Breakfast in IXTAPA... Bye bye ~ZIHUATANEJO~

We drove away from Zihuatanejo (come on, lets all say that together now...) SEE-WHAAA-TEH-NEH-HO! Very hungry after getting up so early in the predawn moments of the day. We decided to visit IXTAPA one more time before heading out back down the Coast towards Pie de la Cuesta.

What we discovered, once we arrived in IXTAPA which is only a couple of miles from ZIHUA... is that NOTHING is open so early in the morning..... all we had was coffee in our stomachs...and we were hungry. We drove down very manicured lanes along the road to IXTAPA, and enjoyed all the beautiful scenery, but we were hungry!!!!!
Finally, we parked the car at a very beautiful tourist area full of shops and 'Closed' restaurants and just walked around. Finally we spied 'Senor Frogs' and thought surely they must be open. We hurried to the front door...and guess what? It was closed.
Very hungry and disappointed, and pert near grouchy by this time, we kept walking, trying to ignore the growling of our stomachs and hoping to find something, ANYTHING that served food.
I guess IXTAPA caters to the tourist crowd that stays in their $1,000.00 dollar a night Hotels and enjoy the complimentary breakfasts, cause there is simply not much for the ordinary Joe that just wants to eat a little eggs and hashbrowns.
We ended up at the Marina. And lo and behold, a restaurant that was open! Needless to say, we sat ourselves down, and ordered. And, it turned out to be a very nice breakfast as we ate good food, and was entertained by all the millionaire yacht people that were in the harbor for some world Yacht event. We felt like we had landed among the privileged of society, and dined ourselves in presumptuous prestige. (It never hurts to pretend once in a while, eh?)
We enjoyed our false sense of privilege as long as we could..... long after the meals were ate. When we got a few sideways glances from the waiter, we would just order a refill on the coffee! Hey! We were paying customers.... and we justified our extended stay by coffee refills.
Eventually we did leave, curious as to what was in the surrounding vicinity of IXTAPA.
What we found was a really nice playa (beach) and beautiful harbor that offered you boat rides over to an island.....we were tempted to try this, but the lines were long, and we really did need to be going towards home, at some point in the morning.
We walked around this harbor a while, and when returning to the car, we passed an area that was fenced off, with alot of people staring past the fence and taking photos and making comments in Spanish that we didn't understand, but we got the drift. Something ICKY or surprising was just beyond the fence.
Of course we were curious, and stopped to look before leaving the area. What we found probably brought forth exclamations much the same as what we were hearing in Spanish, but ours were in English...and they were something like this...." OOOU...ICK.... LOOK! JULIE! AN ALLIGATOR!!.......and OH KNOW, and IGUANA!!! OH NO! WHAT IF IT FALLS ON MY HEAD?" etc etc.
We had happened upon an area that protected the local alligator and Iguana population. They were rather intimidating, and we understood the need for the fence. We were very close, and glad for the fence.

*NOTE* Chuy informed me that IGUANA meat is good for you, and that he personally has eaten IGUANA a lot! (Another ooou and ick!)


We had a wonderful morning, saw some beautiful sights, got to feel RICH for a while, and were no longer hungry. It was time to finally say Goodbye to our new found towns, IXTAPA and ZIHUATANEJO and start heading back down the coast to Chuys home..... where the final Goodbyes would eventually have to be said, as we needed to soon be driving back to Mexico City.

The Two Rapscallions....... I have dubbed them these names. And, if you ever travel with these two, you will know exactly what I mean. They are both full of surprises, and plans, and not before known advice and tidbits of experience..... (Chuy is good for that)

One of the playas (beaches) around IXTAPA. Boats and vehicles blend together, and people mull about.... its layed back on this beach.....

More of the little harbor....

TA DAH! The Iguana!

And....the Alligators right underneath our feet.....

Chuys dinner...

Look hard...on the branch is an Iguana. We were scared that it would climb out on the limb towards us..... the limb overhang the fence. I could just imagine that thing dropping on my head. You would have heard me scream from IXTAPA to Arizona!

...more Gators......

A road leading to IXTAPA

$1,000.00 (USD) plus a night!

...same price as above!

Famous Senor Frogs...that was closed!

Finally, the Marina at IXTAPA. We dined like rich people! Surrounded by Yachting millionaires from all over the world. We heard French sounding words, and who knows what else by the passerbys.

Chuy pointing out the Yacht he is going to buy!!!

You should see the handmade furniture stores. Very reasonable prices..and pretty.

And, finally back on the Coastal Road that will lead us back home, southbound. Bye Bye!!

Sleepy Fishing Village? Zihuatanejo!!!

We woke up in ZIHUATANEJO!!! I couldn't even pronounce the name... although Chuy did his best to get us to roll our tongues correctly and put the correct emphasis on all the right vowels..

Julie and I in unison sounded out a very unfamiliar word..... SEEE-Whhaaaa- TEH-Neh-HO! We usually got the SEEE part pronounced.... and remembered the Whaaaa, but the word would get lost from our minds and tongues on the last TEH-NEH_HO part.

We tried a few times to get it right, and when we came pretty close, we changed the subject, decidedly tired of pronunciations of strange words...
As Julie and I lay in bed, waiting with our eyes still closed those few moments as you transit from slumber to awake..... We heard a very excited shout coming from just outside our hotel door.

Apparently Chuy had taken an early morning stroll, (a favorite past time of his) just as the dawn was breaking, as he was compelled to go investigate why people were hurrying and scurrying and shouting down at the beach, only about a block away from the hotel. He came bounding, (and I do mean bounding) into the Hotel room, insisting that Julie and I immediately grab our sandals and come see the fishermen that had just come ashore, from fishing all night.

He said the entire town was down on the beach, in a mad dash bid for the best, biggest and most popular fish of the day's catch.

He said we had to hurry and see this before it was over

Well, we felt his excitement and we couldn't stand the curiosity of what must be transpiring down on the beach..... although neither Julie nor I are morning people, we did for once forget that about ourselves and got involved in the adventure that Chuy promised awaited us just around the corner!

We grabbed our sandals and ran after Chuy who led the way for all of a block, down to the beach.

What we saw was indeed a small sea of humanity mingling amongst tired looking fisherman that had displayed their nights catch on tables and blankets and anything that would suffice to display the fish on. It was truly awe inspiring. It was one of those moments that are hard to describe, and I guess you would just had to have been there to fully understand the uniqueness of the moment, and the smells of the early misty morning sea salt ladden air, mixed with the unmistakable smell of fish.....

As the Sun rose, Julie caught other spectators that had invaded the beach. Huge graceful and greedy Pelicans. Enraptured by the sight of these huge birds, Julie grabbed the camera and shot away. What turned out was some very beautiful photos... some of my favorite of the entire trip.

While entranced with the birds, we saw that one last boat was coming ashore. The fisherman had jumped out of the boat in knee deep water, to push and coax the boat ashore.

Julie handed me the camera, and had the fun of helping the fisherman push the boat right up on the sand.... a lot of laughter ensued that excursion. Imagine, here is a cute little blond girl..... right along side the weary fisherman, giving them the HEAVE HO..... and PUSHHHHH!!! What a morning!

We meandered in and around the crowds, taking in all the sights and sounds and oohing and ahhing over some very different and funny looking fish...... I privately wondered what species they were, and who would eat them? Some were just plain weird looking!

When we had our fill, and the frenzy had died down when most of the fish were sold.....we headed back to the Hotel for our showers and daily adventure to investigate this town.

When we did finally hand in the keys, and walked the entire block to where the shops started, all Julie and I could say, over and over was ...."WOW!" and "OH, Wouldn't Gramma Sherrill just LOVE IT HERE!!!" We both agreed that in all of Mexico, we had found the EXACT town that Gramma Sherrill just HAD to see some day! And Julie decided that this is the town that she would like to live in..... The ambiance and collective artistry was everywhere. I think Zihuatanejo is the 'Artist's town of Mexico.... it stands to beat my favorite; TEPOTZLAN. I took some photos just for Gramma Sherrill to enjoy, and agree with us that she would have loved this little town just as much as we did!

We even plotted how she could there without having to drive the 6+ hours from Acapulco

I guess IXTAPA has direct flights...so Gramma Sherrill could fly in to IXTAPA and take a taxi the 2-3 miles around the mountain to Zihuatanejo. We could even direct her to a decent priced hotel............ So, Gramma Sherrill, this post is for you! I bet you will agree its a Roche Harbor and Sedona all wrapped into one package!

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These photos were taken at a crazy little restaurant that we ate dinnerat.

The awesome Pelicans... in the morning sun!

?????????????

Um... a little far from home?

Could it be...? Jack Russells?

"The FAT women. Thats the meaning of the name of this town..

The Mexican Naval base, right here at this little town? Very pretty setting for a Navy base!

Decent bathrooms, two bedrooms, and a nice Christmas tree in the foyer... all for 24.oo a night for three people! Very nice! One block from the Ocean! and Right at the center of the shopping district. Everything about this little town had us convinced that we would surely be recommending it to others, and would look forward to a return visit some day!