Thursday, April 23, 2009

bunch of melaque



Your intrepid explorers have reached their destination: Melaque by the sea.


Wednesday morning we were up early to enjoy the cool morning in La Manzanilla. Mornings have always been my favorite time on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The air is fresh; the days are clear. (Talk to me again once the rains start.)


I showed Darrel several of the La Manzanilla properties that interested me when I was last here. One had sold -- and, of course, it was the one that offered the best potential for development and remodeling.


We then took the beach road to Boca de Iguanas to look at the development. My ulterior motive for taking the beach road was to show Darrel how close the crocodiles come to beach patrons. I had heard several stories that the crocs had become bold enough to start wandering the street near the laguna.


Imagine my surprise to discover that the beach end of the laguna is now surrounded by a chain link fence. The wild aspect is gone. Seeing the crocs in La Manzanilla is about as interesting as seeing them in a zoo. Das ist aber schade.


We then completed the drive over the hill to the Melaque-La Manzanilla area. In the hills above Melaque, we encountered this interesting road hazard. The load had not fallen off of the truck. This is how he was driving along the road, with the plam fronds sweeping the highway. I assume he was on his way to a palapa repair.




Because we were a bit early arriving, we took a side trip to Barra de Navidad to see some of the houses that I looked at on my last trip. The one that interestred me the most is still for sale.


I also had my first run-in with a Mexican policeman. He was sitting in his vehicle at an intersection. As I started driving across the intersection, he waved his finger. And you all know what I thought. But he was just calling my attention to the fct that I was about to enter a one-way street. The encounter was friendly and helpful. This trip has been almost charmed.


And it was then back to Melaque to settle into my home for at least the next six months. The woman who owns the house greeted us -- along with her dog, Playa. She warned me that Playa is very dominant and protective. She was correct. Jiggs was ready to get out of the truck, but not to deal with a dog herding him about.


We settled in for the night after another Mexican experience -- failure of the water system. That simply did not matter to us at the moment. We were ready for bed.


A good sleep and we will be on our way to more adventures. Well, maybe after a bit more relaxation.