Zihua daze

(Note: This post was written on our last evening in Zihuatanejo. We didn't finish writing it that night, however, and we've been beach camping without wifi access since then. So we're posting it today, a few days after the fact. We'll soon post our next report on what's been happening since we hit the road again.)
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Our two weeks in Zihua has flown, as it does when you're relaxing in a beautiful place and meeting friendly, interesting people -- namely, our neighbors at La Ceiba Residencial, our 24-unit condo complex just off La Ropa Beach.

We've entertained and been entertained by several people here: Marsha, a new friend who also manages the rental of our condo; Anne and Ann, from whom we bought our unit; and Veronica and Israel and 4-year-old Amaya, native Mexicans who own the unit next to us and speak English. (Veronica, who got her MBA in the U.S., is from an old Zihua family that owns property and hotels, one of which she manages.) Anne organized a group lunch for 22 owners from La Ceiba at Casa Vieja restaurant. We went there for pozole, which is basically chicken soup with bits of hominy (like miniature corn dumplings) in it.

Thursday is Pozole Day in Zihua  -- some small restaurants open only on Thursdays, and serve only pozole -- and people who live here all seem to have their fave pozole restaurant. At Casa Vieja ("Old House," which is what the building used to be), you can order chicken or pork or both in your pozole, and you can have it white (mild), green (medium), or red (burn your lips). The waiter brings trays of botanas (appetizers) beforehand -- jalapeno poppers (jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, lightly breaded, then deep-fried); taquitos (tortillas with a little cheese rolled up and deep-fried); and some deep-fried tortillas with a spicy chicken mixture on them. (Yes, lots of deep frying in some parts of Mexican cuisine.) The pozole is served with another tray of goodies and condiments to put in it: minced onions and radishes and serrano chiles, oregano and red chile powder, and deep-fried avocado (just kidding about the "deep-fried" there).

At Casa Vieja I also had my first Michelada. On our drives through the countryside I'd seen handwritten signs at roadside cafes (that's a plastic table and chairs under a blue tarp) offering Micheladas, but I hadn't yet investigated what they were. Then Marsha ordered one: A Michelada is a beer poured over about an inch of lime juice and ice in a tall glass whose rim is salted. I ordered one made with Victoria brand beer, something between a lager and an amber. It was the most refreshing thing you can imagine drinking on a hot day!

In and around our  socializing, we've explored several areas around Zihua. We drove to Ixtapa,  the government-developed, high-rise hotel area (a la Cancun or Cabo San Lucas) that is just north or Zihua and shares an airport with it. We spent a day at Barra de Potosi, a gorgeous beach south of town. We rented an hour on a tennis court at golf course in Ixtapa and happily batted the ball around. We walked the rocky milelong path from La Ropa to Las Gatas Beach, where we'd snorkeled in January, and this time we walked further out on the shore and saw sea urchins and tide pool life.

We went downtown several times and shopped in the wonderful and expansive mercado. This is a building with rows and rows of stalls where vendors sell fresh food -- fish, meat, poultry, fruits, veggies -- as well as household goods, DVDs, clothing and more. Surrounding the mercado is a commercial district with banks and restaurants and stores that sell lots of beach stuff and souvenirs for tourists. (We notice there are a zillion shoe stores in downtown Zihua, and they all seem to sell the same styles -- ??)

At the puestos (food stalls) inside the mercado, we've been served some wonderful and some awful tacos. We find that "wonderful" or "awful" can depend on the quality of the tortilla, most of which are handmade right in front of you and which consist of only a very few ingredients: masa (ground corn), water, and salt. (In Baja, most of the tortillas are made with harina, or white flour.) Thickness is a key variable, and we find that, usually, we prefer a thin tortilla to a thick one. But a tortilla has to hold whatever is put inside of it (beans, meat, chicken, fish, cheese) without falling apart, so it's tricky. To us there's nothing like a beautiful handmade tortilla hot off the grill and filled with yummy pollo picante (spicy chicken) ... yum!

Our 12 days in Zihua have been half purposeful and half lazy.

Gary bought two more pair of glasses here, wanting to take advantage of the affordable prices. We conducted a lengthy search for an outdoor BBQ and settled on a small, barrel-shaped, hand-welded unit that is sturdy and the perfect size for our condo patio. (We had borrowed a Weber-style grill from neighbors who'd owned it only two years, and the sea air had rusted through it in several places.) Neighbor Israel, who sells quality silver jewelry on the beach, is in chef school here, and he showed us two ways to do an amazing whole huachinango (red snapper ) on the new grill. Que rico!!! (Delicious!)

On several days, we took beach chairs, umbrella, cooler and books the half-block to the ocean and parked it there for the day. (The water in Zihua Bay is 83 degrees at the moment.) On a few others we hung out reading by the condo pool. It was sunny and hot nearly every day.We both can take way too much sun for our own good.

On our final day in town, Gary persuaded me to go up in a parasail that some guys operate on the beach. He negotiated a good price for us to be harnessed together and lifted high, high, high above the bay. The boat we were attached to made a loop towards town and back to our beach, and the ride lasted about 15 minutes. It was a rather busy day in the bay, however, and I was a little preoccupied as I watched our boat driver avoid colliding with a kayaker, another parasail boat, a yacht moored off the beach, and several fishing boats. The liftoff and landing were both smooth and flawless, and Gary managed to snap photos while in the air, some of which you see here.


Not sure when we will return to Zihuatanejo, only that it won't be too long...