Some of you may recall that we-un´s spent a few days at Troncones Beach last January with our pooches and thoroughly enjoyed our stay of what turned out to be a rather secluded beach in a remote area that seemed only lightly patrolled by the local fuzz if patrolled at all. We thought that this might make a good alternative to Puerto Vallarta or Manzanillo for Lake Chapala residents with its wide and, practically deserted beaches and magnificent surf. Driving from Lake Chapala to Troncones via the Guadalajara-Mexico City Autopista and Highway 37 through Paracho, Uruapan, Nueva Italia and the Infiernillo region was fun but a bit disconcerting as one traversed the somewhat deserted tierra caliente and Coastal 200 south into sparsley populated Guerrero and our minds were not set at ease as we passed convoys of army troops and federales in body armor and masks.
Well, we had planned to return to Troncones in May but changed our minds when, while scanning Google news citing Mexican violence, we ran across an article in a surder´s e-magazine warning other surfers from aroud to world to avoid Troncones because of violence against both visitors and residents there so we decided to put off any return trip to the area until things had settled down a bit.
After the short Troncones beach trip we headed back down to Chiapas for a few months and subsequently heard nothing of substance about that part of the Guerrero coast until yesterday when, while reading a web site specializing in information about organized crime killings in Mexico in general and trends in that sort of activity, I read that, according to statistical evidence available to the authors of the studies cited by the authors, the regional incidences of killings tied to organized crime were somewhat fluid in nature and, that, while violence of that nature had actually dropped off in Juarez so far in 2011, the murder rate has actually spiked in Guerrero during the same period as various narco gangs fight for control of the region.
Of course, we have the ongoing violence in Acapulco and inland Guerrero plus the ongoing violence reported around Apatzingan which is a bit close to our Highway 37 route to get to the beach but I am wondering if locals living nearer Los Troncones and Zihuatanejo might have some insights as to whether that is a good beach area to visit these days - and I am specifically referring to the area around Troncones, not Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. We could use a stroll on a deserted beach but not a hole in the head.
Mon 08 Aug 2011, 09:24 by Dave and Rosy