Palma's Place

Melaque, Jalisco, Mexico  -  October 6-20, 2007

So I was looking for some R&R and finally settled on Melaque, along the Jalisco coast between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo, the Costalegre (Happy Coast).  I had never been to Mexico proper and was looking to immerse myself in a small town.  Melaque fit the bill, it is a sleepy little beach town catering to Canadian snow birds in the winters and Mexican families in the summer.  Apparently it was the original beach town for Guadalajara (until the good road to Puerto Vallarta was built in the early 60's) and still attracts a lot of business from there.  During the season, the beaches get packed, its standing room only in the pools, and you cannot find a room to save your life.

I discovered that I was about  month and a half early for the season and that I was about the only tourista in town.  Actually it was three small fishing villages joined together, Melaque, San Patricio, and Villa Obregon, at the western end of Bahia de Navidad (Christmas Bay).  A larger tourist town was a couple of miles away at the south end of the bay, Barra de Navidad.  The bay is located at the southern end of the state of Jalisco, about 20-25 miles away by road (or the other side of the lagoon in Barra de Navidad) is the border with the state of Colima.  

Along the way I met some very nice people, bought enough tourist junk to buy another suitcase, stopped and searched at an army checkpoint, and was caught in a large storm one night (making my way home through flooded out streets from Barra).  I visited a state capital, Colima; Latin Americas' busiest Pacific coast port, Manzanillo; and great small towns where folk arts are still carried on from pre-Columbus times.  I also got to flee from a tropical storm and ended my trip with a bus trip to Puerto Vallarta.

Here are some pages I have put together with more information on the location and what I did:

Trip Notes: some background information on Melaque and where I stayed.

Photographs and Slide Shows: Links a photo gallery and four slide shows I have put together.

Wanderings in the area: Colima, fishing off Manzanillo, and a tour of the Laguna de Navidad.

Barra de Navidad: A bit more upscale town about 5 miles from Melaque.

Restaurants: some of my favorite spots.

Tropical Storm Kiko: the threat of this storm cut my vacation short by a day as I fled up the coast to Puerto Vallarta on a long bus trip.

So, these pages briefly recap my trip.  I will add in some more details as time goes by, as well as more location/activity specific photo galleries.  I want to thank all the people I met along the way--

Hasta La Vista,

Michael