These two photos show a couple of views of Chacala. The upper one is from one of Aurora's Techo de Mexico rental units and the lower one is from the upstairs unit at Concha's upstairs unit. Both rentals are only about a block from the beach, uphill.
Here in Chacala, I usually wash most of my clothes by hand, out on the patio. But I haven't figured out how to wash sheets and towels by hand, so about every three weeks or so I take three sets of bed linens and a bunch of towels into Las Varas (LV), to the Seco Facil (Easy Dry) laundry, owned by Lulu. This is not a self service laundry (although rumor says there will be one in the new three story building near Foco Loco).
Anyway. Usually I go into LV first thing in the am with my dirty stuff and come home on the collectivo or with anyone who offers me a ride. Then later in the afternoon I usually take Prieto's collectivo to LV and he drives me the six blocks to the Seco Facil, so I don't have to carry the clean laundry.
Yesterday everything went as usual, but after we picked up my laundry we went back to the collectivo pickup spot and a couple from Lima de Abajo was waiting for a rid home. But the last ride to Lima de Abajo had already left and Prieto decided to take them home. I had never been there before. It's on the ocean side of the highway, maybe 6 miles south of the turnoff to Chacala and then maybe three miles toward the ocean. I had seen the sign lots of times and always imagined it was a tiny town, maybe smaller than Chacala.
But, to my surprise, it's a pretty big town, and it's on the way to the Playa de Naranjo. There were four tour buses leaving as we drove into town. We didn't go all the way into town, but I'd like to go back sometime and take another look. I was amazed how different it looked than I had imagined. I have no idea where I got my mental image of the town, but it was really off base. Lots of nice gardens, for one thing.
Now I want to take a look at all the other little towns in the area that I haven't visited yet. Alta Vista, El Capomo, the other ...de Lima, and so on. Prieto said some of the towns have plazas and are very nice. I can't believe I have been here this long without visiting all these little townts. Each town has one or two collectivos that go back and forth between that town and Las Varas, so it's not as though I would get lost. Or that it costs much. Usually 90 cents each way.
So, after dropping the couple off at their house, and picking up various passengers on the way back out to the highway, we returned to Las Varas and picked up a full load of passengers, maybe 12 people and headed back to Chacala. I got the scenic route for the regular price.
Plus nice clean sheets and towels. The three sets of sheets and 4 towels was about $7.50USD.
Don't forget to check out Friends of Chacala, a blogger site where you can post your own photos of Chacala, or write about your trip here, or whatever. or e-mail me at alatawah at gmail.com
Or check out the new Paraiso Chacala website that some of the Chacala scholarship (EBACH) kids are developing under the leadership of Rodrigo, a local Realtor who lives in Chacalilla.
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