Zihuatanejo and Ixtapa 2010

John and I were here last year so I have put a few pictures from last year and this year. Less picture taking of the same buildings, etc required that way and you do not have to skip back to the Mexico 2008 link. I will do the same thing for Patzcuaro and Mazatlan.

Below is some scenery on the way to Zihuatanejo. The road was very good, but curved around many times. You had to be on the ball.

Stunning coastline views

We are once again surrounded by lush mountains and tropical vegetation

There are many coastline views along this route with gorgeous sandy beaches that stretch for miles

Once we got to the toll portion of Mex 200 the road widened out with shoulders and guard rails.

Taxis in small towns along the way. The next few pics show how they are personalized

Sawmill

Cow, obvious I know!!!

Woman carrying firewood back to her house

Ok I had to show this cow as it took a few minutes for us to get this animal off the road. We corralled it with our vehicle by honking and slowly moving it our the road. It was stubborn

This is a bridge under construction. Notice that there is only half a bridge. Our side!!!!! It was quite a drop if you went off the side. I was not happy!

Coconut candy just outside Zihuatanejo. Cost to us was 35 pesos per jar. Worth every penny!!!

View of Ixtapa

Below is a good link about the area and what to see and do:

http://www.ixtapa-zihuatanejo.com/info/english.htm

Information about Zihuatanejo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zihuatanejo

The boats come in off the beach here and the fish is weighed and sold fresh that morning. Taxis around here are cheap. I would not bring down a second vehicle. It really is not a requirement. The average cost of a taxi is between 300 and 500 pesos for a trip. We paid 800 pesos to go from Zihuatanejo to Ixtapa.

The cost of food in the restaurants is comparable to the US or Canada.

The main place to buy an order of groceries is the "Commercial". It was a 350 peso taxi ride from our park. We also bought three umbrellas while we were there for 100 pesos each. A very good deal. Groceries are about 10-15 percent cheaper than in the US and about 20 percent cheaper than Canada

We stayed at "Bungalows And Trailer Park Costa Bella"

GPS Location: 17.62593 N 101.54461 W

This park is located in backyard of a house next to Playa La Ropa beach

We had all services. It was secure and quiet. The owners were extremely friendly. John and I were invited for dinner and drinks. John got to practice his Spanish a lot while we were here.

http://www.ontheroadin.com/pacificcoast/pacificsouth/costa_bella.htm

If you cannot get a space here there are other parks. We found "Estacionamiento Marisqueria Mary" on one of our walks. It was very clean, had all services, restaurant, showers and banos. Cost was 200 pesos per night. They do have a couple of dogs that roam freely at night, so if you have a pet you might want to keep this in mind. There is lots of shade and it is close to the Playa La Ropa beach

GPS Location: 17.63194 N 101.54611 W

We did check out the new Fonatur RV Park in Ixtapa, but it is too far from everything for our taste and it does not accept pets.

Our RV in Costa Bella

The Costa Bella apartments for rent. We got a tour of one and they are very nice

The patio of the owners house is where everybody would sit to get the WiFi and chat

John and I had dinner at a very nice restaurant overlooking the beach next to our RV park

Sunset

Beautiful yachts in the harbor

John relaxing on the beach with his Spanish books (always studying)

I had to take a picture of the family -the little girl in the white dress looked so cute!

Activities (fishing and jet skiing)

Vendors selling goodies and jewelry

Lots of people will stop on the bridge as they exit the El Manglar RV Park just so they can see if any of the crocodiles are out. There is a salt water crocodile habitat next to the park/restaurant. They tend to come out later in the evening. I got a couple of pictures of one that was about 8 ft long.

This particular crocodile is the pet of one of the owners of the restaurant next to us. He was out for his morning walk. They wrap wire around his snout so he doesn't take off the hands of his handler!!!

I loved the colours of the buildings along this coastline, very vibrant, not commercial and modern looking. Notice that the buildings are stepped up the side of the hills here. Some engineering went into this

If you want to do water sports you can sit on this toy, hang on as it whips you around the inlet. I never asked the price

Lots of people that have more guts than me decided to pay to be dragged behind a boat under this parachute. This guy is one of the owners and he decided to take a trip around to drum up business. Notice he is not sitting in the harness. The guy is standing on it and hanging onto the ropes tethered to the parachute. Hope he has good life insurance!!! He is about 70 ft or more above the water!!!!

A few of the finest walking the beach. These are the local police. Some of their staff are assigned to patrol the beach and the city streets on foot. Yes they are carrying fully automatic rifles.

These gentlemen caught this Sailfish while out fishing and what a catch. The thing weighted about 100lbs. There is a second smaller one on the ground in front of them