by Ed English

Created on: January 07, 2010

Travel Experiences: Mexico

On the west coast of southern Mexico is a small fishing village named Zihuatanejo. You may be familiar with the name from the movie Shawshank Redemption. The movie's two main characters were Red and Andy played by Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins. It was the town where they planned to meet if they both got out of prison. The last screen shot shows them there on the beach.

My wife and I along with our fifteen year old daughter lived there for eight months. We spent one month driving around Mexico before deciding to settle there. We had planned to stay for one year but personal circumstances required us to return to the USA sooner.

Zihua as the locals call it, is a town with a population of approximately 100,000 situated on the coast about three and a half hours drive northwest of Acapulco. Three miles further up the coast is Ixtapa, Mexico. Ixtapa is the resort area and Zihua is mainly a small fishing town. Ixtapa has the high-rise condos and high end hotels and the touristy feel that is lacking in Zihuatanejo.

Zihua does have some nice hotels, restaurants and a couple of all-inclusive resorts. The town is situated all around Zihua bay with beautiful views in all directions. The main pier and bay in Zihua does have regular visits of the large cruise ships. The center of town has a walking area lined with restaurants, vendor stalls and shops with many hand-made souvenirs.

The fishing is great with several local fishing guides available for hire. Some days you will catch fish all day without leaving the bay, even if you say you are going deep sea fishing you still might not leave the bay. Several fresh water rivers discharge into the Pacific Ocean up and down the coast from Zihua. The fresh water mixing with the salt creates a perfect habitat for feeding and makes the sea life abundant.

SCUBA diving is relatively inexpensive with two dive operators to choose from. One is located in Zihua and the other one is in Ixtapa. There is a lot of wildlife to see but since the fresh water is mixing with the salt water the visibility is only around forty to fifty feet on most days.

There is one of the best surfing beaches in the world about forty five minutes drive from Zihua. The place is named Troncones by the locals but it is not on the map. It is actually not in Troncones but north of the city. To get there drive north on the main highway named Federal Lazaro Cardenas - Zihuatanejo highway for approximately thirty minutes and there is a paved

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