On Monday January 7th, we went on a car trip to Melaque with our friends John and Pat. Melaque is about a 4 1/2 hour drive south of Lo de Marcos. Hwy 200 was rough between the south end of Puerto Vallarta and Mismaloya but there is beautiful scenery including a view of Los Arcos (2 rock islands with arches carved by the sea) which is a popular diving and snorkelling area. If you double-click on the picture to zoom in, you can see the tour and dive boats just to the right of the big rock.
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| Los Arcos |
Our first stop on our trip was the town of Punta Perula to visit friends who have a home there. It is a very small town with a beautiful beach that is miles long and very flat. There are 2 RV parks on the beach front. We enjoyed lunch at one of the many palapas on the beach.
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| view from the palapa |
From Perula, we continued on Hwy 200 to Melaque where we booked bunaglows (kitchenettes) at Bungalow Orientales. We had spent our winter vacations from 2007 to 2009 at Bungalows Orientales and were surprised to find the same people wintering there as we had seen in 2009. It was like old home week for the 4 days we stayed there.
While based in Melaque, we took excursions to Cuestecomates, Barra de Navidad and La Manzanilla.
Cuestecomates is a small beach town 2 km north of Melaque. It is a quiet bay where sailboats anchor and a lovely beach.
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| Pat and John admiring the beach at Cuestecomates |
Barra de Navidad is located 200 km south of Puerto Vallarta. The population of the town is listed as 5,000 but there are fewer tourists coming to this area than in 2009, Unfortunately high tides have undermined to footings of many of the town's restaurants along the waterfront. The town is known for the beautiful Grand Bay Hotel and Marina.
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| statue at the entrance to Barra de Navidad |
We stopped for lunch at the Sea Masters restaurant where 4 mojitos costs 100 pesos (less than $2 CAD per drink!)
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| view from the Sea Masters restaurant |
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| view of a surfer in the water as we walked the beach at Barra |
La Manzanilla is known for it's crocodile sanctuary. We paid our 10 pesos each to walk to boardwalk above the swamp viewing the crocodiles and other wildlife.
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| John did not move fast enough for this croc! |
Bev had the opportunity to hold a 5 month old crocodile.
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| Bitern suns itself. We have never seen this behaviour before. |
We stopped for lunch on the beach at Lora Loko's cafe where we had the best flautas we've experienced!
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| BZZZZ |
While we were eating lunch, a wasp hovered just a few feet from out table. I was able to zoom in on it and capture it in flight.
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| Pat taking photos of the beach at La Manzanilla |
While dining there, we watched the fishermen remove a lure that had caught a pelican as they cast.
After lunch we visited the town square where John and Pat purchased a wool rug for $500 pesos!
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| View of mid town La Manzanilla |
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| Town square |
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| zocolo with carvings of porpoise, octupus, etc |
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| view of hillside from town square |
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| there were many beautiful homes on the hillside around La Manzanilla |
On the trip back to Lo de Marcos from Melaque, we stopped to visit the Malecon area of Puerto Vallarta.
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| Vic at one of the many statues along the Malecon |
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| Bev at more statues |
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| one of several sandcastles along the Malecon |
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