north shore news

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Sunday. February 28, 1999 ~ North Shore News - 39

| ixtapa resort a Pacific paradise

Mexican resort offers
getaway for active or
sedate vacationing

Andrew McCredie
Editor andrew@usnews.com

SOMETHING was missing.

Seven hours earlier | was strolling across
the hot tarmac of Extapa Airport, turning
my face to the hot, midday sun as ny fellow
travellers loaded into the back of the Royal
Airlines 757 for the short hop to Acapuleo
then the long trip north to Canada,

Now, as } stood in Vancouver Airport's
cavernous international customs area, | had
a profound feeling that something was
missing. But what?

My passport: and customs form were
clutched in my hand; [ could see my lug-
gage revolving around the baggage
carousel; my golf clubs were standing by
the over-size luggaue desk; and my wile was
standing beside me, stubbornly shivering in
her shorts and sandals, refusing to admit
that we were back in the damp.

The nagging feeling that something was
missing persisted for a few more hours;
then, as I lay down to sleep, contemplating
another wet Monday morning, ic hit me.
The waves. That’s what was missing: waves.
More specitically, the booming crash of
waves.

For seven straight days in Ixtapa, a
Pacific paradise located 240 kilometres
north of Acapulco, the surf pounded — and
I mean pounded — just feet from our room
in the luxurious Riviera Beach Resort and
Spa. Black flags foretold the story of the
surf, as wide-eyed kids stood ankle deep in
the sea froth and anxious parents kept
watch nearby. The no-swimming banners
flew the entire cime we were there.

Boom. Boom. Boom. You couldn’t get
away from it. Undl vou came back to the
North Shore, that is.

Locals were saving they’d never seen the
surf so big under clear skies. And clear skies
they were, the only clouds appearing on the
horizon at dusk to add brilliance to the
spectacular sunsets over Ixtapa Bay.

Ixtapa, the resort, is brought to you by
the same good people who created Cancun
and Huatulco. in the carly 1970s, Mexico's
National Fund for Tourism Development
staked our the then-barren Ixtapa Bat area
for development.

And while Cancun’s development has
turned that resort into the “Scottsdale
Arizona of the Caribbean” (complete with
Walmarts and air-conditioned shopping
centres), Ixtapa’s growth has been kept in
check.

Ixtapa (pronounced “ecks-TAH-pa”) is
limited by geography — the entire hotel
zone is contained on the resort’s 3.2 kilo-
metre soft sand beach. Growth has also
been limited thanks to a building code
which calls for 50% of Ixtapa’s land to
remain “green”. Which of course, unless
your in the concrete business, is a very

Karen McCredie photo
SUN, surf and sand combine to
make the Mexican resort of Ixtapa
(above) a prime mid-winter getaway.

good thing. Palm trees are everywhere;
hotels are surrounded by virtual forests of
trees, bushes and flowers; and an extensive
bike crail system winds around the entire
resort,

Also, unlike the party-till-vou-drop vibe
of Cancun, Ixtapa offers a wide range of
diversions: from the peaceful relaxation of a
quict beach to the tequila-fucled antics ofa
night on the town; from a challenging
round of golf on one of the resort’s two
courses to a lazy stroll through a nearby
fishing village.

Zihuatanejo

Betore the first shovel of soft red earth
was moved nearly 30 years ago to develop
Ixtapa, few Mexicans had ever heard of
Zihuatanejo. And why should they. A tiny
fishing village located seven kilometres
south cast of Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo (pro-
nounced “sce-wha-tah-NEH-ho”) had fit-
tle to offer the world and the world little to
offer to the fishing families who called it
home. .

That al! changed when Ixtapa was born.
Today, Zihuatanejo is as popular a place for
tourists as are the numerous swim-up bars
found in every beachside hotel in Ixtapa.

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