Punta Perula

Before leaving Melaque we took a day trip to Punta Perula, which is about 50 miles north. Our friends Helen and Paul have been staying there and invited us to come up and enjoy the beach with them. It's a beautiful beach with rocky islands offshore. Tilly had a great time running in the surf and rolling in the sand - I don't think we'll ever get the Vieques beach doggie out of her. Helen and Paul were even kind enough to furnish all the stuff we needed for a bath to get the salt and sand off of her. Post-beach baths are a daily occurrence for them with their 3 labs.

We took a nice long walk along the beach, with a stop at the lagoon to look for crocodiles. We didn't see any, which was fine with me. After our walk Helen and Paul took us to their favorite restaurant, Chee Chees, which is just down the beach from their RV park.

We had a lovely lunch and visit and thoroughly enjoyed our day at the beach in Punta Perula.

Costalegre Chili Cookoff

Chili cookoffs in Mexico seem to be a very popular way of raising funds for the local communities.  The Costalegre Chili Cookoff was held in Barra de Navidad and was quite well attended. So much so that we gave up on trying to get any chili and took a walk around town.
I loved seeing these girls walking down the street, one with a tray balanced on her head, just chatting away.

We stopped at a seaside restaurant for a drink and saw some of the devastation from Hurricane Jova which hit Barra de Navidad particularly hard last fall. The patio and second floor of the restaurant we were at are completely gone. Much of the beach has been cleaned up, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

We got back to the chili cookoff just in time for the entertainment. Good to know that Elvis is alive and well here in Mexico.

We were then treated to traditional dances by the local children. It was obvious that they had performed before and were delightful to watch.
I just had to take a picture of these girls with their long braids. They reminded me of a painting that was done by Martin Gambee, the husband of Brian's Aunt Mary. His painting is of two Navajo girls who have braids just like these girls going down their backs.

Here are the girls in action..

Some of the other performers...

Melaque Area

Melaque in only a few miles from our RV park and shares the beach with Barra de Navidad. We found it to be a bigger town with more RV parks, stores, restaurants, and people but it's similar to Barra.
While wandering around we found an incredible store with gorgeous handwoven rugs and other crafts. Actually we had just stopped to get some water and happened to look across the street where we saw a beautiful display.

We were able to speak with Reynaldo and his wife Teresa who were in their store. They told us about the rugs and the tradition of weaving that has been in their family for hundreds of years. Following is an excerpt from their website..

For Reynaldo and his family, making rugs (‘tapetes’) is not just a business; it’s a way of life! The Vasquez Hernandez family, an indigenous zapotecan family, have been creating beautiful designs for hundreds of years, and passed them down from generation to generation.
Their rugs are completely hand made on traditional looms in their home village of Teotitlán del Valle. The wool yarn is hand spun and dyed using all natural dyes, and the unique designs are based on traditional colours and patterns.

In December each year, Reynaldo and his immediate family (Teresa, Reynaldo, Felipe, Jessica and Reynaldo Jr.) travel to Melaque, Jalisco to sell the rugs made by the whole family. The rest of the family continue weaving more rugs during the winter in Teotitlán del Valle to send to Melaque for sale.

Teresa was working on weaving a rug and we were able to watch her. There was a book in the store that detailed the process from shearing the sheep to the end product but unfortunately they only had one copy.  Reynaldo said he would have to make more and they wouldn't be in until after we're gone from the area. 

We are always thrilled when we can experience the process and see the work that goes into creating a beautiful craft. Having the opportunity to meet the artisans is very special. Of course we didn't leave empty handed and purchased a couple of rugs and a handwoven belt. Reynaldo told us that he sells quite a few rugs in Boulder and other areas of Colorado, so those of you who live there can keep an eye out. Their website is quite fascinating and has pictures showing how the rugs are made from start to finish. Just click on Reynaldos Tapetes for more information.

One day we took a drive up the coast to the little town of La Manzanillo to meet some of our friends from Hacienda Contreras for lunch. We had a nice lunch with Heinz and Ulli, Paul and Helen, and met some new friends as well.

It was a nice day and we enjoyed the company, the food, and the beach.

Barra de Navidad and Boca de Iguanas

We haven't spent much time on the west coast of Mexico so we decided make the Melaque/Barra de Navidad area our next stop. We are about 140 miles south of Puerta Vallarta on a section of the coast known as the Costalegre, or joyful coast.  We're not right on the beach but we do have a nice spot in an RV park called Cadillac Ranch, and we have easy access to both Barra and Melaque.

Barra de Navidad claims to be the sailfish capital of the world, and they even have the statue to prove it. The town is fairly touristy with many shops and restaurants but also very picturesque. The beach near town is a bit steep but has some great views. The buildings on the far end of the beach are in the town of Melaque.

There are man-made canals in Barra with some very nice boats and pricey houses. It's another area that attracts both Americans and Canadians.

After checking out Barra, we drove north about 15 miles to an area called Boca de Iguanas. The RV park there is right on the beach. There are few amenities but people go mainly for the beach, which is beautiful and set in a lovely bay.

While we were at Hacienda Contreras in Valle de Juarez we met Heinz and Ulli who told us about Boca and invited us to stop by if we were in the area.  Fortunately they were home and were gracious enough to show us around. We had a nice visit and enjoyed our time with them.

Chapala Area

We enjoyed hanging out in the Ajijic/Chapala area for a few weeks. I thought I would post some random pictures taken during our stay.

This last picture was taken on our way to the coast. They are working on the road and the drop-off was about 3 feet. The car in front of us is around 6 feet wide and we're over 8 feet wide so driving was a bit challenging in construction zones (the rest of the road was fine). Of course Brian did just fine.

Jocotopec Patronales

Jocotopec, the town nearest our RV park, has been celebrating Patronales for the past two weeks. Patronales festivals are a custom found in many countries with a Spanish influence.  The yearly celebration is dedicated to a saint who is the patron of the city that holds the fiesta. Town members adorn the town streets with colorful decorations and there are parades, fireworks, live entertainment, carnival rides and games, markets and street vendors.We didn't go into town at night because the crowds were incredible, but we went in during the day for the parade...

the market (note the mangos carved like flowers).....

and the carnival rides where the horses on the carousel carried Tequila casks.

It was a huge celebration with fireworks beginning at 6 AM every day and usually not ending until well after midnight. Although we didn't attend the nightly music events we were able to hear them and most of the music sounded pretty good.

Lake Chapala

We were having such a great time at Hacienda Contreras that it was hard to get ourselves moving again. We did, however, and arrived at Roca Azul on Lake Chapala yesterday. This morning when I woke up and looked out the bedroom window I was greeted by this amazing sunrise.

Roca Azul, the RV and resort park where we are parked is near Jocotopec and is located on the western end of Lake Chapala. It has tennis courts, a large swimming pool, a separate thermal pool, a huge soccer field for Tilly to run around on, and many other amenities.

Our spot backs up to a nice view of the lake and has a patio and grass yard area.

Today we went into Ajijic where our friend Micky has lived and worked for the last 9 years. We did some shopping at Walmart and it was almost like being in the States. There is also a market called Super Lake which caters to the large gringo population here and has just about anything you could want.  The latest statistic we heard was that there are over 100,000 American and Canadian citizens in this area which is easy to believe when you see as many signs in English as in Spanish. We also wandered into Ajijic centro around the plaza. This is one of the many beautiful murals in that area.

 We saw this guy patientlywaiting for his owner as we made our way out of Ajijic centro. Pretty cute.