Return to Zee-what.......It's been a Hard Days Night (when you could be sleeping on the ground) and other fun in our final days in Mexico

After several days on the surf-crashing beach of Troncones, we returned to Zeewhat for the final several days of our 4 months in Mexico.




                                                      Troncones

We booked into a beach front hotel, steps from the centro. Rooms were big with our own semiprivate giant, balcony with views of the bay. It was quiet with the gentle melody of the waves breaking on the beach below us. Cost us 700 pesos...and worth every penny for the quiet night's sleep.

Zee-what has a pretty diverse music scene...jazz to rock. We enjoyed one young Mexican band, who nailed the Beatles and other rock tunes.

Lazy days at Playa La Ropa, Los Gatas and even took a day trip to Barra de Potosi.. Nice big, quiet beach, some food services and a giant lagoon where locals catch crabs using a long pole with a small net attached.

Zee-what played host to an International Guitar Festival. We managed to catch the opening show where all acts performed several songs. Loved the 3 Hombres (from Texas).

Decided to invite our son/daughter down for the final days. Kasondra was able to get the time off, while Scott couldn't. Was great to share with her a bit of our time in Mexico. Maybe next time, Scott!

On our 2nd last night in Zee-what, after bar-hopping and dancing, we returned to our hotel, only to find the doors closed, gated and locked by chain. ....generally, when the hotels are closed or locked late at night, all it takes is a key or ringing the doorbell to get us in. Not this time!

After nearly an hour of  banging, yelling, phoning, getting the police to help, asking the bartender at the bar we had left earlier to translate... we are stuck. S had found a comfortable spot on the hotel steps and was trying to sleep. It seemed that's where we might spend what was left of the long night.....our bartender thought there'd be several hotels still open, so we headed off. We found a room and crashed onto the beds for several hours of sleep.

Returning to our locked out hotel in the morning, we discover several other guests had the same thing happen to them.  Once the owners/managers had come in, they settled everything and even gave us the 400 pesos for the room we paid for.

Anyway, that's it! We are writing this on the plane home. The trip has been fabulous!



                                          Zihuatenejo in the distance...

.....4 months later and 30+ different beds/hotel rooms we are both well and healthy. Haven't had any real issues with food or water or eating veggies or having ice cubes in drinks......

It has been a blast and we are plotting the next trip! Shhhh! You will be the first to know..(well, possibly 3rd or 4th) haha!

Final random thoughts...

....when do Mexican children get to bed? They are always up late....

....Mexicans love to celebrate at anytime, for anything with parades, music, food and explosions.....

....wildest celebration had to be the San Blas festival and Chinese New Year in Mexico City...

.....we think we are 'free' at home; but after traveling through Mexico, I'm not so sure....

.....the bus system is fantastic! It is for the people and runs very efficiently. Clean, safe and on time.....

.....family fun and time together is important. Add a weekend and a beach and you have lots of sand in all sorts of places and some really tired kids and grandparents on the long ride back home....

.....restricting your trip to only coastal Mexico/resorts and saying you've seen Mexico, is like thinking that little, slow Mars Rover inching along, centimeter by centimeter (ok, bilingual measurements) collecting data, is able to paint a full picture of the planet......

........Go inland, see old towns, go to mountain towns, visit different states/areas.....

.....having a little bit of Spanish helps, but don't let that 'little bit' stop you from traveling around..... trying not to improve your language skills after repeated visits is just plain lazy...

...,..similar shops are located in the same areas. For example if you are looking for men's or women's clothing, house lighting, car repair, electronics, shoes, grad dresses,  they are all located side by side in the same street. You can just go from one to the next rather than traveling all over town to price compare!  Huh!...

....,there's constant garbage collection, sweeping and mopping in subways, streets, parks...we have often seen dozens of workers in uniform doing these tasks.  Funny, it is often hard to find garbage cans.

.......Mexicans value education....... elementary and secondary schools in small and large centers are fenced with barbed wire on top, locked gates with security guards.  At the end of the day, parents wait at the gate until the guard lets the children out......

......roadways and highways always have vendors selling a variety of good from window washing service to fruit, sandwiches, smokes, gum, peanuts, sweets and really anything you can imagine......
.......see them at intersections and they walk down the middle of the lanes. On one toll section we saw about 50+ vendors weaving in and out as the cars were slowly moving along.  When buses stop, vendors get on trying to sell fruit, drinks, sandwiches, yogurt, candy, pastries...

..... some restaurants  allow you to bring in drinks and sometime food too if you only go in for a drink.  Vendors also enter restaurants freely trying to sell their wares as do beggars.....

.....Zee-what had the most town/beach pedlars of any place we've been. Constant stream, wanting you to buy an endless variety of stuff!......

....getting hot, sweaty, and dirty has happened a lot..sometimes it's only one or 2. Sometimes, when they all happen together..it is a travelers nirvana, the ultimate trip high...and those 25 peso chilled beers make getting there, all the sweeter! Haha....

....we've met great, fun and honest people constantly during our travels.. both local or tourists.. Tom, RoseAnn, Phil, Nina, Bill and the rest of the Isla Mujeres sunset gang, Eliana, Gil, the Chacala crowd, Martha, Tim, Oso,  Pat & Julia, Richard, Monique, Jerry, Ricardo, Dana & Robert, Gord & Linda, the Arizona crowd from La Ropa, Oscar, Eugenia, Valdemar and more. You know who you are...Plus, friends and family back home thanks for sharing in our travels and fun....

During our 4 month journey, we:

......used planes, trains, automobiles, ferries, boats, taxis, truck-buses, collectivos, buses

...have visited 14 states in Mexico out of a total of 31 ........     Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Huatulco, Jalisco, Nayarit, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Mexico, Puebla, Guerrero.......

.... haven't cooked a single meal but did help cook one in a hacienda in Guanahuato, and enjoyed one other home-cooked meal.......

......have had at least one beer every single day ( Sol, Indio, Victoria, Tecate, Corona, Modelo, Leon, Pacifico, Bohemia)

Adios Shayne & Yvonne...we know we've missed many others, you are with us in spirit..

PS.....now back in Vancouver to enjoy family and friends before heading home.  It's been a great adventure!!