Let's hit the beach

It only seems right that the road out of the interior and down to the beach should be yet again one of the twistiest and most scenic roads, average speed at the end of the day...48 km/hour and that is taking into account that the first couple of hours were spent zipping along at 120 km/hour. As we descended the speed decreased and the temperature increased, we came down out the mountains shedding clothes and looking for water.

Water we did find! Miles and miles of beach that was calling Ken to try out the body surfing waves. First stop...Zipolete, a beach we had visited on our last trip, we still found it lost in the 60's with lots of Europeans enjoying the surf and sun "au natural". Along with the tourists come their restaurants and seeing as most of them were Italian pizza and pasta where bountiful and amazing. As much as we love Mexican food a change was appreciated. The room prices were somewhere around the same as you would pay in the 60's as well, ours was the cheapest rate yet coming in at 150 pesos/night or about $12.50( and it was very livable, maybe no a/c or hot water but on the beach there is usually a nice breeze at night and the weather is so humid this far south that cool water is more than welcome). We enjoyed kicking back for a week reading and body surfing but then found ourselves looking for more white sand, clothes clad Mexican tourists and a taco. All these we found in a brief stop in Puerto Escondito and then in Acapulco. We didn't stop for any length of time until we arrived in Zihuatanejo found the cutest little boutique hotel for less than we thought possible in this area thanks to Ken's great negotiating skills. (Once again I thought of Brenda as we lounged around the pool.) Casa Celeste Hotel, a most stay in downtown Zihuatanejo and right across the street from a little bar owned by a guy that used to bar tend at The Duport Pub in Westbank! And if the world isn't small enough as we were walking around the Zocalo one night we came upon friends of Kens from Peachland Tom and Susan Nichols, Donna Sweet, and Bruce Britten. We spent a nice evening over a dinner of lobster salad and coconut shrimp and laughed a lot about old times and weren't they crazy!

Uh yes, yet again it was time to hit the saddle and head north to Melaque and Brian and Sandi waiting for us in their bungalow they had rented for the month of February. The ride from Zihuatanejo to Melaque was a butt buster, 505 km, but what magnificent coastline. Actually the whole coast north of Acapulco through to Manzanillo and Melaque was amazing, miles of coconut groves, mango groves, and continuous bays of white sand edged with rocky cliffs. We just don't get tired of it! So the last week has been spent here in Melaque taking in all the local sites, with Brian and Sandi as our guides, a little beach time but a lot of eating and drinking like the thousands if other tourists here from Canada (it seems every other person is from B.C. and half of those from the Okanagan). Ken and Brian took in the Super Bowl yesterday, today Ken's washing up the bike and tomorrow once again we head out for the mountains and the city of Colima and hopefully a ride to and as far up the volcano as we can go. Apparently, it is somewhat active right now and it had snow last week, so we will see how far we can get!

Here's our ride with a great view of the mountains in the back, the last time we will see them for a while. One month on the road in mainland Mexico and we have put on 5000 kms, not many for us.

When Ken thinks I'm not looking he reaches for my lunch, a wild mushroom and choriso tyuluda.

6:26 a.m. on Zipolite beach!
Bet you thought I wouldn't see that again!

The women's work in this area is removing the coconut meat from the shell. Hard work using elbow grease and a tool that looks similar to a crowbar.

Mangoes are not quite in season yet, they should be ready in about 6-8 weeks. They are actually pretty good eaten green with a little lime and chili sauce on them.

Miles and miles of beach and not a soul on it.

Soaking up a little sun and enjoying the life in Zihuatanejo.

Did I mention the miles and miles of beach?

Not much can beat a mango margarita on a hot afternoon. Brian and Sandi join us for a happy hour in Melaque, down at the beach.

Doing a little sightseeing in the little town of La Manzanilla you really have to be careful where you go. These fences are there to keep the crocs where they belong but they have been known to stray.

Some ruggedness adds to the beauty of the Mexican shoreline.

Now isn't he a beauty, not quite as good looking as the Thai boys we saw last year but still a head turner.