Our final two weeks in Zihuatanejo were a lot like our first two weeks in the beach town. We enjoyed lots of time at the beach and in the water, did two more snorkel excursions, and continued our typical set schedule of work, learning, and eating great Mexican food. While I was improving my Spanish speaking through my lessons with Ammi, Chad worked on his Mexican cooking and cocktail skills. In addition to great seafood dishes, he perfected a jamaica (hibiscus) margarita with a mix of tequila and mezcal. Our quality of life in Zihua was really outstanding. Here are a few more highlights:

Trip to Xihuacan Ruins

During my second week of Spanish lessons, my teacher Ammi took me and another student, Marcia, to the Xihuacan ruins at La Soledad de Maciel about an hour’s drive from Zihua. Marcia was slightly more proficient than me at speaking, but not quite fluent either. We all spoke only in Spanish for the whole trip, including visiting in the car on the way to the site and back. 

We arrived and paid our 20 pesos entry fee and Ammi arranged for a guide to give us a tour of the museum and grounds in Spanish for 400 pesos, a cost we all split. She said it would be good for us to hear other voices and accents, though Marcia and I later admitted to each other that we got only about 20% of what he said. After about 15 minutes, an English tour group of arrived and he had to go to give their tour as the only English-speaking guide. 

Ammi showed us more of the key exhibits and was much easier to understand and I felt more comfortable asking questions. Then another worker for the site joined us to tell us about the last of the exhibits and show us the ruins. He was not an official tour guide, but did a good job and was easier to understand than the first one. 

Two of the most interesting parts were learning about the ball game and the Tarascas. The Taracas (also called the Purépecha Empire) were an indigenous group based in Michoacan that managed to not fall to the Aztecs because they had copper weapons. They remained independent until the Spanish conquest. There’s a statue of the famous Tarascan king, Caltzontzin, near the path to Los Gatas from Playa La Ropa celebrating Zihua’s connection to this group. It’s a culture I hope to learn more about in our future trips to Mexico. Several people, including Ammi, really talked up Michoacan state while we were there, especially the city of Morelia. It’s definitely on our list now!

The ball game at Xihuacan was different than the version we’ve seen in the Yucatan and central Mexico. In those area, the game involved hitting the ball off various body parts through a stone ring suspended on the wall. For this ball game, they used flat wooden bats like lacrosse to hit the ball through a stone ring a the top of a pillar set into the floor. However, like the others, there was a human sacrifice element to the game and you definitely didn’t want to be on the losing team. 

After the museum, we drove up the road a bit to the excavation site where the ball court and a large pyramid have been uncovered. The excavations took place primarily around 2007. Some say the site is as important as Teotihuacan or Chichén Itza for its longevity and use by multiple cultures, but it was destroyed by a tsunami in 1350 AD.

The ruins were really worth a visit and I’m sorry Chad missed them, though he’s not as into Mesoamerican cultures as I am and we have been to many Mexican ruins. These were different than what we’ve seen in other parts of Mexico and I loved getting a close look at their history. It was an important ceremonial site used by numerous groups dating back 3,000 years and may have one of the largest ball courts (depending on what’s under the unexcavated part). 

I’m really glad I did the trip, even though it took the whole of a Wednesday morning. I’d looked into taking a tour to these ruins for me and Chad, but they are pretty pricey and Chad was only mildly interested, so it worked out great to get to do it with Ammi and Marcia. 

Another Snorkel Day

About a week after the trip to Las Gatas I described in my We’re Home post, we spent another morning snorkeling at Playa Las Gatas. This time we walked rather than taking the water taxi and left all our valuables at home besides some cash and my cell phone, which I took with me in the water. We left our stuff on the deserted end of the beach and enjoyed another great round of snorkeling, including finding the sunken Jesus statue this time. 

After snorkeling, we walked to Playa La Ropa and had a late breakfast of molletes (beans and cheese on a soft baguette) and an omelette at one of the restaurants and then some swimming there. La Ropa is considered the nicest beach in Zihua for good reason and we enjoyed some nice waves and a fun time overall. We walked back to our house via Playa Madera and went out that night to enjoy the sunset on Playa Principal, so it was a day we got to enjoy all four Zihua beaches.

Snorkel Tour

When we made our first trip to Playa Las Gatas to snorkel, we met a man named Joel (pronounced ho-el in Spanish) in front of our restaurant (Las Cabanas) who runs tours to snorkel at Manzanillo Cove, a secluded beach south of Las Gatas that you can only reach by boat. Manzanillo has a healthier coral reef and even more fish. The cost was a little high (3500 pesos, around $200) but it sounded really cool. We decided that if we built up enough savings on our weekly budget by the end of our stay, we’d do it. 

Since we were doing many other activities in Zihua besides going to the beach (free) and eating out (much cheaper than in the US), we achieved the amount easily. So we sent Joel a message on WhatsApp and arranged to do the tour a few days before we left Zihua. Fun side note: he required a 1000 peso deposit, which we were able to send him by making a deposit to his account at the Coppel department store.

On the morning of our tour, Joel picked us up at the Zihua pier and we headed out. He had several fishing poles cast behind the boat all the time we were moving. We went out to get a closer look at La Piedra lighthouse just beyond the bay and he hoped we’d see some whales, but no luck. On our way to Manzanillo, he got a bite on one of the lines and had Chad reel it in. The fish, which Joel called a black tuna, put up a fight but Chad got it in on his own. 

As we approached Manzanillo, we saw a school of dolphins, including one that did a perfect flip out of the water. We’ve seen dolphins before but never such a perfect jump. It was very cool.

At Manzanillo, we hopped in the water and started our snorkeling. Joel had masks, fins, and life jackets to offer us but we used our own masks and prefer no fins or floatation. We snorkeled all over the bay and saw beautiful coral and many interesting fish. When we came back to the boat for a break, Joel was butchering the fish we’d caught and asked if we liked tiritas. Since we’d enjoyed them a couple weeks prior at Las Cabanas, we were able to say yes. While we did a second round of snorkeling, Joel prepped the tiritas, which were ready when we returned. Basically you cut the fish in strips and add onion and lots of lime juice and the fish “cooks” in the acid. He served them with the traditional saltine crackers and they were excellent. Such a memorable experience to eat such a fresh fish on a boat in beautiful surroundings.

After our snack, we had Joel drop us off at the Las Gatas pier so we could walk over to Playa La Ropa, where we wanted to swim one more time. The folks at Las Cabanas Restaurante were kind enough to allow us to use their banos before we did the 15-minute hike over the rocks to La Ropa. We found a spot in the shade of a palm tree and enjoyed that beautiful beach. Then we walked the rest of the way home. It was a really fun day and I’m so glad we did the tour with Joel.

More Beach and Food Fun 

As I said above, most of our enjoyment of Zihua was our general quality of life, swimming at Playa Madera, taking Chad’s tasty cocktails to Playa Principal, dining at various restaurants including second visits to our favorites, and keeping up with our work and learning. But here are some photos representing many of those moments. Highlights include:

• dinner featuring fresh fish and seafood molcajeta at Restaurante Mi Casita, 
• lots of interesting ice cream cones from Umami Gelato (favorite was yakult, a Japanese sweet milk), 
• Chad learning to make platanos machos (plantains with carmelized sugar), 
• tacos al pastor from Taqueria El Carboncito, 
• sunset cocktails on the beach in Chad’s aeropress, 
• Japanese-Mexican fusion at Sushitl, 
• another round of veggie and cheese (chijuajua-manchego mix) tacos from Taqueria Mi Barrio, 
• tasty seafood meals at home featuring marlin and pez vela, 
• and a fabulous last meal in Zihua at Angustina Mezcal & Cocina. It included the raw tuna tostada we loved from our first trip plus pork belly tacos, grilled cauliflower with hummus, and a tlacoyo with pumpkin and shrimp.

Summary

Our four weeks in Zihuatanejo were a really great start to this four-month Mexico leg. We had to spend a little more on our Airbnb to stay there, but it was worth it. As for as beach towns go, we ultimately decided we probably prefer something smaller like Puerto Escondido. But Zihua was a wonderful choice and we can see why so many people love it.

Airbnb Review – My husband and I had a wonderful four-week stay in this house. It is very spacious and comfortable with a well-equipped kitchen. Liliana and her team of Judith and others were very attentive, even providing drinking water for us throughout our stay. She also bought a really nice floor fan to better cool the first floor, especially by the great desk where the ceiling fans didn’t reach as well. The AC in the two bedrooms upstairs worked great. There is a bathroom on each floor and the newly renovated upstairs bathroom is especially nice. The wifi is very fast on the first floor and Liliana has an extender to help it reach the second floor bedrooms, however we used our own extender that is a little more powerful. The location is perfect, near the lineal park, under 10-minute walk in one direction to the supermarkets and around 10-minutes in the other direction to the center and beaches. We would definitely stay here again.