The big pull across the Atlantic was to spend some time with my family in Troncones, a fishing-cum-surfing village a bit NW of Zihuatanejo. Kevin, Elise, Jasper, and Zoë also made a long trip — from Nome. My parents, Megan, and Elise’s parents pulled it off with a single flight from Los Angeles.
A family beach vacation in Mexico feels like it could be veering off the theme of a bicycle touring blog. That’s probably true, but these are the kinds of things that happen when you’re just biking around: studying Turkish, hanging out with butterflies, sitting on the beach. Maybe even bicycle touring occasionally.
Lounging in the warm weather didn’t surprise me as much as finding myself again in the saddle of a horse, just one month after my last horse riding excursion. I guess maybe I liked the Kapadokya ride more than I realized since I was the one to arrange the morning excursion from Troncones. We hired Antonio and five horses. He recommended going to the La Cueva, a 2-3 hour excursion. More than four hours later we were all happy to be off the horses and back in the shade at Casa Escondida.
The cave was actually more interesting than any of us expected though it was very hot, a bit slippery and dirty to get into, and even more scary on the alternate route back up and out. Antonio was a good guy, providing just a touch more adventure than we had expected. We ran into him a couple more times in town later in the week. Kevin and Elise hired him again a few days later to take Jasper and Zoë on their first horseback rides.
The rest of the beach vacation was spent swimming in the ocean, talking, reading, playing backgammon, eating papayas, mangoes, and avocados, making sure the kids didn’t drown, and margarita tasting. The last two aren’t necessarily mutually compatible, but we succeeded admirably. Jasper and I and my cell phone did take an unexpected, fully-clothed plunge into the pool one evening, reminding his parents of my limited experience with three-year-olds.
Mexican children open their presents on Día de los Reyes (January 6) instead of Christmas Day (December 25) like we do in the US. Another Mexican tradition on this day is to share a special cake (rosca de reyes) that has a small plastic Jesus baked into it. Whoever ends up with the doll in their piece of cake hosts a tamale party on February 2nd. Our single cake had four dolls in it so I’m looking forward to lots of tamales.
If that’s not enough food, we savoured two nights of Inés’ cooking — chili rellenos and mole de pollo — and had yummy pozole on Thursday night, a Guerrero tradition. Even when I’m not biking, it’s all about food.
the swirling picture of kids and parents is my favorite of all your photos so far!
happy trails.
We had our tamale party and it was great! Would have been better if you could have dropped in because we had a true fiesta replete with chicken mole, pie de limon, two types of tamales and a piñata filled with spicy Mexican chocolate snickerdoodles.
Love your photos. E –
What fun! Does that mean you’ll be heading north towards us?
Uh, yeah, one might think that. However, I’m back in Antalya.
We’ll be staying at Casa Escondida for 18 days starting this coming Sunday. So excited to get away from this incessant Oregon rain!!! Last year was our first Troncones visit and we loved it. My husband surfs – a great vacation for both of us!
Hi Debbie,
Say hi to Inéz and Diojenes for me. How’s the weather in March? We’ve only ever been there in December or January, and I imagine it can get pretty hot in March and April. Hope you love it.