Classic hits from the rainy side of Mexico include.. I Lost it at the Lavendaria, That Fishy Smell ain't your Feet, Raindrops Keep Falling on the Roof, and Duck and Cover! It's a long one...

Hello everyone!  Happy reading to everyone who''s jumped aboard our email list. We are working (slowly) to put our emails into a more blog like format. (Any blog sites that work easily from a tablet - send us the names...)....,on to the fun...

Our 5 days in Chacala had been truly charming. It is a slightly ramshackled, unfancy, tiny beach town - where locals outnumber the gringos. The beach is great.





 One can hike to an old cauldera (which, I think is an oxymoron - old/cauldera?) to find a
spectacular view of the town and coastline.



                      View of Chacala from cauldera.  Small and quaint!

And what beautiful sunsets...







 But that's about all. Chacala has several places to eat/drink and hang out. We've  met some wonderful travelers and locals that have made our time most memorable!

 The mood was set just days earlier when we got off the highway bus on our way to Chacala ...Mexican music played, a man burned rubbish and plastic ....we've missed that smell the past few weeks, along with a fruit/vegie roadside stand doing  brisk business. Instead of getting a collectivo for the last 9km or so to Chacala, some gringos stopped and told us to hop in. Nice!

                                              Downtown Chacala

The final  days in Chacala reminded us how quickly tropical rainstorms can appear. Along with the thunder and lightning, the monsoon downpour forced us to take shelter at a beach palapa and just wait it out until it passed or just walking back to our casa in the rain. One night we just had to brave it to get back to our place dripping wet,.....

Lost it at the Lavenderia.

The day we decide to take our laundry to a lavenderia, (the first time ever on a trip), an all-afternoon storm, along with a power outage struck. Clothes that should have been ready  by 5pm were going to be ready at 6, then 7pm and finally we're told to come back at 9pm. We head out to a local, little gringo house party to kill time. We return at 9pm, only to find the whole place shut. So, with our only damp clothes that we still wear, we return next morning and pick up our clean, sweet smelling clothes.

Chacala is built on a hill with cobblestone streets and a lot of red clay.



During rainstorms, all the water runs downhill and pools basically in one spot. The red clay becomes a goopy, sticky quagmire. Along with, and in the street run off, are all the usual and unknown suspects that gather in some toxic mess- gas, fish remains from the hosed down Pescadoria, the fragrant scent of sewer etc. Everyone walks around in flipflops, trying hopelessly to avoid sinking in the muck! Not to mention, it was quite a challenge to stay on your feet on the wet, slippery rocks in flip-flops or sandals, esp in the dark, using a flashlight with red water rushing down the streets!  Ha!

Our first casa/hotel was a cheap, empty 15-room place. We should have taken the hint.... Only 300 pesos, it didn't have hot water (was supposed to..) WiFi was sketchy, and the fresh fish store behind us scent (or sent??) us looking for a better sleep....We finally walked out and scored a great little casa run by a wonderful family. Quiet, clean, lots of hot water.....Casa Aurora only 400 pesos.  Very nice.

                                 Bougainvillea  seen everywhere!!!

On our last, rainy night in Chacala we hid out in a restaurant with friends from New Mexico and Chewelah, WA, listening and dancing to a Cuban band.  Was great fun!

We left Chacala on a wet, dreary, monsoon filled Super Bowl Sunday. Chacala was quickly turning into sticky, goopy mess more suitable for mud wrestling, than beach tanning. Our collectivo ride out of town started under the same dark cloud that had taken over most of this coastline, when a passing truck making its way through the narrow roads of Chacala managed to shear off the driver's side mirror. Our driver didn't miss a beat, as he just picked the broken mirror from the muck, threw it in the van and headed to Las Varas, our transfer spot for the bus to Aticama one hour north of Chacala. 

Las Varas proved to be a 2 hr plus wait. As has been the case during our travels in Mexico a guardian angel (Marciella) appeared from the gloom. Just getting us across the 6-lane intersection of highway 200 would have been enough, but over the next 2hrs, she made sure we were at the right bus stop, waved off cab drivers who tried to give a better deal, showed us where the best street food was to get a meal, and watched for our return from lunch as the bus stop had moved again. She even pointed out Yvonne to me as she came up the street after tracking down an ATM..(just in case I was worrying). She had zero English, and our Spanish was not much better, but she talked and talked to Yvonne in rapid fire. Yvonne found out all about her family, job and belief in helping people. Our bus finally arrived and, as it turned out, Marciella was taking it also. 

We arrived in a little beach town of Aticama...it looked so desolate, lonely and forlorn with the monsoon pounded down on it. As we stepped off the bus, one family looked at us as if we were beings from some distant planet. While it took some time to hook up for dinner with friends living in the area - we finally gave up waiting for WiFi or a taxi, found a roadside place to have a beer and watched the traffic passing by to see if our friends would drive in.



                                  Back view of this restaurant...

Finally, we just asked another expat if they knew them. Of course they did and they gave us a ride to their house as they lived just down the street.

With visions of going mad in the constant deluge and not much else to see in Aticama, other than watching the beach restaurants fire up their cook ovens using wood as fuel...(picture smoke mixed in with the rain)



 ...we moved up the coast the next morning to rainy San Blas.

Madness on the High Seas.... 

Interesting little town...San Blas could be called the Mexican Venice, as it really seems to be an island surrounded by water courses all heading to the ocean. After enduring another rainy day, the sun finally made an appearance in time for The San Blas Fiesta!! The festival honours a native priest who freed the locals from the invading Spaniards.

This annual event begins at around 3:30 when the local priest, parishioners and locals (plus a few tourists), gather in front of the 300 year old church and proceed with "native dressed" locals, through the streets towards the marina. They are carrying a 2 metre high statue of the native priest (actually looked like Jesus Christ) while a band played the same song over and over again, singers singing and fireworks going off. 

                       You can see the statue way in the back...


           Now the statue is nice an close to see with the band playing behind.

As the priest and his entourage board a shrimp boat the balance of the procession gets on an armada of boats and head out from a protected, sheltered channel into the open, choppy ocean.





                    The shrimp boat carrying its precious cargo...

.....These boats are generally overcrowded,  filled with mainly non-swimmers, little children, babies and no lifejackets........and they head out about 2 kms offshore to a giant, white (bird poop?) stained rock with a statue on the top which looks like it has been beheaded.


                                 We're heading straight to the rock!

,.......did I mention, accidents (which possibly could be many) wait to happen as they gather in the hundred or so boats to circle this giant bird pooped rock.  Of course, we managed to get a front row (as in bow) seat of the impending carnage, as we thought this would be too much fun to miss out on........

With the help of Hector (our new Mexican cousin), we scarf a free ride with a group of believers in a speed boat. The only thing I believed was that we had a good chance of swamping and ending up swimming around. In a boat more suited for lake fun, the 20 footer ended up with 12 of us on board. We managed to stall several times before even getting out of the channel.

The flotilla of boats looked more like the rescue at the Battle at Dunkirk (google that for more info). Boats of all sizes are decorated and all are taking people off the shore, from docks and madly charge out to join the religious flotilla...l'm sure many did pray for just that - the ability to float!

We get stuck in the bow, and take on most of the water directly that now courses over the bow and sloshes into the boat. I am sure we will go under as several waves break over us. Luckily the rain has stopped, the sun is out. What chaos out in the open water. We count our good fortune that we can swim and that there are dozens of boats, literally within in arms length to rescue us, in case things go down. Just laughing and happy to be in this chaos on the open ocean.

To add to the madness of this joyous event, someone has managed to climb the 20-30 meters tall rock and is looking to jump in. The boats/drivers sensing a spectacular finish to an already crazy day head closer to the rock. Shouts of "Jump! Jump!....we assume that was what was being yelled in Spanish.. along with..uno, dos, treize fill the air!Our driver sensing that now was a good time to retreat ...might have been the amount of bailing we were doing, or the smell coming from the engine...turns and points his boat back to shore.

                          We didn't wait to see if he actually did jump.

If possibly sinking wasn't enough fun, our driver decides that the idea of getting crushed by a much larger vessel should do the trick. We come up along side of the shrimp boat carrying the priests, nuns and big, wooden statue, and line up for a blessing for another prosperous/safe fishing season. The blessing from the priest almost is our end..(hey, at least we would have been blessed). As we struggle to come along side the much larger, heavier and more solid shrimp boat to be  doused with 'holy water' the waves push our front end into the side of the shrimp boat, our driver manages to avoid one disaster, only to have the stern end of our little, undersized and heavily overloaded boat smash off the back end of the shrimp boat coming close to the larger boat's wake in the rolling seas. We manage to avert a catastrophe on the high seas and return to shore slowly and safely...far ahead of the maddening crowd we've left behind! Needless to say, I wanted to buy Hector, our new Mexican cousin, a beer.

Duck and Cover....what we learned while watching (up close) a Mexican fireworks display!

Oh the madness! Oh the madness! On this same evening as the water fun.... thousands of people gather in the plaza in front of the church to watch a fireworks display. This is not just an ordinary display as most of us are familiar with, but an elaborate bit of engineering genius!! We watched earlier in the day as a small group of men begin to build a rickety, wooden structure that turned out to be about 15-20metres high when finished!!! Really! Held upright by 4 long ropes anchored to palm trees in the plaza the very  top has a firework filled wire butterfly shape. The entire tower was built from individual wooden box-like structures stacked on one another,  lifted higher to add another box underneath. And so it went up. The whole thing was tied and secured together with bailing rope. Fireworks designs protruding out on wooden poles go all the way up the structure.

Eventually, a signal was given to set it off...with hot cinders showering those closet to the action, screeching noise from the whirring fireworks and smoke drifting through the plaza the fun began.  In between setting off another and higher placed fireworks design, fireworks were launched from the church steeple across the street. With no crowd control barriers, and no officials warning everyone to stay back, the crowd enjoyed being sprayed by the mammoth size arc welding shower emitted from the fireworks. As things got higher and wilder, we kept looking to see when the tower would start to lean or fall. The climax came when the butterfly design at the very top of the tower was lit up. In addition, the church had a fireworks display down its front wall ablazing, while roman candles boomed from the steeple.

It will be hard to top that day - water and fire!  Amazing!!!  

Adios for now...we are heading inland to Guadalajara and region for the next while...  As always, let us know how you are doing in your corner of the world....Shayne/Yvonne

Invasion of the Body Snatchers...beaches of the dead… trapped tourists in fantasy land.. more musings from Canada's 11th province/4t territory

Leaving Puerto Vallarta, we headed north to Sayulita. Surf was up and the town busy on   this section of the coast. They had just wrapped up a 4-day festival of surf, music and art. Again, finding a room took some time. Most places were booked, people were helpful with suggestions about where to stay. Found one by accident when Y looked up at a building and noticed a sign partially hidden behind the leaves.. Rooms for Rent.  We found someone who could show us a room and took it. Only a block off the beach, was in a perfect location.



                            Look south towards Sayulita


                                 Looking north from Sayulita

 Did find a quieter beach, Playa Los Muertes (beach of the dead) named because the only access to it is by walking through a very old cemetery in the jungle. Yoga camps, yoga hotels, dreads, loose dogs, big dogs, little dogs, campers on the beach..Sayulita! Did meet some wonderful people, inspiring older travelers at this and Rincon beaches...    some of whom have joined our email list.




    Shrimp on a skewer and beer, on the beach... how good is that!

Just an aside about safety in Mexico. ..many people we come across get quite concerned for our safety when they find out we've travelled for nearly 3 months in this country. As per the course, media ramp up the fear and worry factor. One needs to have a critical attitude to those reports. We have never had an issue. Not to dismiss the issues this country has and should deal with, for the average tourist traveling with some common sense, getting around Mexico is an enjoyable adventure.

Leaving Sayulita, we took the local bus north for about 30 min to the town of Rincon de Guayabitos. Getting a bus there/or anywhere is pretty simple....just get to the highway (as some buses do not come into some towns), flag the bus down, pay the driver and away you go. Rincon is a pretty clean town in a large bay that has two islands off shore.  It is totally and completely devoted to tourists. Many stay for months in self-contained apts, escaping winter up north.  Most tourists seem to come from western Canada and there are a lot of them!!!


              View of the beach from our hotel one block away. 


                                    Pineapple vendor on beach.

So, we walked into a bar....(sounds like the opening line of a joke...). Anyway, we walk into this restaurant,  a pretty busy place with a pretty good singer. Between songs the performer says into his mike..."Hi Shayne!  Isn't it funny how you can run into people from your home town?"

We turn -  it's Rick Hayworth whom we've known for 30 years. He lives here for a lot of the winter and performs 3 x a week!  A few minutes later a random guy approached us after he'd heard Grand Forks mentioned...."do you know MG?" Another very good friend from home!!! It truly is a small world after all (can you hum that tune now? ) - just can't rip off a shirt anywhere anymore - so sad!

Looking for a quieter, less hectic beach, we took a collectivo to the next bay and the town of Los Ayala.  


Saw this harmless jellyfish... and rooster at a more isolated beach a few minutes walk away.



Just before we headed back we stopped at a beach bar.  A Mexican family party was going on right beside us on the beach. They waved Yvonne to join in the dancing and eventually waved Shayne down.  

Danced away for about an hour! Only downside was an uncle/grandfather who'd had too much tequila and wasn't happy with Shayne dancing with the ladies - he tried several times to start a fight with S. Family got him back to his room and into bed each time. Each time he came back, like a woozy boxer getting off the canvas. Final try ended when he tripped on the beach stairs coming down to S and drove his head into those thick, solid palapa poles. Down for that count. He was TKO'd. Luckily he was OK!! It sure was fun trying to learn the dance steps and the hip movements. Husband of one of the ladies just laughed about it all. Dressed in a black bandana, black pants, he watched over the goings on and insisted we stay. See the pic of my new friend - he saved my bacon that day!

The stretch of coast from PV to Rincon has been way different than the far southern part we traveled in Nov/Dec. Hordes of North Americans (Invasion of Body Snatchers - they just snatch space, rooms etc etc) and very little of the feel of Mexico. Beaches overall aren't really as spectacular as the ones way down south. Locals flock to Rincon on the weekends -  can't imagine what Spring Break is like here; esp  this year as it ties into Easter!

Rincon waters are not very clear and not great for snorkeling. Possibly water conditions improve later in year? We've been surprised how few of the longterm tourists that have been coming to this region for 10 - 20 - 30 years have ventured anywhere beyond where they are staying...it is just so easy to hop on a bus, collectivo, take a taxi and go! Locals are friendly, kind and willing to help. Rincon is like being in a giant, all-inclusive resort. And staying in an All Inclusive there provides an additional insulation factor...nicked by a thousand tourists..

Rincon's pelican population kept us entertained. If they weren't trying to scarf a free meal from a beach side vendor, they were off shore fishing constantly. Searching above the waters, they instantly plunge like a rock into the water to catch a fish. On and on as dozens of pelicans took a bite out of a school fish.

                    Shayne lining up for food just like the pelicans!!

La Penita, the next town to RinCon is separated by a river, It is the working, nontouristy flip side to Rincon. While some tourists stay there, the beach at LA Penita isn't that clean. Took a collectivo there and got stuck behind a garbage truck making the rounds. Phew.. That sums up our trip in a nutshell to La Penita.

Finally...... found paradise north of the dashboard and stop lights of Rincon at the beach town of Chacala,.....got there by waving down the highway bus, (but not before a collectivo van decided we should be picked up -problem was the van was in the outside lane with traffic going by at a 100km. Van moved over a lane, slowed down, which caused the speeding car behind it to hit its brakes and avoid crashing into the back end).

Bus dropped us off 9 kms from  Chacala...while waiting for a collectivo to take us into Chacala, some Americans heading that way stopped and offered us a lift in. Nice offer! Walked around Chacala and looked at a bunch of rooms. Found one for 300 pesos just off the beach. Simple room and (we discover upon returning from a day on the beach) located next to the fish store....smell something fishy.

Chacala is one of those small, slightly disorganized Mexican beach towns with a few services for tourists. Quiet on the beach, easy on the eyes, sailboats moored in the bay, little kids just lost in the joy of playing tag with the waves, cold beer, independent and free travelers....,.it is the place lots of us look for but never find.

Bring a crib board, backgammon or dice. Get a cold drink and spend time with someone close. Beach is wonderful, surf is up and pounds in - not sure how good surfing is here?? Water is clean and you are able to swim for a workout. There's even a hike up the far end of the bay to an old volcano, who knew? ( Or so the locals tell us- will try to check it out. ) And, finally, sunsets to die for...directly west and into the ocean!! 

So, to those looking for something local -  Chacala should be checked out. It's about 2 hours north of PV.

Will wrap up for now. Adios for now...let us know how you are doing. And the recent warm spell north of the 49th // must be playing havoc with the ski hills.

Shayne & Yvonne

PS ...will send another email with pics, as not everyone is on FB... Remember to drop us a note to let us know what is going on in your neck of the woods!

ON the Road Again...... January 19, 2015

Welcome back - it's Mexico part 2.



What, can we say...we enjoyed our 1st road trip so much we decided to come back down again.,.What? We can hear some of you say,... You guys are on the road again? That's right after a month home we are south again. The kick start to it all was a birthday celebration in LA. Why bother heading back to cold, snowy Canada. So, we booked one-way tickets to Puerto Vallarta and plan to explore the area.  Not sure where'll we end up on this trip, but we are sure the journey will be fun!  So, happy reading......

To all our family, old friends and the new friends we've already made so far - we are both well after our first 10 days away. Our 4 day stopover in Los Angeles was very special as we helped our 90 year old cousin celebrate her milestone birthday with close family and friends. It was terrific reconnecting with all of them!  Once the celebrations were over we spent a day exploring Universal Studios. The Shrek 3D show was awesome and, well the Tranformer ride....that was fun too!! Took an Uber car service across LA to the airport. With a promotional sign up, only cost us $19 and the car came with a driver.

After leaving LA, we have been exploring Puerto Vallarta city and surrounding beaches of Yelapa, Mismaloya, Las Animas and Boca Tomatlan.  All of these beaches are either a windy bus ride away or a 15-35 minute boat ride away.  

They are all small bays with a handful of residents residents...beautiful!! Yelapa has tons of places to stay and fairly easy to get to... From the airport it's a .75 peso ride to Old PV centro..,from there hop on the Boca Tomatlan bus for .80 pesos and get a water taxi for 70 pesos to Yelapa. And in less than 90 min from the airport and for 95 pesos (or abt $8 Can) you can be in a pretty remote spot away from the hustle and noise of PV.  A river empties into the bay, and with the jungle vegetation, it looks like a downsized version of the movie Apocalypse Now. Seems actor Dennis Hopper and Bob Dylan stayed in Yelapa. If the hallucinogens didn't turn their crank, then the lush jungle, humidity and bugs would do the trick. Google it. Electricity only arrived 8-10 years ago. Coastline is lush and rugged, with no real road access south of PV. The water taxis that service the remote beach spots cram about 30+ people on 7 benches or so, with all the junk people need to live out there - food, fridges, suitcases etc. 







 Met a great family at Mismaloya. Father and son work for warming-trends.com. They install custom designed outdoor gas fireplaces.  Scored several cooling sleeves for our beers.

Easily found a place to sleep after getting off the plane and taking the local bus into Old Town PV.. stayed several nights in Villa Del Mar until hotel told us they were booked up. Moved on to the Azteca Hotel for several more nights. Both hotels offered clean, basic stays, safe, family run hotels for around $36.

One evening here in PV we spent with a friend from Vancouver who walked us around the town after a lovely Italian dinner.  Such a nice visit.  We really like the old town of PV and can certainly see why so many people choose to winter here or live here full time.  As always, we have met some very interesting people in the hotels, on the beaches or in the restaurants. It seems to be like Spring Break for adults here. Party all the time!  Very interesting mix of people. Ann-du-lay pub (Andele) is quite the party place for the older crowd. Good old rock n roll, shots all around, a chance to ride a donkey and dance on the bar - even go motor boating..;)

After nearly a week in PV we have moved north to the beach town of Sayulita. We were there very briefly a few years ago but wanted to explore it a bit more.  We'll probably spend a few days here before moving north again.  There was just a festival here on the weekend so it is still quite busy. Finally found a great place, block off the beach for 800 pesos/night or $65.

We are well, the weather is warm, the people are great and we are enjoying not having to shovel snow... good luck to those that do!

Take care all of you!  Drop us a line and let us know how life is in your corner of the world.

Hugs to all of you!