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| Winter Wonderland - wonder why you stay in the cold?? |
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| "Jake" |
Dreaming of warmer places and looking back on winter holidays. Where will we go and when???
Ixtapa, Mexico, Looking Back
March 20, 2010 Last winter we waited until the first day of spring to leave for Ixtapa. We booked a last minute all inclusive package from http://www.selloffvacations.com/ for a good price. Ixtapa is located in the municipality of Jose Azueta in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico about 240km NW of Acapulco. You land in the Zihuatanejo International Airport which is about 30 minutes away from Ixtapa. The flight is only about 4.5hrs. I can handle that.
Our hotel is "The Fontan" which is about 30 years old, but it has an excellent beach location. It looks like nothing has been done to our room since it was built, but it is very clean and the price was right. (Note: some of the other hotels do not have direct access to the beach because of steep rocks.) The traveller's comments said that the food was good - so we will see.
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| "View from our room, Ixtapa" |
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| Beach at our Hotel |
Mon. March 22, 2010 We met Miguel at 9:30am and along with two other couples we left to tour the area. He drove us into Zihuatanejo, thru the different housing areas,
thru the local food market,
town centre, by the schools, and to the museum. They are very proud of their little museum. To us it seemed fairly empty but was interesting as they had a local artist group displaying their paintings. We then walked around "Playa la Madera Beach", which is the beach in the town by the pier. It is not very big and was empty. The bay is beautiful with boats moored out in it.
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| Bahia Du Zihuatanejo |
The next stop is a coconut harvesting place. Coconuts are split and left to dry all over the ground. The juice is just drained on the ground. An old Mexican cowboy-type of guy gave us demonstrations on the whole process using just a big machete to chop them in half and then another hand-made tool to scrape out the coconut. He then shredded some for us to sample. Next, he gave us coconut with a hot sauce on it, which tasted like a pickle and was different but good. He also gave us a coconut with juice in it to drink.
We then drove down a dusty back trail to the yard where they make tiles by hand. Here we had another older leathery Mexican man show us how he makes roof tiles and pavers by hand. He was very dramatic and interesting. They stack the tiles to dry in such a manner that it forms a kiln. After the clay is dry they just light a fire below the stack to fire them.
It was actually nice and cool under these big trees. We are not sure if the guy in the hammock is on coffee break, siesta or is the boss.
From here we drove south to Petatlan to see the city, the gold markets, and the local market where the locals shop.
We are glad that we are driving in a newer air conditioned SUV as the temperature away from the trees is very hot. Our next stop is down another 6km of curvy road out to a secluded beach for lunch. There are a few big houses and a couple of smaller hotels along the way. We arrive at an out door restaurant right on the beach for a delicious lunch of grilled fish. It was excellent.
We both enjoyed this excursion and would recommend it as you get away from the hotel into the towns and the countryside. Then back to our hotel for siesta on the beach.
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| "Our beach at hotel Fontan" |
Tues. March 23, 2010
Lazy day on the beach. Surf is high and beach is fairly empty. Temperature is perfect.
Tonight, at 6:00pm we are meeting our friends Gary and Beline at their hotel Las Brisas to go back to Zihuatanejo and up onto the hillside over-looking the bay at the Kau-Kan Restaurant. There is a beautiful view from the patio where we will be eating. We have a grilled platter with lobster, steak, fish and veg. We didn't know that Gary and Beline had booked their holiday in Ixtapa until we met them at the Calgary airport waiting to depart which was a nice surprise. Good visit!
Note: This restaurant is nice to go to if you want a special place, good food, and an excellent view. The bill was 1412. peso or $142.00 for the two of us for appetizers, supper, desert and drinks.
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| Kau-Kan Restaurant, Zihuatanejo |
Weds., March 24, 2010
Quiet day at the beach. Sunny - just right.
Thurs., March 25, 2010
The guys have decided to go out deep-sea fishing for sailfish and marlin on a 35ft boat with two guides. They are the only fishermen going and have the whole boat to themselves. Geo and Gary fish from 7:00am on with 7 lines in the water. At 1:30 they catch a 80-90lb sailfish.
I am spending the day at the pool -La piscina and the beach -La playa.
Dejeme solo por favor - Leave me alone.
Estoy cansa do - I'm tired.
The rest of our our holiday is spent on the beach taking in our much needed vitamin D and walking around the town of Ixtapa. Then back home to winter.
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