Pacifico Coast: Z i h u a t a n e j o

Last Friday night after work, I hopped on an overnight bus and woke up early Saturday morning with the sun rising through the bus windows on one side and the Pacific crashing on the other. After about 10 hours total, I was finally in Zihuatanejo in the Mexican state of Guerrero (about 2.5 hours up the coast from Acapulco). A group of us rented an apartment in Zihuatanejo for little beach holiday. While I’m usually not so good about actually relaxing on vacation, this was good practice and for the four days I was there, pretty much did nothing but beach hop. The first day was spent on Playa de Ropa (supposedly named because clothes from a shipwreck washed up on shore).

On Sunday we headed south along the coast to an area called Barra de Potosi.

And arrived back in town for a little dance presentation

Sunday we wandered over to Ixtapa, a very touristy town centered around large resorts (compared to a more low key and laid back Zihuatanejo). We didn't end up doing much in town, but took a boat over to Isla Ixtapa for the rest of the afternoon.


Tuesday we took a boat from Zihuatanejo to a beach called Las Gatas, which is supposed to be great for snorkeling. Unfortunatly, while there were some fish, it wasn't the best snorkeling.

So while we had been in Zihuatanejo, there had been a series of wave-related deaths along the pacific coast only an hour south, but luckily we had not really seen anything to be concerned about. So while a boat pulled up on the beach and unloaded a sword fish (see below), one of the approaching water taxis was toppled by a wave, sending all the passengers into the sea. Many Mexicans cannot swim and lets just say that lifejackets aren't really a common sight on boats. Luckily there was a quicky response from the other boats in the area and all the passengers (including 3 small children) were quickly fished out of the water.

The water taxi being dragged back to shore to be bailed out (was later successfully emptied and the motor restarted)

Office demonstrations and Coixtlahuaca, Oaxaca

Friday we had a little demonstration at the office. 6 buses full of people arrived outside the office demanding attention to some paperwork they had submitted for some work associated with a bridge that was being constructed in their community. They were kept outside for about an hour, with negotiations taking place through a window in the gate that surrounds our office. Eventually a couple were let into the conference room and in about 2 hours the whole affair was wrapped up and they were headed back to their town in the Sierra Norte, about 5 hours away. So while we were stuck in the office for the two hours, it could have been worse. Evidently the last time this happened people entered and kinda took over the office.

On Saturday I had to go down and check in on the housing for some new vols that are living down in Northern Oaxaca. So after loading up the CONANP (basically the park service) we headed down to Coixtlahuaca, located on the Oaxaca side of the Tehuacan-Cuicatlán Reserve.

Kinda reminds me of the garbage cans at mini-golf places

The main “tourist” attraction in the small town of Coixtlahuaca is its very old convent. Unfortunately, it is currently undergoing a significant restoration, so most of the inside is closed and the outside is covered with scaffolding.

A couple weeks ago at CAPU (the main Puebla bus station), I saw for the 1^st time a double decker ADO (major bus company in Puebla) bus parked at the terminal. Since then I’d been wondering what it’s route was. On my return trip from Coixtlahuaca, during the Tehuacan to Puebla leg, I finally got to ride on the new bus. Kinda cool with the panoramic views from the top.

A little bit of everything

After a quick trip to Mexico City (finally have all my cameras back and in working order), I headed up to Queretaro for the night and just in time to catch some huge rainbows over the city.

On Saturday, we headed to Tepotzotlán, a “pueblo magico” in the state of Mexico, about 40 minutes north of Mexico City. The main attraction is the Museo virreinal that features artifacts and art from the time period when Mexico was occupied by the Spanish. The museum is housed in a church and the adjoining convent. The most spectacular part of the museum is the cathedral and its chapels that are decorated in gold.

After wandering around the church we grabbed lunch in the market….

And then headed to Los Arcos del Sitio, a series of 4 story aqueducts that you can now walk on top of.

After that, we decided to visit the Presa (reservoir) of Taxhimay, where I had seen interesting pictures of kayaking around a church that was flooded and partially covered by water with the creation the reservoir. After driving (we had hired a taxi) on back roads for a while and even crossing over into the state of Hidalgo, we finally arrived at the reservoir. While heavy rains have been frequent in Puebla for over a month, the same has not been true in the state of Mexico. The reservoir was very, very low, leaving the church surrounded by dry soil and no possibility for a kayaking trip. So we took some pictures and headed back to Topotzotlán via a cute town called Villa del Carbon that is located in the middle of a nicely forested area.

The churches looking a little stranded

Sunday morning we hopped a bus to Mexico City and spent the day in the Mueso de Arte Popular (museum of popular art), a famous cantina where Pancho Villa shot a bullet into the ceiling, finally went into the arqueological site that is on the corner of the zocalo.

From the art museum....

Inside of the cantina....

Templo Mayor (right on the corner of the zocalo)

Sunday afternoon in the Alameda