Village rhythms

Oakland Tribune, Mar 13, 2006 by Jay Solmonson, STAFF WRITER

WHEN alligators slither their way into your dream vacation, it's time to get a new dream. But I wasn't thinking about reptiles when my sister invited me to spend a week-long vacation in a modern beachside home in Troncones, Mexico.

So last winter, I left behind my busy wife and stormy weather for a flight from San Francisco to Ixtapa, Mexico. Ixtapa is 150 miles northwest of Acapulco along the Pacific coastline and about 30 miles south of Troncones. The area sports winter temperatures in the mid 80s and higher.

Five of us, including an old friend, arrived after dark. We piled out of our rental cars dragging beachwear and golf clubs into our vacation home.

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While I admired the pool and open-air living room, dining room and kitchen, others claimed the bedrooms. That left the hammock- slung, third-floor, roof-top deck open for me, my air mattress and mosquito net.

But who needs a room when you have a view of the ocean and a blanket of stars? And it came outfitted with friendly bats and hungry geckos to gobble up any pesky bugs. With background music of crashing surf, rustling palms and an occasional primordial call coming from a nearby lagoon, dreams of being lost on a deserted island swam around my head.

I awoke at first light to a half-hearted rooster s crow. While the others slept, I took an hour-long stroll along the beach as the sun rose above the semi-tropical, forest-covered mountains that form the backdrop for the village.

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Troncones is a rough and tumble town where you can get a beachside massage, a taco or tequila, or rent a horse all without stepping off the sand. The small fishing hamlet seems to come to life early, before the heat of the day slows everyone down.

As I ambled along the beach, thatched-roof caf s began to spring to life along with the san crabs, who were running for their lives in front of hungry shore birds. Out at sea, pelicans dove for breakfast as fishermen threw nets in the surf for theirs.

Although the beach went on for miles, the scents from breakfast fires drifting out to sea reminded me that my breakfast was waiting back home.

As a sizzling sun reflected off our swimming pool, we ate breakfast and considered our options. Besides lazing around, we could swim, surf, bodysurf, boogie board, fish, ride horses, get a massage or check out the abundant wildlife. We could dine in one of the many beachfront palapa restaurants nearby or drive into Ixtapa or Zihuatanejo.

But all that thinking, along with the heat and humidity, slows a guy down.So we decided to stick close to home and just take a get- aquainted joyride around the neighborhood.

All the roads in Troncones, except the main road leading into town off Mexico highway 200, are dirt. So we bounced along the beachside path past scores of little B&BS, guest inns, vacation homes and seaside cafes. The laid-back and friendly hamlet seemed to be home to as many chickens, pigs and burros as people.

After lunch at home, my friend and I drove into Ixtapa to check out one of its two golf courses. Without my wife and his girlfriend dragging us through the shopping warrens of Ixtapa or nearby Zihuatanejo, we could plan on a round of golf every other day during our stay.

The story of Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo is a tale of two cities -- side by side but worlds apart. Although they share a common geography, they have distinctly different personalities.

Both are coastal towns, small and easy to get to know. But while Zihuatanejo is the quintessential Mexican beach town offering lower- priced rooms, open-air cafes, narrow streets and a funky charm, its neighbor Ixtapa boasts a modern infrastructure with fancy restaurants and luxury high-rise hotels.

Ixtapa was planned as a mega-resort and built from the ground up in the 1970s. And it's not finished yet. Condos and time-shares crawl up the palm-covered hillside right out of the sea.

Along with golf, plenty of activities keep tourists busy: tennis, horseback riding, bicycling, swimming, surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, kayaking, fishing, shopping. Just the thought of all that activity made us hungry, so we stopped in one of the abundant cafes for some spicy enchiladas and cool drinks.

In Ixtapa, nearly everything lies along one 3-mile-long boulevard, Paseo Ixtapa. The street is just a hotel lobby off the beach. And at each end of the paseo are golf courses.

On this day we stopped by Club de Marina Ixtapa, built on undulating terrain with saltwater canals running through it. Water comes into play on 14 of the course's 18 holes, and the fairways sprout more moguls than most ski runs.

We decided we'd play this course the next afternoon. Bad decision.

There's a reason the courses are empty in the afternoons, even with discounted prices. In the sweltering heat, even frequent trips to the beverage cart could barely keep our temperatures below our scores.

The next morning, we drove into Zihuatanejo early to see the fishermen selling their predawn catches along the downtown beachfront. The Playa Municipal's sheltered waters are the launching spot for the fishermen's small wooden boats.

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Village rhythms

Oakland Tribune, Mar 13, 2006 by Jay Solmonson, STAFF WRITER

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