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Taking day trips outside of the town itself is a great way to check out some pretty cool stuff in the area. Some places are quite close to town and only require a boat trip across the bay while others involve taking a local bus to towns in the surrounding hills away from the coast.
Petatlan is a city about an hour or so by bus from Zihua. There is an impressive cathedral in the city on the main zocalo (square) which attracts a number of pilgrams each day - relics of a former priest reputed to have been responsible for several miracles are housed and viewable there. Try to be there at mass on a Sunday or, if you're lucky, a wedding or other religious ceremony on a Saturday. Vendors surround the church yard selling ice cream, fresh peeled fruit, hammocks (which are a great deal compared to Zihua), and there is a little place which is part of the cathedral selling colourful candles.
Petatlan has a rustic central mercado, a place you should visit after having eaten a meal. It isn't uncommon to turn a corner and be confronted by a wheelbarrow full of cows' heads. Speaking of food, there is a super restaurant with friendly staff and excellent Mexican cuisine on the zocalo. Mi Pueblito II (#3 Plaza Principal) has been there since the 1960s and is a great place to sit and have lunch. Semana Santa (the two weeks before and after Easter) would be a good time to go - with lots of pilgrims in town as well as the local fair where vendors line the main street selling all things Mexican. Throughout the year, there are a fairly substantial booths selling gold jewellery by the gram. Good quality stuff and very competitive pricing - as Petatlan has been a gold centre for the past 100 years.
A few choices getting to Petatlan from Zihua are available - with varying costs. The most expensive would be to take an organized tour. Or, you would have no difficulty getting a local taxi driver to drive and escort you to Petatlan. The most fun trip is to take the local white buses which leave downtown Zihua. If you miss one, another one will be along in about 48 seconds. These buses look like school buses but are painted white. There will be a conductor clinging to a handrail leaning out the door calling out, "Peta!". Wave at him and the driver will stop. He'll want to know where you're going - or not. Just grab a seat and the conductor will be along in good time to see where you want to go and collect the 10 pesos or whatever it is to get there. The bus leaves Zihua from near the public market and drives along Calle los Cocos, then north along Paseo del Parmar, then east on Jose Morelos to the outskirts of town. Sit by the window and check out the scenery as you pass by innumerable auto body shops, colourful vehicles, mango plantations, rivers, loose pigs, and villages along the highway.
On the same road to Petatlan, there is an absolute gem of a beach called Barra de Potosi - or simply 'Barra' by the locals in Zihua. Again, a taxi will get you there - for a price. But the same white bus line can get you to a little town called Los Achotes (tell the conductor this is where you're getting off - or just say Barra so you feel like you fit in). This is where you will disembark to your next mode of transportation, a pickup truck with bench seats in the back. The back is covered to keep the sun off of you as you make the ten or fifteen minute trip down to the beach. There will be all sorts of characters on the truck including other tourists, peanut vendors, workers, kids coming home from school, etc. Once you're down at the beach, there are a multitude of enramadas, which are beachside restaurants specializing in seafood with tables under a sprawling palm-thatched roof, on the sand, with the added convenience of hammocks running the lengths of the restaurant between the tables. This is heaven on earth. Garlicky shrimp or abalone in diablo sauce, hand made tortillas, and a cold beer for lunch. Once you've claimed a table, get there early, it's yours for the day. You don't have to order right away. Have a swim, take a walk along the long, long beach, look for whales, check out the diving pelicans, or explore the lagoon. You'll need to leave by five to get a truck back to the highway, where you flag down a white bus back to town. This place is worth more than just one visit per trip.
Across the bay from Zihua is a beach called Las Gatas, the site of an ancient native recreational spot. There is a story about a king who had an artificial reef built so that his princess daughters had a place to swim. Take a fishing boat (panga) from the municipal pier and find a good beachside spot to plant yourself for the day. Everyone has their favourite place, and we like Rayito del Sol, only because the snorkelling is fairly decent from this location. You can rent snorkel gear at the end of the beach or bring your own.
One the the best places to go to check out some skin diving, is Isla Ixtapa (click here to go to the Isla Ixtapa page). To get there, take one of the smaller white buses that will have 'Playa Linda' written on the wind screen. Catch these buses at the top of Paseo del Parmar where it becomes a one way street called Collegio Militar (good luck finding a street sign - or just ask a local as you make your way). The mini bus will take you to a touristy spot where there are a ton of souvenir stalls, a crocodile lagoon, and some sort of a bird sanctuary. Worth a quick look around and a few photos of the native crocs. Go to the end of the pier, buy a ticket (don't lose it, it's your return ticket as well), and you will be ferried across to Isla Ixtapa. There are four beaches on the island, one with no services. We usually hike across the island (about five minutes at the most) to the beach with the best coral, parking ourselves at Restaurante El Indio. You can easily walk through the restaurant to the other side to the next beach, Playa Varadero. The fish are colourful and easily approached. Some can get aggressive if you're feeding them. We've seen octopus, urchins, and stingrays as well here.
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