Once I got back from work I spent a few days hanging out in Puerto Vallarta. There isn’t much to note on it other than that I love it a lot less than the first time I came into Puerto Vallarta. While it is beautiful, I can feel now how different it is than the rest of Mexico and how the locals are exploited by tourism there purely for money. Driving out of Puerto Vallarta I felt dirty and the air tasted fresher as the city disappeared behind me.
I drove down to Manzanilla where I stayed in a gorgeous spot called Tikituk for 700 pesos. I walked around Manzanillo which is quite small, met some Canadians eating dinner and then grabbed a beer and watched a pretty amazing guitarist do his thing.
In the morning I said goodbye to Dennis, the owner of Tikituk and we chatted for a bit. He’s an amazing dude who built all the cabins himself and just wants to go travel again. He talked about getting a motorcycle and riding like I am.
I left around 10:30 and started driving for Maruata. I went by some absolutely gorgeous places on the way. But one of the negatives of the trip is I can’t just stop somewhere and hike and explore around or someone might make off with everything I own. There were quite a few beaches that I would have liked to have stopped at and walked all over.
I arrived at the cabins in Maruata at 4pm and had a little bit of trouble finding it. I asked a local and he pointed me in the right direction. They are some cabins up on top of a hill. I arrived and walked around and couldn’t find anyone there. Finally this kid showed up and walked me to one of the cabins. Nothing had been set up or cleaned. It was pretty gross but the view was absolutely spectacular and it only cost 300 pesos. It probably has the best view of anywhere I have ever stayed. It’s called cabanas Don Cheme.
The town of Maruata is incredibly interesting. When I arrived the guy told me to wait for the owner to show up but when he still hadn’t after an hour I started walking down to find something to eat. I rode around town which seemed to be a series of countless restaurants on the beach but not a single one was open at 630pm. Each one kept telling me to try the next one. I ended up buying some cheese and crackers to take back.
I got back to the base of the cabins where there’s a little bar thing and I sat down there near some dudes who were trying to pull some fruits out of a tree. I ordered a beer and soon the guys started asking me about the motorcycle.
They gave me some of their fruit which looked like huge peas but was very slightly sweet. All in all it didn’t have much flavor but it was worth trying. I chatted with them for a bit especially with a guy named Socrates. He had some of his kids there which were all interested in me and doing the thing where they hover around me but try not to make eye contact. This is most certainly a place that few gringos show up to.
I gave them some of the cheese and crackers and they looked soooo happy. The owner of the cabins finally showed up and cleaned the room out so I headed in there and tried taking a short nap that turned into a long one. The ocean noises were so soothing.
I woke up and walked back into town around 9pm just to see what was going on. It was dark and not a lot going on. There’s this one little fair toy thing in the center that all the kids were playing on but that was pretty much it.
