Valentine’s at the Beach

I tried to sleep in but constantly barking dogs followed by bursts of music from town kept me from drifting back to sleep. I sat out front drinking tea and eating breakfast. Valentine’s Day is a bigger deal than I thought in Mexico and people and buses started arriving early for the festive weekend. As I sat in my chair outside writing, an army of school children went traipsing through the camp happy to at the beach and not in class.

Cars inserted themselves into any beachfront opening they could find and tables went up while shade tarps were erected along the interface where the grass meets the sand. The speakers came out and things were soon a cacophony of competing stereos. I was getting ready to go for a paddle when Alan came by to see if I was up to snorkel the rocks at the north end. Having lost one of favorite lures there, I was hoping I might recover it if I could see.

We walked down to the far end of the beach and snorkeled along the rocks in front of the restaurants. Urchins were the dominant species plastered all over the boulders lining the shore. Don’t be setting foot anywhere around these parts! There were lots of colorful fish including butterfly fish, cleaner wrasses, damselfish, parrotfish and others I wasn’t sure of the names. We surveyed as far as the cove where we launched the boat yesterday and then made our way back in. The visibility wasn’t the greatest but we were still able to see a lot of life.

When I got back to camp, it was time for a paddle so I did a zig zag around the bay looking at boats and circling the navigation buoy. I jumped in a few times to cool off when things got heated up in my rash guard. Lots of people taking over the tranquil shores of Chacala for a weekend of unadulterated celebration.

After drying off, it was time for a run into Las Varas to hit the bank and stock up on ceviche and chicken. Getting around is easy in Las Varas and I didn’t want to be hunting around for an ATM further down the road. Besides, we know where to get the best chicken and ceviche in town. We took a collective taxi into town. At first, it was just us two, but the driver found a mother and two daughters and stuffed them in the back seat with Alan. We hit the BBVA and picked up some cash then sat on chairs in front of Pollos El Murillo and chowed some freshly barbecued chicken. We packed up the rest then bought our fish and caught a taxi home.

Happy Valentine’s Day Everybody 💕

The party was really on when we got back. The older couple from Idaho threw in the towel and moved their rig down towards the end of the palm grove. I dug my drum out of its hiding place and pounded on it for a while in a feeble attempt at fighting back. I needed a break so I paddled out to the far south end of the bay and laid around on the board floating on the calm afternoon sea. After a while, I paddled over to the north point and then came back around sat out in the back with Sayulita Mike, Darcy the Aussie and Alan. We talked story until the sun began to set then I moved over for a better view then went in and ate some ceviche tostadas for dinner. A noisy night at the palmar in Chacala. Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone out there. May your day be filled with peace and love 💗