Monday, April 9, 2012
Thoughts on Mexico
About 100-200 km north of Puerto Vallarta the climate changes to a tropical one. The stretch between Tepic and Peurro Vallarta reminded me so much of the tropical part of Ghana near Kumasi—the stands of fruit sellers only added to this impression.
I can see why Puerto Vallarta is such a popular destination. It is the lushest place I have been to in Mexico yet and has lovely beach. But as the bus passed the all inclusives living the beaches to the south I was thinking that this wasn't Mexico. Going further on, the stark poverty of the villages was such a contrast to the the American vacation package places and it just felt like there was a real poverty in culture in the American hotels. I also had a hard time in Puerto Vallarta getting out. My first bus took me near the centre and when I got there, after a police officer directed me to the tourist information, I discovered all. It one line worked out of the bus station, a half an hour driver away. Then the bus company had no more buses, thank goodness the Mexicans at the bus stop to go to the bus station put me into the way of getting a bus from the next block over. I've figured out that in Mexico everything is possible, you just have to figure out how. And pretty much all directions are going to be different, you are lucky if one set is correct, but most lead generally in the correct direction, until finally the last person you ask says it is a block away.
Arroyo Seco- a four day beach party
It's about time I caught up with myself. I just spent four days at a beach party in Arroyo Seco, which is near Melaque. As my sail boat ride put me very far north of where I had ridden, I took a few buses to get back on track.
A view of the beach from a large rock just to the south of the beach
A pile of shells on the beach, I think they must have been left by a fisherman. I really liked the way they looked.
I got invited to the party by Bjrjego, who I sent a couch surfing post to. He and his friends live in guadalajara. The party was at one of the guy's family's beach house. A huge place with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a pool, a huge deck covered by a palapa and an upstairs palapa covered deck. There was maybe 20-25 of us. I slept on a couch mat on the floor of the living room with a number of other people. Some people put tents up in the yard, on the second story deck and some of the beach. There was music all day long. I even got to try surfing. As the waves were huge and I went out alone, I didn't do so well. I wasn't sure where to go to catch the waves. I didn't manage to stand up. I also bruised my sternum because I have a very large seam I sewed there on my two piece top to try and get t to fit better.
A view of the beach from a large rock just to the south of the beach
A pile of shells on the beach, I think they must have been left by a fisherman. I really liked the way they looked.
I got invited to the party by Bjrjego, who I sent a couch surfing post to. He and his friends live in guadalajara. The party was at one of the guy's family's beach house. A huge place with four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a pool, a huge deck covered by a palapa and an upstairs palapa covered deck. There was maybe 20-25 of us. I slept on a couch mat on the floor of the living room with a number of other people. Some people put tents up in the yard, on the second story deck and some of the beach. There was music all day long. I even got to try surfing. As the waves were huge and I went out alone, I didn't do so well. I wasn't sure where to go to catch the waves. I didn't manage to stand up. I also bruised my sternum because I have a very large seam I sewed there on my two piece top to try and get t to fit better.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Alamos- the lookout from the hill
Alamos is a lovely town, quite old. UNESCO has labeled it a world heritage site for the architecture, I imagine it is very old. What is interesting that that very few of the buildings appeared to be occupied, across from the main square outside the front of the buildings were all tourist style stalls. It did not look like the building behind the stalls were in use, but they may have been homes or something else, I am not sure, from the outside they appeared to be empty. I went into the church, and climbed the hill to get a good view. There is stairs, but I didn't see them, I ended up cycling up the back road, which was good as I did not have to leave my bike. I stayed with a couch surfing host named Paul. He is a writer and works in fish conservation around the world. He and his family live part-time in Mexico and part-time in Maine, USA, but when I was there his family was back in the states. I got to read apart of what he was working on- about the sea urchin fishing in...shoot, I think it was chile. He talks about the Japanese demand wiping out almost every other place's stock and about foreign ownership, among other things, though it is primarily a novel rather then non-fiction. Paul's house is kitty-corner to the old graveyard which is awesome. I am a fan of graveyards and took a bunch of photos of this one. I am not sure if I can describe it well, there tends to be quite a few tiny houses (mausoleums?), fake flowers and raised table style concrete boxes.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
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