Highway 200 - Zihuatanejo to Caleta de Campos
Posted by Zihrena

Sunday Aug. 13, 2000, was the first day of our extended trip from Zihuatanejo, Guerrero to the Texas border.

We left Zihuatanejo headed north along Coastal Highway 200 around 11 a.m. It's been raining for several days, though the weather map shows that by tomorrow the skies should clear up and we should have some good weather for at least our sojourn up the coast. Meanwhile, it's pretty grey and wet for driving. Heading north up Highway 200 towards Lazaro Cardenas, the road is lined with dense vegetation and the hills are a lovely deep green. We pass Ixtapa and the towns of Salitrera, Buenavista and Pantla and the turnoff to Troncones beach -- a part of the road we are very familiar with and travel often. These towns have recently installed series of small topes (traffic bumps) numbering from between about 40 to 50 topes per town, that are annoying, rattle up your vehicle quite a bit and are a source of contention amongst Ixtapa/Zihua residents and authorities alike. Some think the towns should be made to remove these obstacles to the Federal highway and have penalties levied for putting them in, others think that they serve their purpose and are not that harmful. We'll see how long they stay around.

In this area, Highway 200 is lined with tangles of vines, occasional stands of mangos and thorn trees (or Habilla - click HERE to read more about them ). The highway itself has been undergoing reconstruction and it is in much better shape than it's been in for several years, with only a small section just north of the turnoff to the town of La Union which isn't quite finished yet. Also, just past the La Union turnoff Highway 200 is crossed by the new route leading to Nueva Italia and Uruapan in the hills of Michoacan.

Just past the new highway we cross over the Feliciano Bridge, just past which is a turnoff to the right to the town of Feliciano itself. Located just a few hundred meters off the road, Feliciano consists of a small scattering of houses that are home to a community of clay pottery workers. There aren't really any wares on view or for sale; rather, in Feliciano you can order up custom macetas (flower pots), dishes, ashtrays, water jars, etc., to your liking. The villagers obtain the mud from nearby, and virtually all of the houses have outdoor brick ovens in which they fire the pots, using wood for fuel. According to the lady we spoke to, the process, from ordering to delivery, can take two weeks or more, depending on the weather and their workload at the moment of ordering.

Leaving Feliciano, we carried on northward toward the belching chimneys of Petacalco's Thermal-Electric plant. We took a quick jaunt down to Petacalco's beach, legendary for it's great surf which, since the construction of the electric plant with it's attendant canals and water diversion systems, is no longer is an ideal surf spot. With the rain the beach was deserted and the few enramadas (palm-roofed restaurants) were closed.

Lazaro Cardenas now has a new bypass that, for 10 pesos, takes you straight toward town instead of winding over the old Balsas River dam and through Las Guacamayas. Aurrera, a large supermarket chain, just recently opened a store in Lazaro as well, about the same time Comercial Mexicana was opened in Zihuatanejo.

In the Lazaro Cardenas, La Mira and Playa Azul area the highway passes through groves of bananas, papaya and mangos. The hills above La Mira were wreathed in mists and clouds as we drove by, headed just a bit further north along the coast to Caleta de Campos and the surf-camp at Rio Nexpa, where we planned to spend the night. We pulled in late afternoon, bundled up a bit because of the chilling rain and impending nightfall, injested some hot chicken soup on Nexpa beach and had the fortune to get lodging at a great little guest house overlooking the Caleta de Campos rocks owned by John, who also runs the local surf-shop and laundromat.

Tomorrow we'll be carrying on up the Michoacan coast and into Manzanillo, Colima.