“Zihua” as the locals call it, is by head-and-shoulders our favorite town in Mexico, at least so far. It is clean, safe, has lots of great restaurants and shopping, and many fewer street people hawking cheap bobbles while you try to eat!!
We had several really amazing meals, and one of our favorites (we went back again later) was also the cheapest. A little taco restaurant not far from Playa Principal. I wish we could remember the name, but it was on a corner of a little plaza with a mermaid statue. No traffic - just walking streets. It was adorable and it had a huge spit of Al Pastor that they cooked with a jet of flame. It had a whole pineapple at the top of the spit, and we loved watching as the workers carved off chunks of al pastor and then lopped off, expertly, a hunk of pineapple to add to it. We bought a half kilo of al pastor to take with us.
Oh, and the best part? A plate of five al pastor tacos cost $70 MXN pesos. That’s $4.08 USD at current exchange rate. Not even a dollar per taco!
The servers spoke no English, and there weren’t many gringos around, which made it even more authentic and less touristy than destinations elsewhere that all feel the same now.
In fact, that was our favorite thing about the city. There were tourists/gringos there, of course, but we were by FAR a small minority. The crowds walking the streets, enjoying the restaurants and bars, and spectating at the outdoor basketball stadium next to the beach (which was always in use) were probably 85% Mexican. Maybe 90%.
Everyone was super friendly to us and we never got any anti-tourist vibes. But we had to get by with our pathetic Spanish as much as possible!! And we did.
I’ve heard people say Zihua is not as “undiscovered” as it once was. That comment has “I was into this band when nobody knew them” vibes to me. Just trying to be cooler than you :-). But we thought it was still pretty undiscovered. Sure, it’s touristy, but most of the tourists are Mexicans. I’m guessing maybe most of them are within a short drive? Or a domestic flight? Many are locals, I’m sure.
But compared to Puerto Vallarta, where the tourist zones are largely expats and tourists from the US, and it’s gritty and run down, Zihua is a refuge. PV also has a lot of fairly obvious gay prostitution, with young (disturbingly young, sometimes) boys often hanging around outside “massage parlors” and soliciting new customers. To each their own, I suppose, (provided no children are involved) but we were glad to get away from that.
Don’t get me wrong - we had a wonderful visit with my brother in PV (he lives there) and my sister and her husband (they flew down). And we had amazing meals and fun times touring the city. It was fantastic to see Matt’s house and his life and see how he’s made himself a great life as an expat. But there’s a dark, gritty side of PV that was not to our liking.
Fishing is THE industry in Zihua, and fishermen line the beaches and docks. Wagons full of multiple, massive tuna being wheeled around are a common sight. I tried to buy some filets from one of them directly, but got a friendly refusal. The whole fish was readily available, but I would have to clean it myself! And these tuna were 2-3 feet long! I decided I only wanted to clean fish I caught myself!
Pangas are the “daily driver” of choice in this town. They are constantly zipping around the anchorage and by the beaches. Sometimes we went ashore with the dinghy, but sometimes we would just wave at a passing panga and get a ride ashore from them.
One of those pangas was a fellow named Oscar, who was with his son, probably 12 or so. They were fishing not far from where we were anchored when I gave Oscar a friendly wave. He happily reeled in his lines and buzzed over to pick us up. 80 pesos ($4.66 USD) later, we stepped onto the municipal pier and headed off to our restaurant.
Our favorite “fancy” meal was Ristorante il Mare, a beautiful, scenic restaurant built into the cliffs just north of Playa La Ropa. We stepped out of the taxi and had to take steps DOWN from the street level to reach the restaurant. That was super cool. We were given a table right next to the railing over the cliff. If I’d dropped a rock over the railing, it would go straight down - not to the sea, but the next rocks were at least 50 feet down.
We had a nice view of the entire harbor and Some Tuesday anchored in the middle of it all. It was beautiful. We enjoyed a bottle of nice Argentine Malbec, and the waiter gave us some friendly shade for not selecting a Mexican wine! I liked that and told him he should have suggested it before he opened the bottle, because I would have followed his lead happily! The food was delicious and the sunset was striking.
We thoroughly enjoyed Zihua. Some old cruisers and gringos called it “Z Town” but I never heard a Mexican call it that, so I’ll stick with Zihua! After eight days, we were ready to leave and sail south for Acapulco. We have heard it can be unsafe there, and the US State Department has a Level 4 “Do not travel” warning on Acapulco. But the locals tell me common sense, and sticking to daylight hours and tourist areas will keep you safe. So we’re going!
