We are halfway through our four weeks in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, so it is time for me to do a post about our arrival and initial impressions, no matter how many posts I still have to catch up on from our time in Europe (eight of them). Because I don’t want to fall behind on posting about our current experiences, I’m just going to intersperse the posts for this leg and from Europe. And vow never to fall so far behind on blogging again!

Arrival in Zihuatanejo

Despite smooth travels reaching Zihua, our arrival here was still pretty rough. We did an overnight stopover in Dallas because American Airlines has a mid-morning flight to Zihua. Taking an evening flight from St. Louis was cheaper than flying out on an early morning flight and we would have had the night in the hotel anyway. The stopover went really well. We got a good night’s sleep in our airport hotel (La Quinta DFW Airport North), a good breakfast, and the shuttle back and forth ran well. 

When we arrived in Zihuatanejo, we were amazed at how quickly we passed through passport control. However, when they scanned our bags at customs, they demanded a 1000 peso ($56) fine for bringing our chef’s knife into the country in our checked luggage. After a little arguing, they agreed we could avoid the fine by throwing. We decided to do that rather than give money in what felt like a shakedown and get by on Airbnb knives until we can replace it. We have our knife sharpener along, so that has helped. 

As we exited customs, we were immediately approached by travel hawkers trying to sell taxi rides and tours. I knew we needed to buy our ride at the counter but it was a struggle to cut them off and get around them. Finally we just firmly said no and were able to pay by credit card about $25 for a ride to our Airbnb, which is what I’d expected.

Because our flight was early and customs was fast (though frustrating), we were early for our check-in and they were still cleaning. We were able to leave our luggage and wait at a nearby cafe. I went down the street a few blocks to get cash from an ATM. Unfortunately, this is where the worst part of our arrival day happened, when I accidentally forgot to take my card from the machine after receiving the cash. I realized it that night and locked the card. No one had tried to use it. But it meant I had to request a new card that still hasn’t arrived quite yet. Hopefully this week! And we still have Chad’s ATM card in the meantime. Another reason we love banking with Schwab, our ATM cards have different numbers even though they’re for the same account. Schwab also has no foreign transaction fees and refunds any ATM fees you’re charged, so really is the best for travellers like us. 

We also struggled a bit with the wifi in our Airbnb for the first couple of days, though we’ve worked it out now. It is a large two bedroom, two bath, two story duplex with concrete walls so hard for the wifi to get through. The host has an extender upstairs but it is pretty weak and doesn’t work with our VPN. Luckily we’ve started traveling with a wifi extender of our own and that is working well for the most part. I just need to be downstairs and on the actual wifi for consistent quality on Zoom calls. 

Though it is much bigger than we need, our Airbnb is very comfortable. It has a nice work desk for Chad and the host bought him a really nice floor fan to cool that area, which the ceiling fans didn’t reach very well. The two bedrooms upstairs are both air conditioned. And it has full bathrooms on each floor, which is very convenient. The kitchen is very functional and there’s even a bit of outdoor space. The location is pretty much perfect, near a lineal park that in one direction leads to the supermarket about 10 minutes away and the other direction the beach just over 10 minutes away. The host is very kind and is even supplying our 20 liter bottles of drinking water throughout our stay. 

Zihua Beaches

We were eager to see how Zihua (as it’s known) would compare to our first long beach stay in Puerto Escondido (also known as PE). The Zihua area is over double the population of PE-Zicatela (125,000 vs 50,000) size. It feels more built up here, though not like Puerta Vallarta where we’ve also had a long beach stay or Playa Del Carmen where we’ve visited twice. It also feels like there’s a lot more money in the city with its nice parks, good side walks, and public bathrooms. The malecon (paved path along the water) is especially nice and has several sculptures celebrating Zihua’s history. We’ve also had a couple of power outages, but they only lasted 30 minutes are so and averaging one per week is less frequent than we experienced in PE.

Zihua is built on a bay on the Pacific, which means the waves don’t get too dramatic and the water isn’t too cold. Like PE, Zihua has several beaches that each have their own vibe. Playa Principal is right off “el corazon” (the heart of the city) with the malecon and tons of restaurants, fishing boats and a pier. It and Playa La Madera are each about 12 minutes from our Airbnb. 

We’ve chosen La Madera for our beach days because it is a little calmer and more spacious with plenty of spots to put out our beach blanket. The few restaurants on La Madera are a bit farther back from the water there, creating more space. The day after we arrived in Zihua, we had our first date night at one of these restaurants, which was called Restaurante Maderas and was excellent. It was interesting eating a white tablecloth meal on the sand.

Playa La Ropa is just down from La Madera but a farther walk for us, probably 30 minutes. Those two beaches aren’t connected so you have to walk most of it on the road. Playa La Ropa also has many hotels and resorts on it, as well as a few restaurants. We haven’t swam there yet but walked through it going to and from the final beach (that I’m aware of), Playa Las Gatas. Playa Las Gatas is only reached by water taxi or hiking 15 minutes on a rocky path from Playa La Ropa. It took us just over an hour to walk all the way to Las Gatas from our apartment about a week after we arrived. 

Snorkel Day at Playa Las Gatas

Las Gatas is the only one of the beaches that is calm and clear enough for snorkeling. It has its own little bay within the bay and a coral reef creating the calm waters. 

To save our energy, we took the water taxi over on the day we snorkeled. It is just 100 pesos ($5.60) per person round trip and goes back and forth regularly between Zihua’s pier and Las Gatas between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. We arrived at the pier right at 8 a.m. to buy our tickets and were on our way by 8:15. It is a short ride across the bay and there was almost no one on the beach we we initially walked along it.

I’d found a recommended restaurant, Las Cabana, on Google that said it opened at 8:30 where I thought would be good for leaving our stuff and having our meal. However, it looked deserted when we passed. There’s empty beach on the end of Las Gatas so we sat there first to sort our stuff and then I walked back to see if anyone had arrived at Las Cabana yet. A couple was there drinking licuados, which turned out to be the owners or managers. I spoke to them and arranged to leave our stuff while we snorkeled and then have lunch after. It worked out very well.

After snorkeling, we relaxed a bit and then enjoyed a delicious seafood meal. We started with las tiritas de pescado, a local specialty similar to ceviche. Then Chad ordered a fish soup and I got grilled shrimp. It was all very tasty and interesting. Chad’s soup had a whole fish in it, which we were told was a mojarra (similar to tilapia). My shrimp were very large and a bit messy to peal. It was a satisfying meal and after relaxing for a while longer, we took the taxi back to Zihua, dropped our stuff back at the house and then enjoyed our own less crowded beach for a while. It was a fun day.

Other Fun Moments and Meals

The Christmas season in Mexico goes until January 6, el Día de los Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day), known in my tradition as Epiphany. We arrived on January 3 so we had a chance to enjoy some of Zihua’s beautiful Christmas decorations. They came down very quickly after Tres Reyas, so I’m glad we arrived to see. There’s something about Christmas at the beach that I find really appealing (I think it’s the weather). 

I’ve also started up Spanish lessons again, meeting with my teacher, Ami, three times a week. They’re going well so far and I like the approach of this school, Adventure of Speaking Spanish, better than others I’ve done in Puerto Escondido and Mexico City. Ami only speaks to me in Spanish and lets me choose the topics we talk about. There’s no learning grammar (though I understand most of the rules already anyway), just practicing phrases. So far we’ve talked about music, travel, and shopped at the mercado together. I already feel a little more confident in my Spanish.

Otherwise, our life in Zihua is very normal – work most days, walks most days, beach a few times a week, and great Mexican meals at home and when dining out. Every meal we’ve had so far has been excellent. The standout meal at home was a fresh-caught dorado (mahi mahi) that I bought with Ami at the market that Chad served with verde sauce (made with tomatillos and other veggies from the market) and Mexican corn and zucchini. Our weekly rhythm has been eating out two nights a week plus a brunch or lunch out. On the days we eat out at lunch, we do a simple snack dinner (often popcorn, my favorite). This has worked well for us and felt pretty healthy.

Summary

So far we’re loving Zihuatanejo, though I think four weeks is going to feel like enough here. We’re looking forward to a relaxing next couple of weeks that strongly resemble our first two weeks!