26 December ‘09 Well Christmas was here in a big way. The park was decorated, most of the RV’s, and the gathering of the “choir” for Christmas caroling made it very nice to be here while so far away from “home”. With last night’s Christmas dinner party
behind us, we look forward to the New Year’s party. But before that, the camp “water volleyball” teams took to the water.
Sol represented us and the USA against the Canadian and Mexican teams
for a down-and-out fight to the finish (Camp Championship). I won’t go into a lot of detail except to say “Sol, you did us proud”.
The USA took the title again for the 4th consecutive year (so they tell us) and your winning T-shirts look great. I’d better do a little catching up. One day last week, Louise and I joined Sol and Carol for a trek out to a couple of beaches and small communities we’ve been hearing about. Setting up this journey, I’ve got to tell you about Crocodile Mountain. About 5 miles down the beach from our campground, sits this natural formation that flows into the sea…it looks like a crocodile laying in wait... At this point, the beach gives way to the natural fauna of palm, banana, and mangroves and leaves the sand beaches behind. Just before the sand leaves the beach, it becomes a spit that divides the Pacific from a brackish water estuary were you can find birds, small fish, crab, and crocodile. The first part of the drive to Playa Naranja (Orange beach) was a nicely paved narrow roadway that took us off the main highway (200) and through one of the “very small villages” in the area. Prior to entering the village (the local church), we found the roadway reduced its self to rock, dirt, and deep ruts which we followed for the next 4 miles to a high over-look of the playa.
When the road? stopped we were met by one of Mexico’s finest…a young man in partial (white “T” shirt with dark blue pants tucked into his polished boots) uniform of the Federales (state police). He and one other were stationed at this view point to watch over the coast and the estuary below from their tarp covered cots and a fire pit from which they keep warm and make their meals. We were told we had to sign-in, leave our license plate number in their log, and leave our truck if we wanted to explore below. We all kind of looked at each other and made the big decision…”well we’ve come this far”… Following the trail down the hill we found that we occupied a stretch of perfect sand and sea for about as far as you could see,
and we were “almost” by ourselves. Just behind us and at the edge of the brackish water, was the partner of the fellow we left above. When I approached him, he was about shin deep in the water and catching some of the local crabs. His net was actually each side of a floor fan guard (the guard that keeps your fingers out of the blades). Not only was this ingenious, it worked well.
This beach was beautiful, but not really what we were wanting for this days outing. Our next route took us to Divisadero (another nice drive to the edge of the village and then…dirt. Back out to the highway and onto Playa Chacala. First, we were hungry so we searched out a beach restaurant as soon as we entered town. Chacala isn’t much of a “town”, but it does have a very nice beach and community that surrounds this quiet bay. It would be a great place to stay for a few days to just “relax and read a good book”. You know, book, sand, cerveza, and… well we saw these two signs. One indicates there is no camping and the other, well there is also no "Pooping"
Well back here at La Penita, I found the little “casa’s” of the town very interesting, so I thought I would take a picture or two as we did our walks into town. One morning as we were taking our usual pathway to La Penita, we came upon some road construction. Now this is tough labor, rock by rock with a little concrete laid in between, and by the looks of it, it could last quite a long time. We are also excited to have our campground “market” each week to be able to select some great fruit and veggies. A couple of times a week we also get the bread and pastry delivery truck stopping by…Hmmm, pastries, fruit, jumbo shrimp, potable water…not too bad.
I’ve also had a chance to do something that I haven’t done for a looonnnggg time…play some golf. Sol plays at least once a week and I have joined him twice now.
I’ve also had a chance to do something that I haven’t done for a looonnnggg time…play some golf. Sol plays at least once a week and I have joined him twice now.
I hate to admit it but I’m not doing so well. The last time out I started off by losing two balls and from there it got worse…I lost 6 and found 1 and I quit keeping score. My first time out I did much better and even impressed myself with some of my shots from the tee, but the putting, it was bad. We’re still enjoying the Thursday market in town. Because of the holidays, it seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. One afternoon after market we went for a walk that took us away from the town and further from the campground. At this end of town we found a river that makes the dividing line of the two towns, La Penita and Rincon de Guayabitos. Apparently this river also offers the fisherman the opportunity to catch something, that is if you know how to use a net…
