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Published: August 25th 2008
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Pacific coast
August 15th - August 24th
When we had arrived in Taxco we immediately attempted to purchase tickets to our next destination, Zihuatenejo. Unfortunately, unlike as we had thought, there was no direct route. This meant we had to get a bus from Taxco to Acapulco and then Acapulco to Zihuatenejo, meaning an extra 5 hours on our journey time... hey ho! The buses were pretty comfortable and during the change at Acapulco we managed to get some nice tostadas for lunch. On arrival in Zihuatenejo we got a taxi to our hostel, via another hostel which sounded similar, and then it was off to find the Jungle bar where the beers were only 10 pesos. The next morning it was pretty rainy. We headed into the centre to find some breakfast and ended up in a touristy looking place as they had the football on. Whist looking around we had met a couple of lads we’d originally met in San Cristobal. They were off to watch the second half and we caught up with them after our breakfast. In the afternoon the sun came out and we walked along the coastal path until we found a nice place to
spend a few hours. Today was our anniversary, 3 years! We headed off to the Italian restaurant opposite the Jungle bar and had a celebratory bottle of red wine and a pizza. The chef here believed he was Mr. Charisma as he wandered around chatting to his customers. He’d have done a better job keeping his eye on his pizza oven as our pizza turned out more than slightly crispy. The wine complemented it nicely though. It was then back to the Jungle bar, where we met Luke and Patrick again, crashed their table and chatted until the bar closed. The morning led us back to the touristy breakfast place as the Newcastle v Manchester united game was on. We then took the bus to Playa la Ropa, a beach away from the main town. After finding a shady spot we remained there for the afternoon before walking out to the bus station to purchase onward bus tickets. The following day’s bus wasn’t until 20.05, another night bus. The day was spent relaxing on the pier and wandering around the town before heading to the restaurants on the shore to see which had the best deal in Margaritas. We did
well and by time we headed back to our hostel to collect our rucksacks we were nicely merry and after a couple of tacos at the stall near the bus station, we hopped on the bus.
At 6.15am we arrived in Manzanilla although our final destination was Bara de Navidad, another hour and a half away. Here we decided on a hotel called Hotel de Jalisco as it promised free internet access and free bicycle hire. We sat on the doorstep until Mario, the jolly hotel owner, turned up and gave us a room. It wasn’t a very plush room and was desperately in need of a paint job, and a wee clean! The sun was out so it was off to the beach; we had a bit of trouble keeping in the shade and ended under an umbrella on the beach owned by a bar. The waves were pretty big and made for some scary swimming but it was good fun. The evening was spent in The Sea Master restaurant which overlooked the sea and we ate our dinner whilst watching the spectacular sunset. The following day we grabbed some bikes and headed to the nearby town of Maleque
for breakfast. The banana pancakes were massive. We cycled back and spent the afternoon on the beach before watching Mexico v Honduras.
The following day we took the second class bus to Puerto Vallarta. There's a large difference between the first and second class services. This bus looked as though it may not make the journey. It trundled along noisily stopping at everything that looked remotely like a town and we had no choice but to listen to the music choices blasting out of the stereo by the bus driver. We were staying only one night in Puerto Vallarta, made famous by a film called Night of the Iguana, staring Richard Burton and Liz Taylor before taking the bus to Mazatlan.
Mazatlan is where we are now, in our room while it pours with rain outside, hence now having an up to date blog. It is Sunday afternoon and tomorrow we hope; weather permitting, to catch a 12 hour ferry across the sea of Cortez to La Paz on Baja California.
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Robin aka Unc
non-member comment
Trunk Alert!!!!!!
The beach at Bara de Navidad is spookily reminiscent of a certain Fintry Bay somewhere on the west coast coast of Scotland. The name will come to me ............................Unc.