One of my best girlfriends from college came to visit last week.
I kept offering food to her and she kept eating, so over the course of a few days in Mexico City, she tried atole, tlacoyos, gusanos, mescal, pulque and tacos al pastor. After we had sufficiently ran around town and stuffed ourselves, we jetted off to the beach.
It fell to me as Mexico ambassador to come up with a good beach location. I didn’t have a lot of time to plan — been launching this thing called Eat Mexico — so after some quick thinking, I decided on Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo.
Ixtapa, located in the state of Guerrero, is a resort area along the Pacific Coast. The government created it in the 70’s to boost tourism; today it’s filled with nice restaurants and high-rise hotels.
Zihuatanejo is a fishing village located adjacent to Ixtapa. It’s more quaint than its sister city, but still really nice, with little shops and straw-roofed boutique hotels overlooking the ocean. Both cities are about a one-hour flight from Mexico City.
Friends of ours had gone and liked it there, and the closeness of the place appealed to me. I booked a pretty good deal on Travelocity for a flight and two nights’ stay at Las Brisas, an upscale Ixtapa resort.
It was only after we arrived at Las Brisas that I remembered: Oh yeah. I don’t really like resorts. They’re expensive and the food is never good. And… did I mention they’re expensive?
Las Brisas was beautiful. It had two restaurants, a pool, a beach-side snack bar, tennis courts, and rooms with hammocks and ocean views. We heard the surf crashing outside our sliding-glass door.
But… I cringed when I paid 99 pesos at the snack bar, for what ended up being mediocre guac and totopos. (How is it possible to make mediocre guac in Mexico? How is it possible?) I fumed a little bit when the taxista charged us 130 pesos for a 15-minute taxi ride to the Ixtapa dock.
I missed seeing street food puestos, and I missed seeing hand-painted signs in front of mom-and-pop businesses — the kind that advertise “mofles” or “tortas” or whatever, with superfluous quotation marks. The only signs we saw Ixtapa were the boring professional kind, for hotels or restaurants.
All of that aside, the locations themselves, both Ixtapa and Zihua, were beautiful. Electric green trees, a lumpy blanket of them, covered the hills that lay against the horizon. Roads curved and twisted through the foliage. The beaches tended to look rustic and tranquil, with a curve of sand set in front of row of palapas.
The sun didn’t come out much while we were there, but I didn’t mind. It was warm and not too hot, with just enough humidity to make you feel like you were at the beach. (And not: “Ugh. I NEED A SHOWER.”)
Over two days, we went snorkeling on the Isla Ixtapa and gorged ourselves on fresh huachinango and shrimp slathered in dried chiles. We had drinks at the hotel bar at sunset, and watched a magma-like streak of orange in the sky slowly fade into slate-blue, and then black. We took a yoga class overlooking Playa La Ropa the morning we left, offered by an nice woman named Paty.
I would love to go back. Next time I’d like to stay in Zihuatanejo, or rent a car and drive further afield. Troncones, maybe.
The huachinango we later ate…
And the man who was so proud to serve it to us:
And lastly, the view at yoga class:
I made it into the blog–hooray! I am telling everyone about how much I ate and how they can too with Eat Mexico. Hasta luego, Mexico!
Hey girl… I simply love Zihua… However… I, like you, loathe beach resorts with overpriced, ho-hum or sometimes horrid food. May I recommend the Oaxacan coast for your next Mexican beach experience? When Michael and I lived in Gto. we loved getting away to Playa Carrizalillo, which is right next to Puerto Escondido. I know, it’s quite a trek but totally well worth it. There really isn’t a resort nearby but smaller hotels or–even better–sweet room rentals. We loved Carrizalillo because there was a lady who made yummy quesadillas and shrimp diabla right there on a grill. Oh yeah.. she also made awesome Pina Coladas. It was cheap and so good… didn’t get sick once. It was a perfect playa… with mostly expat locals and lapping wave, none of that crazy surfing waves in Escondido.
Now… this was in 2003 so who really knows whether that lady with the griddle is still there. However, I’d love to go check it out with you some day. After rough days in the news world, Michael and I joke about ditchin’ it all and making a trip back. Hope you can for us.
Thanks for the recommendation Cindy! Will have to put Playa Carrizalillo on my list — you made it sound absolutely perfect.
Ixtapa? ¡Lesley, Lesley, ay, Mija! what were you thinking?
Now, as to Troncones, one word: boring. I’ll add: demasiado gringos, and mostly expensive lodgings and B & B.s.
Zihuatanejo is beautifully located, has good restaurants, fun things to do and is worth a visit.
(How come the comment field here has no borders?)
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
I know, I know. I wasn’t really thinking, that’s what I said in the original post. 🙂 But I’m glad we did it this way, because at least now I know what not to do. Duly noted on Troncones.
Let me check out the comment field situation. It looks normal on my screen…?
Actually, Zihua and Ixtapa are one city, not two, though the two areas look very different. You got hosed on the taxi ride, which is just one reason not to go to Ixtapa. Go instead to Zihua. Whole different world, nice, smaller hotels, far less expensive.
As for Troncones, Don Cuevas above has it right. Don´t bother.
Thanks Felipe. Yeah, I know the taxi ride was a gyp, I seriously was gritting my teeth the entire time. But what can you do? It’s Zihua all the way for me next time.
What can you do? Ask the price before letting the cabbie take off. I´m assuming there was no meter.
Actually we did ask the price, and we were informed by the hotel staff that the ride had a set tarifa. (No bargaining allowed.) We were never overcharged on cab rides from within Zihua itself — it was only taxis we took from the hotel in Ixtapa.
The alternative would’ve been to say no and then walk from the hotel to a pesero stop. I’m just going to chalk it up to inexperience and stay somewhere centrally located next time.