Well, just got back from Zijuatanejo a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty warm; lots of sun, surf and sand.
Ixtapa and
Zijuatanejo are about 150 miles north of Acapulco. Ixtapa is a resort
town built just for tourism. There is lots of very nice hotels,
ranging from approx. US$100 to $300 per night.
Ixtapa has a
beautiful 3 mile beach and almost every hotel has a volleyball net
set up. You can parasail behind a boat, go horseback riding and there are
lots of potential guides for many activities walking the beach. Also
lots of time-share sellers walking the town of Ixtapa.
Zijuatanejo, on the other hand, is more Mexican. You need to
speak Spanish; some of the locals speak English but not all by a long shot.
Zijuatanejo has a great market, Mercado Centro. If you have a kitchen you can buy
just about anything you need here.
There is a little restaurant
in the market called Fonda de Delia. For $20pesos you get a
little pitcher of juice and pollo con mole (a piece of chicken with
the traditional mole (mole-aayy) sauce, rice and refried beans). I had
it for breakfast, good stuff. And instead of juice you can have a
little bottle of sangria! My boyfriend said it tasted like a grape-Nehi; it's got red wine, lime and sugar in it. Just watch out in
other restaurants; if they make it themselves instead of the bottles it could be
pricey.
On the Paseo de Pescadore, the fisherman bring in their catch
at about 6-7am. If you're up early you can go watch them bring
it in and even buy fish here if you don't want to wait till it gets
to the market.
They don't speak much English so know your numbers or
carry a calculator. You can also arrange tours on your own at the
wharf on Paseo de Pescadore (means fisherman's walk) for fishing trips
to catch sailfish, tuna, mahi mahi, etc. Actually I was almost in
tears because they were bringing in so many sailfish every day, it's
amazing there is any left!
Another beach across from Paseo de Pescadore is Playa Las Gatas.
It's great for snorkeling, especially if you don't like rough water.
You can see great fish in just 5 ft. of water.
Las Gatas has a great
beach with lots of little restaurants that rent snorkle gear. If you go
to Brisas del Mar, the host, Louie, is a great guy. The beers were
cheap (9 pesos) and the location was excellent. However, the shrimp I ate were
so overcooked I gave them to the little kitten scrounging. 2 out of 3
aint bad.
If you want an excellent tuna steak, go to Elvira's
restaurant on Playa La Ropa. Mine was awesome, although my squeemish
companion didn't like his pork steak. The dog enjoyed it!
Elvira's is
great though, you can sit on a very nice beach with a lovely table
setting and dig your toes in the sand. Great place to watch the
sunset and be romantic.
Shopping is pretty good in Zijuatanejo. I found the silver chain I
was willing to go to Taxco for at the first store, $1170.00 pesos or
$180.00 CAD. The next store in the market, $780.00 pesos that went to
$600.00pesos or $100.00CAD.
On the beach from a nice old lady, same
chain and intricate work from Taxco, $450.00 pesos or about
$67.00CAD|! So it pays to look around.
If you are into jewellery that
is art, go to Alberto's, two stores in downtown Zijuatanejo. It'll cost you
but they have gorgeous baroque pearls, beautiful gems and most of the
nice pieces are one-of-a-kind. They will ply you with beer, tequila,
whatever it takes.
For women's clothes, look for La Sirena Gorda restaurant; the
shop 2 doors down has cool stuff, nice work and good prices. For
men's clothes go to Nueva Zeland for a cappuccino then straight
across the street for cool crinkle cotton and huge selection of
clothes for everybody. They had really cute dresses for little girls
and babies.
For spices go to the Mercado Centro. I bought the best oregano
I've ever smelled here. Vanilla beans are $10.00 pesos and there are many
kinds of mole sauce here that you can take home.
Just don't take
any meat. All the customs are very picky since Mad Cow disease. I've
never had a problem with spices.
Make sure while in Zijuatanejo to go to a restaurant
called 'Tamales y Atoles Any' for the pozole soup that comes with a
huge bowl of condiments.
The soup is a chicken/corn base and you can
add avacodos, onions, oregano, chile, jalepenos and radish slices. It's
wonderful stuff! And have flan for dessert, like a cross between
cheesecake and custard.
Well, if you ever get to Zijuatanejo, I hope you enjoy it as
much as I did.
Happy trails!
