FUZZY IXTAPA.
Ixtapa is a town on the west (Pacific) coast of Mexico located between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco. It is an area I had never visited before…so when I won the chance to go visit it, I took it! . We were flying with Air Transat, a charter airline that usually has very good prices. The reason they can offer such low fares is, in part, because they stack the passengers like sardines. There should be rules regarding passenger sizes rather than luggage size. Just like in amusement parks where they say you must be over so many inches to ride…here it should say you must be less than 5’9” to fly with us! When your knees do not fit between your seat and the one in front and then the charming person sitting in aforementioned front seat decides to recline his seat onto your lap…it is enough to provoque air rage! On the plus side I got to see two movies I had not seen before: “Teaching Helen” and “Stepford wives”.
But all this fun had to end…and after close to five hours, we finally landed at the Ixtapa airport. Hot and humid just as it is supposed to be! We were then driven to the hotel, handed our room keys and told to report for supper at seven…2 hours away…
I hurried into my bathing suit and went straight to the beach…
The water was warm…the waves looked inviting…I gingerly went in…there were other bathers around…I studied the wave patterns: where they swelled, where they broke, where they died… I dove through a couple of breaking waves, then swam to where they swelled and was enjoying the thrill of being lifted by the water and then watching the waves crash towards the shore…when one doozie of a wave crashed on top of me, rolling me like a load of laundry in the spin cycle, I was heels over head, I felt my bathing suit top around my ears…I remember wondering how long it would take before I came out of it…wondering also which way was up…finally I felt the sand under my feet and I got my head out of the water…I shook the hair out of my face, spat out some sea water and rubbed my eyes…when I opened them everything was fuzzy…I rubbed them again…then it hit me! My glasses were gone…I had forgotten to take them off when I went in the water…not one of my smartest moves, second only to the fact that I had also forgotten to pack an second pair…I sheepishly went to lie on a long chair until it was time to get ready for dinner.
This mishap made for a rather fuzzy vision of Ixtapa and its hotels. Thank goodness for automatic zooms on cameras…I just aimed and the camera “saw” for me. Thank goodness also for my red haired roommate who was so flamboyant that I could always find her in a crowd. She kindly pointed me in the direction of the washrooms any time I asked. Have you ever noticed how discrete washroom signs can be? Have you ever considered the challenge involved in finding light switches in a darkened unfamiliar hotel room? Elevator panels in Braille are fine for blind people but what about plain nearsighted people? I got some funny looks when I had to crouch in front of the panel to find my “floor”.
Once I did make it to my floor, (the third), there was a beautiful view of the mountains surrounding Ixtapa.
The scenery is beautiful and a bit reminiscent of Costa Rica, (after all it is the same mountain chain). Luscious green mountains as back drop and a scalloped coast dotted with beaches of various sizes and depths.
The largest one is the Playa Del Palmar. This is where most of the hotels are. We visited 8 of them (this was the trip’s main objective).
The first one of course is the one we stayed at: the Costa Real. Set amid lovely gardens, it has a pristine lobby, a very nice stretch of beach and offers lovely views from most rooms.
Then we visited the Qualton Club on Playa Linda, a simple hotel with a Mexican décor, two storey buildings and not much of a beach.
Next we saw the Melia Azul. This is a BIG hotel with an imposing conference center. It does not have a great beach but it makes up for it with incredible pools cascading into one another. There is even a kid’s theme pool with water slides. There is a romantic à la carte (as opposed to the usual buffet) restaurant over the water and soon a discotheque will open next to it. They offer kayak rides to the island in front of the hotel where there is a nice beach and good snorkeling sites.
Then we went to the Dorado Pacifico. This hotel is different in that it is not an all-inclusive. Everything is à la carte. It shows in the rooms where you have stocked mini bars and cupboards that offer everything from booze to candy including cigarettes and alka seltzer. The building is a vertiginous high rise. It has a nice beach and very nice rooms.
Finally lunch break!!! We had it in the Riviera Beach Resort and Spa. This is a surprising hotel. The building itself looks quite ordinary from the outside but there is great attention to detail and design inside and on the grounds.
They have a nice version of the pool bar
There have been some turtles laying eggs on the beach so they have set up a nursery to protect them until they are ready to be released in the ocean.
We visited the presidential suite! A dream!!!
After lunch we set off again, this time to the Presidente Intercontinental. It has a somewhat colonial theme with fountains here and there. They have a courtyard where we were treated to a Mexican fiesta.
Then we visited the Fontan. This is a simple hotel, which offers a good quality price ratio especially for young people. I liked their tiny bright blue balconies.
Next we visited the Barcelo. This is another high-rise with an inner courtyard. It is very pretty and so are the grounds.
And finally! The topping on the cake, the last hotel we visited was; the Las Brisas. This is a hotel in a class by itself. Geographically also it is by itself in a small bay called Playa Vista Hermosa (nice view beach). It is built on a slope. From the outside, the building is somewhat reminiscent of a pyramid, a bit stark… But from the inside, unless you bend down over the edge you feel totally alone when standing on your terrace. Some, as you can see, have not only a hammock but also a whirlpool. Speaking of pools their pools are lovely, with fountains and waterfalls. There is a lot of walking necessary to get to the various common areas. You even walk through an area reminiscent of a rain forest at one point. It is not a hotel for handicapped people even if there is a shuttle service between the restaurant and the lobby and an elevator to the beach…The Italian restaurant is spectacular. There is even a bar with backgammon tables…A very special place!
Across the street from the hotels is a commercial area, with restaurants, bars and shops, all very touristy but rather quaint with cobblestones and dotted with fountains. The “in” place seems to be a bar named “Senor Frog’s”.
The following day we took a guided tour and I was disappointed to find out that there are no Mayan or Inca temples or ruins in the area. We visited a marina where many rich Mexicans dock their boats.
The place is lined with nice looking restaurants.
We saw some crocodiles (or are they alligators? I never know the difference…) and were told they are quite numerous and dangerous especially on the golf courses.
We did learn that the entire area used to be coconut tree plantations and that coconut is still the major agricultural production. But tourism is definitely the biggest industry. There is a fishing village called Zihuatanejo near by that is picturesque.
It is where most of the hotel employees live. I found that most of the shops sell mass produced cheap looking things which is unfortunate as there are some beautiful handicraft made in Mexico, but not sold in this area it seems.
We got to see three different shows during our stay. The first one was labeled “international”, the second “traditional Mexican” and the third a flamboyant affair with breathtaking dancers. Unfortunately being seated rather far from the stage on each occasion, I did not see much, I heard the music, I saw the shimmer of the costumes, and I listened to the comments and the applause…
I did get to spend a few more hours playing in the waves and had a ball! This to me would be the main reason to go to Ixtapa! For even if the sand is not white and the water is not turquoise, the ocean is an entertainment in itself!
Take me back to Mexico – Main index