Chacahua

Silvia's friend Paco sent us directions to a hidden beach in Oaxaca. We were to meet him and a group of other friends there on Friday:

"Te escribo para que sepan como llegar a CHACAHUA, OAXACA.

Esta medio complicado.

Cuando lleguen a la Ciudad de OAXACA, tomen la carretera hacia PUERTO ESCONDIDO son como 6 horas, es una carrtera pesada ya que es sierra y es de un sólo carril. Una vez en Puerto Escondido van a tomar la Carrtera COSTERA en dirreción a Acapulco (viendo un mapa de frente, hacia la izquierda).

Cuidado estas carreteras derrepente tienen topes a mitad de la nada, asi es que vayanse leve. Como a una hora de Puerto Escondido van a buscar un pueblo que se llama SAN JOSÉ DEL PROGRESO (Cerca del RIO VERDE).
En el mapa van a poder ver ahi un estero que se llama LAGUNA DE CHACAHUA, es ahí.

Pero una vez en SAN JOSÉ DEL PROGRESO tienen que preguntar para ir a la playa, ahora tendran que tomar un camino de terraseria, es como media hora ó 45 min.

Una vez en el pueblo buscan lugar donde estacionarse, y le preguntan a alguine que como pueden cruzar el Rio, es una lanchita como de 5 min (que no les cobren mucho, cuesta como $10 o $20 pesos). Ya en la isla preguntenle a alguien por las cabañas de DOÑA BERTA, no se vayan a ir con nadie más. Esta es una señora de confianza.
Es un lugar rustico para acampar frente al mar.

Ahi les pongo unos mapas."

We made it with no troubles, but the road toward the ocean was much longer and bumpier than we imagined - perhaps it had been dug up? We couldn't tell what was wrong with it in the dusty dark.

Chacahua is certainly an interesting place to go! The feel of the little town was somehow almost Carribean, even though it is on the Pacific. I remembered hearing about a part of Oaxaca that was settled by escaped African slaves in my Mexican history class in Guanajuato. We found it here in Chacahua.

After spending most of the day driving through the mountains we turned north from Puerto Escondito as sunset neared. We found the sandy dirt toad to Chacahau and drove over the bumps for what seemed like a very long time in the twilight before reaching the town where we would leave the car in someone's yard and take the little boat across the water in the dark. I tossed a few things in a tote bag and we grabbed our tent. Silvia decided to take her entire large suitcase with her! This provided many opportunities for jokes during our stay. The lights flickering over the lagoon, the moist air, and the sounds of chirping insects stuck with me. We were truly in a different Mexico than I had experienced before.

We climbed out of the boat and laughed as Silvia wheeled her bag though the sand. Pablo ended up carrying it for her most of the way to the other side of the sand bar town. We dropped our things in the camping area and walked toward the ocean to find Paco and his friends at a table closer to the water, snacking and drinking rum. We talked for a bit and introduced ourselves around. I put on my swimsuit and sat in the wake of the huge ocean for a little while in the moonlight. It was a little scary to be so alone and so small in those huge waves at night, but Pablo and I talked and kept it fun.

We were hungry and Berta cooked us dinner in her beachside kitchen as we went around to meet the other tourists.

The other people visiting the beach were interesting. There was a group of foreign students speaking English with various accents, a group of young Mexicans there for yoga, relaxation, and meditation, and a few middle aged Mexican couples. This place must get more tourists at other times of the year, but there were no more than 25 of us around this weekend.

After a dinner of shrimp and octopus in a chili based sauce Pablo and I were too tired to stay up with everyone else, pitched our tent and went to sleep.

Sunrise on this vast sandy beach was beautiful. Pablo and I walked around, watching the crabs run across the sand and the birds land and eat the beached fish left by the waves last night. We walked around the sand bar that morning until Silvia got up. We went swimming and tanned near the water for a bit but the sun was strong and we headed back to the shade. By that time it was afternoon and I was feeling weak and tired and I fell asleep in a hammock. Soon it was time for another Barca game and everyone huddled into a little shack with a cement floor to watch it on the only tv around. I joined them at half time. Even with shoes, the sand had gotten so hot in the sun that it burned your feet! I took the long way around trying to find them and my feet were not happy. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and talking, looking forward to our trip planned once night fell.

When it was nice and dark we walked over to the house of a man who gave tours of the area. He took us out to his canoes and we began our tour to see the phosphorescent waters of the lagoon. This was great fun! We rowed through tunnels of plants and vines, ducking down to keep them from knocking us over. It was a full moon so we had plenty of light, but the glowing algae in the water was not as bright seeming as usual as we splashed sticks and hands on the side of the boats. This was an adventure that left me feeling like an amazon explorer from the ideas of my childhood (I watched too many nature shows!). Wow! This was not caught on camera, but will stick vividly in my mind for my entire life. Once we made it through the maze of branches around us we came to a smaller part of the lagoon and some of the others went for a swim. I would have been game if I were feeling better or it was a little warmer. We came back around to the shallow docking area and walked back to the beach to our tents, still mesmerized.

Silvia was not thrilled about roughing it on the beach, and I was feeling more tired by the day. The next morning, we decided to head up the coast to Acapulco. Paco came with us, and his friends would join the next day. We dragged Silvia's suitcase back through the sand and took the little boat back to the mainland, hopped in the car and were back to our seemingly endless regimen of driving.

One more thing about Chacahua: it's a great surf spot!!!

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Part of trip: Guanajuato México and beyond

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