January 5, 2013 – Melaque Bay
Our beach here is quite nice, and it is framed by rocky headlands to make a very pretty bay. The north end of the bay also has a malecon (seaside walkway), which is backed by steep hills and/or cliffs, and is therefore completely undeveloped. We have discovered that it is home to at least one troop of coatimundi, which are New World simians that are raccoon-sized and have ringed tails but have fox-like faces. Very cute, and definitely opportunists. When we were in Costa Rica some years back, we had a lobster dinner in a palapa restaurant in a wee beach town south of Puerto Limon. A wild coatimundi was lurking up in the eaves, and he’d steal your lobster right off your plate if you weren’t paying attention. Going for a whiz definitely entailed posting an alert sentry! We’ve seen these little boogers on a couple of occasions; they hang around on some cliffs just underneath where the cormorants roost. One of the babies was clearly trying to figure out how to get at one of the birds to make a meal of it, while the bird looked on with a jaundiced and obviously experienced eye; he appeared to have seen it all before. The first time out, we didn’t have our camera, and of course, they posed outrageously. The second time we had the camera, so they were quite shy. We’ll keep working on it, and will eventually have some pics for you….
Deb on the Melaque malecon.
The first couple of weeks here were quite smoky as the farmers burn their fields in December for pest management, and then the Christmas holiday season comes along with floods of Mexican tourists from Colima and Guadalajara filling the beaches. Now the weather has smartened up considerably, and the beach is busy without being crowded. It’s a great place to hang out over a beer or lunch and just watch the world go by. This year, the baitfish have decided to come on-shore, so it’s a constantly changing mix of pelicans chasing baitfish, fishermen chasing the tuna and jack crevalle under the baitfish, swimmers and boogie-boarders just generally getting in the way, and people, dogs, hawkers, and runners working the area above the tide-line.
De-hooking an overly enthusiastic juvenile pelican.
We may need to put up some traffic lights….
Going to the beach is not an excuse to lose touch with your BFFs!
Yesterday our friends Howard and Barb asked us out for comida (lunch, the main meal of the day) at Froy’s, which is a very nice beach-side restaurant near downtown Melaque. The weather was perfect, the company was great, and the beach had on its best outfit, so I definitely had to include a few snaps. Howard and Barb are now officially homeless, as they sold their house in Canada a couple of years ago; they live in a 32-foot fifth-wheeler in Canada in the summer and rent a 2-bedroom bungalow down here in the winter….
Melaque Bay from Froy’s.
Melaque Bay from Froy’s.
Deb, Barb, and Howard at Froy’s.