The final resting place

Beautiful sunrise in Tenacatita, Jal

When we finally got to the beach just southwest of Aqua Caliente Nueva,  we found the most beautiful perfect beach ever. It was just west of El Rebalsito, a beautiful little farming pueblo that is located along the Tenacatita access road about 3km from Playa Tenacatita. This is the town where we got to experience a Mexican Rodeo which was very exciting.  At Playa Tenacatiti,  we found a small group of locals swimming which was surprising considering how populated other beach were that were not even close to the stunning beauty of this beach. We noticed some huge hotels along the beach and up on the hill but as we got closer we noticed that they were falling apart and appeared abandoned.  There were at least three armed guards sitting towards the entrance of the beach. At first,  I mistakenly thought there were there to protect the local citizens, but I found out later they were there to protect the property on the side of the road opposite of the beach. We found a good place to pull over and rest and then Milton and Dennis went exploring further down the road looking for a good camping site.  After awhile they came back and said that further down the road were some Canadians camping, Chico and MaryAnn, and they gave us some options of good places to camp.  They also told us the story of why this area was filled with abandoned buildings and armed guards. I didn’t take any photos of the guards with automatic weapons because, well, because they were holding automatic weapons.

In a nutshell, apparently about 5 years ago there were restaurants and hotels along the beach but now they what is left is completely abandoned and the land and what property is left is under dispute.  For a long time, the beach was closed for public assess and guarded by armed guards but recently the beach was reopened for use but no building can be done until the dispute between the locals and the developer who is attempting to develop the area gets resolved.  In the meantime, there are some people from Canada who would come every year and stay for a few months and this was their first year back. If you are interested, do a search on it.  I’d try to explain it more but I don’t want to give out incorrect information.  It is a very interesting, sad story that will make you angry.

After wandering around the beach and looking at it from all angles, Milton finally said that he thinks this is the beach that he was supposed to spread his moms ashes.   I suggested that we check at Barre de Navidad the next day just to be sure but he felt confident that we were at the right place.  We pitched our tent on the beach then headed into town for some of our favorite foods……tacos.  

We found a couple tables set up outside someone house and ate well with the sounds of a birthday fiesta going on just around the corner.

After dinner we went back and slept in our tent with the sound of the waves crashing so loud that I kept waking up convinced that the tide was coming in and going to reach out tent.  The next morning, after waking up to watch the sunrise and discovering we hadn’t been swept out to sea we took a brief morning swim, had breakfast of musuli, Milton’s breakfast specialty while on the road, and then got ready to ride down the coast to Barre de Navidad.  We had to ride through one small stretch of sand to reach the main road and Milton had to coach me through and remind me to stay up on the throttle . Made it with no mishaps, SUCCESS!!!

Milton and Dennis with friend they met.

Before we reached  Barre de Navidad, we stopped in the neighboring beach town, the village of San Patricio Melaque, where we bought cold drinks and while Milton and Dennis talked to passersby, I watched an elderly man and a middle aged woman play dominoes.  They didn’t speak any English and since my Spanish is horrible, I couldn’t understand them but the elderly man kept winning and whenever he’d play his last domino he’d turn and look at me and smile. I noticed that he was wearing a piece of plastic tied around his left calf (gator region for my wound care friends) I tried to examine it through the bag and could see some scattered open areas with some areas of yellow slough in the wound bed, scarring to the periwound ( which indicated that at one time the wounds were much larger) and some hemosiderin staining; classic venous ulcer. ( See Trisha, I am trying to stay current on my wound care assessment but I need a ruler to measure, can you bring me some?).  Though the help of a local who helped interpret ( who spoke very limited English), I learned this man had been dealing with these wounds for a long time and sees a local doctor who through charades, I think uses maggot therapy to clean the wounds up, otherwise all he has for dressing coverings was pieces of plastic.  I so wanted to give them some of the Medihoney that I had with me on the bike but I had no way to explain how to use it and don’t think that they would have trusted that I had knowledge of wound care.  I definitely need to learn Spanish so when I come across these opportunities to help people I can.

Some of the wonderful people we met in Barre de Navidad.

We went in to Barre de Navidad and wandered around for awhile.  It had changed a lot since Milton had last been there but it was still seemed a lot smaller and less populated that Sayulita so I liked it.  We talked to a lot of tourists, I think they were primarily Canadians but some were from the US.  Everyone was interested in our journey and our bikes.  One gentleman, who recently had survived major heart surgery (5 way cardiac bypass  if I remember correctly), came up and gave me 100 pesos.  I thanked him and tried to refuse but he reminded me that 100 pesos is really just enough to buy us all a soda and he wanted to give us something.  I remembered what someone told me before the journey which was to be open and say yes, so I thanked him and said yes.  Felt very strange to take money to be doing something that for me is a choice and one that so many in the world don’t have and never will have but sometimes it’s not so much about me but allowing others to give from their hearts.

This is the bracelet he wears in memory of his surgery date.

We rode back to Tenacatita that afternoon, Dennis and I spent the evening swimming while Milton fished, and then went down and ate dinner with our Canadian friends Milton and Dennis had met the day before.  A couple of cute girls tried to sell us paper fans but I told her I didn’t have any pesos with me.  After some back and forth, I told them I’d bring the pesos to them the next day.  We were told of the Mexican rodeo that was set of the upcoming weekend and would start the next day.  Plenty of food, fun, and exciting bull riding.  Each day of the rodeo is sponsored by a different group with the last day being sponsored by the gringos which means that they parade through the town and then they provide the food and drinks and it’s free to eat for everyone.  We were invited to stay for all three days and participate. Definitely sounded fun but we only stayed through the first day of the rodeo. We did learn that Dennis’ name in Spanish is Deniso  which I like and hopefully it will take hold in Tacoma.

On Saturday, the day after we attended the rodeo, we woke up early and spread Mary’s ashes as we caught the tail end of the sunrise. Definitely was an emotional process for us and we each said a little something as we spread her ashes.  I had a brief moment of thinking of the struggles that Mary and I had over the years which I could have led me to feeling guilt but instead I shared on all the good that she did while she was alive and what I admired and loved about her.  To focus on any other thing would have taken the light off of her and as we spread her ashes all over that beach, our love was spread with it.