Mexico & Los Angeles

Upon our arrival in Zihuatanejo, we went to the beachfront in an attempt to meet up with my good friend from college and Boise, Julie.  We missed her by minutes, but did get to watch her cruise ship sail away in the sunset.

Pelicans on the beach.

We stayed in the center of town about a 20 minute walk from the beach, so we got to see a lot of beautiful buildings and plants along our walks.

In the touristy part of Zihuatanejo.

We spent some time on the beach in the shade of umbrellas sipping Victoria.

We always ate like kings.  Incredibly delicious food!

In transit to Barra de Potosi, a much smaller beach town.

We had lots of beautiful walks on the beach that were filled with wildlife sightings.  The water was teeming with manta rays, schools of small silvery fish and the pelicans that fed on them.

We took breaks from our walks under palm thatched huts and tasted their margaritas, ceviche, cheese empanadas, fresh guacamole and Victoria beer.

We watched a lot of local fishermen catch fish the size of our thighs with just fishing line (no poles!).

When the schools of small fish swam by, hundreds of pelicans feasted.  It was an incredible sight!

This is one of my favorite pictures: Dave impersonating the cat.  Our Airbnb in Barra de Potosi had a nice courtyard with a swimming pool, palm trees and two friendly kitties.

The most incredible ceviche at La Chula Vida! Dave had incredible tuna tartare.  This beach hut was run by a lovely man who spent half the year in the US and it was just a sight for sore eyes after a long beach walk with a shaded view and colorful hammocks.

Enramadas (beach front food stalls run by the local fishermen and their families) in Barra de Potosi, had incredible views of the birdlife and sunset.

It was exciting to see the mountains across the way.  Our previous Mexico trips were all in places without Mountains.

Our last sunset on the beach before driving inland to Patzcuaro.

The incredible sunset was accompanied by the song of hundreds of birds.  

We had a beautiful, cactus and massive mountain view filled drive to Patzcuaro, about a 9 hour drive inland.  We stayed at a historic mission our first night so that we could be in the town centre to celebrate my birthday. This is the Hotel Posada de la Salud.

In the center of all these beautiful towns was always a plaza with a water fountain and statues. This one is Plaza Vasco de Quiroga

Inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Health.

Patzcuaro's downtown square;  Patzcuaro is on of Mexico's designated "Pueblos Magicos".  This one made us want to see the rest of them.  It was founded in the 1320's as the capital of the Tarascan empire, before Vasco de Quiroga made Patzcuaro the capital of "New Spain".  He's the leader who worked with all the local indigenous villages around the lake to establish an artistic specialty in each locale so that the villages didn't compete with, but complemented each other.

We had a four course meal accompanied by our own private mariacchi singer who had a great voice! This place was a small family run tapas place with unique flavors called Santo Huacal on 23 Lerin St.

Patzcuaro was simply enchanting.  We saw beautiful colors and plants and people.  The architecture was incredible and the town itself was very colorful and clean, with lots of lovely cobblestone streets, truly a magical feel.

One early morning breakfast outside in the Patzcuaro square, the sunlight highlighted the beautiful trees and the lovely people out for a morning walk.

The kitchen at our next Airbnb in Patzcuaro.

These were the only horses we saw, but they really did make for a postcard type photo.

This sunset photo of town with the volcano and lake in the background really captured the essence of Patzcuaro.

A beautiful tree lined hike up to the top of a viewpoint of the valley.

We loved strolling through the markets and buying local fruits, vegetables and honey.

Our absolute favorite taco cart.  I hope to never forget how rich the flavor was!  The grill smoked onions and spicy meats!  And how awesome it was to sit with the locals on the plastic chairs on the sidewalk, stuffing our faces.

Dave and I drove around the lake and visited all the small towns, ruins, markets, churches and indigenous communities.  It was a series of colorful, joy filled days.

Dave at an indigenous art market in Quiroga.

Church of San Francisco and Ex Convent of Santa Ana in Tzintzuntzan

Inside the kitchen of the convent.

The convent's courtyard.

The old olive trees have grown to be massive.

Tarascan ruins at Quiroga (Tzintzuntzan).

Dave and I admiring the craftsmanship of the ancient ruins.

Another incredible Airbnb, with our own private little chalet, garden and view of the lake.  And another kitty.

Another archeological site/Tarascan ruins called Ihuatzio; also in a nearby indigenous village.

We have really enjoyed visiting the many and always well preserved archeological sites in Mexico.

A typical Patzcuaro courtyard.  This was at our last hotel in the city, Mission Patzcuaro Centro Historico.  Lots of great memories and meals had at these.

After our adventures at the small villages and ruins around Lake Patzcuaro, we had a night in the the town itself before driving back to the coast.  We decided to return to the Barra de Potosi area to take in our few last nights of paradise on the beach.

Our Airbnb wasn't in the center of town as our previous one had been, but close by to the palm hatched huts along the beach.  It was one of the most picturesque places we've ever stayed!

The grounds and the views were absolutely perfect.  And the neighbors next door served some rich empanadas and cold beers.  Incredibly lucky!

We took some more long walks on the beach to see the mantas, snorkeled a bit more to see the schools of fish, and had some more delicious meals and margaritas on the beach.

The waves were actually massive and entertaining to watch for hours.

We were blessed with ever changing skies and small shorebirds to look at.

On the tail end of our trip to Paradise, we decided to stay a few nights in Los Angeles before our return flight up to work.  Last year in Ventura was incredible and an inspiration.  This time we stayed at an Airbnb in Venice Beach.  I found a place that was a two minute walk from the beach so that's where our adventure began.

The beaches of Los Angeles are mostly connected by lovely paths along the beach with cafes here and there.  We walked a lot everyday, with plenty of great people watching and historic buildings.

We found the small Venice neighborhood with water canals and some paths through to nearby cafes and shops.  Definitely a beautiful sight after a winter in Alaska.

We visited the Griffith Observatory, which had an incredible view of the city as well as the Hollywood sign and the UCLA Botanical Garden.  Our drive home took us through Beverly Hills.  Our last day we visited the Getty Museum before our flight and fell in love.  It is one of the most beautiful museums we've seen with a diversity of art media.  Would love to go back there and spend a long day there.

We loved watching the skateboarding and roller skate dancing at night on Venice Beach.

We loved our trip last year to the Channel Islands on the ferry so much that we made sure to book an island visit this time around too.  We visited Santa Catalina island.  This view was at the ferry terminal.

On the ferry ride to Santa Catalina island.

Lighthouse enroute.

We visited the Avalon side of the island, which is the quiet, palm tree lined sided with beautiful hiking trails.  The other option is the town of Two Harbors which has a casino and carnival rides.

Our own Santa Catalina wine mixer!!  We brought French cheeses, Greek olives and Chilean wines with us not knowing the range of the amenities onsite.  There is a lovely store with souvenirs and wine, and a bar with food.

Our hike to the top lead to some stunning views and beautiful cacti!  Below is the panoramic photo from the top.  Definitely a highly recommended spot, Santa Catalina and Venice Beach both.

All of our trips to Mexico have been beautiful and joy filled, but this one was especially magical!  I feel blessed and really thrilled to have had the opportunity to visit such incredibly beautiful places.  We would love to come back to see more of the mountain communities in Mexico.  The villages are picturesque, the people are gorgeous and the food is amazing.  The temperatures and humidity are a lot better than the touristy spots on the beach, and it's so nice to get into the local communities.  Hopefully Mexico City and the Copper Canyon Railway are next.  Love you and thank you for looking at our photos!