A good Christmas crowd on the beach

Not as busy as Semana Santa but still a good crowd. Beach conditions are good even tho many had concerns after hurricane Jova. Barra may be suffering because of the loss of so much beach but Melaque is doing fine. The streets are lined with busses and cars like a tourist beach town should be.

Comida Japonesa Kyoto Melaque

This is my favorite Japanese restaurant in Melaque. Not so much for the quality of the food but because of the different menu, location and they are open till 8 or 9 in the evening. The cook here learned his skills at the restaurant on the highway and thought longer hours and a different menu would work. The restaurant on the highway closes early in the afternoon and you are on the highway.

Comida Japonesa Kyoto is open for dinner and is located just off the east end of the market almost two blocks off the beach from Don Bigotes. When I don't feel like a full meal I order their half orders for nearly half the price. You can get a beer in the Deposito next door.

IPhone foto of Kyoto

Two tropical storms headed our way

Two tropical storms that were well out to sea are being forced to turn NE towards the coast of Mexico due to weather currents along the US border. A very unusual situation over my last 6 years here. Jova is closer but Irwin is a little bigger. Reports say if they don't take strength from each other we may have a level 2 hurricane landfall by early next week

Hotel Melaque in 1970

Not the most definitive pictures of the old hotel but there are so few. These were taken by Bill Bartlett in 1970 when it was fairly new (when was it built?). I've seen in the past fotos of the hotel in various beach bars but the pictures were brown and weather worn.

A number of years ago a woman offered me fotos of the interior ... the lobby, 'grand staircase' and the restaurant. She only had the physical paper fotos and was going to send them to me to scan ... but she never sent them.

If you didn't know this hotel was destroyed in the 1995 quake due to two large water tanks above the third floor not being supported properly

Hotel and Melaque from what is now the Malecon

From the beach in front of Hotel Melaque

Alvaro Obregon construction

Alvaro Obregon construction is going to be a long project. They plan on a divided street with sidewalks, cement pavers and a planted island in the middle. Alvaro Obregon is the obvious divider between Villa Obregon and Melaque/San Patricio ... tho not the legal one. It runs from the beach to the highway and is the widest street in town.

For the last two months they have been battling rain and mud along with redoing the sewers and sewer access so progress has been slow. Traffic between the two communities has been reduced to one crossing point unless you go out to the highway.

Because Alvaro Obregon is not used much, traffic switches to other routes causing the streets to fall apart faster. Improvements here are always an uphill battle but hopefully we'll soon see less rain and a little cooler weather. That would be a good thing

A normal Alvaro Obregon in the rainy season

Construction from a distance

Emiliano Zapata is a side street