tak1

This morning we left the warm weather in Zihuatanejo and headed back to the snow and cold of Minnesota. The trip went smoothly, no problems. We had a great trip, but it is always good to be home. Bob The highlight of this trip was to see the butterflies. Things went well but there are some things I would do differently. All of the information sources said the butterflies would be active in late January. We found that most of the butterflies were dormant so I would go a month later. It was difficult finding information on buses to Angangueo from Morelia. We found the bus to Zitacuaro and we knew we would need a different bus line but couldn't get information on these buses in Morelia. We went to Zitacuaro and found a lot of ... read more

Made our breakfast at the hotel and had another fairly low-key day. Walked to Playa Madera again, got a table in the shade, and took out books and crosswords. We ordered drinks. They have the best homemade lemonade ever. I should learn how to make it. The spot was called Rana Rene. We searched our dictionary and Internet, and finally found out that it is the Spanish name for Kermit the Frog. The beach was fairly empty for a Sunday. The boardwalk goes around this area of the beach. Saw several people sitting against the stone wall under the boardwalk, where there is some nice shade.There is a massage area set up along the beach here too, but we have never tried it. One guy was walking the beach with a metal detector, presumably looking for ... read more

Today we decided to take a down day, just take it easy. We ate our breakfast on the hotel balcony, our usual fruit (with pineapple this time), banana bread, and Bob's good coffee. We then took out our Scrabble board and had a hard fought game. This was one of the very few times I have won, but just by a few points. We walked down to Playa Madera, which is to the left of the municipal beach, and found a cool spot for drinks. They make very good homemade lemonade here. Good spot to walk the beach, read a book, or do a crossword puzzle. The beach was quite empty and very pleasant. Did a little bit of laundry, the quick-dry stuff, and hung them on a line in our room. Later in the evening ... read more

Now on the bus from Morelia back to Zihuatanejo. Left at 11:15am, a little late getting out. Internet works! We are going back to warmer temps now. Decided very quickly not to blog on the bus. Internet goes in and out in this area, too easy to lose entries. Leaving Morelia, at the foot of the mountains, we saw hundreds of plastic-covered greenhouses. Also saw some funnel-shaped cement structures with door entries. Not sure what these were. Variety of scenery along the way--pedestrian bridges, pastures with cows and horses, rectangular adobe homes placed very close together, orchards, corn fields, patches of cactus. There were a few farms with rows of crops. Crossed over a couple rivers, then hit some plateau areas. On the bus ride up I didn't notice the many strings of beautiful mountain lakes, ... read more

After breakfast we took the taxi to the bus depot for our trip from Morelia to Zitacuaro. Morelia is a big, sprawling city and the outskirts are not as attractive as the historical district around the cathedral and hotel. The city is 6300 feet above sea level. Taxi, $2.50, bus $7 per person. About 32 degrees F, so very chilly. Got to depot early, found a warm spot for a cup of coffee. The bus was comfortable, made a few passenger stops in Morelia, and stops at the depots in a few larger cities. Zitacuaro is straight east and a bit south of Morelia. Hit some road construction so the ride turned out to be about four hours. We were the only non-locals on the bus. At one stop in Morelia, a man got on with ... read more