ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

The Pacific coast of Mexico is beautiful. On the left are huge mountains and on the right a vibrant, blue ocean. The landscape is surprisingly lush and covered in jungle. The mountains are separated from the beaches by ongoing valleys of palm trees and never- ending farms. The farms are vast and typically covered with grazing herds of cows nestled in between the coconut palms.

The drive was a little over an hour, when we came upon the small, clean and appealing town of San Juan de Alima. SJA is a quaint town that sits along the ocean with a mountainous backdrop. We drove straight to the beach, took our boards out and got in a short session of surf and sun before finding a place to stay for the night. We decided to stay at the hotel nearest the internet café, Hotel de San Juan, for some much needed time to update our site and check email. The hotel had a restaurant and looked as though it would come alive in the evening….we were wrong about that. Not thinking that we could negotiate, we took a basic room with fan for about $23 a night. Within a day, we realized that not only were we the sole inhabitants of the hotel, but the town as well. We could have easily negotiated – lesson learned.

We quickly hit the internet café, after not having much luck finding internet services over the past couple of days. The internet was dial up and slow, so we loaded our entries and decided to post the photos the following morning so we could find some dinner at a local taco stand before they too closed and the town officially went dead. The tacos were great and only .70 cents each, but we were definitely growing a bit tired of tacos.

The room was very clean and a bright sky blue. Everything was relaxing until Chris found out that he is taller than the average Mexican male. The door to the bathroom was about 5 inches short of Chris’ total body length. He hit his head pretty hard and has repeated the mistake only once. Since we only get cold water at the hotels, it is almost a necessity to shed everything, take a cold shower and lay in front of the fan, hoping to fall asleep before you dry. With a cold shower and a lump in Chris’ head, we called it a night.

Drinking oatmeal and protein powder for breakfast has gotten a little dull, so in the morning we opted to splurge for the first time and buy breakfast. However, we found out that the restaurant at our hotel is not open and neither are any of the others in town. We knew that we were traveling in the “off” season, but did not realize that some towns pretty much shut down. You can basically find tacos for dinner at a nearby stand or get creative by going to the mini super (a mini version of a convenient store and when you haven’t seen one in a while – they are like a mirage in the desert). Instead of oatmeal, we opted for cereal and bananas from the mini super and planned breakfast for that nights’ dinner….omelets with grits (brought from home)….a feast for both of us for about $3 total.

After breakfast, we first tried to get on the internet to post photos. The phone lines had been accidentally cut and the only internet in town was dead. We headed back to the deserted beach spot to enjoy the seclusion. Chris surfed and I soaked up some vitamin D. We attempted snorkeling with the waves crashing overhead and decided it was best to wait for calmer seas.

Lunch was simple. $3 quesadillas for Chris and $1.50 veggie and fruit plate for Jenny. We decided to join the town and celebrate in our first siesta (it seems as though everyone takes an hour lunch from 1-2pm and a siesta from 2-4pm). The town is great, but with nowhere to do laundry or update the site, we decided it would be our last night. We are searching for better surf breaks and some fresh clothes.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 18th, 2006 at 12:51 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.