Zih (LONG) Trip Report Nov 9- 23 2024 Part 2

My favorite part of the day has been getting up early each morning & taking my coffee on the patio to enjoy all the various birds & their sounds. The loud Chachalacas are so entertaining & walk along the railings of the Catalina just a few feet away from me while a large squirrel jumps from tree to tree. It is such an incredible view of the Bay and fun to watch all the groups of tiny fish jumping out of the water, all the pangas heading out for a day of fishing and the swimmers & paddle boarders starting their day.
Saturday started with massages on the beach again. A person could sure get used to this! We had breakfast at the Catalina & spent the day under the palapas enjoying the beach, cooling off in the ocean & infinity pool. My hubby made a few deals on the beach with the mobile sales force ???? (Christian) buying a nice silver Dorado for his chain and a ring. For supper we walked down to see Reve again at Zihua Bay restaurant for carpaccio and tortilla soup to start, followed by Barracuda and sea food sauce. Everything was delicious. A shot or two of mezcal & a taxi ride back to the hotel to enjoy the warm breeze and lapping waves, glad we are missing the snowstorm back home in Saskatchewan.
Sunday was another fishing day for my hubby in the Porpy panga with Noe. He caught some bonito & a sail fish, there were some large swells and some chop again, but mixed in with the turtles & porpoise made for a good day. He has been giving the bonitos to the staff at the hotel and they are very appreciative. I relaxed at La Ropa under the palapas with a good book. We went downtown for supper at the El Mediterranean in the beautiful courtyard in the back. We have never eaten there before. We started with drinks hubby has a lime margarita, I have a pina colada and WOW this is the best one I have ever tasted!! We order appies of tortilla soup & a Greek salad both very good. Our main we shared the shrimp pasta it is accompanied by toasted garlic cheese bread, again a good choice. The service here is amazing as well. What made the evening even more special was the cameo appearance, of the owner’s beautiful black & white gato (cat) that came by to give each customer a little leg rub. The wonderful music added to the whole ambience. It was a trio paying north American music w/a Mexican influence, a nice mix. It is located down from the church and is unassuming from the street, but this was our new favorite place.
Monday was a massage day again (getting to be a regular occurrence.) Today the waves on La Ropa were a decent size soooo when in Rome,,, We rented boogie boards for the day from Paty’s. It was so much fun. Normally the waves aren’t big enough, so this was a treat & felt like a kids again. We walked the beach to Arenas for a snack and Cervezas with clamato juice. Supper was at Casa Bahia starting with a Caesar salad & a mixed house salad both were good. The main course was grilled Red snapper & I had Tempra shrimp. I wasn’t a fan of Tempra shrimp to be honest, but the view is very lovely from their outside upper patio. We walked home down the cobble stones to a restaurant we visited pre 911 it is now a wood working shop of some sort, we did not want to arrested looking over the wall…. We took the foot bridge over the canal and caught a cab to back to the hotel.
Tuesday, we took the rock path again to Las Gatas as we needed one more feed of coconut shrimp & sauce, & to make sure everything is still peachy keen with Franco. What is the chance another couple from Saskatoon would sit down in the chairs next to us, but it happened & of course we both knew some of the same people. It is always nice to talk with new friends. The walk back was very smooth again must be downhill from Las Gatas. In the evening we sat under the covered portion of our patio as a bit of a rain storm moved in and it was pouring big time. In the over 20 plus trips we have been coming here we have never had rain like this so it was kind of cool to experience.
Wednesday, I decided to join hubby for a day of fishing, the taxi had to drop us off by the theatre due to the parade route, groups were out practicing/marching at 6:30 in the morning. Sad to have missed the parade. The fishing was a little rough for my liking but was happy to see turtles and porpoise. Hubby caught Bonito and sail but said with the swells everything was work, hang on by the toenails at times. Noe on the Porpy keeps the boat smooth, he is a man of few words with good English and a good fisherman. We arrive back at 4pm and need a Michelada Lesbiana, Hubby likes them with extra Maggi seasoning and salted rim, a great drink after a long day on the boat. I was just happy to hit the sand again.
Thursday – Ok so maybe the prior days of boogie boarding caught up w/ us and a rough day on the boat we are a little stiff, so another massage is required. I will miss these when I get home. We relax on the beach for the day as we are meeting friends at their condo to have a glass of wine and watch the sunset. They are in a gated community above Las Gatos area with a gorgeous view overlooking the bay and the ocean. After sunset we all went downtown to The Agave restaurant for supper 2 salads , a tortilla soup & shrimp. Main courses a house specialty pork chop done well, catch of the day, Shrimp cocktail, and a Chile de Cameron. Once again excellent margaritas on the rocks maybe the best in town we tell the waiter. The service was impeccable, the food was excellent and on a quiet side street. We took a walk around the town and the cobblestone work & decorations from the parade looks very nice !
Friday we are getting close to going home so we relax at the Catalina for the day and meet some other friends from home for supper at the Orient Bay restaurant. It is a bit of a fusion restaurant with Persian meeting Thai options, apparently a family operation for a number of years, The appies were vegetable spring rolls, main course Thai Pad of various types and Shawarma wraps. Attentive service and excellent food, a great first visit to the restaurant and time to visit with friends.
Saturday we kept getting emails from friends to stay another week as weather at home is awful. We wish we could stay longer. One last morning coffee was enjoyed on the patio soaking in the view. We sadly packed up and walked over to Villa Mexicana for lunch & cold Modelas. Hubby enjoyed a burger & they made me a clubhouse without any meat (as per my request) it was packed with fresh avocado, cheese, sweet red onion & lettuce Wow it was fantastic. I wish we would have tried there earlier in our trip. It was a relaxing way to end the trip before the rush and hub bub of the flight home.
We said our sad goodbyes to staff at the Catalina Brenda, Celso, Joel and Hector. I must mention how lovely the housekeeping staff were at the Catalina too. Every day without fail when cleaning our room they made us a different cute towel arrangement. I had to take a pic of each one ????. Please remember to always tip if you are getting good service.
We caught a cab to the airport to start the journey home only to get to Calgary and learn our Westjet flight was cancelled to Saskatoon that night due to the weather and no flights were available the next day to Saskatoon either. Yay (not) so spent 2 nights at the Holiday Inn in Calgary before we could get home Monday. Oh well it gave us time to reminisce of another great time at our second home. Until next year Zihuatanejo ……..