What are the Ixtapa Partime Residents feeling

We are due down to Ixtapa in March and this year we will only be 4 vs 12 for the past 20 years. Different reasons but lots of trepidation over last March and last weeks events. Question to Ixtapa temp residents and visitors. What is the mood and feelings on the situation there? Trying to convince long time visitors to reconsider! You can private message me via the white envelope if that is an easier response mechanism. Thanks for your input!
DGP

We're part time Zihua residents, not Ixtapa, if that makes any difference, but we have no trepidations about coming down. We just returned from there a couple of days ago and look forward to our return in April.

I am a 6 months a year resident in Zihua ..American.. Single woman. I am perfectly comfortable here and have been for over 10 yrs. Coco street shooting was 1 1/2 blocks from me, OXXO shooting last year 2 blocks from me. I don,t go out by myself after 9 am, except to my Mexican family,s house and they walk or drive me home. My neighborhood is mostly residential, quiet, nice. I go where it is well lit at night. To me Ixtapa is touristy, fake. Bad people are more likely to be where the rich tourists are.

No one has mentioined how honest Mexicans are. My first year here I left my hat at a cafe. A week later walking by, they yelled at me and gave me my hat. They had been watching for me for a week, Oncein the crowded, busy central market I dropped a 50 peso note..a man caught up with me and handed it to me.

I bet I could do an experiment and "accidently" drop a 50 peso note every week almost anywhere where regular, local people are and it would be returned.

People get shot everywhere in the world..be home by ten, don,t get drumk, don,t do drugs, make friends with good people.. I find the people here loving and kind and go out of their way to help. Much more than in the USA.

Eli this is also my experience with the wonderful, kind Mexican people I have befriended.

I am a 6 months a year resident in Zihua ..American.. Single woman. I am perfectly comfortable here and have been for over 10 yrs. Coco street shooting was 1 1/2 blocks from me, OXXO shooting last year 2 blocks from me. I don,t go out by myself after 9 am, except to my Mexican family,s house and they walk or drive me home. My neighborhood is mostly residential, quiet, nice. I go where it is well lit at night. To me Ixtapa is touristy, fake. Bad people are more likely to be where the rich tourists are.

No one has mentioined how honest Mexicans are. My first year here I left my hat at a cafe. A week later walking by, they yelled at me and gave me my hat. They had been watching for me for a week, Oncein the crowded, busy central market I dropped a 50 peso note..a man caught up with me and handed it to me.

I bet I could do an experiment and "accidently" drop a 50 peso note every week almost anywhere where regular, local people are and it would be returned.

People get shot everywhere in the world..be home by ten, don,t get drumk, don,t do drugs, make friends with good people.. I find the people here loving and kind and go out of their way to help. Much more than in the USA.

I agree, ixtapa is touristy...BUT ixtapa is not only for rich tourists...locals live there, we have a condo in ixtapa and are neither rich nor fake.

For many, Ixtapa is the first view many get of the area. For example Pacifica gets a lot of RCI trade in guests who had never been to the Pacific side of Mexico. When the Hurricanes tare up the Caribbean, you have timeshare owners trading into the resorts in Ixtapa. A lot purchase weeks at Pacifica and other resorts and once they start coming down and venture away from the Resorts they get a different view of the area- we found Pacifica through Apple Vacations when Apple did Hotel/Charter Packages in 1999 and have only missed 1 year since and that was Jan 2017.

Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing, Eli, but don't get blindsided into thinking there is no theft among the locals. A little less trust will go a long way. Enjoy but be careful.

I'm not down there yet-3 more days. One of my golf buddies said he and his wife walked all around town and it seemed like a normal day to them. Eli, I assume you meant 9PM (not AM) .I also disagree with you categorizing Ixtapa visitors as rich , and that being rich is something bad. Almost any American (or Canadian ) tourist in either city is viewed as rich by their standards. What do you think tourism in that area is built on?

PS-My experience is that "bad people" hang out in bad neighborhoods. Exceptions of course.

The only thing that makes us rich is our Love of Mexico

I have lived in Ixtapa for about 8 -9 yrs . I walk all over , drive , bike . It is great here I do not consider zihu and Ixtapa in some kind of competition from Barra to Troconies is my turf it is all wonderful and each has its own attributes . I do not listen to people who think Ixtapa is a tourist area . Ixtapa has a fantastic residential community ,it is a quiet peaceful garden of eden with a bike path to the jungle and beach . There are great places to eat and enjoy the ambiance of tourist visiting the beach side but it is more like the quiet sleepy tourist area most the time . Zihu is the busiest I have ever seen with more tourist than ever before . So many condos the sleepy fishing village is swallowed whole by the wave of construction . If any place is a target for rich folks this is where it is obvious . So I am feeling fine just as fine as anywhere in the world where bad stuff happens. You do your best to be prepared to deal with it , try not to exaggerate the effects of it and live your life. The bluesy swing music night on Thursday sounds like fun in Zihu.

Can't agree with you more!

Totally agree. We have found, Pacifica Members or RCI trade in's are not rich. Most are professional- a lot of school teachers. They love what Pacifica offers/also the other resorts. The Members hardly trade in their unit for another location- they just like coming back year after year. Like any hotel in "Z", the staff get's to know the guest that come back year after year. I think the first timers feel safer in Ixtapa in a gated Resort- that does not make them rich.

Totally agree, I live in Zihua all winter,but enjoy ixtapa, for a little different vibe. I have three mexican friends that live there, they aren’t fake and two certainly aren’t rich.

Going to get rich again in a couple of weeks. Can,t wait.

Lucky you, give Mark a firm punch in the arm for me.

Why do you say that Ixtapa is touristy and fake? We have lived here in Ixtapa for 11 years, it is neighborhood or barrio like any other barrio in Zihuatanejo. Only it has big hotels along the ocean . As I sit here in my chair looking around our condo I do not see anything touristy or fake. Although when we go out to a restaurant we normally go to Zihuatanejo we frequent restaurants here in Ixtapa as well. As for feeling, we feel as safe here . We use common sense and don’t go out in the middle of night looking for trouble. It is the same when we are in the USA or any other country.

He could fall off his scooter.

He could fall off his scooter.

It's small he won't fall very far lol