A little bit of this and that in Melaque, Mexico

At this point I'm still not expecting a huge amount of traffic for my blog but do want to thank the two or three fateful readers, thanks sis, merci Johane et Tammy.  I have a few observations to share. If you are amongst those who might enjoy a relaxing, relatively inexpensive vacation in Mexico as opposed to settling for an all inclusive which does have its own advantages Melaque might be for you. First of all the positives:  As I've stated before nothing much changes here in some ways that's unfortunate because there's still a lot of garbage, crumbling buildings, defunct sidewalks etc...Recently we attended a fundraiser to supply Melaque Obregon and Coastacomate (a nearby village) with garbage cans, okay great endeavor but isn't that something that the city council should do as a matter of course???? We've been coming here for over ten years on and off and not one single garbage can has ever appeared on the beach, it's the same now as it was then.  True it's difficult to change well ingrained attitudes, Mexico is slowly coming around to the idea of recycling although stores still automatically dish out plastic bags unless you specifically ask them not to.  We have a little mountain of plastic bags on the kitchen table in our room, I don't have a specific shopping bag and we're just here for a short time...lame excuse I know, thankfully we don't do a lot of shopping since we're mostly sticking to eating breakfast and the occasional lunch.
Melaque has probably one of the nicest beaches in Mexico.  It's situated in a lovely bay with view of hills and rocky outcroppings.  The beach is around five kms. long and extends from Melaque all the way to the town at the other end called Barra de Navidad.  It's walkable and we have done it before but it's too hot right now and it's not going to get any cooler.  People who have been coming here a long time say it's one of the warmest they've ever seen and that includes the ocean which is downright tepid.  Speaking of the ocean there are these tiny fishes which insist on bumping into you and giving you a little dab of exfoliation....hey some people pay for that! Haha.  It's a little freaky at first.  They mostly bump against your thighs and legs they're tiny as I've stated but they're hard to see because the water gets churned up by the waves.  Some of the people at this hotel are so freaked out by them they won't go in the water.  We just consider it a little playful nudge plus they only do it at certain times of the day so you have to time your entries accordingly.  The people in this town are super friendly with Canadian flags galore much more Canadians, mostly from British Columbia and some from Alberta, it seems like they're the only players in town.  The anglo-Canadians stick together although they do spread themselves a little more thinly than the Quebecois do.  The Quebecois really stick together, nothing unusual there, it's something we've noticed in the past.  They like to do things as a group in general, I suppose they really do enjoy each others' company which is fine.  Quebecois discovered Melaque quite a few years ago and some of them even drive here all the way from Quebec which would be a hell of a trip.  We've done it from B.C. and it can get pretty harrowing especially weather wise.
It's difficult to believe that some people have been coming here to this same hotel for the last thirty years!  They're mostly all old timers know each other quite well from vacation time spent together.  It reminds me a lot of Lake Chapala and Ajijic where the same phenomenon occurred except with expatriates.  There's always a time for Pilates, bingo, dominoes, bridge, water exercises etc...we're not joiners hence we don't socialize that much although I'm a social creature by nature so do try and talk to the various people here.  It gets lonely when the other person in your life is not all that talkative.  It's a recurrent problem whenever we travel and I know with certainty that it will never cease to be a problem.
I can't say for sure whether this will definitely be our last trip to Mexico, we've said that before and here we are.  The beach is lovely and virtually empty, water is great, can't complain about the weather etc...the main problem is food.  There is and always has been a total lack of variety in what's being offered regardless of which restaurant you go to and regardless of the amount you pay.  It's mostly the same boring fare on offer.  We've tried high end and we've tried low end, invariably it's a huge disappointment.  There are hardly any vegetables used in the cooking except for some shredded cabbage, one or two slices of tomatoes and cucumbers and, if you're lucky, the odd avocado.  Living on tacos every day which most Mexicans don't seem to mind at all is not exactly an inspiring thought.  I could deal with it and have dealt with it but not everybody is built the same way and I do admit it does get tedious going out looking for a decent place to eat. It starts to feel like searching for the Holy Grail, okay slight exaggeration there and yes it's easy to get frustrated over the whole food issue.  I've already had three shrimp burgers, one of which in Puerto Vallarta, was very good  while the others were passable, that damn Bimbo bread it folds in on itself till all you get is a soggy mush.
Went to the market on Wednesday in Obragon, the market used to be a relatively small affair which has now morphed into something huge with gringos walking around sweating profusely and high fiving each other....LOL  Yes it's a very small community here and eventually you will run in into someone you know which can be either good or bad depending on one's point of view.  At the market I bought banana bread from a gringa and delicious lemon slices, felt bad about not buying something from a local but did taste the strawberries (watery) and blackberries (acidic) therefore did not buy them.  It really felt like they were commercially produced on a huge scale hence the lack of taste.  You've never tasted a more luscious strawberry than the white ones they grow in France, now those are mouth watering no doubt about that.
For a news junkie I'm feeling totally out of the loop.  Watching CNN is an extremely painful tedious experience with their endless self-promotion of shows.  Even shows which might interest me lose their allure after having seen the adds for them what feels like a million times.  The height of ridicule the CNN station broadcasts from Hong Kong I kid you not....Instead of getting news about Mexico, Central and South America we get news about China, Australia, Thailand, it's bloody ridiculous.  I don't understand why it's always touted as one of the greatest news network in the world.  In my humble opinion it sucks big time, we only watch it out of desperation for news of any kind.  There's going to be a huge celebration starting March 9th to celebrate the birth of San Patricio the patron saint of the town....expect lots of fireworks starting around 5 in the morning, should make for short nights and considering I'm not sleeping all that well, you get the picture.  I'll be blogging about that, it should be exciting.  Stay tuned adios for now.