There is the kind of Mexico vacation where you sunbathe at poolside, sip pina coladas, then high-tail it back to the States without having to utter more than an occasional gracias or por favor.
Then there is Chacala.
Chacala will never be another Acapulco, and that’s just fine with the 200 residents of this sleepy fishing village 60 miles north of Puerto Vallarta.
Travelers who have chanced upon it know Chacala as one of the great undiscovered pleasures of Mexico–a rustic slice of paradise where jungle birds, sand crabs, stingrays and fruit bats all compete for the senses.
A couple of visitors weary of the artificial tourism scene at the usual resort destinations traveled here recently and found a tropical setting that lifted the spirits and fired the imagination. For Chacala offers not only pristine beaches and a thick tropical rain forest but also a cultural voyage into the soul of small-town Mexico.
After a 90-minute ride from the airport in Puerto Vallarta, our taxi turned off the main highway and barreled down the most twisting, bumpy, pockmarked dirt road my wife and I had ever seen. Talk about getting away from it all.
We pulled into Mar de Jade, a combination vacation retreat, medical training facility and Spanish immersion school that rises from the black lava rocks at the south end of milelong Chacala Bay.
Dr. Laura del Valle, 48, who holds dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship, founded Mar de Jade in 1983 as a place to house American medical students who volunteered their time at a nearby community health clinic as part of a work-study program. Today, Mar de Jade (Spanish for “Sea of Jade”) has grown into a multifaceted tourism center that can house up to 50 guests at a time.
A spirit of community and volunteerism sweeps through daily life here, giving Mar de Jade the air of a bilingual, consciousness-raising commune. Del Valle describes it as “a cross-cultural, extended-family atmosphere where you can explore the natural environment, study Spanish, participate in rural community projects, or simply unwind from the pressures of life and regain serenity.”
Visitors are asked to help out with dish duty once or twice during a stay; longer-staying guests defray room and board by helping out around the compound, and Spanish is encouraged (though not required) during the three meals a day on the oceanfront veranda.
Visitors can choose the kind of vacation they want. I’ve been there twice now, and on both occasions I’ve encountered weekend vacationers who wanted merely to be left alone to wander Chacala’s empty beaches or steamy jungle trails. Others readily embraced the family spirit of the place, learning the names of staff members and other guests, then joining in for a midnight bonfire on the beach under a velvet canopy of twitching stars.
Not everyone who visits Chacala stays at Mar de Jade. Cabin cruisers and yachtsmen who ply the warm waters off the west coast of Mexico discovered its charms long ago.
Steve Horne, his wife, Donna, and their 7-year-old daughter, Laura, moored their 30-foot sailboat in Chacala Bay after a monthlong trip down the coastline from their home in Ventura, Calif.
“We’ve been looking for a place like this,” Steve Horne says after beaching his dinghy. “No amenities, just a back-to-nature experience. The thing I like about Chacala is (that) it’s not even on the maps.”
On this spring day, three dozen people–Mexicans from nearby villages and a smattering of Americans–are spread about on the wide sweep of white beach that curves like a crescent moon. Six local boys are playing a rough-and-tumble game of soccer under the swaying fronds of coconut trees while two smaller local boys and an Anglo girl build a sand castle at the water’s edge. Another local boy, Valentine, lets his friends bury him up to his neck before they ditch him to go boogie-boarding.
Farther up the beach, two California girls chase a sandpiper before it flits off. The girls’ parents entreat us to join them for lunch at Las Brisas, one of the half-dozen palapa thatched-hut restaurants that line the bay. Their names are Paul and Betsy Mead, and they’re visiting Paul’s mother in nearby Guayabitos. We become quick friends.
We order lobster ($7 apiece) and cerveza and watch their girls, 6-year-old Amanda and 8-year-old Paige, skitter like waterbugs in the warm, silky waves. Then Amanda approaches our table, holding a small branch to balance her slimy quarry.
“Look,” she says. “It washed up on the beach.”
Betsy Mead sets down her beer and inspects the limp, black-spotted eel. “All right, honey, now put it back.”
Amanda giggles and skips off.
I ask whether they worry about their girls’ safety. The Meads, who live in California’s Sonoma Valley wine country, look at each other. “We watch them,” Paul says.
Betsy leans forward. “I don’t understand people who shelter their kids from an experience like this. They’re having the adventure of their lives.”
She laces a tortilla chip with cilantro salsa. “Want to know why this is a magical place for kids? Papas fritas (french fries), great ketchup, chocolate milkshakes–and all this nature.” High overhead, a flock of 14 pelicans flies in razor-straight I-formation.
“Just be prepared,” she adds. “Don’t leave home without some cortisone cream, an antihistamine, children’s aspirin, sunscreen, some good water shoes, and something to drink and nibble on.”
Paul discloses that he and Paige were bitten by jellyfish yesterday. Lime juice reduced the swelling, and Tylenol lessened the pain.
By late afternoon, after a refreshing swim, we decide to remain in Chacala rather than return to Mar de Jade for dinner. We watch dozens of sand crabs burrow out of the wet sand as the tide recedes.
Finally, after a tangerine sunset, we head back to our simple tile-floored room in the two-story guest house. There are few frills here: no TV, no newspapers, no air conditioning (the cool ocean breeze works fine), and no telephones, though there is electricity and running hot and cold water.
The next day, a Saturday, everyone splits up. A few visitors go horseback riding along a long stretch of white beach to the south, while others go boating through mangrove swamps to the beach town of Guayabitos, still others go snorkeling off the coral beaches of San Blas or Chacalilla, and Del Valle and a handful of students take the van to visit a Huichol Indian shaman in the Sierra Madre.
Mary and I set off on foot for Las Cuevas (The Caves), an isolated inlet that’s about a 90-minute hike. We pass a boy with a machete at a coconut puesto, or stand. The brush thickens and jungle birds whistle in the branches above. After a time we enter a meadow that is all that remains of an extinct volcanic crater. We make a wrong turn and run into a herd of grazing bulls, but they do not bother us.
We find Las Cuevas, a serene cove that is now at low tide, letting us swim in the startlingly clear turquoise waters and explore the dark caves that peer out from the rim of the inlet.
There is one other visitor here, one of the medical students who has the day off from her chores at Casa Clinica, which serves Chacala and the neighboring town of Las Varas. The nonprofit clinic, operated by the staff of Mar de Jade, provides free medical care to the families of local fishermen and landless farmers who work in the fruit or tobacco fields. All medical attention is supervised by a doctor.
Beth Riley, 33, a pediatric nurse practitioner in the emergency room of Children’s Hospital in Denver, says of her volunteer work here: “It’s an eye-opening experience–a cultural education for both us and the locals. We learn about treating patients in a community setting, and they’re just grateful we’re here.”
She rolls over on her blanket. “But today, I just want to work on my tan.”
DETAILS ON CHACALA
When to go: Fall, winter and spring are the best times to visit Chacala. Late June to mid-September is the rainy season.
Mar de Jade rates: For vacation, rates are $50 per adult per night, which includes three home-cooked meals; $20 for children 6-16, free for children under 6. Spanish lessons and work-study programs are also available.
Health considerations: All fruits and raw vegetables are washed with purified water. Bottled water and sodas are available. There is no need to get special immunizations.
Special event: During Easter week each year, Chacala is crammed with as many as 5,000 campers, music all night long, and a shopping area of makeshift tents with baked goods and novelty items.
Basics: Americans need a passport or birth certificate to enter Mexico.
Getting there: American, Continental, Delta, TWA, America West, Mexicana, AeroMexico and Alaskan Airlines are the major carriers flying into Puerto Vallarta. The Mar de Jade staff will arrange transportation from the airport to the complex.
For information: Contact Mar de Jade at P.O. Box 1280, Santa Clara, Calif. 95052; 415-281-0164 (www.mardejade.com on the Web). In Mexico: Apdo. 81, Las Varas, Nayarit, Mexico 63715; fax number 011-52-327-2-01-84; e-mail info@mardejade.com.
