where have all the young girls gone?

It happens every year.  But I still find it startling.

The villages around Bahía de Navidad have a very noticeable rhythm.  Even though the area makes most of its living supporting the surrounding farming enterprises, it also depends on pesos and dollars from tourists to survive.

Our beaches are busiest during Easter week when Mexican tourists troop here to celebrate Jesus' resurrection in their own unique sandy way.  But there are also other parts of the year when we have plenty of visitors.  Christmas, of course.  From January through February, when northern tourists show up in varying flocks.  And the six weeks of Mexican school vacation -- starting in July, I think.

As you can see by that list, we are now experiencing what folks in the travel trade call the "shoulder season."  Stripped of its euphemistic coloring, that means the tourists are not here.

I walked into town in Barra de Navidad yesterday afternoon to try my luck at ATM poker.  (I won, if you care.)  There was no line at the machine.  In fact, there were no lines anywhere.  The streets were almost as deserted as the set of On the Beach.  With the exception of the guy in the key kiosk, I could not see another living soul.

After grabbing my cash, I drove over to San Patricio for dinner at Papa Gallo's.  The photograph you see at the top of this essay is of the beach there.  That is about as deserted as I have seen a Melaque beach.  But the town was just as deserted as Barra de Navidad.

For the merchants who make their living off of tourists, it looks like a long dry spell until the middle class families of Guadalajara pile their 2.2 children into their expensive SUV for a couple of weeks at the beach.  But that will not be until July.

Until then, I am going to have no trouble finding an open table for dinner.  Instead, the problem will be finding an open restaurant.  Fortunately, I can always count on Papa Gallo's.