Adventures in Boca de Tomatlan, Mexico

Boca de Tomatlan

Recently, I've settled in Boca de Tomatlan, a small fishing village on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Although it's only half an hour south of the internationally famous city of Puerto Vallarta, it still retains its quiet, old-world charm. Aside from having electricity and wifi, the village is pretty much the same as it's always been. The main industries are fishing and tourism. This sleepy little town is nestled in a valley, surrounded by lush, mountainous jungle and fed by the Horcones river.

The Horcones River coming from the mountains.

The Horcones River flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

My hotel sits on the far bank of the river. I have a room on the second floor with a balcony that overlooks the water and the footbridges that connect to the opposite shore. On the side where I live, it's all residential.  Across the river are the tiendas, restaurants, and schools, situated on the bottom of the cobblestone road that snakes uphill to the main highway. That highway takes you to the city of  Puerto Vallarta to the north and to the ancient town of El Tuito about one hour to the south. Beyond El Tuito lies vast open stretches of desert, rugged coastlines, and steep mountains.

La Posada Pacifia, my home for a while.

Early morning sunrise in Boca.

Last week, I walked through the village on my way to the bus stop at the top of the hill.  Due to me being broke and having an ongoing issue with my bank, I needed to get to a store that accepted debit cards, as none here in the village are set up for that. There are also no ATMs here, which didn't matter because it costs too much for me to extract cash on a regular basis.  Anyway, about halfway through town, I sat down on a set of concrete steps which were across from Ana's Tacos, a local taqueria. Outside, in front of the shop, was a man with a long thin knife filleting a large fish on the top of a red plastic table.  He was casually standing in front of the restaurant cutting and gutting a fish on a table top!  How cool, I thought.  Intrigued, I got up, crossed the street, and watched him work.  We started talking in Spanish and then he switched to English, much to my relief (I don't know much about fish terminology in Spanish!). He fileted the fish and showed me the different sections, telling me what each part was.  He got to the belly and sliced it open, revealing another fish!  It was like Inception!  A fish inside of a fish!  I mean, we all know that big fish eat smaller fish, but to actually SEE it cut out of the belly was very cool. We chatted a bit more and he asked me if I wanted to eat fish tacos. I told him thanks, but no, I had to go to town and had no cash on me other than my bus fare (no mas pesos) but that I'd eat there one day in the future. And I will, soon. I'll write about it too!

I arrived at the top of the hill, hot, sweaty, and craving something other than water.  I had a few pesos to spare (if everything went well in town and I caught the correct bus home) so I decided to take a chance and see what was being sold at the little market stand beside the bus stop.  Right in front on the counter before me was the most beautiful plastic cup filled with sliced tropical fruit!  YES!  That's what I wanted, but could I afford it?  I asked her how much (cuanto cuesto) and when she told me it was 24 pesos I was thrilled.  Just then, the bus to Puerto Vallarta (PV) pulled in, so I quickly counted out the pesos for her, grabbed my treasure of fruit, and got out the 10 pesos for the bus driver.  I paid the fare, sat down near the front, looked out the windows at the mountains and the Pacific ocean, and ate every single piece of fruit in that giant cup.  There were mangos, pineapples, and papayas, all sweet and ripe. It was a great ride into "PV".

I took the bus all the way to the final stop in downtown Puerto Vallarta. The last stop is in front of an OXXO, which are literally everywhere in Mexico.  OXXO is like 7-11 on crack. Anyway, I know that OXXO has groceries and they take debit cards, so I decide to go shopping in there, then hop back on the bus to Boca.  It was really hot and humid that day, I was pretty broke, and my back was acting up so I thought a quick shopping trip and another nice bus ride would be sufficient for the day. As I'm about to go into the OXXO, I hear familiar voices talking in English coming from the stoop just beside the doors to the store.  Who in the world could that be?  I literally know no one in this region of Mexico and I could only see the sides and backs of their heads.  Then it hit me - these were the Kinetic Kennons from YouTube!  (They're an American couple from Texas who moved to Mexico a couple of years ago and they make vlogs about their travels around the country.)  I'd been following them for quite a while and was a big fan.  All this time in Mexico I'd been hoping to bump into them and then I did - almost literally - bump right into them.  I walk over and say hi to them and they were just as nice and kind in person as they were on camera.  We had a short talk and went our separate ways, but it was really cool to meet two of my favorite YT vloggers.

I came home and made some homemade pinto beans and rice, chilled in my hammock, and ... well, that's about it for the day.

I've signed on to assist the English teacher here and at the time of this writing I've completed my first week of classes.  I love it here, I love the kids, I love the town, I love my "apartment", and I really like the lady I work with and her family.  I'll be writing about my adventures in the classroom soon.

That's it for this post. Thanks for reading!  Comments, questions, and feedback are always welcome.

Tammy