Slightly less that a hundred years ago, Zihuatanejo, was a sheltered harbour for ocean vessels and an export port for lumber. Also at this time it was being discovered by tourists who were making the arduous fifteen hour trek North from the then Mexican Resort city of Acapulco.

In the mid sixties plans were afoot to turn Zihuatanejo, as it is known by locals, and tourist who love it, into another Acapulco. The local residents protested and the developers, in the early seventies, moved North, over the hill, to a long stretch of beach, and built a town called Ixtapa.

Though Zihuatanejo prevented the invasion of tall, all-inclusive, resorts it was unable to halt progress.

With the cruise ships on the Love Boat TV series, `77 - `86, making it a port of call and the hero from the movie Shawshank Redemption making it his idyllic target of forever land, `94, Zihuatanejo has come to the attention of world travelers.

Today Zihuatanejo is no longer beside the beaten path. The path, Camino 200, a paved highway, that is gradually becoming a freeway, cuts through the outskirts of the bustling community. Only a twenty minute drive North of a busy, international, airport it welcomes thousands of visitors a week, year round.

Though slightly South of the trek of the RVers it is not uncommon to see out-of-state, and out-of-country, license plates on the traffic jammed, once quite, streets.

There really is no need for all the cars. Everything in the downtown core is within walking distance. The whole area is about four or five blocks square. I could tell you exactly if I had my trusty little map. The map that drives me crazy, each and every time I go to Zihuatanejo I picked up the map from a local travel agent during my first visit and promptly proceeded to get lost.

I pride myself on not getting lost. As a professional driver I will take you, or your cargo, anywhere you want to go, using the shortest possible route and arriving at destination on-time. Yet I have lost count of how many times I have gotten lost, walking around, the tourist core of Zihuatanejo.

There are two busy streets downtown. One, Jose M. Morelos, borders the core to the North and the other, Marina Nacional, to the East. On the West is the mountain. There is a street that goes up into the mountain and another that takes you over the mountain, for a fantastic view of the Pacific Ocean.

If you cross the busy street, to the North of the core, and continue North, into the residential district there are some streets and some stairs. The stairs go up, and up, and up, and do not come to a cross street. You have to go back down. But before you do, stop and enjoy the view. The entire town and bahia (bay) are laid out before your eyes.

What amazed me, as well as the view, is the idea, that all of the furniture, in all of the houses, along the sides of the stairs, was carried up by hand. No truck, or donkey, could make that hill.

To the South side of the core is the beach. Only a few minutes walk from any of the downtown hotels, or furnished apartments, available by the month.

From Playa Principal one can walk across a little bridge and then along a short mericon to Playa Madera, the wood beach, so named because this is where they used to load ships with wood.

Walking South along the beach will take you to Playa Ropa. Ropa, clothes, because a shipment of clothing was washed ashore, here, after a storm sank a ship. This is the main beach in

Zihuatanejo At the far end of the beach, actually, behind the beach, is a laguna, the home of a Cayman. This large crocodile likes to climb out of the lagoon, onto the beach, and sun himself. Do not get too close. He may be sleeping but he can wake, and move, faster than you can. And he is a wild reptile. Many years older than you will ever live to be.

You could continue further along the beach, and I could continue to expose you to the wonders of this once quaint village, but it is overpopulated now and each time I tell someone about this Pacific pearl I kick myself.

Please disregard all I have said, find another town on another beach and leave Zihu for me.

Can I say it is a tall hill? It is 200 meters high. It seems like a mountain as it is in the middle of a vast plain. From atop the hill, after a few minutes of fairly steep climbing, one can view, in all directions, vast fields of coconut trees.

This entire area is below sea level and if you look carefully, you may see, on the horizon, a ship on the pacific Ocean. This area, which today is lightly populated, and is the largest coconut production area in Mexico, was, at one time, one of the most heavily populated areas of the country.

Thousands of years ago, a tsunami swept away the lip of beach that protects this area from the open ocean and: drowned thousands of people; destroyed' cities, towns and villages; and washed farms from the face of the planet.

To this day, almost anywhere, in this area, one can scratch the surface of the land and find remnants of; pottery, or building brick.

At Soledad De Maciel the locals use this history as a way to supplement their meager income.

Off the beaten path, for most tourists, there are no restaurants, hotels, or souvenir stands.

One of the locals has attended university and received a diploma in Archaeology. In his home he has started a small museum.

There is no charge to visit the museum, or to have him guide you up the hill, but he will accept gratuities and it is polite to purchase your water from the local store, before you venture up the hill.

Part way up the hill is a huge cactus. It has many arms and towers over your head by a good ten meters. The guide told us, it is over thee hundred fifty years old.

At the top of the hill, after standing atop an immense boulder, and enjoying a nearly three hundred sixty degree view, the guide will take you around and beneath the boulder. On the other side of the hill there is a cleft in the rock, which he calls a cave and he urges that you not crawl into because it is not safe. He does ask you to peer through, and up, and you can see daylight through a hole in the top.

Actually I had no intention of going in. It looked much too narrow for a person to fit.

Below this opening is a partial excavation, about four meters long, two across, and one deep. According to the archaeologist, the excavation was made by thieves. The thieves were caught, as they made off with the goods, in the next town. The two objects that were stolen, to this day, reside near the gazebo, in the el centro, of the town of Petatlan. The museum of Soledad de Maciel is trying to raise enough money to have the items returned.

Now, I am not going to intimate that the guide/archaeologist is leading us astray but I have been to Petatlan and I have photographed the two objects. One is the shape of a huge muffin, covered with ancient writings, the other looks like a giant straw. Both are made of solid rock and the smaller of the two, not being an expert on rock, I would guess, weighs about, two hundred kilo.

There are no roads to the top of the hill and the back side of the hill is too steep for equipment. But who am I to say. They are where they are, and if you want to see them, Soledad de Maciel is only a short drive; North of Petatlan, about 10 Km or South of Zihuatanejo, about 30 Km, which has an international airport.

To my knowledge there is no bus that goes into Soledad. There are buses a plenty, south, from Zihuatanejo, or north, from Acapulco, or Petatlan. Any of them will drop you at the road to Soledad.

From the highway, one could walk but it is a few kilometers, so take water.