MUSIC FROM LA CRUZ TO CHACALA

March 12, 2018

Dr. Alma, the Opthamologist in Bucerias

I was lazy most of Monday and did little other than work on my blog post for the week and text with friends.  About 3:30, I decided to go to Bucerias to pick up my new glasses.  The shop was closed when I got there, so I stayed on the combi until we got to the Chedraui and did a bit of shopping.  Then I walked back to Dr. Alma’s, hoping she might be back from siesta.  Fortunately, she was open and I was able to pick up my new glasses.  I got back to La Cruz with just enough time to practice the guitar a little before heading off to the Octopus’ Garden to meet Don.

Tatewari with Perla Alarcon

Don and I had tickets to see Tatewari that night.  The vocalist, Perla Alarcon, joined them for the evening and added greatly to our enjoyment.  I had seen her with them several years before, but all of them had matured greatly since 2013 and their show was truly spectacular.  They played a mixture of flamenco and traditional Mexican songs with a flamenco twist.  We enjoyed the music, our dinners, and the always magical ambiance of the Octopus’ Garden under the stars.

March 13, 2018

The Dance Floor at Octopus' Garden

I had been waking late and missing my morning runs, so I decided to attend Cherie’s ecstatic dance class on Tuesday morning.  Cherie played a mixture of Om chanting and other music and we each danced as we saw fit.  I used the opportunity to stretch and then get in a bit of a cardio workout.  The music was hypnotic and it felt good to be moving.  The hour passed quite quickly and then it was time to continue my exercise with a quick walk home.

I spent the afternoon playing the guitar and researching flamenco guitar teachers.  I found an interesting one in Spain who gives lessons over Skype.  I decided to explore that option further.

Coco Loco at El Coleguita

Karen had invited me to join her and some other female friends for dinner and a movie at the film festival in Puerto Vallarta.  We ate at El Coleguita in Nuevo Vallarta.  The food was excellent and the prices very reasonable.  I had ther Coco Loco, coconut shrimp and a coconut battered fish fillet with rice, garlic bread, and salad for 149 pesos.  It was more food than I could eat and easily the equal of a coconut shrimp meal in La Cruz that would have cost nearly twice as much.  Betty ordered a 50-peso margarita that was large enough to swim in.  Though we took our time enjoying our food, she was unable to finish it.

The Screen at Marina Vallarta

The movie was screened outdoors at Dock L in Marina Vallarta.  The film was The Weekend Sailor, a documentary about the Sayula II, the Mexican race boat that won the first Fastnet Around the World Race.  The boat was sailed by a Mexican millionaire and his inexperienced family, assisted by a motley crew of young Americans and Europeans.  Their triumph over much more experienced and better supported teams from traditional sailing nations was unexpected and a great source of pride for Mexico.  The mostly Mexican audience went nuts when the film showed the Sayula II winning the race.  Forty-five years later, that win was still very exciting for Mexicans and it was very moving to experience that emotion.  The Sayula II was docked alongside the venue.  She had just been relocated to Puerto Vallarta in time for the screening.  Although she was a Swan 65, she looked awfully small to have sailed around the horn and across the roaring forties.  The footage of the towering waves on that passage further re-enforced my opinion that the only way I wanted to sail around the horn was on a cruise ship.

March 14-15, 2018

Bobby and Jane at the Poolside Deli

I got up in time to hear the net, but not early enough to go for a run.  By the time I finished breakfast, I barely had time to scurry down to the marina to meet up with Jane from Chantey for our weekly music circle.  Jane played the accordion and a gentleman named Tony, who played a tin whistle, joined us.  Eventually, my friend Bobby joined us with his guitar.  With guitar, whistle, and accordion, the music was very different from earlier weeks and we concentrated mostly on Irish tunes and sea chanteys.  We played for over three hours.

I was hot and sweaty by the time I got home and spent the rest of the afternoon learning about flamenco and practicing a bit.  After dinner, I wrote for a while and then relaxed by watching British dramas on Netflix.

Thursday was a slow day.  I stayed home and practiced the guitar.  In the evening, John, Cherie, and I went to the free movie night at the marina to see Trumbo, which was an unexpected delight.  Don was supposed to join us, but he was late and we didn’t find him until the movie was over.  It seemed like all my lost friends appeared at once on the way back to the car.  Just as we met Don, I also met my friends, Blair and Greg, whom I had kept missing for the past month.  We chatted a bit and promised to catch up when I got back from Chacala.

March 16, 2018

I got up rather early on Friday because I wanted to go to the bank in Bucerias before meeting Karen at noon to go to Chacala.  I took a combi to the bank and was back at the house by 10:30. Karen got stuck on the telephone making travel arrangements, so it was 1:30 before she and Marc picked me up from the side of the highway and we headed off to Chacala.

Traffic was heavy as far as San Pancho, but it thinned out after that and we made it to Chacala in two hours.  While all of Banderas Bay is on Jalisco time, the rest of Nayarit is an hour behind.  Despite our late start, we still made it to my AirBnB on schedule.

The View from My Terrace at Casa Roca

I couldn’t tell much about the place I had rented from the pictures on AirBnB, but it turned out to be gorgeous.  Everything was new and clean and there was a beautiful swimming pool and a lovely terrace with a view of the ocean.  I convinced Karen to make use of the trundle bed in my room and Marc got a hotel room a bit closer to the beach (and the noisy main road.)  After everyone got checked in, we had just enough time for a beer before the festival started at 5:00.

The Palm Grove

Everyone Wanted a Picture of the Sunset

The first hour was music and dance performed by kids from the local schools.  None of it was spectacular, but it was pleasant to sit in the palm grove where the festival was held and watch the sun set.  I had an ice cream cone for dinner.

High School Dance Troupe

Makupa Dancing with His Cello

        

The first professional act was Makupa, a fellow who played the cello and performed original music using looping technology.  He wore a black sombrero that looked more like a witch’s hat than anything else.  The sound was terrible and we couldn’t hear the cello.  The best part was when he danced with the cello, stamping his feet like a flamenco dancer.  We stayed for his set, but rapidly lost patience with the terrible sound quality.

My Room at Casa Roca (Trundle Bed Pulled Out)

The second act was a band called the Autistas (Autistics.)  They were very loud and, with the terrible sound, affected me like fingernails on a blackboard.  Karen and I left and went back to our room to read for the rest of the evening.  Marc stayed and said he enjoyed the music.  We could hear it pretty clearly from our room, so did enjoy the third act, La Garfield.

March 17, 2018

The View from Chac Mool

Our room was quiet and the beds comfortable enough, but neither Karen nor I could get to sleep until the early morning hours.  Consequently, we got up late.  We sat on the terrace, using the Wi-Fi, for an hour or so and then repaired to Chac Mool, a palapa restaurant on the beach, for breakfast and coffee.  Marc joined us about noon and ordered lunch.  We sat at that table for the entire afternoon, eventually swimming and ordering cool drinks, until we got hungry again and ordered an early dinner.  The service was slow and it took so long to get our check that we missed most of the school kids on Saturday night.

We still got our share of youth, however, because the first “professional” act was a fourteen-year-old boy named Nachito Vallarta who sang and played guitar.  He was very talented for his age and did a good job, playing a variety of original, Mexican, and classic rock songs.  He was nervous when he wasn’t playing, so gave almost no introduction to his songs. As a result, it took a lot of songs to fill an hour.  He soldiered on and was definitely better than the first couple of acts the night before.

Ballet Mexcaltitan

The second act was the Ballet Mexcaltitan.  Their music was recorded, but the dancers were good and the costumes beautiful.  They performed folkloric dances.  There was a lot of repetition in the dances, but the costumes were interesting and there was one fascinating dance where the men clacked machetes together and I was afraid someone would lose a foot.  The company also had a little boy and girl who provided comic relief.  They were actually very good dancers and never missed a step.

Food and Drink Stalls at the Chacala Music Festival

The last band was a group called Asuntos Varios.  They played music with a Latin flair and many people got up to dance.  The night’s music definitely ended on a high note. The ice cream was melted, but there were interesting craft beers to taste.  It was St. Patrick’s Day, so I opted for a licorice stout that was very tasty and not too heavy.

March 18, 2018

Pool at Casa Roca

Karen had gone back to La Cruz the night before to fetch our friends, John and Janice.  I got up an had a swim in the lovely pool.  The water temperature was perfect.  Marc and I arrived at Chac Mool by 11:00 and ordered breakfast and coffee.  There wasn’t a beachfront table when we arrived, but we had moved forward one table by the time the food arrived and eventually snagged a front one before Karen and the others arrived about noon.  Once again, we spent the day in the shade of the restaurant.  Karen and I did take a walk along the beach to where the locals tied up their pangas.

Cove Where the Pangas Moor in Chacala

The Beach at Chacala

Knowing the service was slow, we ordered dinner about 3:30.  Some of us still hadn’t received our food by the time the festival started at 5:00.  We cancelled those orders and asked for the check, which took so long that we barely managed to get to the festival in time to get seats.  They never did charge us for the breakfast and coffee that Marc and I had had and we didn’t bother to correct them because we never would have gotten out of there if they had had to recalculate the bill.

Panta Rei

The student presentations were over by the time we arrived.  It took us some time to gather up five chairs, but we eventually managed to snag a table when some of the parents left.  The first band was Panta Rei, a group of young Argentines featuring an accordion.  I recognized them from the fund raiser for Wayland at the Octopus’ Garden.  They were very good and we all appreciated their music. 

Gypsy Rumba

I was really looking forward to seeing the second band, Gypsy Rumba, because they had been one of my favorites the previous year.  I was excited to see that Alberto from Tatewari was playing lead guitar because, after the split up of Luna Rumba, Gypsy Rumba had been left without a strong lead guitarist.  The show did not go well, however.  The sound was awful and the drums couldn’t be heard, which put the drummer in a foul mood.  The lead guitarist looked bored.  Despite some welcome new material, the show fell flat.  It looked like there was dissension among the ranks and they couldn’t get off the stage fast enough.  The last group was Maria Mezcal, a group playing modern Mexican music.  Karen and Janice left and waited in the truck, but Marc, John and I stayed until the end and enjoyed them.

Maria Mezcal

Palm Grove at Night

It was a long drive back to La Cruz, but we still had enough energy for several games of Rummikub at John and Janice’s place when we got back.  I didn’t get home until 1:30 in the morning.