Southern Exposure

Monday, December 1 2008

We didn’t waste any time getting on the road this morning. Once we were past the city of Tecomán and the major highway that led to the city of Guadalajara, the traffic disappeared and we had the road to ourselves. After so much time behind trucks and driving over topes, it was liberating to face an open road.

The Sierra Madre mountains come right to the sea in this part of Mexico. The sharp pointed peaks shine green in the sunlight, and often terminate abruptly in jagged brown rock cliffs falling to the ink blue ocean below. Through these hills our newly beloved Hwy 200 twists and turns its way down the coast. With so little traffic in either direction, the ride is a real pleasure.

The rhythm of the road becomes familiar. Wind up a hill towards the coast, a sharp turn to the left around the edge of the hill, and then wind down into the newly revealed valley. These valleys are flood plains with shallow river beds, usually densely filled with palm trees right to the edge of the beach. The road winds in to the base of the valley, where there is either a bridge or a sharp right turn leading into the run up the side of the next hill. There is mile after mile, or perhaps by now I should be saying kilometer after kilometer, of this beautiful road. Every time we come around the sharp left turn we’re greeted with a new ocean vista.

I had opted not to purchase the Mexico maps for my GPS because Garmin did not sell maps for any countries past Mexico. I chose to get used to navigating off of paper maps sooner rather than later. The GPS does have a base map with major highways, but I have found it to be of only the most limited value. It generalizes the road broadly, and I have found at least one serious error in it. It’s fun to compare reality with the base map, especially on a road like 200. The blue line above represents reality versus the boring red line of the base map.

We arrived in Caleta de Campos in the early afternoon. We chose the 2nd hotel we stopped at. Our room had an ocean view overlooking the lighthouse and the coast, all for about $15. We were the only tenants in the hotel and it was a guilty pleasure having such a great view for so little money.

Caleta de Campos had been described as a wild west town in our guide book, but alas, the streets were now paved and there were no horses to be seen. The saving grace of the wild west notion was a proper horse tackle shop, selling saddles, ropes, boots and various other supplies I have no idea how to use. The main street was wide, and covered in streamers that fluttered pleasantly in the ocean breeze. The festival of the Virgin of Guadalupe is this week, and the towns along the coast are ready to celebrate.

After some misdirected searching, we found our way down the hill to the small cove that held the town’s main beach. We went for a walk and Inna went for a swim. We’re told this is a popular winter surfing spot, but we didn’t see anything more daring than a few boogie boarders. The waves had a shape, but the break was shallow, which Inna found out the hard way leads to a lot of churning water.

We settled in at one of the ubiquitous restaurants beach restaurants for our dinner. Inna tried fish prepared ‘a la diabla’, when meant breaded and spicy. It was very tasty, just the right amount of spiciness. She also had a coconut drink right out of the the fruit shell – it’s a local specialty here and very cheap – only 10 pesos, about a dollar. A bicycle vendor pulled up selling cups of cooked corn with cream and hot sauce. He was swarmed with buyers, so we gave it a try. Neither of us understood the popularity.

Later that night I walked down to the beach. The guide book had said the water was very luminescent at night here, but I didn’t see any of it. Zero for 2 from the book for this town. I greatly enjoy stargazing, and this trip has been a real treat in that regard. We rarely stay near cities, so each night after the sunset the stars give a fabulous display. This night in particular was very dark with the moon just a slice in the sky. The sound of the surf makes a great soundtrack for stargazing.