Zihuatanejo, Guerrero

The valleys and jungles of Muchoacon are the most spectacular scenery yet. Just south of Maruata at Rio Cachan Michoacan I stopped for lunch at a little 3 palapa village - I ask the old woman for a menu, she says "fish" - I ask her, anything else? - she says "fish", then after a long pause, she says perhaps she can maybe find a chorizo (a mexican sausage, and you don't want to know). I think about where, in the middle of nowhere, she is gonna' scare up a sausage... So I say "fish" and she beams. 20 minutes later she brings me a 2 fish (heads on) meal fit for a king (complete with a jalapeno salad, pass). I took a foto of her bringing it out - she was very happy and the fish were very good.
The highway south is like old route 1 south of big sur on the California coast - except there are about 200 kilo of virgin beaches intermixed with great rock formations.
As the sun got low I pulled into Ixtapa and thought: Miami (complete with the grey mass, but to be expected here). I asked a local for directions to a mexican hotel and arrived in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero a little town on the water about 5 K south of miami. I just don't think I could get a room at the InterContinental for 250 pesos ($24) and they let me push the bike into the office for security (something similar has happened every night).
Also, Driving on weekends is much nicer/safer - many fewer trucks.
Today I went through 6 military checkpoints - got stopped and had to open my bags at one (the first time). When I asked why they hurried out a young cheerful english speaker with a very old gun who fed me polite bullshit while a grunt checked my underware and their commander played with my GPS. I'll take a polite non-corrupt military over the old federally system any day, but they seem a little invasive to the locals.
Those massive speed bumps from hell (on the highway at EVERY town/berg/pueblo and taco stand) are killing me and my moto's guards/center stand. I'm considering taking it off except then the devil bumps bash something less delicate. They really need to figure out that they're just destroying their new cars with no result because they proceed to race between them anyway.
My new monster tires have saved my a** at least twice so far (and I haven't dropped the bike once in all the sand/gravel/dirt - not possible with street tires) but it would be nice if their life could be measured in more than just days. One week into the trip and they are about 50% gone.
And finally, Mexicans need to consider alternative ways of disposing of their garbage - they burn it. Before the time when everything came wrapped in plastic this might have been a good solution, but today the inhabited valleys are capped with the smoke from burning tons of PET bottles that seemingly smolder all day and whose smell goes on forever! Perhaps it really isn't worth recycling and we've created an artificial economy around it, but at least we don't have it littered and lingering everywhere.
A negative ending complete with trivia? - I guess that's what happens after 8 days of no TV or Google - in summary: a long and Good Day,
Nick
via BlackBerry