A Small Tsunami and the Town of La Penita

In our last blog we promised some other photos of the family that looks after the hotel we stayed in Guayabitos.

Here is the ever working dad and the oldest girl who was in a bit of a snit this AM when we went back to Guayabitos to take some photos.
And the second oldest child with her cousin who also is the maid in the hotel.

And finally the mom with her 3 month old baby. And about that time our camera battery died and we had no replacment with us so these are the only three photos that we got.

We have mentioned collectivos in our writings and this is what they are. There are hundreds of them, travelling from small town to small town along this coast and into the mountains. They cost between 50 cents and $1.00, depending on distance and mostly they are full. The are used equally by gringos and locals.

A few days ago we moved from Guayabitos, just a few minutes up the coast to another small town called La Penita. It is the supply and service center for all the small towns around but is not a tourist area at all.

It has a few hotels with kitchens and the following photo is the entrance of the one we are staying in.

And one of its always very busy sidewalks as people from all over, both gringos and locals, come to purchase thier staples. It seems to be much cheaper than the beach towns.

This pretty boulavard gets busier in the evening when the sun goes down and is situated on the main thourfare coming into La Penita.

Thursday, the day we arrived, is market day in this town and on the day the town is hopping with people from all over.

There is everything the tourist or local could want or need, including these beautiful beach wraps.

Fruit and veggies abound and a very good price they are.

Nancy admired the little baby and immediatly the mother handed her over. She was such a proud mom of her 19 day old baby.

We did not arrive at the market until they were shutting down and what a job that is. That huge pile of paper has to be wrapped around an equal amount of breakables.

A photo showing why this beach is not a beach area.

But what it is is a fishing beach, not for tourists but for locals to make a living. This catch was red snapper that is served in restaurants whole and fried and one fish per person. It is quite priocy and it has bones which Nancy and I try to stay away from when we travel.

Just some fishermen and their boats.

Again, the catch was red snapper but a different group of fishermen.

Pelicans like their breakfast treat of fish guts and were hanging around waiting for them to be thrown away.

A fishing family.

We are sure our title got you a bit excited and now we will tell you about our tsunami. As you all know there was a huge earthquake in Chile yesterday and here in the morning there were tsunami warnings and red flags were flying on the beach meaning danger. There was great discussion on the street as to how much danger we were in but with Nancy's encouragment we were not going to wait and see so we went back to Guayabitos and took a taxi up to a lookout at fancy hotel/restaurant to wait and see.

Here is the beach at Guayabitos from our vantage point and not everybody has headed the warnings.

It is hard to tell by the next two photos but there was definately some tsunami activity on our beach. The tide would come way in and then in 10 minutes it would go way out and the sea was not normal according to the locals but no big wave appeared. We hung out for a couple of hours with great visits with others who were there for the same reason. Actually quite an enjoyable day.

In the afternoon there was a funeral and in Mexico a funeral has a parade of mourners along with a band.

Here is one of three truck loads of flowers that were part of the funeral procession.

Tomorrow we are travelling again, this time our last stop before we come home in April and it is back to Tlaqupaque, the same place we stayed before previously.