Zihuatanejo (Ixtapa), Mexico

          Saturday, 1 Feb 2020 – We were scheduled to arrive at Zihuataejo at 10:00 AM.  Zihuatanejo or Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, is on the Pacific Coast, about 150 miles northwest of Acapulco, and belongs to a section of the Mexican Pacific Coast known as the Costa Grande.  This town has been developed as a tourist attraction along with the modern tourist resort of Ixtapa, 3.1 miles away.  However, Zihuatanejo has kept its traditional town feel.  The town is located on a well-protected bay which is popular with private boat owners during the winter months.  The federal government's decision to develop the nearby resort in the 1970s has had major implications for both the city and municipality of Zihuatanejo.  The area is now the third most-visited area in Mexico, after Cancún and Puerto Vallarta, and the most popular for sports fishermen.  Zihuatanejo's population is about 62,376 persons.

Monument of Peace

After breakfast, we went for our daily swim.  Then, at lunch, we shared a table with Larry & Kathy from St. Louis, with whom we had boarded the ship.  We learned that Larry is retired from TWA and Kathy is retired from American Airlines.  Since Sally had forgotten to wear her hearing aids, she didn’t get a lot out of the conversation.  Soon after lunch, we took a tender ashore.  Free shuttles were transporting passengers to the city, which was quite a walking distance from the pier.  When we got to the city, we walked about a block up to the next corner, browsing the shops along the way; we took a photo in front of a monument to peace; then we took a shuttle back to the pier.

After finishing our pre-dinner dancing in the Horizons, we met Jerry and Monica from Minnesota, a few miles south of Minneapolis.  They had danced to a couple of slow songs.