Zihua Brah!

“Zihua brah!!!!” had been on the tip of our tongue since the idea of the trip was born…. “Z-z-z-zihua”, “Zi-huat”, “Zihuatanejo” wiggled it’s way into so many conversations, it was fitting to finally meet the big “Z” during our last stay on the coast and furthest point south in Guerrero.

Quite the contrast to Nexpa, Zihuatanejo was a busy hub for tourism, a beautiful city stretched across the coast and neighboring hillsides.

A major harbor, beach, surf and seafood that attracted people from everywhere.

We were lucky to snag the last spot in the part RV Park, part fancy Restaurant parking lot, called ‘El Manglar’.

At first curious why the restaurant/campsite was called ‘the mangrove or swamp’, it became evident when we spotted a 10 ft+ crocodile just steps away from our margaritas…

The staff quickly advised that all pets should remain ‘on leash’, as the cocodrilos might become hungry.

Peering over the short restaurant fence, feet away, you could see the crocodile watching, motionless, except for the eyes… Which customer would come close next?…

Besides camping with the crocs, Zihua offered great food, beach time, swimming with Mozy pie, hip hangouts like “Loot” where we’d cool off with a cocktail in the afternoon heat, and …more Italian food! Haha!

Loot:

The Italian…

Our finale in Zihua ended with a delicious meal at a little Trattoria in the jungle. Walking up, you definitely felt like you had just stumbled into the heart of Italy. Art, music, down to the napkins and chairs…Italian.

We were shortly greeted by a man, wide as he was tall, just bursting with personality. He sang through the menu and made sure we had plenty of wine to start the night.

After licking our plates clean from the homemade pastas, cannolis and tiramisu, we starting speaking with our new friend to figure out how he had ended up in Mexico.

He smiled, leaned into our table hard and began…”This is-a- very good-a-story… you know, I be in Venice in the Gondola with girlfriend, drinking the wine, having the sex, smoking the pot… falling asleep, having more of the sex again…you know… the pot.. and then-a-one-a-day we do that again, and a-end up here!!…” He started giggling, trying to twist our arm into limoncello but we had to politely decline..too full!!

(We later learned that if he didn’t like customers, he’d literally chase them out of the restaurant or deny them food like the soup nazi…) Lucky for us, we had a warm send off from the trattoria and from Zihuatanejo. 😉

An incredible adventure down the coast, it was time to head inland.