The Road Home - A Path Well-Travelled

We are almost back in Zihua. This last week of the one month absence was supposed to have been spent travelling on a different route, back through the interior, skirting Mexico City and heading to see the spectacle of the Monarch butterflies in Michoacan. However, the un-imaginable happened. A storm of huge size, with devastating torrential rain and hail, severely damaged the 2 small pueblos at the base of the butterfly reserves. People were killed and many homes and roads have been destroyed. We have seen articles on the local TV and read websites that say many of the butterflies were killed and no tours will happen to the butterfly reserves this year.

So it is bittersweet that once again we find ourselves travelling slowly up the coast of Mexico. We headed out to the small beach resort of Puerto Arista in Chiapas where we found few people and a wonderful ambiance that characterizes all of these spectacular beaches that are largely undiscovered by tourists, except for the locals and Mexicans in the know.

From there we headed back to La Crucecita in Huatulco in order to go snorkelling for a couple of days. I am in love with the beauty of Bahia San Augustin and it's huge black coral reef. We picked a different palapa this time...."Karencita's"....she is a lovely woman who lives in Bahia San Augustin and operates the restaurant. Her husband is a fisherman and their daughter sells beach necklaces after school each day. Life is simple....but even she expressed concern that there are no foreign tourists this year....where are they? They've always come before, but not now.

After a leisurely lunch we headed to Pto. Angel in search of Bahia de la Luna, a secluded bed and breakfast recommended by our friend Roger. It is on a little cove to the east of Pto. Angel...we were so happy to find the road and began driving in with great excitement knowing that staying here and snorkelling and kayaking would be such a treat after the cool, inland city of San Cristobal. After a few meters, we realized the road was not so good....passing a truck was a death defying experience and as we got closer we saw the sign posted NO HAY PASO.....now you think with just having finished Spanish classes we would've believed it,...but we decided it must mean that there is only room for one way traffic...so being brave, onwards we continued, on the edge of the steep cliff dropping down to the beautiful bay...No, we could not access the B&B. No can do...no way, no how. So turing around inch by inch in the only place wide enough for our Ford, we headed onward to Pto. Angel and the Playa Panteon neighbourhood we had stayed at last year.

As I remembered from last year, the staff from every hotel and restaurant on the street converged on our car to ask us to stay there, eat there, use their scuba/snorkelling guide. We headed back to Hotel Cordelias's and this year was given a top floor room with a lovely view of the bay and the breeze that goes with being that high up.

However, Pto. Angel looks like it has suffered more than other areas in the deep cutbacks to tourism and lack of government funding. The streets and infrastructure look to be failing and the messy, untended walkways are not going to appeal to people for long. So the next day, we headed back to our 3 favorite beaches just west of Pto. Angel...in order, Zipolite, San Augustinillo and Mazunte. What Pto. Angel lacks in ambiance these places have captured triple fold.

Gene always manages to muster the energy to walk the length of Zipolites's curving open beach....hey, it is the only officially sanctioned nude beach in Mexico where you can really appreciate the diversity of lifestyle and bodies that constitute humanity. We sat and watched surfers and when I said "here comes a big one"....we had to be clear what we were talking about. Believe me, personal grooming seems to take on a whole different meaning when showing off parts of the body normally reserved for only yourself or your long term partner to see.

Onwards to a little more upscale San Augustinillo for a swim with a group of very attractive young woman who seemed to be taking part in some type of therapy involving being held by a partner on the surface of the water and allowing oneself to be turned upside down, over and around for about an hour...I imagined it involved trust and letting go.....

Today we left Pto. Angel, had breakfast at our favorite breafast cafe with the best coffee in the area (why when coffee is growing only a few miles inland and uphill do all the cafe's serve instant Nescafe..really!!!) in Pto. Escondido's Cafecito and then drove onto Playa Ventura. This is our third stay in Playa Ventura. Last year we travelled with Frank and Helga and on our 2nd stay here, Helga and I participated in the release of baby turtles on the beach. That was a particular high, perhaps needed to offset the poor quality of the hotels and restaurants. This time, we have chosen to stay at a new establishment owned by a Swedish/Mexican man and his Iraqi/Swedish wife and their two adorable young sons. It is called El Buzo http://www.playaventura.net/ This is a new establishment and what it lacks in character it makes up for in breezy ocean front views and cleanliness. We wish them well, but they seem to be well on their way to success....if only the tourists come!

So one more day on the road and then home to Zihua...to our friends and our dog Cori who we miss dearly and we hope has missed us enough to at least give us a welcome home. We know he has been spoiled royally by Jim and Gaya and is used to at least 4 walks/day now....oh my...how did we get to be like this! With continued Gracias a Dios...we will be back on Friday.

POSTSCRIPT: Just enjoyed a custom made dinner in the "Main square"of Playa Ventura. Luis Perez Ventura owns one of approximately 5 restaurants, all owned by other family members, and by default - no one else was working tonight - we had a custom made dinner prepared by him and his wife. We are the only guests in town. I was feeling the need for some fruit, so although not on his menu, he cheerfully obliged and went looking for some tropical fruit for me...he didn't really say where, but I guess when you are born and raised in Playa Ventura you know who has a papaya tree, a banana tree and a watermelon patch. Luis is very proud of his town and his family and he happily told us that the newcomers who are from a variety of continents, think that this place is the "Best"....he smiles shyly and says, " I know it is".