Girl Time in Zwatt!

Good times have been had in Zihjuatanejo with the arrival of my girlfriends a few days ago! We are celebrating two birthdays and have been enjoying exceptional dining, taken in the local color, done some ever so important artisinal shopping, embibed in massages and had a ball of FUN in water activities! 

Here is the Ixtapa marina we are docked in. In order to get to Zihautanejo, we take a taxi and the drive is about 15 minutes to downtown when at the marina. 

As for the marina environs...Can you even believe what resides in the marina waters?! This pic gives you an idea of a croc lurking on the docks... He'd make a better purse in my opinion.  Ha! 

We told two of the girls that there were crocs, but they weren't convinced and put their feet in the water while sitting on the side of the dock for a few minutes. Then the marina police noticed them and told them to get out of the water immediately. Danny ran out to get them back on the boat. Goodness!!! 

They won't be doing that again. 

Danny to the rescue...

Shortly afterward, two smaller crocs were swimming right around our boat and they were beyond shocked. 

We took a taxi the first night into Zwatt to La Casa Que Canta.. Otherwise known as "the house that sings." It's a sublime hotel with 25 suites and as romantic as ever. Dinner was MUY especiál!!! 

The day after we arrived we took the boat out of the harbor at the crack of dawn when the tide was high as the clearance between the bottom of our boat and the entrance to the harbor is ONE foot! 

As usual, Brad had it all under control and we didn't get stuck... He always plans ahead and makes allowances for these things. We cruised over to the bay in Zwatt and anchored out where we will remain until Friday. It's beyond gorgeous and looks like a tropical jungle everywhere... The sunsets are magical and we feel like we are truly checked out & enjoying every morsel...Taking nothing for granted and counting every blessing! 

That afternoon we arrived back at La Casa Que Canta for our private cooking class.  It couldn't have been more perfect and we overlooked a beautiful bay with a gorgeous ocean view! It was a ton of fun cracking up with "Chef Antonio" and we learned how to cook a squash blossom risotto with sautéed shrimp in tomatillo sauce, along with homemade churros in a caramel "yum" sauce. Lunch consisted of our cooking endeavors along with a wonderful bottle of white wine. Perfection!

Karen, me, Laura, Linda & Chrissy. 

View of hotel from the water. 

We left our cooking class after a wonderful long lunch and headed downtown to the artisans market by the beach for our purveying adventure. Below is a sweet local artist painting some decorative plates... We spied him in action and all of us found some great treasures. The art of negotiation was in full swing!

Meanwhile... Brad & Danny had their own  lunch on the sand. Mano a mano.

The local fish market.. Brought in fresh all day long. Can you spot that small square canvas on the ground with fresh fish on it? All I can think of is food poisoning as it lays there in the HOT sun... No bueno. 

These are what are called Panga boats. You see these all throughout Mexico. They are used as boat taxis, fishing boat, family campers and much more. 

After a long day of fun & shopping, it was time to head back and jump in the water!

This is what memories are made of!

The next day we spent the whole time at The Viceroy hotel on the beach under a palapa. We swam, lunched, enjoyed afternoon massages and swam some more. 

There was no shortage of shopping opportunities from our lounge chair either! 

My favorite was the friendliest guy who was beyond excited to tell us about his very special homemade string cheese from Oaxaca. He keep it in a plastic lined bucket (I'm agasht at the sight of it!) and pulled it out to tempt us. Really?... We are all cracking up when we set eyes on it and two of my very brave friends Karen & Laura decide to buy some and embibed. It looked like intestines.Haaaaa! So far they have evaded a virus. 

The setting was so idyllic that we cancelled our "fancy" dinner reservations elsewhere and stayed in our swim suits, wet hair, disheveled as can be...swam even more and enjoyed a late dinner with our toes in the sand and tiki torches around us. Their service was spot on and we couldn't have had any more fun!!! We headed back to the boat about 9:30pm... Only to jump back in the water and swim more. Luckily there aren't crocs here!!