ahhh, life on the beach

Thirteen of us traveled from the Sacramento area to join my sister-in-law’s family in Ixtapa for her Nephew’s wedding in November.  Now this being my first trip to Mexico, I was happy to be going with those who not only spoke the language, but also had been to Mexico before, so knew what to expect.  This left me feeling very free to do absolutely no research and preparing for anything.  I packed some clothes, grabbed my passport and was ready to go!

We landed in Zihuatanejo and I knew that this was the more “local” town of the sister cities that are Zihuatenejo and Ixtapa.  However, I was not prepared for how poor the town seemed to me.  I have been many places, but this one took me back a moment as to how bad the living standards are there.

the wedding location

  Fortunately, Ixtapa is a tourist town that has many restaurants and hotels lined up along the beach where we were staying and seemed like the resort town I was expecting when we landed in Mexico.

I arrived at the hotel with my sister-in-law’s parents and one of her brothers and we were met by friends and family that I had no idea who they were, but being part of the family, I was welcomed with open arms and kisses all around.  After standing in the open lobby and sweating for nearly 20 minutes, I decided to check into my room and try to change and cool off before tackling the never ending heat and humidity of Mexico.

We spent our first night meeting people, catching up with family and friends we hadn’t seen in a while and drinking a lot of beer!  The next morning was breakfast at a great dive restaurant across the street and pool/beach time for the kids and adults.

we got to hold baby turtles!!!

Most days we spent lounging in the luke warm pool, drinking lots of beers but sweating so much that we were unable to obtain a nice long buzz and walking across the street for food and pervisions.  We relaxed, ate, drank, got to know people there for the wedding and had a great time.  By the time the wedding came around we were ready to seriously party and so we did!

A lot went down in Mexico, and if it wasn’t for the humidity, then we would be going back there real soon.