YALAPA BY YACHT

Okay, as you can see by the photo, it was not a yacht, but a canopied water taxi holding about 20 to 25 people.  Since the pier was torn down (they actually are working on the new one) you have to wade out to the boat (wear sandals that don't easily slip off).  One of my reasons to visit Yalapa was to find the "elusive Rita".  The story of Rita would take a book, so let's just say it was someone I knew over 45 years ago in Puerto Vallarta.

Rita ran a restaurant called La Margarita before the Burtons arrived.  Once Liz (she did hate that name) and Dick arrived they either dined there or stopped for drinks almost every night (lots of drinks).  When Rita was given 24 hours to leave Mexico (too long a story) I was the one who helped her move some of her stuff back to the US.  We put her to work at a business I was a partial owner of at the time (Designs of Mexico) and then after a few years,  disappeared in San Francisco forty five years ago.  I thought she was dead, but the owner of my favorite bar here, told me there was an American red headed character, who used to own a bar in PV now living in Yalapa.  I did find someone who said he knew her and he pointed out her house up on the hill but said, "She is now here now"  The same story every time, so I still don't know if it is the Rita I knew.

Now to Yalapa.  You can still only get there by boat and yet the town was founded in the 1800's.  When I first saw it there were no paved roads, sewage, and limited electricity.  It is now a village of about 2000 people with cobble stoned streets.  Actually they aren't really streets as there are no cars.  Other than walking, the main means of transportation are horses or donkeys.

I did walk up to the first waterfall (about a ten minute walk) and even after a recent dry spell, it is quite pretty.  There is another larger one further up, but it was about an hour walk and no one had really good directions to get to it.  Yalapa is still a sleepy little fishing village and quite charming.  Like almost all coastal villages, there is a river running to it (a real river, not a sewer).  There aren't a lot of touristy shops like Salulita. 

Fruit trees are everywhere: banana, papaya, mangoes, and lots of other strange looking fruits.  You also see lots of iguanas, but still no tropical birds.  There isn't much to do except to walk around the town, eat and drink.  Our boatman and guide told us that if we ate at one restaurant we got a free drink with our meal for taking his water taxi.  It seemed like a good idea so I had a cheviche and two beers.  When they charged me for the two, I had a fit (it seems I did not show them my ticket first)  I never walk away from a good fight and eventually got one of the beers off my bill.  I also had an encounter with a man carrying around a huge iguana.  I foolishly took a picture and he demanded 50 pesos.  A ridiculous amount so I deleted the photo, but the would not leave me alone.  I finally gave him 30 pesos (I don't win all my fights).

All in all, I would say that the boat trip was the best part.  It is well worth the $20 just for a round trip.  The boat hugs the coastline which is gorgeous.  It appears as if the hills are pure rock and yet the jungle grows right down to the water.  We stopped at Los Arcos, but did not go through the tunnel in the rock.  I think the boat was too large.  We stopped there to view the rocks and feed the fish (some quite colorful).  On the way over, we were all required to put on life jackets.  On the way back they never bothered to unpack them.  (I guess they thought we were sea worthy by then).  It is a nice day trip I will repeat, and hopefully find Rita next time.