Zihuatanejo. Located in the state of Guerrero, Mexico; a couple of hours north of Acapulco and yes, it is the famed locale where Andy and Red fled upon leaving (escaping) Shawshank.
When friends and family asked us where we were going, this was always the first question - isn't that the place from Shawshank Redemption? Yes and no. Where those closing scenes were filmed was so obviously not where we were...if I had to make a guess, I'd say Baja. But Zihua is no less disappointing.
We stayed at a property called Club Intrawest, one of these membership resort type deals that aspires to be an Aman style property. Still entirely beautiful,
One of the reasons why we picked Zihua as opposed to somplace like Cancun or Puerto Vallarta is the remoteness and small town feel of the town. We were really serious about getting some R&R time, and the most important things on the agenda were sleep, drinking and eating. Not necessarily in that order. As a result, I spent a disproportionate amount of time here:
We managed to rouse ourselves enough to get some diving in - which, despite the rainy season sending sending huge amounts of run off down the mountains into the ocean was still fairly good - also some sightseeing in the village and shopping and much sampling of the local cuisine. The food was amazing; squash flower and pepper tamales were only one of the highlights. The local bakeries made breads and pastries that I nearly wept over. The local artisans brought down their hand embroidery, lacquerware and silver for sale in the markets and the stuff was such amazing quality and so creative, it slayed me. Needless to say, I spent way too much.
Overall it was a good trip, and some well deserved rest for Hubs and I. The kidlet did surprisingly well - no meltdowns or tantrums, and shockingly no major grudges when we arrived home. I suspect vast quantities of ice cream and Grandma time made our absence not only tolerable, but highly enjoyable.
The rest of my uploaded pics are here.
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