, stop eating and look out toward the horizon to see the mist from their breaths and the blackness of their backs. Ava, who complains near constantly that everything is either too hot or cold, worries that the whales will get too cold swimming out there. I assure her that the whales don't complain too much about the relatively warm waters in Mexico. "They are going to places where the water's much colder than here. They have tough skin with lots of fat under it," "Oh," she understands, "even whales go on vacation to Mexico!"
