Camping With Friends Takes on a Whole New Meaning!

Zihuatanejo, Guerrero 

 March 15- 29 ( our longest stay yet)

How exciting! The El Manglar Restaurant/ campground is home to many creatures great and small.

We heard from Remy's Mom, Sharon, that she and her friend, Molly- Ann, were coming for a visit March 21. We decided to get to Zihuatanejo a few days early so we could get ourselves set up, get the lay of the land and then be ready for our first visitors. They will be staying in Ixtapa which is about 8km ( and another world away) from Zihuatanejo. 

We had trouble finding any camping along Playa la Ropa only because we weren't reading our guidebook closely enough. As usual, our detour ended up providing us with an unexpected opportunity when we met a well-to-do Mexican family holding about 5 baby turtles. As far as we could tell these were the same type of turtles that we rescued and hastily released last week in Maruata. The family explained that their hotel had given them the turtles to release into the sea. It sounds like either a cruel marketing strategy  or an increased chance of survival for the turtles- you decide.

Anyway... we were curious and consequently asked some questions about their intention. The nice family was just waiting for the  preying birds to fly away  ( they probably know to show up at 5pm for a feed of baby turtles) before they released them. I suggested that they wander up or down the beach a ways and release them there as the birds didn't seem to be going away. To make us go away they offered to give us a turtle  to look at and release which we did so now our turtle story is complete.

We finally found our way to the El Manglar RV park which is located right behind a popular beach restaurant on Playa la Ropa. We soon discovered that the mangroves that border the restaurant are host to many creatures. There are at least 6 iguanas of varying size and color, I posted a pic of the largest one. Geckos wait for bugs along the walls of the bathrooms and the shower stall- Hollis found this very tiny one, and 3 crocodiles lurk just beneath the surface of the water. Other campers assured us that the "big guy" never comes out of the water but as you can see from the picture that is not exactly true. I just about tripped over it on my way to the beach one morning!  The campers have full access to the restaurant even after it closes and this is where our internet access is best. I tried to spend some quiet time there after the boys had gone to bed one night but knowing all those creatures were peering at me from the darkness was too freaky. Give me loud, pesky boys over reptiles any day.

 The cacophony of bird song here is quite something. One pair of "turkey birds" ( that's what we call them) sound like our van engine trying to start. At dusk each night the bats are flying about feasting on the insect population.  We can never sleep past about 7am as the bird sounds startle us awake. That's ok though, it gets us out to the beach for some exercise before it gets too hot. Parasails and jet skis are all we have to worry about there.

-Liz