Yes I am in Zihua...

Well folks, yes I have arrived for another vacation here! My second time this winter as I needed another break after 5 bad weeks following my return home at the end of February. I will be broke at the end of this trip but it is well worth it for the sake of my sanity...

I arrived Wednesday afternoon and boy is the weather different just a few weeks later. The temperature is only 2-3* higher at it's peak every day but it is noticeably more humid and at night it doesn't cool off much and with little wind the last 2 nights. Low is around 25* and high around 30*. I'm fine with the heat but the humidity is a tad difficult to deal with but every time I think of back home where they had a snow dump today I feel better

Got to Zihua airport about 15 minutes late as we had a captain with a "heavy foot" and he came in too fast at just about 200-300' from the runway and decided to come back around and try it again. He made a funny comment on the PA after, apologizing for the delay and mentioning the panoramic route we were taking wasn't planned. At least he was honest and I got a chuckle out of it and was a reminder of my airline days.

I got through customs smoothly once more and it took me under 30 minutes from the time I exited the plane to the time I was outside the airport waiting for my collectivo. I did get some questioning from the lady next to the button you press for red/green light at customs as she was wondering why I was traveling so heavy for just a week. I explained to her that my one big bag was full of clothes/shoes for donation and my big hard-sided Samsonite was my clothes. She had a good laugh when I told her " Sorry lady but I do not travel light" and green light came on. In all the time I have been to Zihua/Ixtapa only once did it took a long time. I'm always impressed at how quickly they go through 1-2 loads of passengers as I never go through so fast back home, especially when waiting for my suitcase.

Came out of the airport and sadly no beer stand outside anymore. The lady there would have made very good money with that group of Canadians as we were all shell shocked by the heat/humidity and a beer would have tasted so good. But I had my receipt for the collectivo (120 pesos) and about 10-15 minutes later I was on my way to my hotel with another lady we dropped in Zihua before me and within 10-15 minutes from leaving the airport I had arrived at Casa Sun and Moon and was greeted by the great friendly staff of the hotel. It sure was great to again see their smiling faces and was appreciatve to get some help carrying my baggage to my room a few minutes later as my 12 hours of traveling and being up all night before the trip was starting to be felt. But after unpacking and taking a nice cool shower and changing I fell refreshed and a short while later came back downstairs and was joined by a friend and off we went to the Catalina hotel for their Sunset Bar. Sadly there was no mint for mojitos so I had to settle for margaritas but they were ok and the sunset was quite nice. By that point I was hungry and I ordered some guacamole and a campechana to share with my friend. The campechana was very tasty but the guacamole was a huge dissapointment as although loking good as it was presented all formed and with a decoration on top, all it was was a small portion of mashed avocado with a tiny bit of queso blanco on top. For that hotel, better was expected. But as it was happy hour, 2 more margaritas came and I forgot all about it

I ended up back at my hotel around 23:30 and by then was beat and crashed right away and woke up at almost 11:0 Thursday but feeling great. Took care of some e-mails, got a few people that came in to take some items I had brought in for them and then by 13:00 it was time for my late "breakfast". I headed to Margaritas and there again was greeted by a bunch of happy people to see me. And after a nice huevos rancheros and a large fresh orange juice, I was doing even better. Came back to my hotel and relaxed for a bit and then responded to a few e-mails and got in touch with LadyM as I had brought an item for a friend of hers. She came over and off we went to deliver the item and do a few errands on the way. For those of you that have not met Carol, she is a great lady, always nice to meet, and someone straight forward and a pleasure to talk to. She speaks as she sees it and it's refreshing in this day of political correctness. I ad a nice afternoon with her and she ended up taking me over her place, showing me her latest work and sharng some time with her and her husband Paul over a nice cold beer. It was my first of the trip and it sure tasted good. We chatted some more and it was time for diner. We all ended up going to Papa Locas and they settled on some tacos and I had some tasty guacamole with a Mexican potato, which is a baked potato stuffed with cream, mushrooms, chicken and cactus. It was delicious as everything I have ever tred there. Not fancy but always good and nice service as well. I had a glass of horchata and the total for the 3 of us with tip was 200 pesos. It's definitively a place to try if you haven't yet but it appears most folks know about the place as it is always busy.

Went back to Centro with Carol and Paul and left them at their home and headed to El Cafecito for a nice cold latte and a chat with friends there and we went to la Cancha to watch some basketball for a while and then decided to go back to my hotel with a friend to cool off in the pool. Before eaving I stopped at this new ice cream place that opened a week ago. It was very tasty but I wonder how they will survived since they opened just a few shops away from another gelato place that has been there for years. Got back to my hotel and it sure fell great spending an hour in the pool. Then walk my friend to a cab and came back online looking at planning my Friday. I sent out an e-mail requesting some info as it looks like I will go on the Picante Sunset cruise with a friend. I'm curious about it as I went on the previous outfit that used to be in Zihua/Ixtapa doing these 20 years ago and want to compare. I just did a search online and the pricing sure seems to have gone up drastically for that cruise so we will see. But one way or another I'm sre it will be another day in paradise...