Troncones trip report, part 1

After a long delay . . .

My wife and I have made two trips to Troncones, once in October/November 2009, and once again in late October 2010. Each trip for was about 7 days. I have never posted a trip report before, so I thought I would combine the two. Both trips we stayed at Casa de la Sirena, which is located kind of right in the middle of Troncones beach, a short ways north of the T intersection where the main town road meets the beach road. The location was perfect for us, as we could easily walk to town and the various restaurants on the beach. The resort itself was perfect. Our suite occupied the entire third floor of the mini villas, had a large bedroom and a covered, open air living room and kitchen area that overlooked the ocean and pool area below, and the mountains behind.

The view was simply fantastic in all directions. One of the things we like about the west coast of Mexico is that the scenery is not limited to just the ocean and beach, the mountains and flora are just as impressive, and you can see both from the open air living room of the villla.

When we first arrived at the villa the owners Mike and Debbie hadn’t yet arrived from California for the season. Until they arrived we had the resort to ourselves and had a great time pretending like we were the owners. We weren’t too worried about them spoiling our fun upon their arrival once we saw the shot glasses they provide in the rooms

and the clever way they disguised the stripper pole on their “yoga” platform

Humberto, the on-site caretaker was a great guy. He spoke good english and was very entertaining and helpful. One day when we were sitting at the pool we observed some guys swimming along the shore outside of the breakers. Humberto said they were harvesting oysters and asked if I wanted some. Half an hour and 100 pesos later he came back up the beach carrying a bag with a dozen oysters he purchased from the fisherman. He went in to town and got some limes and hot sauce, and showed me how to crack open the oysters. We sat at the pool and ate them together. Delicious. Those oysters never changed temperature from the time they were born until they hit my stomach.

The beach at Troncones provides many diverse views all in a close proximity. Facing one direction you will see pristine open sand beaches, and in the other direction the beach will be covered with beautiful volcanic rock jutting from the water and sand. Depending on the tide and surf, the waves crash and splash on the rocks and wash up on the beach between the rocks.

What’s really cool is that when you turn around from facing the water all you see is green forested mountains, not a row of high rise hotels.

One morning we decided to take a day trip walking the beach from Casa de la Sirena to Manzanillo Bay. What better way to spend a day we thought than a leisurely walk along one beautiful beach to another beautiful beach. So leisurely we thought, that we decided not to wear shoes. Or bring water. And we were sober when we made these brilliant decisions. Well, turns out the farther north you walk there are areas where the lava rocks jut up into the beach forcing you to walk a ways from the water, where the sand changes from buttery soft grains to shards of sharp shell. Sharp, hot shell. But being the adventurers that we are, we knew that the further we walked the closer we got to our destination and cold beers. Besides, we figured that once we rounded the upcoming point

we would arrive and be able to take a taxi home. Unfortunately, we kept getting farther and farther from our resort yet we didn’t appear to be getting any closer to the point. By this time we were so hot and thirsty that we were sucking on handfuls of damp sand we dug up trying to extract any moisture we could, and our feet were making us wish that the circling buzzards would put us out of our misery. Eventually we got to the beach point just south of Manzanillo Bay only to discover that there was no way to get around the point other than to climb over an expanse of black lava rocks that by this time of day were hot enough to steam tamales. As we turned around and started stumbling back down the beach toward the villa, in my weakened mental state I started having halucinations of a half-buried Statue of Liberty at the far end of the beach. Beaten and near death, we took shelter under a bush and began writing our wills in the sand. Well, eventually we remembered that we had some cold Dos Equis on ice in the lettuce bin in the refrigerator. Newly motivated, I threw my wife over my shoulder and carried her the rest of the way home. When we finally got back to the villa I tossed her in the pool and jumped in after her. We sounded like two lit matches hitting the water.

One of our favorite things to do in Mexico is experience the local restaurants, and Troncones did not disappoint. There is a variety of the simple, family-owned, feet in the sand type places, along with some up-scale places mixed in.
Aall right on the beach and with great food. In no particular order, here are some beach side and road side views of several popular spots.

Restaurant Jetzebel

Dona nica

Roberto’s Bistro

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Troncones Steakhouse ay Mi Casa su Casa

Cafe del Sol. not on the beach, but second floor views of the beach and town. Great food and a real bar type atmosphere upstairs and a deli-style cafe on the ground level, complete with the requisite siesta cat.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the bar and restaurant at Present Moment Retreat, which is just a two minute late night stumble from Casa de la Sirena. Anyway, The bar and restaurant at Present Moment are spectacularly beautiful, and the food is awesome also (but $$$ of course) compared to the other places on the beach.

Inn at Manzanillo Bay, farther up the beach, a short cab ride to the north, but fancier. Beach side service and a beautiful dining room back inside the complex.

to be continued