Thursday, August 03, 2006

Adventures on the beach, walking to Majahua, Chacala

I have used this photo before, but I love it so much, I couldn't resist.
Feeling the need to download Mac updates on my little laptop, I decided to walk over to a neighbor's early this morning. I left the house about 7am, with Chiquita as my guard dog. When we got down to the beach road we cut over to the beach, joined by Luccki, Ventura's dog. Lucci used to be tied up all the time, and I would take him for beach walks. But he doesn't need me anymore, so when he sees me he runs up and says hi and gives me a lick and tears off again. I am so glad to see him on the loose. There was quite a bit of plastic on the beach in front of the restaurants, of course. And in front of the big camping area too.

It was the perfect time of day to walk to Majahua. From the house where I live this summer to Majahua is the longest walk in Chacala, and I love to walk when the sun is shining on the ocean, but not yet on the beach or the road. The sand was soft and squishy and the water was so warm I didn't even notice how warm it was until a larger wave came out of no-where. There was a little family sitting on a little sandy ledge, and we all got surprised. I was carrying my laptop in my little backpack, so I'm glad I didn't get knocked over. Chiquita was neck deep and paddling like crazy, being dragged out into the ocean, when I noticed her and snatched her up.

When we got down toward Mar de Jade the sandy beach is still all washed away. So we picked our way through the rocks to get to the path to Majahua. As we approach Mar de Jade both dogs came out, and I picked up Chiquita because one of the dogs sounded very agressive. He was very agressive and I was scared. Someone up in Mar de Jade started yelling at the dog, but he was circling us and trying to nip at Chiquita, who was not a happy camper. I finally reached over for a rock and the dog backed off. I don't remember being attacked by a dog in front of Mar de Jade before. I couldn't remember if it was the same old dog or a new one.
I read a Mac magazine at the airport yesterday, and one article really emphasized doing updates regularly. But on my dial-up connection it can take three or four hours. Ugh.

Majahua is looking especially beautiful right now, lush and green. I looked at their website the other day, and there are a bunch a nice pictures of their lovely new spa. I am definitely a fan of Majahua. Too bad it's a little out of my price range.

I walked back down on the path that goes through Majahua jungle and then alongside the back of Mar de Jade and down to the Majahua parking lot. There is a brand new addition to the Mar de Jade property. A six foot tall chain link fence with another three lines of barbed wire above the chain link. The whole (very long) fence is built on a knee-high new stone wall. Very striking and very, very ugly, and out of place, in my opinion.

I'm not sure what the goal of the long fence is. But my best guess is that it was built in reaction to the flurry of break-ins and burglarys that took place last spring. I was really surprised to see the fence though. It must have cost a fortune. Very ugly. Very ugly fence. The jungle is already starting to cover it up. And in one place the wire has been pulled and bent down. Prbably it will be covered with vegetation in a few months.

About the beach in front of Mar de Jade. I don't understand the rhythm of it, but seasonally ( I think) within a few days all the sand disappears on the very south end of Chacala beach. Leaving solid rocks and no place to swim. And then, sometime later, (days, weeks, or months) it all returns, very quickly. And there's a lovely, sandy beach again. It's a new phenomena to me. Last winter the sand in front of my campsite started to disappear one day, and then about three days later it all came back. But in front of my camp only some of that sand washed away and it was still fine for swimming. Very strange.

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