I can’t believe it’s been over forty years since I first set foot in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Yes…that was in 1969. How it has changed; yet, despite its growth and expansion, it retains the flavor and charm of a small and simple community. That is why it is so special.
Here’s a little paseo down memory lane for those who knew Zihuatanejo, Mexico, during the early 1970s. These are photos taken by a friend of ours while we were visiting Zihuatanejo over the Christmas-New Year holiday, December 1972 to January 1973.
Back then, Zihuatanejo was a very small and lazy fishing village that stretched out only a few blocks back from the beach along Playa Municipal and Playa Madera. There wasn’t one paved street in town. Playa la Ropa was still almost unpopulated, and taxis generally refused to even try to negotiate the rough, rocky track that was the only access to it over the hill from town, so the only remedy was to walk it, and it seemed so much farther away back then. The barren hills behind town that are now filled with streets and housing also look so much more remote in these pictures than they do now.
The old wooden foot bridge over the Las Salinas estuary was a focal point of the town, at least for our group, since we were staying at Punta Arenas in La Noria, and had to cross it several times a day to get to town and to the beaches.
![Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Playa Principal c. 1972-73 Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Playa Principal c. 1972-73](https://zihrena.net/wp-content/uploads/P1150137.jpg)
Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Playa Principal c. 1972-73
![Zihuatanejo, c. 1972-72 Zihuatanejo, c. 1972-72](https://zihrena.net/wp-content/uploads/P1150131.jpg)
Zihuatanejo, c. 1972-72
![Zihuatanejo Paseo, 1972-73 Zihuatanejo Paseo, 1972-73](https://zihrena.net/wp-content/uploads/P1150128.jpg)
Zihuatanejo Paseo, 1972-73
![Zihuatanejo Mexico Boats 1972-73 Zihuatanejo, Mexico: Boats, 1972-73](https://zihrena.net/wp-content/uploads/P1150124.jpg)
Zihuatanejo, Mexico: Boats, 1972-73
![Zihuatanejo Las Salinas 1972-73 Zihuatanejo, Las Salinas, 1972-73](https://zihrena.net/wp-content/uploads/P1150121.jpg)
Zihuatanejo, Las Salinas, 1972-73
![Troncones River Ford 1972-73 Troncones River Ford 1972-73](https://zihrena.net/wp-content/uploads/P1150119.jpg)
Troncones River Ford 1972-73
![Las Salinas, Zihuatanejo 1972-73 Las Salinas, Zihuatanejo 1972-73](https://zihrena.net/wp-content/uploads/P1150109.jpg)
Las Salinas, Zihuatanejo 1972-73
![Zihuatanejo Mexico Sunset 1972-73 Zihuatanejo Mexico Sunset 1972-73](https://zihrena.net/wp-content/uploads/P1150106.jpg)
Zihuatanejo Mexico Sunset 1972-73
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