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Beach Villages
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
- By
Jane Ammeson |
I often take the roads less traveled, winding, twisting affairs that link small towns and villages, each with its appealing personality. But I've never before followed the shoreline, connecting to small fishing hamlets resting on the sands with almost impenetrable jungle behind-places only accessible by boat.
Puerto Vallarta became famous when Liz Taylor and Richard Burton filmed Night of the Iguana here in 1963. There are still signs pointing to where the couple stayed during the filming and both the house where they lived and a swaying, wooden bridge they used to cross the Ameca River can be found on tourist maps. One of the sets for the film, on Mismaloya Beach, is now a restaurant, which advertises its connection to the movie some 40 years later. Puerto Vallarta second Hollywood claim to fame occurred when Arnold Schwartzenegger lensed Predator in the jungle up stream on the Mishmaloya River. It is in all ways a fun, pretty town that despite being a major resort area has retained its authentic charm. Located on Bandera Bay considered one of the 25 most beautiful bays in the world, Puerto Vallarta offers not only upscale gourmet dining (the 10th annual Gourmet Festival was held this last November), shopping and nightclubs, it is also renowned for its beautiful beaches. Banderas Bay (or Bahia de Banderas) is a large bay with numerous coves fed by many rivers. Dolphin and humpback whales are commonly spotted here and it is said that there are no sharks in the bay because the dolphins frighten them away.
But on a sunny, blue sky day, I bypassed the city's beaches and the shopping in the historic district known as Malecon and instead journeyed south on Carretera a Mismaloya, a coastal road that follows the contours of the bay, to Boca de Tomatlan where the Tomatlan River runs into the bay. The harbor here, reached by driving down a steep cobblestone road, is a narrow inlet filled with small fishing craft, palapa covered restaurants and pangas or water taxis.
The road to Boca de Tomatlan, after following the coast, moves inland so the only way past here, besides hiking in, to reach the villages of Las Animas, Quimixto and Las Caletas is by pangas -small, open aluminum boats with powerful outboard motors.
The price of a pangas is cheap and based on destination. It's cheaper to travel to Las Animas, the first beach hamlet and only 10 minutes away from Boca de Tomatlan, than Quimixto (twenty minutes away) and Las Caletas (a half an hour journey by water). Prices in Mexico are usually negotiable but I didn't dicker since $10 for a ride seemed very inexpensive. And in Puerto Vallarta as in many Mexican destination spots, the peso and the dollar are interchangeable, pay in dollars, you may get pesos or dollars back or a combination of both.
The three beach villages reached only by pangas are nestled on the white sands of the southern shore of the bay. Behind them soar the mighty Sierra Madres engulfed with rich and dense foliage including banana and palm trees. The sudden rise in elevation produces cascading waterfalls and small pools where hikers and horseback riders can rest and take a swim or go snorkeling.
Each has its own special charm. Yelapa, the largest and furthest away, is frequently disparaged by beach purists who say that the village, which specializes in native arts, has become too commercialized now that the population has soared to 2000 and there is electricity, phone service and several streets albeit they dead-end outside the village. But it still fulfills my definition of small and quaint.
Yelapa, which means the gathering place, attracts not only daily and overnight visitors, but also a gathering each month of visitors from Puerto Vallarta, who come together to celebrate the full moon.
The lack of roads doesn't mean there is no way to explore the thick jungles rambling up the mountainsides. Enterprising villagers in all three hamlets offer horseback riding tours. And there is a path, which follows the one of this area's three rivers that leads uphill connecting Quimixto to Majahuitas, a small cove home to a luxurious, if slightly remote resort. All the beaches in Mexico have public access so anyone can anchor in the cove and use the beach, but the resort, also called Majahuitas, the name of a large bush with yellow flowers, is private and does not serve food to non-guests. The walk between the two coves takes about 90 minutes and a guide is needed as the riverbeds merge and then diverge and it would be easy to get lost.
Each of the three towns has an assortment of family run, open-air restaurants that serve the catch of the day. Tuna fish salad takes on a new taste here as all the tuna used is freshly caught. Camarones or giant shrimp are grilled with garlic, butter and spices. Mahi mahi is served with rice and hand made tortillas. In Yalapa, sarandeado--barbecued fish on a stick--is one of the local specialties. There are, of course, margaritas and other beach drinks, but for those inclined to a non-alcoholic and refreshing taste, try the lemonada, freshly squeezed lemons mixed with mineral water and sugar which has a pungent sweet and bitter taste.
Having arranged with our panga driver, Juan Hernandez for a return trip, we board the pangas in late afternoon. The tide, which is going out now, is gentle. Somewhat lethargic from all the sun, I am almost dozing when Hernandez points to a not too distant point. It is a humpback whale arching upwards above the water.
"Tres," says Hernandez, explaining that whales jump three times before diving to the bottom. Sure enough, after the third arch, the whale dives to the bottom, its tail suspended briefly in the air before disappearing.
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