Zihua Stories

We Remember When
By Peter Lohr

There is an old song called “Dearie, Do You Remember When?” One of the lines in the song says, “… dearie, if you remember when, then you’re much older than I.” Well, there are not too many of us left who remember when there really was a beach at Playa Almacen. These pictures were taken in the late 1960’s. We were living directly above this beach in a small frame house owned by Belisario Rodriguez who was the local chief immigration officer, and there was a small path leading down to the beach. There also was a pier as you can see in the pictures. There was no road as we know one now. The main walk from the Hotel Tres Marias was nothing more than a burro path.

From Tres Marias one went by foot, first climbing a rock and then continuing on for about ten minutes to Playa Almacen. In November, after the rainy season, the path would be so grown up on each side that the bushes would brush one’s legs. Snorkeling around the pier at Playa Almacen was great, the water clear and full of colorful fish. Lobsters were plentiful.

There were few houses on the path. One neighbor was a German who was usually traveling and allowed friends to use his house. One of his frequent guests was the Countess Micheline de Alameda from Acapulco. Mishy was a colorful sight navigating the path in her high heels. There was a small but interesting group living on this path. Ten minutes beyond Playa Almacen was Contra Mar, the rock beach.

A day’s outing would be to take our dugout canoe, with one inch of freeboard, and paddle over to La Ropa. The only hotel on La Ropa at that time was the Catalina. The main novelty of the Catalina was that it had a funicular from the hotel to the beach. Las Gatas was also another outing. Simple restaurants existed and it was never crowded. Owen had his secluded resort back then.

The social event (in a community where social events did not occur) of one winter season was the opening of Coconuts restaurant. It was attended by everyone in town, which were very few at that time. It was a different time but the space was and is the beautiful Zihuatanejo bay. We could ramble on about the 60’s and 70’s but would like to have others, who don’t mind being dated, submit pictures and accounts.

Editor’s note: If you have a Zihua story you would like to share, we are seeking photographs and reminiscences of Zihua’s past.

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