Day 10: Zihuatanejo
The town is Zihuatanejo. The pop culture reference is this is the town where Tim Robbins escapes away to at the end of Shawshank Redemption with his friend Morgan Freeman ultimately meeting him here. That last scene was obviously not filmed here. Still, just pronouncing its name and hearing the syllables roll off my tongue, it conjures up the essence of paradise, purity, freedom. Late December is the coldest time of year yet the temperature here is 90 degrees with barely a cloud in the sky. Though there are a surprising number of Americans on our beach, La Playa Ropa, it is hardly overcrowded with tourists. It’s a quaint, McDonald’s-less town with a very relaxed feel to it.
We arrived here around 1:30 after a surprisingly pleasant four hour drive. It’s only about 150 miles from Acapulco but the roads in Mexico are not exactly five lane interstates. This was a two lane road (one lane each way) that passed through small towns every few miles. And of course each town - like most of Mexico – is riddled with speed bumps. Mexicans seem to be fascinated with speed bumps. They put them pretty much anywhere they want without any sort of logic or reasoning behind their location. And often times, there are no warning signs. Additionally, in Mexico City, speed bumps are colored the same way as pedestrian cross walks so you often come within inches before you can decipher whether you need to slow down or not. By then obviously, it’s often too late. Anyway, we had gotten an early start, we didn’t feel rushed, and the scenery we passed through was gorgeous. Plethoras of palm trees lined the roads most everywhere; lush greenery and sunshine were ubiquitous. It reminded me much of Florida… except anytime we saw a mountain or any incline for that matter. Florida is about as flat as they come. Even the towns we passed through were cute and gave us an insight as to how Mexican country folk lived. Julia commented, “We could never live like that because we’d know what we’re missing. But these people live simple lives… and they’re happy with them.”
It wasn’t difficult to find La Catalina and get checked in. Our room, on the closest tier to the beach, has no air conditioning, TV, or phone. What it does have is a balcony overlooking the most breathtaking view of the bay you could imagine. And the balcony has a hammock! (“There’s hammocks-R-Us. That’s on 3rd… Gotta Put Your Butt There… that’s on 3rd… come to think of it, they’re all on 3rd.” “Oh, the hammock district!” *Hank Scorpio & Homer) I love that hammock. It’s so comfortable and relaxing. I’ve been lying out there all evening. This resort, like the Radisson, is on a steep hill leading directly down to the beach. But unlike the Radisson, which is a chain and comes with all sorts of amenities like the tram that carries all your luggage up and down the hill, this place instead has Pablo – a little guy who can carry the heaviest and bulkiest of bags down all the steps to your room. If you know me, you know I have to count the number of steps all the way down. Amazingly, the number of steps from the beach up to the reception desk at the top of the hill is 10 steps MORE than the number of steps to the top of the Sun Pyramid.
The Radisson’s beach had looked out into Acapulco Bay which is a few miles inland from the ocean. La Playa Ropa lies in the middle of the shores of Zihuatanejo Bay and thus directly faces the Pacific. The waves here are much larger than expected though not overwhelmingly so and the views of the sunset of nothing short of spectacular. We ate some lunch at one of the many beach side restaurants, then relaxed under one of the handful of bungalows lined along the sand. Because the temperature is so hot and the sun is so strong, most people here prefer the shade. If you’re ever too hot though, the water is just cool enough to be enormously refreshing.
As the afternoon waned, we were approached by this guy, Moses, who offered to be our tour guide over to Manzanillo Bay tomorrow to go snorkeling. There are a variety of coral reefs and fish over there. Neither Julia nor I have ever been snorkeling before. I was hesitant at going along with some strange guy who came off as a shady fast talker but Julia convinced me to meet him down by his boat the next morning at 10AM.
After the gorgeous sunset, we adjourned up to our casita for a shower, change of clothes, some sex, and relaxing on the hammock. We then went out for a walk along the shore in search of dinner. The stars were out and shining brightly – not as bright as when I was in Oregon or California but bright enough to pick out the Pleiades. We strolled in our bare feet, the sea water occasionally rushing in to cool our feet and ankles, and we eventually came to a dining destination called La Perla on the far end of La Ropa. They were kind enough tot set up a table for us right on the sand. I asked for a margarita. Jules got a green salad with mushrooms & walnuts and a red snapper for her entrée. I couldn’t resist the clam chowder along with a chicken cordon bleu. The chowder was excellent and being from New England, that says a lot; my chowder standards are quite high. Of course Zihua being the renowned fishing town that it is and seafood being notoriously good here, I had to try Jules’ red snapper despite my distaste for fish. Her snapper was incredible though! It was soft and tender with just the right amount of garlic and butter – it didn’t have that fishy smell or taste I despise so much.
I discovered that between snorkeling and parasailing tomorrow, I wouldn’t have enough money to cover both. So we climbed the 258 steps to the car and drove into town to find a bank machine. Figuring we had the car, why not drive over to Ixtapa, Zihua’s sister town, to get a feel for it? Ixtapa is exclusively a resort town. No one really lives there. It’s only high rise hotels, pricey trendy restaurants, and some discos. It’s a bit like Acapulco as far as tourism goes but it has nothing else. No authentic Mexican life, no gritty parts of town, just tourism – almost like Disneyland. Not remotely interesting to us so we drove back to the Catalina with Julia practically asleep by the time I pulled into the parking lot.
