Why I hate Canadians

After seeing the ruins at El Tajin we drove on out to the "emerald
coast", a stretch of beach on the gulf (east)coast of Veracruz state.
The mosquito coast would be a more apt name... Millions of the little
buggers and an outbreak of dengue fever in the area... Dengue is a flu
like illness transmitted by mosquito's. It was also hot and very humid.
Not what we had in mind when we left the highlands for the beach... So
after a few days of battling the bugs we packed up and headed for the
west coast. Driving inland in Veracruz state we visited the state
capitol, Jalapa, a place referred to as the Seattle of Mexico. At 4000
ft in the jungle foothills the climate was perfect, bananas, palms and
roses... we visited the most amazing museum, the anthropology museum,
just the building was worth the trip, a cascade of indoor/outdoor rooms
down a gentle slope in a verdant green park. Lots of Olmec heads and
other wonderful stuff from Mexico's rich pre Hispanic cultures. We
decided to make a couple of long driving days and get to the beach in
short order. Our first night was in Puebla, one of Mexico's largest
cities. One thing we always see in our travels are street vendors by
the side of the road and at stop signs and lights, selling whatever the
regional specialty is. In the hills of Veracruz, a land of green
pastures and pine forests, the vendors sold cheese... In Puebla the
vendors sold... Puppies! Yes that's right, a puppy in each hand and a
squirming bag over the shoulder... We thought about it but decided not
to... Our campground on the outskirts of Puebla was a large walled
compound with a Canadian couple from Alberta and their three sons on
the way to Costa Rica to volunteer at a school. There were also a few
houses in the walled in area, very fancy cars even a brand new
Maserati. Being so close to Mexico city we really noticed the wealth in
this part of Mexico. The next day we drove down to Acapulco on toll
roads, Very fast and not much traffic and found a place to camp on the
beach in Pie de la Cuesta just north of Acapulco. Very nice to see the
sun set over the sea, we were both a little disconcerted on the gulf
side by being on the ocean and having the sun set behind the hills. We
stayed there 5 days and decided to head up the coast a bit. We camped
at Barre de Potosi, a lagoon on the beach (Barre means sand bar) an
mistake as we were attacked by mosquito's again... Fed up and just a
little grumpy we decide to go where we know and head up to the Puerta
Vallarta area where the weather is cooler and dryer and there would be
fewer bugs. We hoped. Driving up the coast thru the states of Guerrero
and Michiocan made us a little nervous, it is a very remote area with a
large drug growing and shipping culture. The road reminded us of
highway one north of San Fransisco, narrow, windy, scratched into the
side of cliffs... We averaged 25 miles an hour.. Like highway one there
are very few towns and very few places to camp. The pacific coast at
this time of year is like our trip to Brittany in France, very few
people and lots of infrastructure. In a few months there will be a huge
influx of tourists but for now we have the place more or less to
ourselves... Camping by ourselves at the few beaches we passed didn´t
seem like a good idea so we stayed in a hotel in Caleta de Campos, a
pretty town on a rocky outcrop. Normally when we stay in a hotel the
first room we are shown is not the best one, we don´t understand it,
there will be no one else at the hotel and we will be shown a room on
the ground floor in the back. Just by asking and for the same price we
get a upper room with a view... Strange. However this was not the case
in Caleta de Campos, the very nice owner showed us to a top floor room
overlooking the red and white striped lighthouse and the waves crashing
on the black rocks far below... We got a roast chicken for dinner and
watched TV (what a concept, a box with moving pictures... endlessly
fascinating) as dusk fell the lighthouse turned on... Boy was it
bright... Our room was right at the same height as the top and about
100 feet away... This is a light that can be seen 20 miles out to sea
in a hurricane... Every 4 seconds it would sweep past... we used the
second beds sheets and our towels to make a second layer of curtains
and managed to reduce it to mere disco levels...
The next morning we stumbled out of bed and and drove north the roads
getting better each mile north. We drove into the small state of
Colima, an anomaly on this rocky coast. It seem to be an agricultural
paradise, coconut and papaya as far as the eye can see like strange
version of Kansas... A well watered and fertile river delta, prosperous
towns, very different than the rugged and poor coast of Guerrero and
Michiocan. Late in the afternoon we reached our destination, the small
town of Melaque, about 90 miles south of Puerto Vallarta but a world
away, PV is an America mega resort, giant multi national chain hotels
and towers of condominiums line the beach, chain restaurants and
tourist shops abound. Melaque is a Canadian resort, a prosperous
Mexican town with lots of small family owned hotels and bungalows, a
real town square and a functioning business area. Canadians always make
me feel slightly soiled, as if rapacious capitalism and fighting terror
was not as grand as we make it out to be... To add insult to injury
every time I explain to people where Seattle is (most Mexicans don´t
know) I have to say "in the north west corner of the USA, just below
Canada" Below Canada!! You can imagine how I feel about that!
We have found a small hotel that Paul recommended, the hotel Santa
Maria, on the beach with a swimming pool and a nice room. We were
shown a dark room on the ground floor but asked and received a top
front room overlooking the beach. We are at the end of the hall and
each room has a table and chairs out in this wide shaded area. We use
it as our kitchen/dining room... The price can´t be beat, the people
are friendly, the beach is nice, Darby is happy... We will stay here
and explore the bay.