Looking for the ship wreck

Melaque

The rocks below

Almost but not quite

I should have known you couldn't see the wreck of the freighter from the Melaque Mirador because nobody posted it was possible. I had to check it out for myself. It must be a very short distance around the big rock, but I think a panga ride is the only option. So we took some fotos of the ocean and Melaque.

Sailboats and pelicans are back

Sailboats start arriving after hurricane season and that was the end of November. Pelicans arrive with the sardines. Haven't seen many pelicans this year but they are back with their usual dive bombing. Fishing may be bad because of El Niño but that is a guess.

Cuastecomate's new boardwalk

Cuastecomate has a new boardwalk and it just about finishes the wheelchair accessible beach project they have been working on for the last 8 to 10 months. Almost all the palapa restaurants were heavily damaged by Hurricane Patricia and all rebuilt so the whole place looks new.

My half Sunset

Melaque half sunset

I actually had a pretty good view of sunsets until my Canadian next door neighbor built a monstrosity of a house. He claims it's two stories, but I can't see over it from my second story roof. Oh well .... there's no living space on my second floor yet. Just a laundry room and clothes lines.

Laguna del Tule open

I guess that last 2-day rain forced them to open the Lagoon a few days ago. It may also have been related to the sewer pump not working well and aiming black-water at the ocean is better than backing up around town.

Farming again in Pinal Villa

These are Jalapeño chiles growing for the first time here in over a year. There are also tomatoes in the background. This section of land has been too moist to grow anything for the last year. Another large section of land closer to Melaque has grown watermelon every year and this is the second year nothing was planted. Not much can be done when the water table gets as high as it has been.

Pro Animal Melaque Fundraiser

At Restaurante Esmeralda

BINGO FUNDRAISER

Please join us for a fun afternoon this Thursday at 1:00PM. Local merchants have donated prizes for each of the games, and there will be a couple of special cash pot games for those who wish to buy an extra card. We've got a lot of great items in our Silent Auction as well, and you don't need to play bingo to participate. 50/50 raffle tickets give you a chance at another cash payout. We also will have for sale some of our logo items (t-shirts & caps).

All of our spay & neuter, medical, & rescue efforts are made possible by our fundraisers, so come out and show your support for the animals of the Costalegre!

The mobile Vivero

He sets up across from Lubin's liquor store and usually has a large variety of live plants and shrubs. It was about Thursday that he switched over to almost exclusively Poinsettias or Flor de Noche Buena, the Christmas Flower. Quite a display.

La Braza finally has signage

I believe the old owner is back, but the place hasn't had a sign for over a month since reopening. I haven't looked at the menu this time, but most people rave about the food. I thought the pizzas were great but some complain about the cheese on top. Go to the end of Taco Row and look left.

Not Bigotes anymore

Happy Hour is 2 to 8 pm

Looks almost the same and using the same but remodeled kitchen .... it is now Bugambilias. With Tecate chairs and shade, they may not have Estrella or Pacifico.

Mucho help after Hurricane Patricia

Los Ingenios near La Manzanilla I think

It took awhile but last week Cruz Roja was passing out tons of stuff in Pinal Villa. Pots and pans, bowls and cups, cleaning liquids, brooms and mops, non parishable food and topped it of with new matresses. 

The week before the State of Jalisco delivered tons of the red lamina to replace roofs.

A few weeks before religious help groups were supplying metal lamina and helping in other ways

Annual CAM Fundraiser

On the occasion of our 15th Anniversary, you want to celebrate with the community the day of the event, thanking all the support it has received, for it is invited to donate pastries to hand in gratitude. Who like support donating, please contact in advance thanks for your support

They will sell donated baked goods, key chains, hats and the usual T-shirts

Tropical Storm Sandra

Maybe the last of the season and it should affect this area very little. Baja and the Mazatlan area may not be so lucky.

From the Weather Underground

If Sandra does form this week, it will join last week's Tropical Storm Rick as one of the latest-forming tropical storms in the history of the Eastern Pacific. Since accurate records began in 1949 (with higher-quality satellite records beginning in 1971), the Eastern Pacific has seen only five tropical storms form after November 18: December 5, 1983 (Winnie), November 27, 1971 (Sharon), November 27, 1951 (Unnamed), November 20, 2011 (Kenneth), and November 19, 2015 (Rick). None of these storms hit land. If 91E becomes a tropical storm and hits land, it will be the latest landfalling Eastern Pacific storm on record.

Kaimurasaki Japanese restaurant

Kaimurasaki, the Japanese restaurant in Melaque is open Monday to Saturday, 11:30 - 4:00 (more or less). They moved off the highway a couple of years ago. Their new location is in just a bit from "Botanero Row," on the Obregon side. It's a nice, cool, outdoor patio, away from the exhaust fumes of big trucks and buses.

They have a new menu with many a la carte items. In addition to our old favorites, our new favorites are: cream croquettes (not the dense potato-y ones you may know, these are light, creamy concoctions with tasty shrimp inside,) Kaimurasaki salad (HUGE salad with different greens and other veggies, seaweed, tofu and crunchy fried vermicelli on top, dressed with their homemade sesame dressing. Mmmm!) For a light and inexpensive meal, go for miso soup and onigiri (rice balls) -- the "plain" one is made with ume-shiso (pickled plum and perilla) flavored rice and the filled one is white rice with a fried shrimp (a real Japanese version of the crunchy shrimp roll North Americans know.) We haven't tried the teriyaki tofu steak yet but it should be a welcome dish for vegans/vegetarians getting tired of frijoles.

Wednesdays and Saturdays seem to be the busiest days.

Borrowed from a post on TomZap

Since Kyoto has closed

Sun after a good rain

I heard distant thunder last night but not the rain. Everything was still dripping at 7 this morning so the rain must have all been in the AM. Those snags on the bottom is what most of our skyline looks like after Hurricane Patricia.

Not really connected to Tropical Storm Rick but both are part of the Jet Stream activity. Weather Underground says a chance of another storm forming next week in the same area.

Cuchillo the bike mechanic

Mechanico de bicis

A nearly Norman Rockwell scene ... especially with the dog. Cuchillo lives across the street and is always helping the neighborhood kids. His wife is sewing up some of my torn sheets and pillow covers. If it's 100% cotton, repair it if you can.

Cabo Blanco rebuilt

Cabo Blanco beach restaurant in west Melaque that was reduced to a cement slab by hurricane Patricia will be open for business again this week.  Some restaurants are not recovering as fast and some not at all.

4000 job loss lead to civil unrest?

So says the Ex-Mayor of Cihuatlan

And there are fears that the unemployment this creates will have severe social repercussions on the local community.

“Cihuatlán’s economy was based on the cultivation of bananas,” said former mayor Antonio Morán Araiza.

“The 2,600 hectares of bananas ruined by the storm will not be replaced for seven months – the 4,000 people who depend on them for money are not going to have an income.”

Damage to bananas will cost 4,000 jobs

Melaque Sunrise

The easiest way to remember your old fotos is when other people post them online. Someone just shared this one on Facebook that dates back to when I was living in Villa Obregon and spent more time on the beach. I just reduced this down from 148k to 18k with Radical Image Optimization Tool (RIOT for short) Freeware.

Hurricane Relief Fundraiser Party

Hurricane Flood Relief Fundraiser and Block Party

Thursday November 5th at 5PM

Alvaro Obregon across from El Pollo hardware

Melaque under water

What else can happen after a hurricane and now flooding. It's rained hard all evening and still more this morning. I measure 7" in my empty pool. Just heard a large thunder clap so it's not close to being over. This on top of people that lost their roofs.

The Rio Marabasco has overflowed and flooded some communities. Highway 200 to Manzanillo is not passable in a number of places and I wouldn't doubt it if the airport is closed. I'm definitely not driving the kids to school today

Concha del Mar will not reopen

The owner left notice on Facebook that he will not reopen his restaurant after operating for seven years on the west end of the beach. Almost every restaurant in that area suffered heavy damage. At least three are down to a cement slab.

Beach cleaning party today

They always seem to post these 5 minutes ahead .... but here you go

Limpieza la playa de Melaque

A cyclone is near - What to do

A cyclone is near - What to do 

Restaurant Bar "La Braza"

I don't remember the old name from a few years ago but Chef Cedric ran it then and is running this one. Is supposed to have the same great pizza from the wood fired brick oven. It's the upstairs palapa on the block behind the church.

Happy Cow has moved (again)

Yes it is the old refrigeration shop

They moved across the street from the "dirty market" and very possibly into the space that the refrigeration guys were using.  I'll have to ask or look closer next time. That puts both Vaca Feliz stores within a block of each other. Same street as the church but a block closer to the beach

Tranquillo en la playa

A tranquil afternoon on the beach

Nice aerial view of Bahia de Navidad

Barra on the left and Melaque on the right

Nice aerial view of Bahia de Navidad that I don't think I've seen before

Same flight - different angle?

Swim across the bay from Barra to Melaque

Got lots of energy?  Be on the beach in Barra tomorrow morning at 8 AM. I think I've seen a video of the finish line in West Melaque but that's all

6th annual swim from Barra de Navidad to Melaque - Oct. 3rd

Melaque west end beach

I went over to the lots to open a slot for the 1/2" water pipe that will go in tomorrow and to clean up the ditches after they collapsed a bit after the rain. It was only a few feet and not very wide or deep so I finished early. I took Coyota, my dog, as there is no one around, not much trouble she can get into .... and lately I've only taken her to get her nails clipped. Thought we should give the beach a try with almost nobody there. She likes the sand, still water but is afraid of the waves. Should have exposed her when a puppy but I never had her as a puppy.

Poliazo Melaque

90 each and 120 for chicken and a half

The rotisserie chicken place of the main drag down from Super Hawaii that many raved about and I didn't like has finally installed a "carbon" Bar-B-Q cooker out on the street. The difference is rotisserie is always to moist and greasy and grill cooked is dry and not greasy and it has a bit of smoked flavor.  When this place first opened a chicken was 90 pesos and quickly rose to 120 pesos. I guess we'll see how their pricing goes over the next few months. I didn't try this new chicken because I bought one in Cihuatlan earlier.

Sewer crossing the canal

I asked when there was nothing there how they were going to cross the canal ..... and they said to buy a power pole and use it for support. Well yesterday there it was missing the pipe in the middle. Kinda surprised they didn't cap the active side toward the beach. The water looks clean coming out of that pipe but smells bad.

Power pole

Open sewer

Stopped by today and the pipe was in

A cocodrilario in Villa Obregon ?

Someone asked if it's a good idea on the CANAL 10 page of Facebook and got a lot of approval. Their idea is for protection of the species and tourism. Logistically Laguna del Tule seems much more difficult than the small lagoon in La Manzanilla. I don't have an opinion

Desfile de La Dia de 9 16 2015 Independencia

Normally they march around town but this time just on the Plaza. Maybe for water in the streets or fear of rain. The usual cacophony of terrible marching music but hey .... these are Secondary school kids.

Hundreds of students attended the parade for Independence day. A speech was also given by the Delegado of Melaque. (Cientos de estudiantes participaron en el desfile para el día de la Independencia. Un discurso también fue dada por el Delegado de Melaque.)

Sewer work to begin

A notice from Canal 10 on Facebook says that work will begin soon to make these sewer repairs which looks way over due. Actually it's not that unusual to see but this is a little more extreme. It appears the registro in the intersection is broken and the house on the bottom's sewer is either broken or clogged. 

You'll never see an official CAUTION sign when there's a hole in the road. It seems to be up to the neighbors to stick something in it like a log or palm frond. 

Soon to initiate the work for solving the problems of drainage in the street Jesús Morett y Alberto Macias of colony in Villa Obregon

Spay and Neuter Clinic in Jaluco

CAMPAÑA DE ESTERILIZACIÓN / SPAY & NEUTER CAMPAIGN

Sólo 2 dias! Haz tu cita

Only 2 days! Make your appointment

Pro Animal Melaque

Desfile nuevo y viejo

Civic parade commemorating the 205 anniversary of the beginning of the independence movement of Mexico. Students here are from the Primary School Alvaro Obregon

Found both of these on Facebook

Villa Obregon this morning

Undated from Cihuatlan history