Zihuatanejo's municipal market and municipal beach

We finally arrived and met our AirBnB hostess Sandy, who came out to the airport to pick us up. It's been 30 years since we were here so things look more than a bit different. But the town has the same laid-back ambience that we remember. We are staying in an apartment that's part of a family grouping of apartments around a common courtyard.  It's nothing fancy but it's roomy and clean and central. And Sandy and Vidal are so helpful and friendly that we are already feeling right at home.

Our trip ended up taking about 24 hours more than we thought it would, and it was exhausting and frustrating--but that's all behind us now. And at the airport in Mexico City we met someone else from Victoria who experienced the same delays and we'll be seeing her again. Julie is an interesting and cheerful woman who has been coming here for years and knows a lot about the town. As the guard in the Vancouver airport told us: out of a bad situation something good always comes.

Today we're settling in, finding the food market and the grocery store and getting our place organized. There are so many restaurants here that we probably won't be doing that much cooking though. But the kitchen here is pretty well supplied so we can if we like. So far we've purchased some fruit and yogourt for smoothies in the morning. Here's where we bought it. This is a stall in the Mercado Municipal, a series of buildings full of stalls of all kinds, including fresh-caught fish and shrimp, which we will for sure be trying.

The people in this town are super friendly and happy to deal with tourists from the north.  It's going to be a great place for food shopping. On second thought, maybe we will be doing a bit of cooking. Take a look at those tomatoes!

The town is so pretty and friendly but it is also a real Mexican town, rather than a hotel destination like its sister Ixtapa. We're really liking it here already.











Once we got oriented we found our way to the municipal beach this morning. It's an easy walk from our place and is where the fishermen come in with their boats.

Sandy tells us it's not the best place to swim as there is some pollution, however there is a pedestrian walkway along the top of the beach with a couple of nice beachfront restaurants.  For for me the surprise was a flock of egrets fishing in the waves. They were catching fish for their breakfast too, so I guess it can't be that polluted.

Farther down the beach you cross a little bridge to another beach where people go to swim. This one is called Playa de Madera (Beach of Wood) and that may be where we'll head tomorrow. It gets pretty warm here in the afternoon and I'm looking forward to a little ocean swimming.