Each morning we walk barefoot in the sand along Zicatela Beach…what a relaxing way to start the day. Besides burning off last night’s indulgences, the sound of waves provides passive meditation  in the middle of this playground for dogs, surfers, fishers and walkers.

After huevos rancheros or huevos divorciados for breakfast, we plop under a palapa (thatch-roofed shelter usually found on a beach) for the remainder of the day and read or write or look and listen. Oh Mexico.

Let’s take a walk-about around a point that leads to another bay. The walkway twists around cliffs over the rocks to Bahia Puerto Angelito, a sheltered bay full of fishing boats and ocean activities, but that is not what we seek this morning. We’re looking for a little more solitude.

Farther along the coast and straight down several hundred stone stairs, we find Playa Carrizalillo, a small, hidden paradise with a beach safe for swimming. Go ahead…order a Corona with breakfast, it goes well with huevos a la Mexicana.

After a swim we find ourselves, well you guessed it, under a palapa again. What do you do under there? Whatever you want. Today we sit and just be and thank the abundant universe that we do not have to rush home to jobs back in the states.

We walk through town on our way back to Zicatela. El Adoquin (Paving stone) is full of relaxed pedestrians and shops and restaurants. A stroll across Bahia Principal, the public beach/marina, brings us back to our oasis at Zicatela Bungalows, where happy hour in the pool descends with the sunset.

Things slow down so much here that time is quickly passing by…and we wonder how long we could stay?

A few days from now we will say goodbye to our friends here and fly back to Zihua, where we’ll savor our final four days on a Mexican beach. Ron Mitchell