Family-style spring break in Zihuatanejo

Latin America — By Bob Riel on March 10, 2008 at 7:31 am

When Brigid Schulte’s sister suggested a family beach vacation that involved 12 people, ranging in age from a five-year-old child to their seventy-something parents, she wasn’t very enamored with the idea. But a week in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, cured her skepticism. She wrote about the family’s experiences for the Washington Post.

Zihuatanejo is an old fishing village on Mexico’s Pacific coast, about 150 miles north of glitzy, touristy Acapulco and just south of lower-key but still touristy Ixtapa…I’d never heard of Zihuatanejo. Claire assured me that it was the place that the inmates of “The Shawshank Redemption” dreamed of going once they broke out of jail. Once we landed, I could quickly see why…

The first thing we noticed when we walked into the tile- and thatch-roofed villa was the breeze. Zihuatanejo is hot, no matter what time of year. But local architect Enrique Zozaya, who carefully studies the direction of the wind and the way the tropical light plays on a piece of land, had designed the villa to take maximum advantage of the ocean breezes. The living room upstairs was completely open to the winds, and three of the four bedrooms had open terraces…

By the time the rest of the family arrived later that afternoon, the staff had squeezed the juice from the limes, made a gigantic pitcher of margaritas and put out platters of fresh guacamole, salsa and chips. The kids played in the pool while the adults caught up. Gama grilled the guachinango (red snapper) that had been caught earlier that day. And we ate by moonlight at the teak table out on the patio before turning in. We would end up eating all of our meals this way…

Over the next few days, we both explored as a group and split into smaller parties. We sisters began every morning by climbing down the steep stairs to a rocky platform near the water’s edge to do yoga. The kids started in the pool. My husband figured out where he could walk every morning to buy an English-language newspaper. And my parents quickly learned how to say huevos revueltos (scrambled eggs) when Gama asked what they wanted for breakfast.

I have to say, I was attracted to this article because Lisa and I had a similarly amazing experience in Zihuatanejo a year ago. It was a quickly-planned, spontaneous vacation and we chose the destination simply because it was relatively inexpensive, we wouldn’t need rental cars to get around, and we could get there at the last minute with frequent flyer miles. We also didn’t know much about Zihuatanejo before we arrived, but it was beautiful, laid-back and friendly. What more did we need?

Here is a photo of the beach at sunset;