Wild and Mysterious....Tenacatita Beach....Barra de Navidad.. Mexican Mardi Gras...Who knew? Part 3 of the road south on highway 200!

.....Throw your dreams into space like a kite... and you do not know what it will bring back.... a new life... a new friend... a new love... a new country .... Anais Nin

                                        Prologue......The Beaches...

If the coastline of Mexico is her necklace, then the beaches are her shining gemstones.....a lover's gift....they dazzle and shine....all sizes, shapes... the sand soft to touch....golden, brown...even black...the grains ....fine or coarse...slip through fingers easily...like talcum powder on a naked back ......wild and free.... civilized and tame...the hidden coves ..... glistening bays.... they frame her voluptuous body... showcasing her curves and ...... granting passage to her hidden valleys...rough....smooth....polished...

.....here... the wind....sun.... sea.... burnish the skin bronze....the hair free... thoughts are cleansed... visions enhanced.... futures are crystallized... bodies press...

.....these gems are those places where romance takes hold.....passion erupts... dreams begin....from the long walks on quiet beaches....skirting incoming tides... surrendering to the warm surf and pounding waves.... to a lazy hammock day....the beaches of Mexico are......where a heart beat begins .....and the wonder of the green flash at day's end remains....


Part 3.... Highway 200 south from Puerto Vallarta..

Leaving La Manzanilla is hard to do....

Before heading out to Barra de Navidad, we make a side trip to the mysterious Tenacatita Beach. We share a taxi with our new beach friend; Brett Watson. He's a Canadian stage and film actor. He's worked with numerous well known actors (Toby Maguire) in various roles over his 20+ years in the business. (Pawn Sacrifice, Shattered Glass & Taking Lives just to name a few).

He's in Mexico, involved in a Spanish-English stage production of a Shakespeare play. We'd met on La Manzanilla beach, after his theatre run was over and he was looking for some sun and surf. We shared some beers, food and lots of laughs, as well as some great philosophical discussions on life.....

Tanacatita Beach

This is a wild and desolate beach with a dark, forlorn recent past. Once a thriving beach community; it seems that greed, corruption and shady land dealings reared its ugly head in a big way.

We hear of stories where locals were forced out; possessions burnt, buildings destroyed. While it is calm now, and people are allowed to use the beach....The issue is anything but settled. Land ownership, legal challenges are still before the courts. Could be a while before anything is truly resolved.

Anyway, the 3 of us share a taxi from La Manzanilla and spend the day swimming, snorkeling and hanging out on this gorgeous section of coastline.

Uniformed presence always around....Taking selfies!

Brett y Shayne

There's even a food 'n beer delivery system that takes your order on the beach, then texts it to a village up the road. After several minutes ..... voilà...Hot food and a bucket of cold beers show up on the back of a motor cycle. Perfect way to end our day.

We grab a taxi to Barra de Navidad, drop Brett off at La Manzanilla and settle into Hotel Delfin overlooking the Barra bay and our nearly private pool below.

Looking towards Isla Navidad from our hotel balcony.

A massive resort complex dominates the view from the Barra side. Complete with a marina and private villas, this is a place for the well to do.

Looking back towards our white-arched hotel from Isla Navidad. 

We meet up with a friend from Grand Forks for dinner, then later stop in at a great little, hole in the wall bar and music place known by locals as Lucy's. Such a fun place with nearly nightly live entertainment to dance and while the night away.

Lucy herself.

Barra de Navidad 

This beach town is not so little anymore. Sharing the same beach as Melaque, Barra; along with the other beach towns in the area, has become a victim of its own success. Hugely popular, like La Manz and Melaque, with long-termers escaping the winter north, it's probably unrecognizable to those who last visited 10-15 years ago.

Like the other towns, Barra offers great food, music, beach life and gorgeous sunsets.

We stay for several days enjoying the laid back vibe. We manage to grab a great meal at Olga's.

This had to be one of the most interesting settings we've had a meal in. Next to our table, is a bed, in one corner.....a couch and coffee table. Along the back wall......a pile of sand with a cement mixer and wheelbarrow near by. Renovations in full swing but still open for business. 

See the bed behind me...

The ambiance and setting were perfect, as was the food. Olga's small menu was varied and excellent! We even returned a second night to have dinner.

We leave Barra in the state of Jalisco and say so long to Brett, wishing him well with career and life, and head to Santiago, just north of the port city of Manzanillo and now in the state of Colima.

Santiago / Manzanillo 

What can we say? It's all condos and apartments along the beach. Big wild surf crashes down.

 We find a room for the night in a private complex. The residents look at us like we've come from another world (which, basically we have, in the way we travel).

Only good thing was finding Hostal Olas Altas... a great, funky beach bar that serves cold beers, lip smacking margaritas and fantastic beach food .... and throw in pumping music and the best seats in the house to watch the sunset.

One night is enough, so the next morning we head to Manzanillo to track down Mardi Gras.

Manzanillo 

After several false starts, we locate the Mardi Gras parade route, have a pretty good idea of when it all happens later in the evening. 

Manzanillo is a massive port city that has spread around the big bay. It seems to be the terminus for rail, trucking and shipping. Everything from oil and gas, to freight etc. seems to leave Manzanillo for points elsewhere.

We spend a bit of time in the historic downtown Manzanillo where we find this 82 foot, 70 ton metal sculpture of a sailfish created by Mexican artist Sebastian. 

While there are miles of beach in the bay, most sections are devoid of people.

Mardi Gras....Mexican Style

Once night appears, the Mardi Gras fun begins.

 A massive 4 hr parade winds its way through  crowded pedestrian lined streets.

Semi trucks pull floats built on flat beds.

Dancers in costumes, concert-level music volume greet the crowd. Families have set up chairs, brought coolers filled with food n drink.

Vendors weave their carts through the crowds.

At times, the crowds squeeze the parade route so tightly, the big trucks barely have any room to get by.

Bright lights, dazzling street performers add to this early Mardi Gras kick off ... Mexican style.

As the last float gets pulled by, a parade of buses appear. These are the rides home for many of the performers; some just little children. Time for bed!

Adios for now!

.... Travelling....it leaves you speechless....

... then turns you into a story teller....

......Ibn Baltuta

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Next time......Part 4....The sleepy beach town of Cuyutlan....Home to 1000 beach chairs....Going inland to Colima and Comala....And more...

Hasta Luego!

Shayne y Yvonne 

Additional Random Photos 

Punta Perula....Shhh!....As close to paradise as we've found...On the road south..To La Manzanilla and beyond...... Routa 200 unfolds...

"We travel.....
             some of us forever......
                                       to seek other states.......
                                                                     other lives....
                                                                                  other souls."...
                                         by  Anais Nin.......


Highway 200....From Puerto Vallarta, Mexico south....Part 2

Mexico.... Oh.... how we've missed you!

...... You welcome us back.....like that long lost friend, the wayward son or the lover you've never forgotten....she squeezes you in her warm embrace, easily wrapping her long-limbered legs tightly around you.... until you are so... oh ...out of breath and doesn't let you go...She brushes her moist lips across your mouth...the touch.....the probe......The sensous dance... It's hard to resist...

.... From the fragrance of her land, to the feel and stroke of her finger on your sweaty skin, and the hot breath on the nape of your neck....The pulsing, rhythmic beat of bands, stereos blasting music at all hours that pounds the brain and seeps into your skin....we fall asleep, wrapped only in the warmth of  a bed sheet.....Lulled to sleep by the sound of the ceiling fan above us.... as the waves crash, birds squawk, roosters crow and the dogs bark....We dream....

.....This is the Mexico we look for...But seldom come across...A passionate, humid land... It's people proud, kind and generous....

.......here a sneeze is returned with a 'salut' (bless you) from a group of well armed Federales seated beside you at a roadside taco stand..... It's a place where the locals stop to talk, to ask about you, wave at you......Where grandmas play in the waves.....little kids ride quads down the dusty, main street of our little beach town...
                                    .................................

Onward and southward....

We leave the Puerto Vallarta bus station one early morning. Our destination is Punta Perula, about 3-4 hrs south on Highway #200.

The bus winds its way up and over the narrow, hairpinned road through the mountainous pass that separates the water access town of Yelapa, from civilization.

We crest the summit and descend towards Punta Perula amid increasing dryness and scrub grass like vegetation.

While bus travel in Mexico is always an adventure, our bus driver does something we haven't seen before....He stops at a little roadside barber and gets a haircut. That takes the cake! Once he's had his trim, the bus departs; with one happy driver.

We get dropped off on the highway about 3 km from Punta Perula.  Our driver (and several passengers) assures us that something (a bus, taxi or collectivo) will come by.....At some point!

Within 30 seconds of getting our packs on, two locals stop and offer us a ride. Problem solved!

Punta Perula is as close to the paradise of a small, coastal Mexican beach town that you'd want....The one main road skirts along the beach. Houses, food places, lodgings are scattered along the dusty, through fare.

Our digs; a quiet oasis, shaded and steps from the beach.

We rent bikes from the bike shop owners; Mario and Eder and spend the day exploring the trails and pathways around here.

The 5 km long beach is perfect for walking and getting wet. While the surf is noisy, it's safe to swim, clean and refreshing.

We get to see the EOS, one of the largest 3 masted schooners in the world anchored off shore for a few days.  At 90 metres long with 21 staff it dwarfs the other boats in harbour.

We kayak, snorkel and watch the many pelicans hunt...

Make new friends

We are invited to sail for the day...such a wonderful treat! 

Fred and Catherine have been sailing these waters for years but now they want to sell their boat so they can move on to other adventures.   If you're seriously interested in purchasing this 45 foot sailboat, let us know and we can put you in touch with them. 

Soon, we move on.....Our plan is to hop the bus to La Manzanilla; about an hour south. 

Before we head out Mario and Eder take us to their family house in San Mateo for breakfast.

We have a wonderful traditional meal, talk about their lives and just life, then eventually say goodbye to catch a bus south.  

La Manzanilla 

After waiting on the side of the road for 90 minutes, for a bus that should have appeared 30 minutes earlier, we move south. 

The bus winds its way down this section of rugged coastline. In contrast to our hair-cutting bus driver, our corner-cutting driver flies along at fairly high speed.

We are dropped off at the turn-off to town and hitch a ride in, on the back of a pick up. 

La Manzanilla is a long flat beach; similar to Punta Perula, but way more developed. Hemmed in by rising hills, this is a bustling little beach town favoured by expats for long term stays. Food, rooms and music are all available.

We stay several days and again run into people we know back home. Small world, indeed. Snorkel, swim, enjoy a bit of night life. This community has a thriving music and arts scene and vendors are selling everything imaginable on the beach and streets.

La  Manzanilla is 'famous' for its nature sanctuary of over 250 American crocodiles that you can view for 25 pesos as you walk the boardwalk through the mangrove forest.

The alpha male is quite impressive in size as he glides through the water like a floating log. Others lie so still you wonder if they are real. They are!

After doing a bank run several days earlier to Melaque; La Manzanilla hasn't a ATM or bank, we've decided to give Melaque a miss. Instead, we'll head to Barra de Navidad (about 5 km further from Melaque).

Why??? Melaque's beach is way steeper and has a much higher surf than La Manzanilla. It's hard to walk, run or even bike on Melaque's shoreline. Way busier than the much quieter La Manzanilla, it is the bus Centro for the area and is filled with tourists and long-termers.

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Adios for now.... Upcoming.. Part 3.....Routa 200 ...A day trip to the wild beach of Tenacatita; full of mayhem and mystery, along with great snorkeling......... on to Barra de Navidad.....And much more...

.....

Hasta Luego!

Shayne y Yvonne

Additonal Random Photos...