May 6, 2008

La Manzanilla beach comes back alive with tourists

LA MANZANILLA, Jalisco, Mexico - The May 1 holiday, combined with a long weekend for most Mexican citizens, produced a bumper crop of folks at the beach this past weekend.

And the tour buses started arriving again over the weekend, bringing families with lots of children to enjoy the ever-warming waters.

We did have some spots of red tide come in, but it was limited and didn't seem to keep anyone from enjoying the water.

Crowds are back
The people are back to the beach

Lifeguards patrol
Lifeguards trudge along the shore

The beach this past week has also had some very high tides, prompting our amigo Tom to run down to check on a friend's boat, tied all the way up to the railing of his house on the beach. And down by the jardin, the waves breached the sand-dune beach front, filling the lagoon and arroyo that leads back to Martine's restaurant.

It made walking along the beach very interesting.

Water breaches the beachfront in La Manzanilla
Water breaches the sand dune by the jardin

Looking at small crocodile in La Manzanilla
Watching the crocodile swim under the bridge

While tides were rising in La Manzanilla, Arroyo Seco's water pump went out, leaving the rancho sans agua. The town water guy came around Monday and every town customer to kick in 100 pesos (about $9 U.S.) to get the pump fixed. Talking with residents, I asked why there wasn't a spare pump and got a lesson in the basic economics of the village: Pumps are just too expensive.

Our worker guys solved the problem by trucking water in from a nearby town so work continued. And to thank them for their continued work - right through the holiday weekend - we threw a small fiesta at the worksite Monday, complete with food and beverages. The beverages slowed the work down for a few hours.

OK, the beer and tequila pretty much halted the project for the rest of the day. But it was great fun and today the guys are back on the job (with headaches, possibly) and by mid-week, it's possible the posts for both the ramada and the palapa will be in place.

Can the roofs be far behind?

Worker fiesta in Arroyo Seco
La fiesta in Arroyo Seco

Down in the fosa, doing the foundation
Building the septic tank

Foundation for bodega
Foundation for the bodega

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