Puerto Angel

We're in Zihuatanejo now. I'm sitting in "Rick's Bar" drinking Pacifico and listening to live music. But first I'm going to tell you about Puerto Angel.

Puerto Angel Bay

We arrived in Pochutla at about 5:30 and shared a taxi with an Italian couple, Daniele (website) and Erika (website) and who were on the bus with us to get to Puerto Angel. The four of us had a beer next to the naval station on the bay, then Erika and Alaine went to look at a hotel that was nearby. It was nice but a little pricey. Then Erika and I went to check out another hotel called Puesta del Sol that was a little farther away. It seemed nice and at $15 for a double the price was right. We went back to get our parejas and then checked in. Alaine and I drank beer in the hammocks they had set up on a little deck there and the Italians joined us a little later. We talked about dinner plans and decided to check out a nearby restaurant called Beto's that was recommended in our guide book and also by the people at the hotel. The food was alright but a little overpriced. It was nice that they gave us a lot of vegetables, something you don't see much in Latin America.

When we got back to the hotel the rooms were very hot, even with the ceiling fans. The place was made of concrete with a tile roof and I guess it was absorbing heat all day. Daniele, Erika and I fell asleep in the hammocks for a while, but Alaine went straight to bed. I woke up about 11 when it seemed that every dog in the town was barking and moved to the bedroom. Alaine and I were more accustomed to hot nights, I guess, or maybe we just had more to drink, but we slept OK. In the morning we found out that Erika had hardly slept and she was still perspiring even though it seemed relatively cool to us.

Alaine and I got ready and walked in to the center of town and had breakfast, then headed for a beach called Eustacahuitle. It was a bit of a hike in the hot sun, but when we got there we found cold beer and a beautiful little bay waiting with three little beaches. I didn't bring the camera, sorry. We met a gringo there named Scott, who was snorkeling between drinking Coronas. We had a couple of Coronas ourselves while we watched the bay. A boatload of tourists came in to snorkel and we didn't want to share the space with them so we had more beers while we waited.

While we were waiting we spotted three or four whales about 300 meters out. We watched them for about 5 minutes. It was the first time for either of us to see whales. We rented snorkels for $1 an hour and went in snorkeling after that. The waves were a little high and the water stirred up, but it was still nice. The water temperature was perfect. After we got out and had another beer and were getting ready to leave, Scott offered us a ride back to town which saved us from another blazing hot walk.

We got back to the hotel and hung out there a while. Erika and Daniele left us a note that they had moved on to Zipolite. I typed some of the previous entry but couldn't get online because the owner wasn't there to give me the code. Alaine went looking to see if we could rent bicycles anywhere but that's a service that Puerto Angel doesn't offer. The guy at the bike repair shop said he might rent us his and a friend's the next day.

Sunset on Ziploite Beach

We wandered down to the beach in town and watched some guys playing soccer, then went in to town looking for dinner and finally found a place that had tlayudas, which is kind of like a pizza made on a tortilla then folded in half. We split one of those. After that back to the hotel and played Skip-Bo and then tried to sleep in the hammocks again for a while before going to our room.

The next morning we went to the same place for breakfast. we checked about the bikes but the guy hadn't come through, so we took a taxi to Zipolite after checking out of the hotel. We planned to take the bus to Acapulco at 9 pm. Zipolite was nice. A long, wide beach with big waves. We walked along until we found a place with two-for-one drinks (of course), stopped there and then walked to the end of the beach. We came back to the place with the drinks as that seemed the best spot for swimming. I was able to body surf a little bit, but the waves were very big and I couldn't catch them like I usually do, as they're breaking. I had to try to jump in after they crashed and I'm not practiced at that. Still, it was a lot of fun. We split a pasta dish at the restaurant and had more 2x1 mojitos and people-watched. People watching is interesting on Zipolite because a lot of people go nude. In addition to topless girls it was amusing to watch the guys, especially one guy who walked by three times wearing just a cowboy hat and a big grin. It seemed like he was purposely walking in a way to make his wedding tackle swing like a pendulum.

After watching the sunset, we got another taxi back to town, showered and collected our stuff from the hotel and headed for Pochutla to catch our bus.