Most people who have come to Chacala know Trini, Spanish teacher par excellence. Cundo, her espouso and his brother Juan, offer airport pick-up services. They also offer boat rides to the local surfing beach, La Caleta, and to San Blas, and other destinations. During the winter, they also offer whale and dolphin watching rides.
To contact them, email to trinimoya2 (at) hotmail.com. Please use the @ symbol rather than (at) when emailing trini.
or go to
for Spanish lessons
or to
airport pickups and boat rides.
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Sunday, February 19, 2006
My Favorite Life in Chacala
Spent the afternoon learning more about taking pictures from digital cameras and putting them in IPhoto and then unto my blogs and emails, etc.
I have photos posted for a lot of the rental units I have listed on http://chacalabudgetrentals.blogspot,com. I think it looks pretty good for work by someone that doesn’t know much about Mac’s. Very fun and I am kind of slow at learning this stuff.
Jared has been a big help teaching me and taking pictures of lots of the rentals in town. And he has been very patient with me.
Jared is very interesting. He has made maps of Chacala, Zihautenajo, and La Penita and Rincon Guayabitos that are available on the web. They are very nice to look at and accurate. They are available to print out from his websites for personal use, but for professional use you need to contact him about fees, etc. I will add the addresses later, but he said you can just Google “maps” and the name of the town and his websites come up near the top of the Google lists.
Having one of these maps makes it easier to see where the place you an considering is, in relation to the beach, etc. The maps include locations of most of the hotels, restaurants, etc, so it’s easy to figure out locations.
It’s late afternoon now, and I am typing on the computer inside my tent, with the screen windows open on the side away from the sea. I am nervous about computing near the ocean because people say the salt water corrosion is a problem.
It’s Sunday afternoon and there are local people. Mostly from Las Varas or Compostella, having a day at the beach in all the palapa camping spots around me. One of the families has its car parked close and their stereo or something has been playing lovely guitar music for several hours. I really love it. Usually I hate the music around here, but this is great. Now a woman singer singing ballad type music on on. It’s so nice to have nice music, plus the sound of the ocean waves, the sunshine and the nice breeze blowing thru the tent.
I have been fooling around with little glass beads lately, and my latest project is a little beaded chandelier-type thing for my bare light bulb over the eating table. It’s fun, but a lot of the time when I am working on it the little kids hanging around and drawing and I am afraid the beads will get bumped off the table and hit the sand. But it’s still fun. People are bringing small gifts of art supplies down to share with the kids. It’s great to have new colored pencils (from Jared and Lucille) and three sets of watercolors (from Lonnie and Carolina), and other things too.
I got an email today from one of the owners of Casa Azul, in which he outlined the plans he and the other owner have for Casa Azul. He said that they will keep the two current patios and add another one plus a roof terrace for guests. I think I have that right. And he said an owner will be living on-site soon, which should make it much more guest-friendly there. It’s got a great location and some nice vegetation. He said the two palms I thought had been removed had just been moved. I haven’t had a chance to read the email carefully yet, but I had the impression the new construction will be happening soon. He also has an email address,casaazulchacala@aol.com and that they will have a website soon at www.casaazulchacala.com. (You will have to type it in if you want to find it because think is not a live link) .
Trini and Cundo are working hard at expanding their tourist boat and van service business. Planning for brochures, a website , etc. They currently have a small web site at http://surfinglacaletachacalanayait.blogspot.com or they can been contacted at trinimoya2 (at) hotmail.com for airport pickups, day trips and boats rides to surfing, or for fishing or whale/dolphine watching. Use the symbol @ rather than (at) for emailing please.
The guy with the red pickup with a gold metal canopy,, who has a lot up mear Casa Pacifica is building a concrete bunker on his lot. I think it might be a bodega. He also has a big motor home and his truck parked there.
The guy that bought the restaurant next to Las Brisas and made in into a rental unit seems to be in town. There were jet skiers driving everyone crazy out on the water this morning, driving within 30 feet of the short, near swimmers. I hope that the gossip is true about banning jet skis.
The weather is great, shorts in the evening. The little no-see—ums are out in force for a while right around sunset. Some very nice sunsets lately.
I have photos posted for a lot of the rental units I have listed on http://chacalabudgetrentals.blogspot,com. I think it looks pretty good for work by someone that doesn’t know much about Mac’s. Very fun and I am kind of slow at learning this stuff.
Jared has been a big help teaching me and taking pictures of lots of the rentals in town. And he has been very patient with me.
Jared is very interesting. He has made maps of Chacala, Zihautenajo, and La Penita and Rincon Guayabitos that are available on the web. They are very nice to look at and accurate. They are available to print out from his websites for personal use, but for professional use you need to contact him about fees, etc. I will add the addresses later, but he said you can just Google “maps” and the name of the town and his websites come up near the top of the Google lists.
Having one of these maps makes it easier to see where the place you an considering is, in relation to the beach, etc. The maps include locations of most of the hotels, restaurants, etc, so it’s easy to figure out locations.
It’s late afternoon now, and I am typing on the computer inside my tent, with the screen windows open on the side away from the sea. I am nervous about computing near the ocean because people say the salt water corrosion is a problem.
It’s Sunday afternoon and there are local people. Mostly from Las Varas or Compostella, having a day at the beach in all the palapa camping spots around me. One of the families has its car parked close and their stereo or something has been playing lovely guitar music for several hours. I really love it. Usually I hate the music around here, but this is great. Now a woman singer singing ballad type music on on. It’s so nice to have nice music, plus the sound of the ocean waves, the sunshine and the nice breeze blowing thru the tent.
I have been fooling around with little glass beads lately, and my latest project is a little beaded chandelier-type thing for my bare light bulb over the eating table. It’s fun, but a lot of the time when I am working on it the little kids hanging around and drawing and I am afraid the beads will get bumped off the table and hit the sand. But it’s still fun. People are bringing small gifts of art supplies down to share with the kids. It’s great to have new colored pencils (from Jared and Lucille) and three sets of watercolors (from Lonnie and Carolina), and other things too.
I got an email today from one of the owners of Casa Azul, in which he outlined the plans he and the other owner have for Casa Azul. He said that they will keep the two current patios and add another one plus a roof terrace for guests. I think I have that right. And he said an owner will be living on-site soon, which should make it much more guest-friendly there. It’s got a great location and some nice vegetation. He said the two palms I thought had been removed had just been moved. I haven’t had a chance to read the email carefully yet, but I had the impression the new construction will be happening soon. He also has an email address,casaazulchacala@aol.com and that they will have a website soon at www.casaazulchacala.com. (You will have to type it in if you want to find it because think is not a live link) .
Trini and Cundo are working hard at expanding their tourist boat and van service business. Planning for brochures, a website , etc. They currently have a small web site at http://surfinglacaletachacalanayait.blogspot.com or they can been contacted at trinimoya2 (at) hotmail.com for airport pickups, day trips and boats rides to surfing, or for fishing or whale/dolphine watching. Use the symbol @ rather than (at) for emailing please.
The guy with the red pickup with a gold metal canopy,, who has a lot up mear Casa Pacifica is building a concrete bunker on his lot. I think it might be a bodega. He also has a big motor home and his truck parked there.
The guy that bought the restaurant next to Las Brisas and made in into a rental unit seems to be in town. There were jet skiers driving everyone crazy out on the water this morning, driving within 30 feet of the short, near swimmers. I hope that the gossip is true about banning jet skis.
The weather is great, shorts in the evening. The little no-see—ums are out in force for a while right around sunset. Some very nice sunsets lately.
Friday, February 17, 2006
PHOTOS OF CHACALA AND CHACALA RENTALS
Thanks to Jared, of Gabriola Island, Canada, there are now photographs of many of the rentals listed on the blog "Chacala Budget Rentals", which can be reached at http://chacalabudgetrentals.blogspot.com.
Here are a couple of photos, for a start. They take a while to download. Most of these pictures were taken by Ann, who visited Chacala in November 2005. Additional photos are by Rob, who was here at Christmas time.
Oops, will finish this later. But the new photos are on the rental blog.
Here are a couple of photos, for a start. They take a while to download. Most of these pictures were taken by Ann, who visited Chacala in November 2005. Additional photos are by Rob, who was here at Christmas time.
Oops, will finish this later. But the new photos are on the rental blog.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Sunny Chacala
A couple of days ago I looked at the house Juan (who runs the Joker tienda at the corner) is building a few lots down the hill from the school, on the main road up from town. It looks like it has two bedrooms with baths and a largish living kitchen area and a back-of-the-house washing area for laundry, etc. It’s a very small lot, with no outdoor space in the back, except for the laundry area, and about five feet between the house and the road in the front.
It seems to be being built with an inside staircase to go upstairs but I don’t think it’s for a teraza. There are only windows in the front of the house. With a little natural light coming in from the laundry area and small windows high in the walls. The house faces west but no views except from the roof. Juan says it will be completely furnished with kitchen equipment etc. I don’t know what he wants to ask for a monthly rental, but he is thinking about it. It’s definitely worth looking into if you are looking for a long term rental.
Casa Pacifica is offering a very good monthly rental rate for the summer months, and you can contact Susana at sescobido@aol.com about rates etc.
Patti’s aerobic studio, which used to be a store, is right across the street from the primary school/bibliotecha entrance. She offers classes during the week and is easy to find around town. Her family runs two of the markets in town, including Juan’s,
Dona Lupe ( of Euloia and Lupe) is becoming more and more entrepreneurial.
She is now selling delicious, fresh squeezed orange juice from her restaurant. She is also renting both downstairs rooms, with a shared bath, for a weekly or monthly rate. Cheap by the month. Her family is sleeping at the restaurant when the rooms are rented.
I am starting to think that February is the big month for motor homes parking in Chacala. There are about 25 right now, with a number of them on the grassy area off the beach. Some people to deposit their toilet water into the sand in holes under their trailers. Disgusting and detrimental to water quality. The state is looking into the situation and may close the parking places close to the beach if it comtinues. That info is gossip. Jose Manuel is not working as maintenance and security in the parking area for motor homes any more and it’s looking kind of raggedy.
I think I already mentioned the Koko Bongo’s has wireless now.
This season there have been more motos (little motor bikes and three wheelers, etc) on the beach, with is not allowed by the state transit authority here. There are signs on the beach entrances forbidding vehicles on the beach. Juan, the current juduez (something like the justice of the peace in Chacala) is intending to enforce the rule, and will call the transit police if anyone lets him know there are vehicles on the beach. A few weeks ago a little girl was run over by one of the four wheelers. An eight year old was driving it. As the parents egged them on, faster, faster.
The other annoying new presence on the beach has been jet skis. An American brought them here first, but luckily he doesn't seem to be around here much this year. At least so far.
Majahua now has a little gift shop at the restaurant, with lovely things. For people who are tired of the tourist stuff sold along the beach road, this is a great alternative. And the location is wonderful. A great place for a drink or coffee or leomonade, plus incredible meals. And the occasional belly dance show.
The moon is very full at night right now, and is up from about 8pm until after daylight. It looks just beautiful at night, reflecting across the water. The nights are comfortable again, no more cold snap (cold being low 60’s F).
Lots of tourists and some day trippers from La Penita/Guayabitos, who mostly seem to hang out at Las Brisas. The most popular home town this year is still people from Vancouver Island. There have been at least 10 people from Hornsby.
The work on the house below the paved road, headed toward Marina Chacala seems to had stopped. Actually, work has stopped on a number of projects. Don’t know why.
There are whales within sight of the beach everyday now, and people going out on whale watching trips are having a great time, seeing lots of whales.
The bird watching group is still in business. Well not in "business", but active. On tuesday mornings they met to walk into different areas around Chacala. Sue, Ron and Kathy, who little in a little tent and trailer encampment just south of the Delphin restaurant, are in charge. And very knowledgable and birds.
It seems to be being built with an inside staircase to go upstairs but I don’t think it’s for a teraza. There are only windows in the front of the house. With a little natural light coming in from the laundry area and small windows high in the walls. The house faces west but no views except from the roof. Juan says it will be completely furnished with kitchen equipment etc. I don’t know what he wants to ask for a monthly rental, but he is thinking about it. It’s definitely worth looking into if you are looking for a long term rental.
Casa Pacifica is offering a very good monthly rental rate for the summer months, and you can contact Susana at sescobido@aol.com about rates etc.
Patti’s aerobic studio, which used to be a store, is right across the street from the primary school/bibliotecha entrance. She offers classes during the week and is easy to find around town. Her family runs two of the markets in town, including Juan’s,
Dona Lupe ( of Euloia and Lupe) is becoming more and more entrepreneurial.
She is now selling delicious, fresh squeezed orange juice from her restaurant. She is also renting both downstairs rooms, with a shared bath, for a weekly or monthly rate. Cheap by the month. Her family is sleeping at the restaurant when the rooms are rented.
I am starting to think that February is the big month for motor homes parking in Chacala. There are about 25 right now, with a number of them on the grassy area off the beach. Some people to deposit their toilet water into the sand in holes under their trailers. Disgusting and detrimental to water quality. The state is looking into the situation and may close the parking places close to the beach if it comtinues. That info is gossip. Jose Manuel is not working as maintenance and security in the parking area for motor homes any more and it’s looking kind of raggedy.
I think I already mentioned the Koko Bongo’s has wireless now.
This season there have been more motos (little motor bikes and three wheelers, etc) on the beach, with is not allowed by the state transit authority here. There are signs on the beach entrances forbidding vehicles on the beach. Juan, the current juduez (something like the justice of the peace in Chacala) is intending to enforce the rule, and will call the transit police if anyone lets him know there are vehicles on the beach. A few weeks ago a little girl was run over by one of the four wheelers. An eight year old was driving it. As the parents egged them on, faster, faster.
The other annoying new presence on the beach has been jet skis. An American brought them here first, but luckily he doesn't seem to be around here much this year. At least so far.
Majahua now has a little gift shop at the restaurant, with lovely things. For people who are tired of the tourist stuff sold along the beach road, this is a great alternative. And the location is wonderful. A great place for a drink or coffee or leomonade, plus incredible meals. And the occasional belly dance show.
The moon is very full at night right now, and is up from about 8pm until after daylight. It looks just beautiful at night, reflecting across the water. The nights are comfortable again, no more cold snap (cold being low 60’s F).
Lots of tourists and some day trippers from La Penita/Guayabitos, who mostly seem to hang out at Las Brisas. The most popular home town this year is still people from Vancouver Island. There have been at least 10 people from Hornsby.
The work on the house below the paved road, headed toward Marina Chacala seems to had stopped. Actually, work has stopped on a number of projects. Don’t know why.
There are whales within sight of the beach everyday now, and people going out on whale watching trips are having a great time, seeing lots of whales.
The bird watching group is still in business. Well not in "business", but active. On tuesday mornings they met to walk into different areas around Chacala. Sue, Ron and Kathy, who little in a little tent and trailer encampment just south of the Delphin restaurant, are in charge. And very knowledgable and birds.
February in Chacala
I am in PV right now. I came down from Chacala to Puerto Vallarta, meeting up with my son a couple of days ago. He just brought my repaired MAC laptop down from the US. I am now computing on it and very happy. We went to the internet place across the street from the Posada Roger ( in PV), where we spent the night, and he configured the "Mail" program on the laptop so the mail to all my email addresses can be answered off-line. And then he fixed up the "Ecto" deal so I can write posts for all my blogs off-line. I am so happy with this.
Then we roamed around the neighborhood and found Dee's cafe (PV), which has free wireless if you buy some food or drink. And actually, there was a default wireless there, and we didn't even need a password to go on-line.
In Chacala, Koko Bongo's now has wireless in addition to broadband. And there seems to be a default wireless (an open hot spot) right now, downtown.
Later the same day, Tuesday. Went to the airport and then went on to the Camionera Central to catch the bus home. I took a taxi to Chacala from Las Varas because I had too much stuff (My wonderful son brought me lots of goodies, besides the computer). And now I am computing via wireless here on Playa Chacala . It's wonderful. The sun is about to go down and life is good.
I have been thinking about the lessons in life I have been learning from doing some beading projects here on the beach. I have been making little beaded decorations to hang on the palapa beam, and have figured out three things in the process of messing around with little glass beads.
First, is , "Never work without a safety net", because the minute your hands are not over the table, you will spill beads and/or needle all over the sand and never find them again.
Second is, " If you can't think of what to make, wait for inspiration" . Maybe go clean up the camp or swim or take a nap or something, and next thing you know, you will have an idea of something to make or a way to make it.
And third is, "If you start to think you are going to wrong way, stop right there and back up until you get the place that feels right". If the project is starting to look funny, don't keep going, thinking it will get better. Stop, go back and start over. You will be sorry if you keep going because it seems like too much trouble to back track.
That's my words of wisdom for today.
I have been starting to get some offers about where to stay next, and that feels pretty good. Especially with Semana Santa coming in less than two months.
That's it for today
Then we roamed around the neighborhood and found Dee's cafe (PV), which has free wireless if you buy some food or drink. And actually, there was a default wireless there, and we didn't even need a password to go on-line.
In Chacala, Koko Bongo's now has wireless in addition to broadband. And there seems to be a default wireless (an open hot spot) right now, downtown.
Later the same day, Tuesday. Went to the airport and then went on to the Camionera Central to catch the bus home. I took a taxi to Chacala from Las Varas because I had too much stuff (My wonderful son brought me lots of goodies, besides the computer). And now I am computing via wireless here on Playa Chacala . It's wonderful. The sun is about to go down and life is good.
I have been thinking about the lessons in life I have been learning from doing some beading projects here on the beach. I have been making little beaded decorations to hang on the palapa beam, and have figured out three things in the process of messing around with little glass beads.
First, is , "Never work without a safety net", because the minute your hands are not over the table, you will spill beads and/or needle all over the sand and never find them again.
Second is, " If you can't think of what to make, wait for inspiration" . Maybe go clean up the camp or swim or take a nap or something, and next thing you know, you will have an idea of something to make or a way to make it.
And third is, "If you start to think you are going to wrong way, stop right there and back up until you get the place that feels right". If the project is starting to look funny, don't keep going, thinking it will get better. Stop, go back and start over. You will be sorry if you keep going because it seems like too much trouble to back track.
That's my words of wisdom for today.
I have been starting to get some offers about where to stay next, and that feels pretty good. Especially with Semana Santa coming in less than two months.
That's it for today
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Fiesta days in Chacala Las Varas
I am in Las Varas at the moment, at the newer, and perhaps only, at the moment, internet place in Las Varas. It's a couple of store fronts south of the bank on the main street. Today traffic on the main street is totally blocked off by booths related to the fiesta days here. Which I think is related to Guadalupe, but I am not sure.
I rode to La Penita with a friend of mine who is camping up abut three blocks up the beach from me. A couple of other people rode with up, and we all went our separate ways once we arrived. We were in La Penita for the Thursday street market, the tsangiu (?spelling). This time of year is is jam packed with US and Canadian tourists, and it's kind of overwhelming. And this year the powers that be have moved all the tourist oriented booths up in the plaza, which is very nice and mostly shady. I bought a mirror for 10 pesos (90 cents or so), two dozen colored plastic clothes pins for ten pesos, four small cantalupes for 90 cents, a loaf of whole wheat bread, (home baked) and a miniature apple tart, which was delicious.
I like all the pottery and stuff in the booths, but it's way out of my price range, and pretty unnecessary in my life style. But it's fun to look at. They also have alot of used clothes booths but I am okay for clothes at the moment. I went on the main market street for about three blocks, looking for peanuts in the shell, but didn't find any. The main street is full of stuff that Mexican families who live in the area need, and it's fun to look at everything. The only thing I meant to get and didn't get was elastic to replace the elastic in my shorts.
Then we headed down the road a couple of miles to Guayabitos, looking for some nice folks from Corvallis who weren't home. As we walked up the beach to their hotel I got a nice handful of shells. Guayabitos is much nicer than I imagined. It was my first visit there, and I had a nice time. We ate at the Cafe at the Hotel Jacqueline, right on the beach, and it was very pleasant. Our friends hadn't come home by the time we finished, so we headed to Las Varas, where I got dropped off so I could go to the cash machine and the internet place. I am going to look at the fiesta booths on the way home, but probably won't buy anything. Except maybe elastic.
The night for the Chacala parade or procession is apparently Saturday night, although some people say it's Friday night. I have gone a couple times now, mainly for the bumper cars and watching the procession, but I probably will stay home this year. We didn't gt home until about 2am last year, and that's too late for me.
The second bike riding group came to Chacala yesterday, and camped at Esparanza's last night. Second group I have seen here, and it was only two young men. I had the impression they weren't interested in visiting with me, so I don't have any details about their ride and how it was going. The restaurant and whatever the American is building on the beach is looking uglier by the day. Maybe it will look better when it's painted, but at the moment it looks like a fortress.
The owners of Casa Azul have been (re)
moving (?) palms, etc, in preparation for building more rental units between the old building the the beach cliff. I can't imagine how it will look back there when it's done. Most of the construction project around town seem to be on hold for the winter. However, Juan, of the Joker tienda is building a small house up the hill from the store, and he is interested in finding a long term renter.
Las Brisas is now completing it's ninth rental unit, upside on the street end. I think the rentals are between $45 and $65 depending on the number of people and other variables. Actually that price is pesos, 450 to 650 pesos.
Posada Guadaloupe, three units on the beach road, away from the beach, now seems to have live-in maintenance family. If you speak Spanish, the phone number is 327 219 4011. The units look small and uninviting, but the insides might be nicer than the outside.
The addition to the Kinder (gaten), a new, larger classroom, is being worked on . I think the Omaha and Shawnee Rotary groups are coming down in the few weeks to do some more work there.
Koko Bongo's internet seems to be working all the time. One of the daughters from Koko Bpmgo's is now running a hot dog and video game arcade on the beach road across from the motor home parking.
People are starting to gear up for Semana Santa, which is the business time of the year here. I am hoping that the powers that be here in Chacala will discourage the late night and extremely loud music and microphone late at night if it is anything like last year. Which was terrible and went on until 2 or 3am.
The weather is perfect, warm enough for shorts at 6:30am and until bedtime. Sunny and nice. The water is lovely, and the waves are very varied, from pretty wild to calm and peaceful. There aren{t alot of tourists in town, and less motor homes than a few weeks ago. Maybe 15 , all together.
The creek that is the water source for Chacala seems to be dried up at the moment and people are having nice clean water trucked in. That's it for now.
I rode to La Penita with a friend of mine who is camping up abut three blocks up the beach from me. A couple of other people rode with up, and we all went our separate ways once we arrived. We were in La Penita for the Thursday street market, the tsangiu (?spelling). This time of year is is jam packed with US and Canadian tourists, and it's kind of overwhelming. And this year the powers that be have moved all the tourist oriented booths up in the plaza, which is very nice and mostly shady. I bought a mirror for 10 pesos (90 cents or so), two dozen colored plastic clothes pins for ten pesos, four small cantalupes for 90 cents, a loaf of whole wheat bread, (home baked) and a miniature apple tart, which was delicious.
I like all the pottery and stuff in the booths, but it's way out of my price range, and pretty unnecessary in my life style. But it's fun to look at. They also have alot of used clothes booths but I am okay for clothes at the moment. I went on the main market street for about three blocks, looking for peanuts in the shell, but didn't find any. The main street is full of stuff that Mexican families who live in the area need, and it's fun to look at everything. The only thing I meant to get and didn't get was elastic to replace the elastic in my shorts.
Then we headed down the road a couple of miles to Guayabitos, looking for some nice folks from Corvallis who weren't home. As we walked up the beach to their hotel I got a nice handful of shells. Guayabitos is much nicer than I imagined. It was my first visit there, and I had a nice time. We ate at the Cafe at the Hotel Jacqueline, right on the beach, and it was very pleasant. Our friends hadn't come home by the time we finished, so we headed to Las Varas, where I got dropped off so I could go to the cash machine and the internet place. I am going to look at the fiesta booths on the way home, but probably won't buy anything. Except maybe elastic.
The night for the Chacala parade or procession is apparently Saturday night, although some people say it's Friday night. I have gone a couple times now, mainly for the bumper cars and watching the procession, but I probably will stay home this year. We didn't gt home until about 2am last year, and that's too late for me.
The second bike riding group came to Chacala yesterday, and camped at Esparanza's last night. Second group I have seen here, and it was only two young men. I had the impression they weren't interested in visiting with me, so I don't have any details about their ride and how it was going. The restaurant and whatever the American is building on the beach is looking uglier by the day. Maybe it will look better when it's painted, but at the moment it looks like a fortress.
The owners of Casa Azul have been (re)
moving (?) palms, etc, in preparation for building more rental units between the old building the the beach cliff. I can't imagine how it will look back there when it's done. Most of the construction project around town seem to be on hold for the winter. However, Juan, of the Joker tienda is building a small house up the hill from the store, and he is interested in finding a long term renter.
Las Brisas is now completing it's ninth rental unit, upside on the street end. I think the rentals are between $45 and $65 depending on the number of people and other variables. Actually that price is pesos, 450 to 650 pesos.
Posada Guadaloupe, three units on the beach road, away from the beach, now seems to have live-in maintenance family. If you speak Spanish, the phone number is 327 219 4011. The units look small and uninviting, but the insides might be nicer than the outside.
The addition to the Kinder (gaten), a new, larger classroom, is being worked on . I think the Omaha and Shawnee Rotary groups are coming down in the few weeks to do some more work there.
Koko Bongo's internet seems to be working all the time. One of the daughters from Koko Bpmgo's is now running a hot dog and video game arcade on the beach road across from the motor home parking.
People are starting to gear up for Semana Santa, which is the business time of the year here. I am hoping that the powers that be here in Chacala will discourage the late night and extremely loud music and microphone late at night if it is anything like last year. Which was terrible and went on until 2 or 3am.
The weather is perfect, warm enough for shorts at 6:30am and until bedtime. Sunny and nice. The water is lovely, and the waves are very varied, from pretty wild to calm and peaceful. There aren{t alot of tourists in town, and less motor homes than a few weeks ago. Maybe 15 , all together.
The creek that is the water source for Chacala seems to be dried up at the moment and people are having nice clean water trucked in. That's it for now.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Chacala Days
I had a very nice day today. Today is Constitution Day and it's a bank and school and postal holiday and lots of people are here on the beach. First thing this morning Gilberto, a four year old neighbor boy came over wanting to "pintura". Some wonderful people, Lonnie and Carolina, had just brought three really nice sets of watercolors down, and Gilberto went crazy went he saw the brand new paints. He is very careful not to mix colors and is a great with doing beautiful color washes with really nice colors. He worked quietly for more than an hour, and then we glued his pictures to the palm trees that hold up my palapa shelter (his idea). Nice morning. He arrived about 7am, and we shared some bananas while we worked. The cold nights and cold early morning have abated and it was very comfortable and warm at 7am. And it's about 7pm and still nice. This is the week of the big fiesta in Las Varas. No one seems to know which night the town of Chacala marches in the parade but lot{s of people are planning to go. There are lots of booths and bands and food places and a talent show that goes on and rides like bumper cars and special masses after the parades each night. It's really fine and it's hard to believe it's Las Varas, it's so full of booth and people And fireworks every night. Something happened that I am interpreting as another sign of Chacala growth as a town. Government growth, or a sense of authority, and an attitude that seems to be like "this is our town and we are taking responsibility for keeping it clean and protecting it's citizens." In this case, some sort of scuzzy looking young people arrived in town a few days ago. People noticed them arrive, and noticed that they didn{t have any possessions with them. So when they started walking out of town later, carrying a bunch of stuff, including a stereo, some citizens noticed and stopped them. After some conversations they confiscated the stuff and took it to Juans (the new Juez). Meanwhile, Juan the painter went home to Ana's house up the hill from town and realized his stereo was gone. He went to Juan's to report it, and there was his stuff. Pretty good I think. I course, this is mostly second hand, so I may have it completely wrong. But I like the story. And I think if it's true it bodes well from Chacala. Some people believe that the governor's promise of a real water source for Chacala by April might be true. Hope so. Speaking I misunderstanding what is going on....which happens to me all the time. Today some people arrived and set up one of those huge oil filled vats where they deep fry pork producsts of a big gas burner arrived at one of the palapa´s at Esperanza's. Somehow I jumped to the conclusion that they were going to open a restaurant or food stand and I quietly freaked out. Then I left to run errands and came back and saw that it was just a family party. A nice quiet family party, mostly women and kids.
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It's a beautiful Monday, about 85 F degrees mid afternoon. It was about 62 degree at 7am, which is cold in my opinion. The ocean is perfect and a lovely green blue color. Pretty guiet around town.
I am still waiting for my computer to get repaired and brought back down to Chacala. I miss it alot and can't wait to get it back. I am looking for someone to bring it down from Seattle. There are a couple of wireless areas around town now, but you would have to hunt to find them. The broadband hookup at Koko bongos is working well and open all the time.
The new hotel is still pretty empty, with not very many guests and the pool seems to be greenish lately.
There was a tour bus of people unloading yesterday, moving into Mercede's place (the new place with the small blue pool, across from Casa Azul. It appeared that 8 and 10 people were staying gin each of the 6 units. Not my first choice for a place to stay.
I am happy and busy. The Sufi's are at Mar de Jade. For the tenth or eleventh year in a row, I think. One of the Sufi's told me there were sixty Sufis staying there, some in the massage rooms at the new spa, which is very nice.
This is all discouraging news, I guess. The good news is there are alot of very nice visitors this week and its very fun to meet them and hang around with them. But my favorite thing is still being at my camp doing my things that I like to do.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Friends of Chacala blog
It looks like the Friends of Chacala blog is being used. Jared has posted a wonderful map of Chacala, and some beautiful photos.
And some people have discovered they are on the same flight coming down here. Remember that you can arrange an airport pickup by emailing trinimoya2 (at) hotmail.com. Please use the symbol @ rather than (2) when emailing Trini.
There is also a description of travel options for going from the airport to Chacala at http://chacalanayarit.blogspot.com.Neither of these addresses are active, youhave to type them in yourself.
Chacala Building Update
Chacala is continuing to see new building stuff going on. And apparently the building permit people are getting more serious, or someone didn't bet paid off or something. Because the new (new this summer) roof on the place across the street from the Deposito has been torn off. Apparently some officials required the removal. I don't understand the explanations I hear, but they seem to include words about permits, etc. It actually looked poorly designed and welded, so maybe it was dangeruos. Don't know. It had steel uprights, steel beams, rebars for holding the palapa branches. It was sort of a restaurant, but mostly a great meeting place for town meetings, open, public, and shady.
There was a big meeting of the cuesto (little shack type stores/restaurants on the beach road) a few days ago. Lots of cars and trucks and people. And a long meeting. I have no idea was the agenda was, but of course I am curious.
Juan, of the Joker, is building a small house in town, two lots down from the school on. It's almost done.
I am still worried about the swimming pool at Mercede's nice new rental units across the street from Casa Azul. It's about six feet from the front doors of the units to the swimming pool, with no fence or barrier. I am not so much worried about drunker aduults falling in, as little children wandering outside and drowning.
The new place kitty-corner from Paco's and Elizar's, right below the paved road is still being worked on, but the construction seems to have slowed down. The new rentals right across from Juan's tienda is still being worked on, but the construction also seems to have slowed. Apparently someone poured gasoline on some of the palms the new owner of that lot had planted in the sand on the beach next to his lot.
The owner of the new surf shop is renting surfboards, but the shop isn't actually open yet. You can contact him by asking for directions to his house at the Koraney hardware store, right up from "downtown". His name is Paul. His new house, next to his shop, looks like its finishing up quickly.
If you are interested in staying in Laura Sura's new Techo rental, which is located right next to the gate into Chacalila, you can email me and I can put in in contact via phone. Laura speaks English and her new unit is very nice. One window hasn't had a screen put on yet, which is definitely a drawback (at of 3/6/06).
Most of the other construction projects around town seem to be on hold at the moment. Maybe people are busy earning money for more construction. The place right up the paved road from the Chacalilia gate is for sale. It's about half built. There are rumors of more building projects around town. Who knows.
Also , the eijido land drama continues on, with many rumors. For those who own eijido lots, I don't have any facts, but it looks like the situation might be coming to a head.
Rod, of Ayala Realty, has opened his Chacala office lately. Mostly weekends I think. He said he is focused on selling lots in Chacalila. The Marina Chacala is it{s official name and it has a website. Same name.
That's all I can think off. Oh. Except for one thing. Jose Manuel is no longer working at the Delphin campground where motor homes park, and I know people miss him. A number of motor home people seem have taken to burning plastic again. When I walk home at night I walk by their little campfires, and you can see and smell it. I have no clue what they are thinking. They also continue to dig holes in the sand for their sewage lines. Lovely. Obviously I am no talking about every motor-homer, but still....
There was a big meeting of the cuesto (little shack type stores/restaurants on the beach road) a few days ago. Lots of cars and trucks and people. And a long meeting. I have no idea was the agenda was, but of course I am curious.
Juan, of the Joker, is building a small house in town, two lots down from the school on. It's almost done.
I am still worried about the swimming pool at Mercede's nice new rental units across the street from Casa Azul. It's about six feet from the front doors of the units to the swimming pool, with no fence or barrier. I am not so much worried about drunker aduults falling in, as little children wandering outside and drowning.
The new place kitty-corner from Paco's and Elizar's, right below the paved road is still being worked on, but the construction seems to have slowed down. The new rentals right across from Juan's tienda is still being worked on, but the construction also seems to have slowed. Apparently someone poured gasoline on some of the palms the new owner of that lot had planted in the sand on the beach next to his lot.
The owner of the new surf shop is renting surfboards, but the shop isn't actually open yet. You can contact him by asking for directions to his house at the Koraney hardware store, right up from "downtown". His name is Paul. His new house, next to his shop, looks like its finishing up quickly.
If you are interested in staying in Laura Sura's new Techo rental, which is located right next to the gate into Chacalila, you can email me and I can put in in contact via phone. Laura speaks English and her new unit is very nice. One window hasn't had a screen put on yet, which is definitely a drawback (at of 3/6/06).
Most of the other construction projects around town seem to be on hold at the moment. Maybe people are busy earning money for more construction. The place right up the paved road from the Chacalilia gate is for sale. It's about half built. There are rumors of more building projects around town. Who knows.
Also , the eijido land drama continues on, with many rumors. For those who own eijido lots, I don't have any facts, but it looks like the situation might be coming to a head.
Rod, of Ayala Realty, has opened his Chacala office lately. Mostly weekends I think. He said he is focused on selling lots in Chacalila. The Marina Chacala is it{s official name and it has a website. Same name.
That's all I can think off. Oh. Except for one thing. Jose Manuel is no longer working at the Delphin campground where motor homes park, and I know people miss him. A number of motor home people seem have taken to burning plastic again. When I walk home at night I walk by their little campfires, and you can see and smell it. I have no clue what they are thinking. They also continue to dig holes in the sand for their sewage lines. Lovely. Obviously I am no talking about every motor-homer, but still....
Chacala Days
A few days ago I left Chacala and headed into Puerto Vallarta . It was one of those days when everything goes right. Except that I forgot my glasses at home and had to buy a new pair of readers. I went to three different places, but no one had more than a few weak pairs, and I ended up at Walmart, not my favorite place. But I had to have glasses.
When I started out in the morning for PV, I walked down to the main beach road and then walked out toward the paved road. Leo, who owns Koko Bongo restaurant, picked me up right away. I got out at the Crucero (the fruit stands where the Chacala road meets the highway) and within a minute the La Penita collectivo-combi picked me up. Then we picked up some other people on the way south and everyone was in a good mood and there was lots of teasing the driver, etc. When we got to La Penita the Pacifico bus has just pulled up, and I got on, and we took off. This is a new way to travel for me, catching the collectivo for La Penita at the Crucero, and it's the cheapest ride. Leo wouldn't take any money, the collectio was 10 pesos, and the bus was 50 pesos, total of 60 pesos, as compared to my old route, Chacala collectivo, 10 pesos, and then 76p for the Pacifico from Las Varas, for a total of 86 pesos. Pretty good deal. I only take rides from people I know, which is alot of the people who drive on the Chacala road, so it seems safe to me.
The little puppy seems to be gone. I am watching for him around Las Varas this morning. No luck so far. I am typing this from Las Varas, and I went to the tsangui, Friday street market, on my way to the internet place.
Got two plants Esperanza said she wanted: a malva ( her name for geraniums) and a coleus. 10 pesos each. We ( E., her 14 year old sone Jorge, and I) have been looking at English and Spanish gardening books and magazines at night. A few days ago I gave her a Spanish language gardening book for Mexico and she has been studying it avidly ever since. And identifying her plants. Yesterday I went up to Aurora's house where I have left my plants from Gordon's (where I summer house-sit), and got a bunch of cuttings for Esparanza. I had some little pots there and a little dirt, so we have a good start.
When I stopped by Dona Lupe's restaurant on the way home, she say I had the plants and she took be back behind the restaurant where she has a nice little garden (which I hadn't noticed before) and gave me cuttings from two succulent plants. Very nice. I am going to keep some plants around my camp, but I think the direct salt air might be too much for them. Esperanza keeps her garden on the side of her house away from the ocean, which seems to work. We'll see. I have alot to learn from E. She is helping me with my Spanish and teaching me about the plant's needs.
The people who have been renting "Luis'" room are leaving (previously planned departure) in a few days. Apparently Luis arrived in the middle of the night and caused a big ruckus about "his" room. Dona Lupe has asked me to continue to look for a new gringo renter for that room. It's downstairs, with a shared bath, two windows, two beds, very very basic, for $100/1000 pesos a month. With electric all the time, and hot water some of the time. Two blocks from the beach with a nice view. Let me know at alalatawah@gmail.com if you are interested in more info.
The weather is lovely, hot days, highs of 84 or so, nice evenings, low 70's and beautiful incredible sunsets most nights. Sun in on my camp about 7:15 am and it's dark about 5:40pm now. Light at about 6;15am.
Not many gringo tourists, or Mexican weekenders . The gringo tourists who are staying in town generally seem to be very nice. The Alaska homeschool kids left yesterday. Nice bunch of kids and staff. The going away party at Chico{s was fun to watch, with the kids dancing away. David and Emma, the Scottish couple with two little boys, left town on Thursday. They had been at Mar de Jade for about five months while David, a physican, volunteered at the clinic in Las Varas. They are lovely people, and I know we will all miss them. They hosted a nice going away dinner at Chico's a few days before they left and it was really fun for me. The staff from the clinic was there, Toecha, and Socorrco and the clinic admisrator/tech, whose name I don't remember, and we had fun catching up. I love the long meals here, the parties, where everyone is talking and the kids are running arounds, and we eat and eat. And some people drink and drink. It's nice at the restaurant, with my feet in the sand, under the palapa roof, with shade with a little breeze , and the ocean thirty feet away.
My latest slightly strange experience with motor homers involved BC people camping between Esperanza's and Don Beto's "campgrounds". They were in Don Beto's area and paying him the nightly fee for camping and the toilets. However, they were repeatedly using E.'s toilets in the night, and not paying. She believed they were sneaking in, because they weren't using them during the day. They were also hanging their garbage in plastic bags from the tree. And leaving them there, even when the garbage truck came by. They left this morning. Leaving a week's garbage hanging from the tree. You can see why most of the Chacaleño's treat us like curiosities, because some of us are certainly strange.
When I started out in the morning for PV, I walked down to the main beach road and then walked out toward the paved road. Leo, who owns Koko Bongo restaurant, picked me up right away. I got out at the Crucero (the fruit stands where the Chacala road meets the highway) and within a minute the La Penita collectivo-combi picked me up. Then we picked up some other people on the way south and everyone was in a good mood and there was lots of teasing the driver, etc. When we got to La Penita the Pacifico bus has just pulled up, and I got on, and we took off. This is a new way to travel for me, catching the collectivo for La Penita at the Crucero, and it's the cheapest ride. Leo wouldn't take any money, the collectio was 10 pesos, and the bus was 50 pesos, total of 60 pesos, as compared to my old route, Chacala collectivo, 10 pesos, and then 76p for the Pacifico from Las Varas, for a total of 86 pesos. Pretty good deal. I only take rides from people I know, which is alot of the people who drive on the Chacala road, so it seems safe to me.
The little puppy seems to be gone. I am watching for him around Las Varas this morning. No luck so far. I am typing this from Las Varas, and I went to the tsangui, Friday street market, on my way to the internet place.
Got two plants Esperanza said she wanted: a malva ( her name for geraniums) and a coleus. 10 pesos each. We ( E., her 14 year old sone Jorge, and I) have been looking at English and Spanish gardening books and magazines at night. A few days ago I gave her a Spanish language gardening book for Mexico and she has been studying it avidly ever since. And identifying her plants. Yesterday I went up to Aurora's house where I have left my plants from Gordon's (where I summer house-sit), and got a bunch of cuttings for Esparanza. I had some little pots there and a little dirt, so we have a good start.
When I stopped by Dona Lupe's restaurant on the way home, she say I had the plants and she took be back behind the restaurant where she has a nice little garden (which I hadn't noticed before) and gave me cuttings from two succulent plants. Very nice. I am going to keep some plants around my camp, but I think the direct salt air might be too much for them. Esperanza keeps her garden on the side of her house away from the ocean, which seems to work. We'll see. I have alot to learn from E. She is helping me with my Spanish and teaching me about the plant's needs.
The people who have been renting "Luis'" room are leaving (previously planned departure) in a few days. Apparently Luis arrived in the middle of the night and caused a big ruckus about "his" room. Dona Lupe has asked me to continue to look for a new gringo renter for that room. It's downstairs, with a shared bath, two windows, two beds, very very basic, for $100/1000 pesos a month. With electric all the time, and hot water some of the time. Two blocks from the beach with a nice view. Let me know at alalatawah@gmail.com if you are interested in more info.
The weather is lovely, hot days, highs of 84 or so, nice evenings, low 70's and beautiful incredible sunsets most nights. Sun in on my camp about 7:15 am and it's dark about 5:40pm now. Light at about 6;15am.
Not many gringo tourists, or Mexican weekenders . The gringo tourists who are staying in town generally seem to be very nice. The Alaska homeschool kids left yesterday. Nice bunch of kids and staff. The going away party at Chico{s was fun to watch, with the kids dancing away. David and Emma, the Scottish couple with two little boys, left town on Thursday. They had been at Mar de Jade for about five months while David, a physican, volunteered at the clinic in Las Varas. They are lovely people, and I know we will all miss them. They hosted a nice going away dinner at Chico's a few days before they left and it was really fun for me. The staff from the clinic was there, Toecha, and Socorrco and the clinic admisrator/tech, whose name I don't remember, and we had fun catching up. I love the long meals here, the parties, where everyone is talking and the kids are running arounds, and we eat and eat. And some people drink and drink. It's nice at the restaurant, with my feet in the sand, under the palapa roof, with shade with a little breeze , and the ocean thirty feet away.
My latest slightly strange experience with motor homers involved BC people camping between Esperanza's and Don Beto's "campgrounds". They were in Don Beto's area and paying him the nightly fee for camping and the toilets. However, they were repeatedly using E.'s toilets in the night, and not paying. She believed they were sneaking in, because they weren't using them during the day. They were also hanging their garbage in plastic bags from the tree. And leaving them there, even when the garbage truck came by. They left this morning. Leaving a week's garbage hanging from the tree. You can see why most of the Chacaleño's treat us like curiosities, because some of us are certainly strange.
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