Today we drove from Ixtapa in the state of Guerrero to Manzanillo in the state of Colima. It was about 250 miles and we averaged about 40 miles per hour. There was very little traffic but the road is along the coast and is very windy. It is a road with pretty much no roads coming into it. We have heard that the coastline of the state of Michoacan has had a lot of drug cartel problems. Probably because of this at least four villages we drove through each had a group of vigilantes with guns checking the cars coming through. They gave us no problems but still it was a bit unsettling.

We saw lots of coconut trees, mango trees, papaya trees and banana trees. We also saw a lot of crabs crossing the road as well as lizards and a turtle.

We stayed in Manzanillo for a week back in 2007. I really liked it them and I’m looking toward to relaxing here again. It is a busy harbor. Our room is in a beautiful spot looking over the water. Very relaxing. And it’s fun to watch the ships. We ended the day with another great fish dinner right on the brach.

Not much to report today. We drove up the coast to Ixtapa which is a planned resort community right next to Zihuatenejo. Saw about a million coconut trees and some beautiful coastline.

The owner of the place we stayed in Puerto Escondido asked where we were headed next. When Duke said Acapulco she said there are 150 topes (speed bumps) between Puerto Escondido and Acapulco. So we counted. Actually there were 240 topes on our route! So although it was not a long distance – 248 miles, it took is about 7 hours.

Acapulco is in a beautiful setting and a stunning harbor. We are staying
at Las Brisas, a hotel built into a cliff on the south side of the harbor. It was built in the 50s. A very elegant pink and white theme. Any time we want to get up or down the mountain we call and a pink and white jeep appears to whisk us away. It is an amazing place. We swam in the pool we share with one other room. Them we had drinks at the sunset bar at the top of the mountain. The sunset wasn’t much but the view was stunning!

We ate dinner on a terrace overlooking the city. The service and food were both great and the view of the city, the nice breeze and the piano player made it a perfect evening.

Another wonderful lazy day in Puerto Escondido. We’ve both been doing a lot of reading on this trip. I’ve read two Louise Penny murder mysteries, a very funny romantic comedy called The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, and right now I’m reading both The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver and Arundel by Kenneth Roberts both of which I’m enjoying very much.

Today we had breakfast again at Cafecita our favorite spot. After a swim in the pool and some reading we checked out the surfing beach. Tonight we had a fish dinner again and watched the moon come up and some fishing boats go out. Tomorrow we are off to Acapulco.

Puerto Escondido is a lovely spot! We relaxed today. Walked down to breakfast at Cafecita where we had dinner last night. I had a big bowl of fruit with granola and yogurt. Duke had French toast and fruit.

We talked to an American guy who is retired military and has been traveling around Central America looking for a place to settle. He said he was going to look at houses today.

We spent the morning reading. Around noon we headed down to a different beach from yesterday. We swam and had beer and some shrimp tostadas for lunch.

When it got warmer we headed back up to where we are staying and cooled off in the pool.

Tonight we went down to the center of town and had a wonderful dinner overlooking the beach as the full moon came up!