San Blas, Pacific Coast, Mexico
Friday, October 10, 2008
San Blas is straight out of a sleepy Mexican town movie. Maybe one where the hero arrives and the ladies in swishy dresses swoon in colourfully painted doorways while the local bandidos spit tobacco into the dust at his feet and eye him malevolently, hands on their smith and westons. Unfortunately for us though, it was low season so we were spared the sight of dead surfers, slain for chatting up one too many local senoritas. However they do have a delicious local treat known as banana pudding which old ladies carry round on baskets on top of their heads and charge you 3 pesos for a huge hunk. And I don't even like bananas. The town beach was lovely and tranquil but again with huge mega waves, the type that can pull you under and have your bikini off before you can shout "avert your eyes"! (huh, and "wave" is a femenine noun in Spanish too. Most inapt.) Thank god for the aforementioned tranquility which meant far fewer people were able to get an eyeful. A different but perhaps equally dangerous swimming option is the lagoon of La Tovara. You take a launch (ours driven by a nice local fisherman with an uncanny ability for spotting hidden crocodiles and zooming right up to them for us to have a "closer look". Apparently they're not dangerous but I still didn't fancy having a pissed off 8 foot reptile directly under me with only a flimsy bit of wood to protect for protection) through mangrove forests with dozens of different types of herons preening themselves. After passing a random stilt hut in the middle of the river with a cow's skull nailed to the door, you get to the clearwater lagoon at the end. A handy net (mostly) separates the entrance from the main river, which we were promised was 100% croc proof. So the only other thing to worry about, which we discovered when peering in the water, were the enormous mutant looking catfish! Neither of us were brave enough to dive bomb into the thick of them via the rope swing, but we did decide on a paddle at the shallow end. Marisol unfortunately had a run in with the algae on the steps leading in and ended up going in bum first, so I courageously joined her in a dunking of about 3 minutes before exiting as could see shrimp like beasties gathering round my feet.
San Blas nightlife, apparently quite rocking in high season, was as dead as the La Tovara style doorknockers. However we were entertained in style in Mike&Mike's bar, above Macdonalds restaurant (not of the Ronald variety, v good food), by the proprieters themselves. Real old school rockers who know the entire Beatles output (probably) and some nice blues riffs. Gringo Mike arrived here on holiday 9 years ago and forgot to leave. Maybe he struck it lucky with one of the ladies in the doorways.
