Adventures In The Swamp

Chacahua is a very isolated in many ways, and quite autonomous as well. Although Chacahua is only an hour north of Puerto Escondido, it’s as though time has stood still in this quaint village situated on a point inaccessible by car and engulfed by a crocodile infested, mangrove entwined brackish lagoon. Internet existence in non-existent, and there’s only one phone for the whole town located at the convenient store. When someone has an incoming call the clerk gets on the megaphone and announces to the village “Jose, your uncle Pablo wants to talk to you”, or something to that effect.

Eva Tommy and I on our way to Chacahua

            We left the car on the mainland and boarded a small fiberglass boat that appeared only marginally seaworthy with visible structural cracks in the hull. The half hour boat ride takes you through the lagoon, rich with exotic birds, snakes, turtles and other interesting fauna that thrive in this hostile environment. The captain seemed to navigate through the mangroves effortlessly, guiding the boat as if he had done it a million times; he probably has.

            Once we got there, we found a reeling right-hander that made Barra look like a kiddy pool. It’s a full-on barreling wave that, on the right swell, will take you on the quarter mile ride of your life. I counted one guy get five solid barrels on one wave, I managed to get barreled three times on one wave which is definitely a landmark in my surfing career. Unfortunately the swell only held for the first two days and then dropped off dramatically. Chacahua needs solid swell to really work, so after three days we decided to head back to Puerto Escondido which always seems to produce regardless of swell conditions.

Kay and Zac, I know one of you can identify these beautiful birds, I sure can't

The boat ride back from Chacahua was even more questionable than the one there. This smaller boat had a bigger crack through the length of the hull than the one that took us out there. My nerves weren’t settled by the fact that this craft was grossly over packed with 11 people. Half way back to shore two local people flagged the boat down from one of the small islands to hop aboard as well. When we pulled up to the dock there was a local man with a huge, hog-tied iguana that he wanted to take to town, most likely to sell. One of the salty old gringos on our boat began to argue with him telling the local man that he was disrespecting the environment and disobeying the laws pertinent to this lagoon, which is apparently part of a National Park. The argument got heated as the indignant gringo took it upon himself to exercise his apparent mastery of the Spanish language and belittle the local for capturing the Iguana. The gringo forcibly blocked the guy from boarding the over packed boat while heated words were exchanged about each of their mothers. I was a little on edge. There we were in the middle of a swamp on a overcrowded, nearly sinking boat and this guy wanted to go on some diatribe about a damn Iguana, give me a break. Obviously no one had ever told this guy to pick his battles.

            I got to thinking, and then concluded, what leg does this gringo have to stand on? He doesn’t live there, he just takes a jet-fuel guzzling plane down to this spot, acts like he owns it, and then probably goes back to the states to drive his SUV around L.A. or something. I wanted to tell him to back off, but you can’t change people’s minds, and trying to usually just ends in another pointless altercation. And really who cares? It’s an Iguana, I saw the guy eating a fish for dinner the night before, both animals part of a food chain with us at, or near, the top.

            Maybe he was just a jerk, or maybe he really felt like he was going to change this guys mind and help the environment. My conviction is…well I don’t know what my conviction is, I just felt like this overzealous gringo should chill out and let the guy kill the Iguana if he wants, it’s not like it was a Silverback Gorilla or something. You see Iguanas everywhere, there like reptilian rats as far as I’m concerned; heck I already ran one over with my own gas guzzling tourist chariot. Just something to think about when your traveling, there’s so many different ways to live, and as long it ain’t bothering me I figure leave well enough alone, especially when your on someone else’s turf.

The sunset from Dan and Carmen's

            We got back to Puerto Escondido with no problems. We’ve been staying at this great hotel called Dan and Carmen’s. It’s more like a compound, taking up a whole sloping hillside block dotted with banana a palm trees. For $40 a night we’ve got a room with three beds, a kitchen and an ocean view. Dan is Canadian expat who has spent the last twenty years building and expanding this truly unique compound that I would suggest to anyone who wants kick back, relax and not worry about a thing, except for issues like what combination of fruit you want in your morning smoothie from the onsite café that serves some of the best food in town.

            Tomorrow were driving to Saladita in the state of Guerrero to stay at a house my neighbor Steve from Santa Cruz owns and has so generously allowed us to use while surfing one of the longest left hand points in Mexico. Thanks for reading!