Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Sunday, February 26, 2017 – Zihuatanejo, Mexico – Partly Cloudy - 84F

Distance from Cabo San Lucas to Zihuatanejo: 547 Nautical Miles

Zihuatanejo is the sister city to Mexico’s resort city, Ixtapa.  Zihua has a population of just over 60,000.  The name of the city comes from the Olmec word for “place of women”.  The homes are perched on the hills overlooking the bay.  The town has a blocks long beachfront walkway, containing vendors, bars, and restaurants.

Because it's Sunday, we don't expect many stores to be open (exception, of course, bars).  We do not have a tour today so we plan to walk around the city and see what's changed since we were last in this port.

Zihua (the name the locals call the town) is a tender port but the ride is not all that long and the waters in the bay appear calm.  The tenders were not crowded and in just a few minutes we were at the tender port.


Quest from Tender


Ellen on Tender - Good Spots for Photos







Getting Close and the Tender Port

It seems like every town in Mexico (and maybe all through Central America) has a city sign.  The budget must have only allowed enough letters for the town's nickname.



Even though it was Sunday, the vendors on the boardwalk area were all open.  From the beach, you could get a real good shot of the Azamara Quest out in the bay.


Quest at Anchor

The picture below duplicates the one we took several years ago when we last visited Zihua.  I'm not sure the buildings in the background were around then but I would have to check on that.



The town square boasts a statue of a man manning a machine gun of some sort.  From the Spanish inscription on the statue, it looks like Jose Azulta Abad was defending the town.  His fist in the air must represent a successful mowing down of the enemy and he did it all in semi-formal dress.



After pretty much walking the whole city looking for something open, we gave up and headed to the tender port.  The little tourist center that I waited at for Ellen to return from an excursion did not seem to be open.  I remember it so well because it had air-conditioning.

We caught the next tender for the ship.


On our way back to Quest

After another lunch up in the Windows Café, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the open deck - thank goodness for a little breeze.












Lunch on the Back Deck

We had dinner in the Discoveries Dining Room.  I had forgotten to pre-order my onion soup but the waiter checked and said they would make some up fresh for tonight.  Now that's luxury cruising.  The soup was great as was the rest of the dinner.  I should mention that we have found another great table.  Although there is a little vibration back there (the table is at the rear of the dining room), the waiters working the table are great.  We can put up with a little shake for great service.

Tonight is Oscar Night so the Cabaret Lounge is all decked out for the festivities.  We checked it out not intending to stay and watch the show.  A magnificent ice Oscar let you know what you were watching.  There were strawberries (from Norway we were told) all decked out in chocolate tuxedoes.  There were other tasty goodies on the buffet and even the serving stands were wrapped.  Almost as elegant as the real thing.







Oscar Night aboard the Azamara Quest

If the Oscars were not your thing, you could wander up to the Living Room at 8:15 PM to see "Double Standards" - a two person show starring DeAna and Ernest.  We went up early to get good seats and were treated to a mini-rehearsal of the show.  The show itself was entertaining if a bit short.  They both have good voices and the songs were standards (hence the title).




Rehearsal and the Real Thing






















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