It’s another early day and already the sun is shining brightly, the cloud layer is quickly dissipating so the brilliant blue sky is appearing.  Our ship is laying in the harbor of Zihuatanejo, 3 ½ hours north of Acapulco,          Zihuatanejo is a dreamy, picturesque fishing village with a shallow, but inviting bay. Because of this, a tender – a small boat holding 15 to 50,  picks you up from the cruise ship, and takes you to a dock and dry land at Zihuatanejo for the usual tours of the area, shopping, eating, or just walking around and relaxing for the day.     The transfer from the ship to the tender was one of the more exciting parts of the cruise – bouncing up and down and trying to step from a big cruise ship into a little boat was pretty unique.    Click to Enlarge No one had any real problem, though there was a lot of laughing and gasping by most of the women boarding. We were politely escorted everyplace we toured, filled with information, and were very well taken careof.         Click to Enlarge The main income for this area still comes from fishing and agriculture.  Zihuatanejo, according to our guide, translates to “The place of the beautiful lady”.       There are many retired N.A.’s who live here both full time and part time.  Because of this not being a major port, costs are lower, and the natives, as well as the retirees here are hoping this part of Mexico doesn’t change, as many areas have, once the ExPats move in, but stays natural as it is now.      Click to Enlarge  Marie, our tour guide, invited us all to come visit her at her home, but she warned us, laughing, that we would have to sleep in hammocks, because they have no beds.  Because of not having air conditioning and because of the humidity and heat, I guess the hammock, with breezes blowing, is the best answer!         The village of Ixtapa, “place of the white sand”, is just a bit north of Zihuatanejo, along the coast, and is where the more exclusive resorts are located ingeneral. In the 70’s, the government funded the building of some resorts, to help generate additional tourism dollars.  There is an International airport about ½ hour by taxis or bus.     Click to Enlarge  It is very tropical here; today the temperature is 93 degrees with 78% humidity.  But, along with the beauty comes a bit of danger –  you must be aware that there are crocodiles around.     They are found in the ponds and streams  and can even be found in the shallow ocean waters – so be careful.  Dick and I had already experienced that situation with alligators when we lived in Louisiana.  The animal patrol people were often called to remove alligators from people’s pools.  Actually, the area did sort of remind us of southern Louisiana.   Click to Enlarge Dick and I had a wonderful day seeing more of the natural Mexico.  But it was time to head back from Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo, to the little boat for a short water ride back to the ship.      We would have a few more days beingpampered on the ship, and then a trip home, until our next adventure.         Do you have a question about retiring to Mexico?   You can do a search with the search box at the top-right of my site.  Type in the subject you are curious about, and you’ll find my articles involving that subject.  In fact, it will probably bring up multiple articles (1,2,3, etc.) which appear toward the bottom of the articles.  If you still haven’t found your answer,  just ask me!  If you don’t see the “write a comment” section below, click on and scroll down. Share your thoughts and concerns with me. I will always reply to you personally.            Ixtapa / Zihuatanejo article by Barbie 

by Barbie Parks is the publisher and editor of MoneySavingMexico.com. She is the author of and her latest book, .

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