Ixtapa Trip, September 20-27

Last month we went to Ixtapa, Mexico.  We flew into the old artist/fishing village of Zihuatanejo and drove up to Ixtapa.  We had a large 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo at Azul Ixtapa.  Best room in the place, I think!

It was low (rain) season, so it was not very crowded, which was really nice.  We had planned to go diving (super cheap!), but unfortunately, there had been some tropical storms close by in the two weeks before, so the water was all turned up.  Our friend Desiree came with (to watch Hana while we went diving, since I'm not leaving my 4 year old with strangers in a foreign country!!) us, so that was neat.  Des took swim lessons in order to come with us, so both she and Hana went snorkeling for the first time ever in the ocean on this trip!!  I was excited for them, but sadly the visibility was terrible (5 to 10 feet, at the most) and they didn't see much.  Hana was disappointed, for sure. 

Since the diving thing didn't work out, we decided to try deep sea fishing.  Both Hana and Des got sea sick, (Hana was really unhappy!!) so we turned around after going out only about 4-5 miles.  Short day for those guys.  Lunch of ice cream and popcorn made Hana feel MUCH better!!  (The fisherman was also a paramedic with the Red Cross and told us to get Hana's blood sugar up when we got back to shore... he suggested Coke, but since I don't think a 4 year old should drink soda, we opted for ice cream!  Gelato, actually.)   

We enjoyed exploring Zihuatanejo a bit (even though it was VERY hot and humid) and found some fun treasures.  Hana LOVED the place we stayed.  It had 3 large pools, a kiddie pool and a water slide park!!  The beach was rocky, so we didn't spend much time there, although we took a water taxi to Ixtapa Island (Isla de Ixtapa) where the beach was nice and we also went snorkeling there.  Des and I went back another day and had massages on the beach for $35!  Nice!   Hana also enjoyed painting some ceramics.  I thought that would be more memorable than just buying those pieces at the market.  We decided not to do the optional "all-inclusive" where we stayed and that was a good idea.  We had some amazing meals around both towns!!  I wish we had time to explore more!!  All in all, it was a very good trip!

View from our top floor, corner unit balcony!

Our resort from above.