Melaque and Barra de Navidad are on opposite ends of one big bay. We’ve been to Barra a bunch of times, even spending Christmas there with family when we were anchored in the lagoon out back of town. It’s a fun little place to walk around. Really run down, but bright and colorful, it was pretty beat up in a hurricane a couple of years back.
I sometimes think my kids must be the most frustrating kids in town for the many vendors plying the beaches and streets. On the beach they stand a few feet from Lowe and Ouest, ringing their bell a hundred times, waiting for them to suddenly run screaming to mama and papa for ice cream. Our kids don’t even notice. They walk right up to them with a rack of bright bracelets and plastic toys, and get no reaction even as they blow the cheap bird whistle toy. A huge basket full of chocolate and sugar covered donuts? Nothing. The mango sellers always do a brisk business with us, but the rest of it, not so much.
Not at all to imply that our kids don’t ever eat candy or ice cream, obviously, but they really are good about not getting sucked in by salesmen and advertising.
There is a hotel on the lagoon that lets cruisers tie up their dinghy, which is how we first discovered this little monkey five years ago. Every time we see him, we’re a little sad to find he’s still there. He’s a rescue, we’ve been told, and always seems fed and taken care of with a clean cage—but man, what a terrible, lonely life. He’s not here on display—the hotel features basically zero guests, so outside from a few cruisers passing through that know he is in this back courtyard, nobody sees him. We bring him bananas and try to give him some company. Ali sang to him and scratched his back while he held hands with the kids and wrapped his tail around her arm—his eyes drooped like a baby about to fall asleep.
The Sands Hotel. During cruising season they actually open that bar, and the cruisers flood in. Outside of cruising season we never see a soul. The front desk never says a word to us as we come and go. It’s such a strange place.
The entrance from the ocean to the lagoon before the breakwater was built, the road was paved, and the restaurants moved in.
…dos tacos de asada con todo, quatro gorditas de adobada…
17 Comments on “Barra de Navidad”
Is the Grand Bay hotel nearby? We stayed there a few years ago during the tourist slump and had the place nearly to ourselves. We were the only customers at the restaurant one night. We were amazed at the 200+ different tequilas at the restaurant bar.
You can see it through the arch in that picture of the guys jumping off the boat.
I am delighted to see those young fingers holding the pen the proper way. e
That was the little boy that was taking our order. He did a good job, and might have got a few extra pesos from us.
What memories….we were in Christmas Bay in February 1972 flying our little 4 passenger Mooney airplane from Portland, Oregon to Manzanillio. We landed at a grass strip just east of Melaque. Parking was free but the native caretaker wanted $1/night to sleep under the airplane and guard it……we noticed another airplane parked there that had reminants of a camp fire under one of the wings…….we paid him $2/night (American) NOT to build a fire under the wing of our airplane…! As I remember his “brother” had a car and ran us into town to a hotel on the beach for another $2. The ocean front hotel had great food and drinks for just a few $ per day. Great town and beaches.The shower head was typical Mexican plumbing, the shower head was just pipe squeezed closed to form a fan spray on your head, actually was quite refreshing! Hope the hotel is still there today as it was very comfortable. Back then aviation fuel was only 36 cents/gallon in Manzanillio and was hand pumped from 50 gallon drums through a chamois into the airplane. Hope to take our Motorcoach down there someday. BTW, I met you several years ago when you were fixing your motor home in Portland as our oldest son and family and two granddaughters live two houses away from your mother in Portland. Enjoy the nice Mexican weather, June gloom and rainy here in Portland.
Ah yes, your daughter-in-law was always kind to us and invited us over several times to let the kids play together. Amazing how busy we always “seemed” to be when back in the States. Next time we will have to make it happen – with you there too! I would have to imagine the hotel is long gone since you visited back in the 70s. What fond memories, thanks for sharing.
Like the Mistral sticker on the truck. Greenpeace, Mistral, CAT. Looks like a nice old truck
And the old school photo: Bronco, Scout, Pinto, VW Bus. Good times in ’79.
As an animal lover, I really appreciate how you treat the animals you come in contact with. It made me smile to visualize Ali singing to the lonely monkey. As parents you both are such great role models!
Thank you, Valerie. So there is a very skinny dog down at the plaza where we are currently and I ran all the way back to the camper to get some dog food (there was none for sale at the store across the street), got back to the plaza, gave it to the dog…he wouldn’t eat it. So I make Pat go to the taco stand and get him some fresh meat tacos – yup five of them! Pat refuses to go back to that plaza now.
Poor Monkey. I remember your last post of him. He must be completely apathetic.
I bet not watching television helps a lot with the kids not falling for salesmen. That and that they have gotten use to being the gringo attraction to vendors. I always told them in Peru I was a poor “Misio de Pozuso” Peruvian Spanish for poor beggar from Pozuso, an Austrian/German community in Peru founded in 1859. After they stopped laughing, they usually left me alone. Great pictures, I like the looks of the place, I am putting it on my list of places to see.
We stayed in the Grand Bay marina once, to have power to get refrigeration fixed. The swimming pools are great. Years later we anchored in the shallow mud bottomed bay and dinghies over for pool fun. Go check it out via the road around the bay and see if Marie’s Tienda is still there.
Love, love, love that area and our wonderful memories from 20-30 years ago. Glad to see the Sands is still there selling drinks. That must be a different monkey – I don’t think they live more than 20 years or so. Love your old picture. My husband remembers his first trip there in the dinghy from Melaque – no breakwater. If you run into Chris and Lory, tell them Hi! from Lena!
I sure hope that isn’t a new monkey…rescued or not, I hope it was a one off caged up animal for the Sands. And amazing to know the Sands has been around for the past 20-30 years, she might be showing her age a bit. 😉
The orchid pic is awesome!
The monkey’s name is Chachi.
I call him, “the loneliest monkey in the world”. And also feed him bananas and sometimes bad stuff that he likes better. He was a gift to the sweet little old lady owner, long long ago, from her son who had been out hunting in the mountains. That’s what the sweet little old lady said, when we talked with her while standing at his cage, before she died last year. He’s a very old monkey, and has spent most of his life there. We want to rescue him but how? One would need to rescue him there and stay there with him. You can’t really move him out can you? Wouldn’t he be traumatized?
I like knowing more of his story but man poor guy. I would think that he would welcome a new home in Barra (would probably be hard on him to travel far by truck/boat/airplane). There is another monkey in a cage, seems more for tourists as it is in plain view at a restaurant on a beach in San Pancho I believe. When we were there a dog would go into the cage and the monkey and him would play together.
In Nassau, Bahamas we visited a Flamingo zoo/place that also had a few rescued animals and one was an old monkey. The keepers put a baby chick in the cage with him to keep him company. They said in just a few days he seemed happier and more energetic. The monkey and the chicken would be cuddled up together.