Chacala and Families

I think one of the nicest things about camping on the beach, besides living outside, and swimming in the ocean, and smelling the salt water, and seeing whales and dolphins, and staring at the ocean, and watching the sunlight hit the waves first thing in the morning, is having a nice family living right behind me.

Actually it's three families, a mom and dad with their eight kids (one gone during the week to college). The two oldest sons and their wives and babies live right next door. Henia comes over alot, so I get to hold her eight week old baby, and her little boy, Markito, who likes to paint, so we have lots of fun. And the adult son, who will probably always live at home, comes over to draw, and lately to do beads with me and eat pretzels. Lots of Mexicans don't care for pretzels, but he really likes them. He fishes every day with his dad, and he's really good at teasing and making jokes and laughing. And Esparanza, the mom, comes over several times a day, sometimes just to visit, and sometimes for a reason. A few days ago, Marcos, Henia's husband came over and hung around for the first time. Markito seemd really proud to sit on his dad's lap and draw.

Yesterday Esparanza told me they were going to build another ramada for me to use during Semana Santa, because a family member expects to be able to use my spot during those ten days or so. I think it will work out okay. They will help me move about fifty feet, and I will be out of the line of fire, so to speak. And I will still have electricity for a light bulb and fridge.

It's funny. After more than two years here, I didn't know the difference between a ramada and a palapa until a couple of days ago. Now I think ramadas are flat palapas, and inversely, palapas have peaked or pointed roofs, and they are both made of wooden posts and rafters, with palms frond roofs. Of course, I may be completey off track.

A friend mine, who has been camping on the beach here since mid-December I think, and I drove down to Los Ayalos and Guayabitos yesterday. The plan was to have lunch with some other friends who are going back to Oregon after two or three months down here. We had a wonderful lunch, with fruit sala, and whole wheat bread, and delicious soup. The fruit salad had a yoghurt based dressing and it was delicious, but I forgot to ask what was in it. They were staying in a third floor with small patio overlooking the beach and sea. Very nice and breezy.
I think this couple, S and K, some of my favorite people I have met down here. We have lots of things in common and some similar interests and I will miss them alot.

Guayabitos is really different than Chacala, and not to my taste, but very nice and clean. Ugly jets skis came and went constantly, and big party boats, but other than that it was nice.

On the way down we when to Los Ayalos, which I had never seen before. It was nice and quiet, with mostly dirt roads and two story small hotels. Nice enough beach. Jared and Lucille were staying there but we were so late we didn't get to visit them. Rat!!!! On the way back we stopped at the nursery in La Penita and i got a sack of dirt and two nice plants. An aloe with three plants in the pot and a blooming Desert Rose that had tons of shoots. So I divided the aloes and started eight new Desert Rose shoots. i hope they take. Both these plants seem to do okay right next to the ocean. I will cross my fingers for them.

The ocean has been kind of quiet the last five days or so. Smallish waves, which are boring for some of us, but the water is clear and green and looks really nice. The low tide is mid afternoon and after midnight. I'm glad the high tides are at the start and end of the day, at least right now. Then the water is right up close to me camp. The weater is perfect, morning, noon, evening and night.

Today some people came to Esparanza's looking for a camping spot. I was just starting to cook some carne, beef, for fajitas. At Esparanza's request I went out to talk to them. Apparently they had been camping all down the Mexican coast without paying for camping spots, and were very upset that they would have to pay in Chacala. After listening to them for a bit I suggested they drive over to Las Cuevas via El Divisidero and camp there. I hope they do allright if they really go. While i was over talking to them, the mother dog here, a very sweet black lab, ate my carne. not cooked. Darn dog! Oh well.

Some long-time Chacala visitors have been leading weekly bird-watcher hikes most of the winter, and as a kind of culmination, a noted bird person from San Blas is coming Friday and Saturday to offer talks about birding and the environments and the idea of birdwatching as a tourist attraction. Pretty neat project I think.

I have been having some trouble with the type size and adding additional photos on the Chacala Budget Rentals website, but you can still see the new photos by
clicking here .