For a few weeks, my primo Paul has been promising to take us to an off-the-grid beach or anywhere the tourists don’t typically get out to. But life and commitments come up and Mom and I are just happy to go with the flow. On Saturday, he and his daughter Catalina (my familial spirit animal) were hanging out at the beach in front of his Mom/her Nonna’s condo.
“You girls be ready at 10am tomorrow. I’m taking you to a beach where there’s no cell service, bring your own water. We’re going to the middle of nowhere.”
Paul must have forgotten that my mom and I are both pre-thinkers and will be prepared for mostly anything. Without a car to get to the store, we ran through the inventory of our diminishing food supplies (plus a quick trip to Oxxo – no beer this time Maria, jajajaaja) and were able to put together the following beach day meal: egg salad sandwiches on “don’t panic it’s organic” rolls from the Bread Man, chips, Mexican Coke (hands down, way better tasting than American Coke), store-bought grapes and homegrown tomatoes picked up from the Farmers Market. We got this!
Let the record show, we were ready at 10am. I told Paul I’d be nice to him since he packed all of us in his car for a beach adventure. So let the record show he ran on Mexican time – I never knew this existed before and I’m ashamed to admit it has always been around. Gonzales’ run on Punctual time. Jajajaja.
Our first stop was El Ranchito. I keep being amazed at how much more there is to this place than just a beautiful coastline. The Ranch has all kinds of animals and Catalina loved pointing out the conejos or rabbits. I’m beginning to think she could teach me Spanish if I spent more time with her – except I can’t even understand English kid talk so Spanish kid talk is beyond rough. Apparently I have a “colita” or tail. Whatever Miss Catalina says I guess. What else did we see at the Ranch? With the cutest puppy escorting us around the property, we saw pigs, chickens, cows who play “follow the leader,” parakeets and horses. And those were all the domestic animals we saw. You’re probably wondering why I’m making a distinction between domestic and wild animals. Oh, because this happened!
Driving along some dusty road next to the playa are burros. And the burros are so used to people that they approach your vehicle just waiting for a treat. We all agreed that nature is nice to look at, but feeding the burros chips or human food is a big no-no. Sorry burros, no food for you.
After a few bumpy minutes on a dirt road – the kind where as a kid you said “uhh uhh uhhhhhh uhh” to make your voice vibrate with the car (or in our case, as adults on vacation and entertaining a 2 year old backseat companion) – we arrive at a secluded beach. Literally felt like a million bucks driving up to our own private beach.
I’m going to end this post with tons of scenery pictures but first I want to take time to thank Paul, Ana y Catalina for sharing this piece of paradise with Mom and I. We loved hanging out with them and since Catalina has warmed up to us, it will never get old hearing a cute kid say “Te quiero Amy” (I love Amy) or “No te vayas Amy” (Don’t go Amy). Have no fear Catalina…. I’ll keep coming back to visit! And don’t worry Paul, I’ll grab the burro by the horns, buck up and learn to drive myself around. But don’t be surprised if you get a call from me because I got lost – there’s a reason my Mom calls me “wrong way Amy.”
There She Goes... 