Chacala is Getting Very Busy

Chacala is starting to see the Christmas crowds, both US and Canadian tourists and Mexican families from Guadalajara and other places in Mexico where it's cold this time of year. I am writing this on Thursday, a few days before Christmas and most of the rentals are full, but not all. There are places that don't advertise, but are listed at Chacala budget rentals it you are still thinking of coming down this holiday season or later in the year.

Living on the beach has been wonderful for me. I love hearing the waves all day and night, and being outside all the time. I just finished reading a wonderful book called Lizabeth and Me. It sounds like it would be depressing, becauses it's by a man who what homeless for three or four years. But I really enjoyed it.

And it made me think that in someways I might be considered sort of homeless in Chacala, but I don't feel homeless at all. I have been moving every six months or so, (always to houses) but now I am camping. But I have electricity for my fridge, and two light bulbs, a real bed with foam mattress, and showers and toilets about 100 feet away, so I feel pretty comfortable.

One thing that's different about camping here in Chacala is that the camping spaces that are for rent are much smaller than I am used to in the US. They are usually the size of your palapa, about 15 by 35 feet. Mine in right at the edge of the beach, with a very low wall of rocks separating me from the actual beach. My floor is sand with a rock patio buried underneath the sand. The water is about 15 feet away during high tide and about 40 feet away during low tide. It's great. The water is just beautiful. This morning three young local men were surfing right out in front of my camp, and they looked so lovely, dancing around on the waves.

I seem to have broken one of my smaller toes a few days ago, tripping over a piece of tile on a sidewalk in Las Varas. It hurts enough to make me stay at home. I think it will start feeling better in a day or two. It's kind of nice to be home and have visitors come by. Lots of interesting people in Chacala today. This morning a nice woman gave me Sunday's New York Times. I am in heaven. She also has two New Yorker's she will leave for me.

Mishwa, a long-term Chacala visitor and some-time resident, is here for this Christmas vacation. She is camping in the next site, and last night she told me about a "survey" she is making around town. The question is, is Chacala better now than it was before yachts started arriving, MardeJade was built, the paved road and gated community put it? Those events started about 20 or more years ago. I will report on the answers in a few days.