Day 7 and 8, Last Day, Night, Day in Huatulco

Day 7 to 8 – Zipolite to Huatulco to Minneapolis – Amazing Place   

We really truly like Playa Zipolite, and also our room at Hotel Estrella de Mar.  It felt like home.  The owners Tino and his family, especially Daniel, made us feel very welcome.  The staff cleaned the room and changed the linen everyday .  It was like staying at a first class hotel, but on a budget.  Remember, we were paying about $37 USA per night, while having a room on the beach.  Where else could that happen?

At about 11:30, we said our goodbyes to Tino and Daniel, got in our car, headed out to Highway 175, and started east to Huatulco.  The drive was uneventful, however we noticed something.  When we got to Pochutla, we noticed a police officer, sitting in a car by the stop sign.  It wasn’t the first police officer we saw; we saw a few in Puerto Escondido the day before, but this was the first we saw, so close to Zipolite.

Now understand that Pochulta was a couple towns away from Zipolite and it was a larger town.  It actually had a stoplight (there were none in Zipo), and it was Friday.  Maybe that’s it.  It was Friday and things just became hectic.  A week earlier on Saturday, when we were driving from Huatulco to Zipo, we didn’t see any police officers.  

We continued to head east, stopping at a few places, arriving at our hotel, Quinta Bella around 1:50 pm.  As we drove up, we noticed that there was a gate.  We had to be let into the property by a security guard.  But before he let us in, he asked us did we have a reservation and what were our names.  We looked around and it was a gated resort with immaculate grounds.

We parked the car, went to the reception area and gave them our names.  She then said our room wasn’t ready, but it will be by 3 pm.  She said that we can use anything and go anywhere on the property.  So, guess what we did.  We went to the bar and Toni had Mojito, she didn’t like it, it was too sweet she said, so she went back to  tequila with fresca and I had a cerveza. We decided to split a hamburger basket while waiting for our room to be ready.  It was yummy (Toni’s words).

As many of you know Toni has a bad hip.  She walked downstairs to the bathroom and on her way back up, one of the workers noticed that she was holding on to the stairs.  He took her right arm, while she held onto the rail with her left arm, and slowly helped her back up the stairs.  That’s only the beginning of the courtesy of this hotel.

While going to check in, another employee saw us coming, ran to the door, and held it open for us.  I don’t know if they knew we were going to be there for only one night, but that was a wonderful start.

After we got checked in, another employee followed us to our car and took our luggage to our room.

Our room was poolside with a private wading pool in front.  It was beautifully decorated with 3-D art.

We quickly unpacked and went to one of the two pools in front of our room.  Look at the photos, they are an indescribably pretty, rich blue.  The pool closest to the beach/ocean was a modified infinity pool.  The water didn’t flow all the way over, but it had the illusion of doing so.

We stayed at the pool for about 90 minutes, went back to our room, and tried to decide where we wanted to go for dinner.  We selected Rocoto which was about one mile away.

We got dressed, took our time and walked the one mile to Rocoto, a highly rated seafood restaurant.  We got there a little after 8 pm, walked up to get a table and were asked “Do you have a reservation?”  We said “No” and they told us that they were booked up for the night.  As we turned away, wondering where to go, a gentleman that was in the restaurant, came up to us.  He introduced himself, and then called for his Canadian friend who lives across the street during the winter months.  The Canadian gentleman explained to us that Rocoto is a very small restaurant, highly rated, and is always in demand;  he went on to say, it’s best to always try to get a reservation, at least a couple days prior.  We explained that we were leaving in the morning and wanted to have a nice dinner on our last night.

He then asked us if we liked Japanese food.  We told him “Yes.”  He pointed across street, towards the building that he lives in and told us that there are two Japanese restaurants over there.  He told us not to go to the first one, but to the second one, the Konnichiwa Sushi Bar.  So with his recommendation, we walked across the street and went to Konnichiwa.

We looked at the menu. Not wanting sushi, we decided to order off the teppanyaki menu.  Toni had shrimp and I had fish.  It came with an array of veggies.  Toni ordered a side of rice also  The meal took about 30 minutes or so to totally prepare.  It also have us the chance to enjoy a carafe of sake. The young man preparing the meal was very charming, explaining to us that he moved from Mexico City about a year ago to work in the area. The meal was very delicious.  We also had a chance to see if we still had our chopstick talents.  Well Toni did, I used cheaters.  After a wonderful meal, a couple carafes of Saki we started our way back to our room.

We decided to stop at another beach bar called Tomas Beach Cantina and Bar, had a couple of drinks and headed back to our room.

We were excited to be back in our room.  For the first time in about a week, we had a television.  It was a Smart Samsung TV, so I streamed from my phone, WCCO TV news (Twin Cities station channel 4).  Ahh, the pleasure of watching news.

So to rap it up, for our last night in Mexico, we ate at a Japanese restaurant and watched a local news channel from Minneapolis/St. Paul.   It was a fun night.

We awoke to an email from Sun Country Airlines, letting us know that our flight was delayed for an hour. Instead of leaving at 12:45 pm, we would be departing at 1:50 pm.

With that notice, we went down to the beach.  As usual, I had to go swimming in the beach.  Toni stayed on shore and took a couple of pictures.

On the way out of Hotel Quinta Bella, one of the employees noticed me dragging and carrying the bags.  He said in broken English that he would carry them.  He took it to the reception area, waited for us to check out, and then took the luggage/bags to the car.  The service at Quinta Bella is one of the best that we have ever experienced.  The rate for the night was approximately $124 or about three times more per night what we paid at Hotel Estrella de Mar in Zipolite.  For each hotel, we got what we paid for.  Both hotels are good values and we would stay at them again, if we can.

We packed up, headed to the Huatulco airport, returned our car, checked in, had a meal, boarded the plane about 1:15 pm, and flew nonstop back to Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport, Terminal 2.

I don’t remember what the temperature was when we got home to Sandstone, but it was cold.  So the next morning, I said to Toni “Where would you like to go for breakfast?”  She replied, “To the airport, and any place warm!”If it’s God’s will, we definitely will go back to Zipolite next year.  If you interested in joining us, drop us a note and zipolite@toniglen.com.

Last Day and Night – Zipolite to Huatulco, Mexico

 

 

Last Day – Quinta Bella to Huatulco Airport, Mexico – Back To Minneapolis