CHACALA ON MEXICO’S PACIFIC COAST REVIEW
REVIEW OF CHACALA ON MEXICO’S PACIFIC COAST
– Beach, Town and RV Park
by Malcolm Callister
It was January, we had applied sunscreen before leaving the shade of the Palapa restaurant. From the restaurant, we walked across the golden sand of Playa de Chacala, a crescent beach on the Mexican Pacific coast. Today they would swim in the blue waters and rolling surf before lunch.
The restaurant with its palm frond roof, sand floor, plastic tables, and chairs provided a safe place to leave their colorful Mexican beach bags under the watchful eye of Roberto, your waiter, while you play in the water.
Linda and I had spent twenty minutes playing in the safe waters of Chacala beach. Twenty minutes of massage in the warm surf under the tropical sun proved sufficient at any one time, we were now ready for lunch. The walk to the restaurant proved a fun experience. As we left the chest deep water of our ocean playground, the surf broke on our backs, and the undertow dragged at our feet. Two kids having fun.
Roberto, our waiter, greeted us at our table holding the chair for Linda to sit. Five-star treatment with plastic chairs and tables. When we left our beach bags at the table earlier, Roberto had said; “this table is for you all day, just order a drink.”
PLAYA DE CHACALA
Two-thirds of the beach backs onto an untamed luxuriantly green tropical jungle growing on the edge of the beach. Near to the town, a few Palapa beach restaurants have been developed. From these restaurants comes the smell of good food and the sound of Mariachi music. Happy Spanish voices carry on the tropical air above the steady beat of the surf, very little English spoken on the beach or in the restaurants.
Out in the bay half-dozen sailing yachts are anchored, an old Panga with a smelly ancient outboard pull’s laughing tourists for rides on an inflatable banana boat.
Adventurous seniors and teenagers swim out into the waves while young children play at the water’s edge, and couples play frisbee on the wet sand.
THE TOWN OF CHACALA
The Town of Chacala grew up around the commercial inshore fishing industry, on the north side of a rock breakwater. This is a small working harbor complete with a customs post.
Big hotels have not yet arrived. This village and beach are a time capsule of the way Mexico was, it is a hidden Mexican Treasure.
LOCATION:
Turn off Highway 200 at km 75. About twenty minutes to either Las Varas to the north or La Penita, to the south. Follow the 7 km of winding but the paved road through the jungle. Take the first turning on the left at the village. The carpark is down the hill 400 meters on your left.
RV PARK:
Open all year.
You can dry camp overnight in the carpark.
There are no services.
Overnight safety would be questionable.
A couple of RVer’s, Mike and Stan, from Oregon, said “We paid one-hundred Pecos for three nights dry camping. We have been here two nights with no security problems.”
FACILITIES:
None
