Trip report general observations & comments

The Zihua/Ixtapa still holds the magic we found there 24 years ago yet nothing ever stays the same anywhere. We found a young lady making delicious cinnamon sugar mini donuts in the Ixtapa commercial area. We went back several days later to buy a dozen only to find that the space was vacant with a “for Rent” sign. Someone’s dream crushed. We made our annual Sunday night visit to the basketball court for my tamale fix and found that the food venders had been moved out into the street area in front of the police station. Some may like this but we didn’t. At least my tamale gal is still there. More of the streets have had the “face lift” and the uniformity gives you a more warm feeling of the city in general.

The bus company continues to add newer modern buses and there are now 2 taxis for every man woman and child in town. Taxi drivers continue to charge what ever they can get away with but armed with a printed copy of Rob’s fare schedule brings any confusion and discussion to a quick halt. They always seem to be conveniently short of change but manage to find enough as soon as you withdraw your payment and offer to be “right back” while you go find some.

ATM machines are easily found as a number have been added. I left home with pesos I brought back from last year, 2 charge cards, an ATM card and some US currency. Came back with both charge cards, my ATM card, all the US currency I brought in addition to a 2 day supply of pesos for next year. Other than the hassle of standing in line, nobody staying at our hotel expressed any problem with cashing US money. I hit the ATM machine 4 times in 2 weeks for a total “down time” of 45 seconds to a minute each time.

Prices around town didn’t seem to have changed much from last year with several exceptions. Lety has raised her prices considerably from her “give away” prices the last 2 years. I know her costs have gone up and it’s just good business to charge what the traffic will bear. Especially since her window of opportunity is limited to the tourist season. She delivers an above average quality product, still at an exception value. The Pacifica resort in Ixtapa raised their prices during our second week significantly. (100 pesos for an "American" breakfast) Many of us who stay there believe this was done to try and muscle more guests to take their AL package. They need to generate more income to finance the destruction of the hillside project in Zihua. My food and drink bill for the 2 weeks at the Pacifica was 1/3 of what it was just several years ago. We do a 3-4 mile walk every morning anyway so going down the street is cheaper and gives us more options for breakfast and lunch.

With no newspapers and spending no time in front of the boob tub, we were oblivious to any safety concerns and other than a few people discussing some incident in Acapulco, we felt as safe as we have since our first visit here. Doesn't discount or lessen the severity of those affected there but I'm sure there were problems back in my own city.