I can’t spend a winter in Mexico with no time at the beach, so I booked us a week at the coast in Zihuatanejo!

It was unfortunate timing because the day before we left for the long drive to the beach was a Mexican holiday: Virgen de Guadalope and it was 24 hours of almost constant flash bangs. Poor Olive was a basket case, and by the end I was stressed out too, trying to comfort her.

But by the next day all was quiet.

Z was made kind of famous when the inmate Dufrain, in the Shawshank Redemption, dreamed of making his escape from prison and running to Mexico to the beach at Z. Though they didn’t show anything but a beach in the movie, I always remembered that and I’ve wanted to go. Coincidentally, it’s one of the closest spots on the coast to where I’m living in Patzcuaro.

I thought twice about going through the Tierra Caliente part of Michoacan, which unfortunately was known for some troubles, along with its massive avocado crops. I asked someone who makes the trip frequently and he said it’s fine, but be careful driving the winding road.  

The four hour drive was made into 5 when I tried to get on the first toll road from Patzcuaro, to find that it was closed. Why did I not know this? That was my first mistake.

We took the free road towards Uruapan behind slow trucks and winding mountain roads. Once again I thought: eastern Michoacan is so beautiful! Mountains and forests of all kinds of trees. Views out over the hills in the perfect temperature. It was about 75 degrees when we left.

I passed an intersection on the highway with, literally, 30 civil guard trucks parked with their red lights on. There were dozens of men in uniform with their helmets and huge guns walking around and they seemed to be interacting with another group of men not in uniform.

They didn’t stop traffic and I passed through, not knowing what was going on. Was this why the toll road was closed?

Soon google was directing me down country roads, trying to meet up with the toll road again. We finally made it and found the toll road (37D) to be one of the bumpiest ever. 

As we descended the mountains my car told me it was 85 degrees and the terrain got drier.

It was no longer the forested hills I like so much about Michoacan in the east, but a lot of agriculture, and my car at one point told me it was 100 degrees. I knew we were in the “tierra caliente” part of the state, known for its troubles and avocado cultivation. I should have let the dogs out for a break and got gas before I hit that region. That was my second mistake.

Someone had called this the “highway of death” and soon I could see why. It was a bumpy two lane highway that was full of cars and trucks and buses. I’ve never seen the risky driving and passing I saw on that road. Semis passing other semis and cars darting every which way.

At one point I came as close as I’ve ever come to a head on collision and I decided to be more careful after that.

We are in a nice airbnb in a quiet neighborhood. It’s always tempting to stay in the centro of whatever new town we visit. I’d love to be able to walk everywhere and see the sights. But I know from experience that it’s nicer for us to have a little extra room in an area we can walk without tons of people and traffic.

Most importantly our rental has air conditioning!  Even in the middle of the night here it didn’t cool off.

I tried to make the dogs comfortable and acclimated to our new digs. We went for a walk at 8am and it was fine but hot and sticky and I thought “this may be the last time I bring the dogs to the coast”. It’s not very fun for them to stay in the house while I’m out seeing the sights, and the need for air con for them necessitates staying at home a lot.

I went to check out the centro. It was 10am by then and many of the businesses were closed. I had heard from someone that there were many fewer tourists right now than usual. In fact I had seen a few posts from people in PV that had said a similar thing. Where were all the tourists?

I wandered around centro and then to the Playa Principal, the beach right in town. It was lovely and a perfect calm bay for the sailboats anchored out there.

I wondered about the life of someone living right there in town. It was cute and many of the streets are pedestrian only. Many restaurants and tourist shops. I bet it gets very lively (noisy) at night.

On the way back home I stopped at the giant Soriana grocery store for some drinking water and air conditioning 🙂

At its back was another giant grocery store, the Chedrai. For a smallish town this place had amazing shopping options.

Zihua is the 4th largest town in the state of Guerrero and about 150 miles north of Acapulco. About 70K people live here and it’s also close to the mega resorts and all inclusives of Ixtapa to the north.

Zihuatanejo can be reached by air, bus and highway and has its own airport, Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International.

The Zihua bay is ringed by lovely beaches fringed by palm trees with beautiful views to the mountains. 

I was a little surprised that Z has retained some of it’s small fishing town charm. It’s not overly built and even at the most popular beach, La Ropa, there are some coconut groves in between the restaurants and low rise bungalows and hotels. The centro is full of businesses selling local crafts and a variety of restaurants for every taste.

I didn’t have much of an agenda for this trip except to get some beach time and look around the area. But I had heard about the sea turtles that like to nest in the area and the possibility of seeing the baby turtles run for the sea after they’re born.

Like with most animal related activities I had mixed feelings about releasing the baby turtles. Aren’t we messing with their habitat and life cycle when we go on a tour and handle the babies? Should a bus load of humans pay money to release turtles? Doesn’t this encourage poaching?

I assuage my concerns by going to the Sea Turtle Rescue and Conservation Center just outside of Zihuatanejo. Here volunteers work to conserve the life of these amazing creatures and educate the public.

Without touching the little creatures we got to help release them to the sea after hearing an educational talk about their habitat, life cycle, and endangerment in the world. 

My little turtle’s instinct was strong and I saw her make it to the surf and start her new life, hopefully to return and nest her own babies in a few years.

Sea turtle conservation programmes patrol beaches at night to look out for nesting mothers. They then collect the eggs laid and incubate them in the warm sand in an enclosed environment. This simulates the natural nest, a hole dug by the mother in the sand. Here they develop until they’re ready to hatch, which takes around 60 days.

But the most dangerous part of a sea turtle’s life is their journey from land to sea. To us humans it’s only 10-20 metres, but to these tiny beings it’s like running a marathon, at only a few hours old!

Judy, the conservation volunteer, told us that only about 0.1% of baby turtles live long enough to come back and nest.

You may want to help the babies by taking them directly to the water but it’s thought that Crawling across the beach is crucial for hatchlings as it allows them to imprint on their natal beach and return to the area when they are ready to reproduce, known as nesting beach fidelity.

To me, Playa Blanca is the quintessential Mexican beach, long and mostly deserted with a few beach restaurants along the shore, so I headed back the next day.

I love the Pacific coast of Mexico with its tall palms and beautiful jungle. I love the mountains rising from the ocean and the deep blue of the Pacific.

I saw a few Americans and Canadians on La Ropa, and a lot of Mexican tourists too, but it certainly wasn’t crowded. In the town of Z I saw mainly people from Canada and the US who appeared to live there, or maybe live there half the year. Like other parts of the Mexican Pacific coast, this area is lovely and tropical and a bit hard to bear in the summer, when heat and humidity are oppressive.

Some differences between the mountains where I’m living and this beautiful spot on the Pacific coast in Gerrero:

Weather

Since we started the dry season in Patzcuaro Michoacan the weather has been very stable. At night it gets down into the 40s and during the day it’s warm getting up to the mid 70s. I think it’s like the best December weather I’ve ever experienced!

Obviously dropping from 7200 feet in the mountains down to sea level changes the weather. The dogs and I felt like we were hit with a hot wet blanket when we first got here, but after a few days of acclimation, it was nice and great for the beach! The nights get a tiny bit cooler but for me and the dogs AC are pretty necessary for most of the day.

When we got to Mexico last April we stayed at the coast for the first 5-6 weeks and it was then that I knew that we would never make a permanent home on the coast. It was just too hot in spring and summer and we spent the day avoiding the sun. The dogs were pretty miserable from the heat.

But I had to have a beach break! So I’m glad to be here but next time I may leave the dogs in the mountains for their own sakes.

Insects

I’m not going to say there are no bugs in the mountains! I’ve seen some large spiders for instance. But compared to the beach towns I think the bug situation in Patzcuaro (at least where I’m living) is very tolerable. At our rental in Z there have been roaches, and though the rental is very clean, I bet it’s nearly impossible to get rid of all bugs in the houses here. Any house.

Prices

We all know that where there are tourist prices go up! For our rental here in Z I’m paying for one week about the same as I pay for one month in P, even after talking the owner down over $110 for the week. Of course that’s a long term rental in P and I’m sure if you got a long term rental in Z you would get a better deal.

The prices at restaurants are also higher here, but that’s to be expected.

People

I haven’t seen any Euopeans or Asians, the foreigners I’ve seen are Canadian and from the US. 

Not as friendly here and the culture seems more Americanized. You know it’s understandable that people and businesses all over the world try to accommodate their customers. I felt a little like I was swimming with sharks in the centro and when in some restaurants. You can feel the pressure to spend money, like in many tourist places around the world.

I didn’t like it that, at the first restaurant I went into at the beach, I had to haggle and negotiate for regular furniture for lunch. $100 for a spot on the sand, no $150 if you want a little table, no, you want a real table and chairs? That’s $250.

I just wanted to have lunch but these were extra fees based on where you sat in the restaurant and what kind of furniture you wanted. I said I think I’ll keep walking down the beach and they agreed. I’m sure they’d rather have a group than a single person taking a table. Kind of left a sour taste in my mouth.

Language

There are a mix of people here and all of the Mexicans I’ve met here speak some English. There are menus in English, and people just start speaking in English before you even try to speak Spanish.

I found out that the toll road had been closed because of a group of protesters blocking the road for a few days. I read that they were protesting the police’s response to two men who had gone missing in the area. These people were demanding that the police and government do more to help the situation and find out what happened.

While in Z I met with a friend of a friend so he could tell me more about the area. He enjoys living here part of the year and going back to the state of Washington during the summer. He had discovered this lovely area on his sailboat many years before and continues to make it his winter time home.

He says cruise ships used to come into the bay occasionally but when Acapulco started having its crime problem, and then was hit with a hurricane, the ships stopped coming this far south. After covid the area was a madhouse with tourists but this year seems more quiet.

He is paying about $700 USD for a nice one bedroom apartment near centro and clearly loves it here. He knows a lot of the other expat residents and local business people. He said prices have gone way up after covid, like almost everywhere.

His advice to someone looking for housing here is to start looking in summer when there are less tourists, and word of mouth is better than looking online.  

On our way back to our mountain home in Patzcuaro I discovered that the crazy driving on the highway was not unique to our drive down the mountain, and it was equally scary going back up. On this two lane highway there are no passing lanes and many very slow trucks, so traffic is only able to pass by entering the oncoming traffic lane to get by. This happens on the way down and on the way up and the road has many twists and turns so you can imagine the two lane highway becoming a four lane madhouse as people try to get past the slow trucks.

I’m glad we went to Zihuatanejo. It’s a nice town with beautiful beaches and the heat I was looking for. But I was also glad to go home back up into the mountains where the air is cool and fresh and no one is trying to sell me something all the time. 

Zihuatanejo is a very cute town and I’m glad to know it is just a 4 hour scary ride down to the coast from where I’m living. I wouldn’t want to live there all year round but it was great for a beach break and some sun!