Michoacan Coast – Mexican vs. Tourist Resorts
Thursday, March 25th, 2010We are now travelling along the Michoacan coast, which is stunningly beautiful. The mountainside that meets the ocean is rugged and steep. Below the cliffs are deserted beaches with bright white sand and a rough surf. The coast is lined with incredible rock formations – some with caves and blow holes. The area is uninhabited, except for a few small towns with locals and surfers.
Although the scenery is spectacular, the highway is a two lane road that twists and turns through the mountains overlooking the coast. We rarely go faster than 30 mph. We spend a couple nights in Playa Azul, a town of 3500 people filled with hotels and restaurants, which are empty except for a few locals. We seem to have left the North American tourist areas for the true Mexican resorts, which only get busy on the weekends and holidays. We stay at a funky, typical Mexican resort hotel with 2 pools, ping pong tables, lounge, pavilions, etc., but rather run down (3 stars here, in US would be 1 star). For example, no doors on the bathroom stalls, no warm water, no toilet paper… Fortunately, I always carry my own these days.
We camp in an odd spot on a dirt lot between the hotel and pool. It is cheap ($15 per night) and we have full access to the pools and amenities, plus we are in the center of town and just across the street from the beach. Nothing to complain about.
After Playa Azul, we go to Ixtapa for a treat. I promise to take the kids to a nice resort so they get a feeling of being a tourist in Mexico. The hotel has an infinity pool with a swim up bar, which everyone really likes. The room fee includes unlimited beverages, which we also like! Connor, Quinn and I are brave and go parasailing – too cool! Paul and I splurge on hour long massages on the beach ($35 for both of us, and totally worth every penny). The hotel and restaurants are not busy; the poor economy definitely has an impact here. We love the resort, but do not get a sense of Mexico.
From Connor: The infinity pool is the best thing ever created.
From Quinn: I want to go parasailing again. That was fun!
Changing subjects, we have come to realize that our laptop is critical. We use it for all communication, paying bills, blogging, organizing photos, homework, watching movies, music, hotel reservations, checking weather and news, etc. The charger on the laptop just died so we are now at the mercy of hotel computers and Internet cafes. Amazing how dependable that we are on a little machine. In any case, I will not be posting pictures until we get a new charger in a few weeks.
hwy1alltheway