Ixtapa and Z-what? (January 14-20)

You may remember Zihuatenejo (zee-what-tan-AY-ho) as the little fishing village that Tim Robbins moves to after escaping from prison in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. He had good taste in Mexican towns. It’s a little bigger than a fishing village now, though most of the really big resorts are next door in Ixtapa.

We stopped for a night at Isla Grande just of Ixtapa for a night. It was packed with tourists and I didn’t much care for it. Dan liked it because the sand was so clean. I think the coco loco may have improved his mood. There’s some good snorkeling on the reef right of the beach, but it was so jammed with people that it was really unappealing -- especially after being spoiled by having whole bays to ourselves.

We moved the next day around the corner to Z-town., which I liked better. We passed a few days here, going into town most every day for a meal or to meet friends for beers and the game. We anchored off Playa Ropa, and I could see the hotel where Mom, Dad, Kathy and I had vacationed about 20 years ago. Wow, that sounds like a long time. The one thing that dominated the feel of the town was how hot it felt. It‘s true what they say: it really isn’t the heat, it’s the humidity. Dan and I walked about a half hour to the bus station during the middle of the day to buy a ticket north for me. By the time we got there, we were both ready for a cherry Icee (which always seems like a better idea than it actually is), and I was really glad when Dan said he was catching a cab to get back. And this is JANUARY. Mid-winter. This is as cold as this place ever gets. That really blows my mind.

Had a nice week here, unspoiled by the fact that Rita was lurking somewhere nearby. While hanging out in the Rick’s Bar, a cruisers’ hangout, I saw Rita (crazy Rita from Mazatlan) had posted a notice that she was looking for crew. Guess whoever she’d convinced to sail with her this far had bailed. Big surprise. The water was warm and relatively clear, making swimming and diving nice passtimes.


Anyway… tourists try to kill themselves in creative ways here… the parasail was busy so they harnessed themselves to the sheets of a spinnaker, and WHOOOHOOO!

The market place was really cool, and I wish I’d taken a picture of it. They sell everything in different little stalls from T-shirts to frying pans to whole fish to large pieces of cow. Bought a couple of pirated DVDs for a few pesos at the market. Dan and I watched “The 40 Year Old Virgin” on a laptop in the cockpit under the stars one warm night. That was nice.

I was sad to leave, but needed to get going up to La Manzanilla to take care of some paperwork, and then on to La Paz to catch the next boat (bound for Florida!). Dan emailed me that after I left, the dinghy made another escape. He found it on the beach the morning after I left. He said some locals saw it in the surf and dragged it onto the beach -- leaving all the dive gear he’d had in there, which was a real bonus. There are some really honest people down here.