We honeymooned in Ixtapa and returned each year. With each visit I thought, “Remember this. These are the good old days.”

In 1996 we bought “A piece of dirt between two villages nobody’s ever hear of.”

There was no Internet, no television, no telephone… no electricity. The nearest neighbour was 500 meters away. The nearest phone was a 4 km walk away… if the phone was working. I thought, “Remember this. These are the good old days.”

Now Troncones has paved roads, wifi, etc. I’m still thinking, “Remember this. These are the good old days.”

These are the good old days.

I arrived in Zihua in 1974. My friend and I rented a palapa next to the Sotavento on la Ropa and lived there for six months. Ricardo’s ’ was our go to place. I’ve travelled a lot over my years but that first experience with Mexico is the sweetest of memories.
I return often.. always to the Catalina…always so happy to spend time with delightful Eva.
I was there over Christmas 2023 and although it was fine, the absence of Javier and many others lent a certain sadness to my experience. I was ever so relieved that Celso was there!
Changing times , we grow older, it is after all a new century!! I don’t know if I am grieving for my youth, for what was or the somber fact of these changes, the lack of contact, and ease of feeling cared for and welcomed at a place that I’ve considered a true home away from home… sense of loss.. however is it the Catalina? Or simply the changing times? We oldsters are dealing with a great many challenges… it’s all so different now but I had hoped that the Catalina would remain constant…
Will I return? Probably.. singular optimist that I am. Perhaps the new management could take a look at the very basic tenets of hospitality.. make people feel welcome, cared for and seen.
Simple lesson. Age old wisdom.

What a coincidence we both arrived here the same year and basically spent our first day in the same place! I love how we used to live back then. The roosters crowing. The burros braying. The walk to the market each day. The lack of any semblance of anything hectic. No Ixtapa (though some of it was under construction). The simple money conversion: a dollar was 12.50 every day. The guacamayas flying up and down La Ropa beach in the late afternoons always sent visitors scrambling for their cameras. The water in the bay was almost always crystal clear except right after a rainstorm. No stop lights. No paved streets. Delicious BIG RED CLAMS could be found along the water's edge. And there was this one very special girl who made me feel like the luckiest Gringo in Mexico (and still does).