Puerto Arista is not counted among the great coastal resorts of Mexico - and that's why we love it so much. It's on the Chiapas coast, and until recently it was a five or six hour trip from St Cristobal. Now, thanks to a new motorway carved through great swathes of rock, it's a minimum of two and a half hours away.. I suspect that might change its curious and sleepy charm pretty soon.
We set off on public transport for the coast on Sunday morning, and had to change vehicles several times before we finally made it. Every time we changed it got hotter and the kids got crosser. We were all (including Enrique, Mariet and family) crammed into one taxi for much of the journey.
Once we arrived at the beach though, the stickiness seemed worth it. There is nothing to do at Puerto Arista except swim, eat fish and order cold drinks. That was enough to make us all very happy.
We stayed in some cabañas in a coconut and mango grove, which were basic but clean. At night, the grove was magical, lit by the stars and the moon. Daisy was very taken with her 'moon shadow' and her tent (mosquito net) over her bed. Clover, unfortunately, has been teething for a few nights and found the night away somewhat trying. I fed her several times out on the porch in the middle of the night, listening to the waves and feeling a million miles from anywhere.
Out of season, Puerta Arista doesn't see much tourism and we had the beach pretty much to ourselves, apart from local families who came to exclaim over Clover's blue eyes and our general paleness. We set ourselves up under large palapas (shaded open thatched buildings) and ordered fish in various guises. The kids spent almost the entire day in the water, stopping only for tortilla breaks and large glasses of jamaica (hibiscus tea).
On the way home, the taxi driver was kind enough to stop so we could buy mangos by the roadside, sold by ladies who cut them into strips and put them in bags for convenience. They were seriously good. Then the tired kids dozed on our laps all the way back home, grubby with sand and mango juice.
Despite their grubbiness, Daisy and Clover caused the usual sensation at St Cristobal bus station. The girl in front of us looked at our grubby eldest daughter and said to her friend " How wonderfully beautiful she is - and oh look there is another one behind her". To which her friend replied: "Don't say anything, you'll give her the (evil) eye".
It's a constant concern for people here that children who get too many compliments will attract a malinfluence, which can only be averted by wearing an amber bracelet. Daisy would love an excuse for some jewellery, but I would have thought her general grubbiness would have put most people off.
This morning, Daisy's first words to me were. "Can I go back to the beach today"... so I think the trip was an unqualified success.
1 comment:
do you know what the weather is like here at the moment??
this is tantamount to torture!
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