I went to Yelapa after a week of being in Vallarta. It was a hot day and I took a cab down to the pier because of course, I was running late. I asked the fellow on the dock who was it that was driving the boat today and it was Jorge, who I knew from before, and who I found sitting in the seaside restaurant in his signature pink lacoste shirt and wayfairers. His daughters keep giving him pink shirts for Father's Day he tells me.
He is a big man and very sweet, from what I can tell. He remembered me and asked me to join him, and another friend who I discovered was a singer in Vallarta and very friendly as well although I cannot remember her name. On the way to the dock later, salesmen in white uniforms started asking "going to Yelapa?" wanting to sell me overpriced tourist tickets. Jorge waved them away telling them: "Don't ask her, she lives here." "Oh", they would respond, "she lives here, okay sorry."
I felt so special. I didn't get the 50 peso mexican price, but I got the gueyra-who-lives-here price (90) which is cheaper than the 120 peso tourist price. However, once we docked in Yelapa, Jorge gave me a coupon for a free ride back on the morning boat, and said to come talk to him next time I'm over and he will make sure I get a better deal. I felt very honoured.
On the boat over, I met a cool lady named Nancy who was just traveling on her own because her husband doesn't like to travel that much. She didn't know anything about Yelapa, so I offered to show her around. There is not a lot to see in the very low time of year. Even the waterfall is not that watery, but we hung out and I walked her around. I saw Elide and Hermalinda on the path by their house and we met on the bridge and yacked for a good 40 minutes. They were very happy to see me and wanted to know what I had been up to. It was so nice to see them, as they are my very first mexican girl friends. Hermalinda offered me one of her places to stay in for free if I needed it, the one my friend Dan was living in. I was so touched. If only Yelapa wasn't so damned hot and full of bugs right now, I would jump at the chance. But in July, August it's a jungle, in every sense of the world and I had already planned to hang out in Vallarta for that time. I told her I would love to come back for a weekend and might take her up on it. I was going to stay this night with Felix, my buddy still in Yelapa, who I hung out with in March who has a new place. He was meeting me at 4, after his work at The Verana. I realized that in the whole time I had been traveling, I had never come back anywhere or had the experience of being missed. I really loved the feeling of someone happy to see me. My spanish was way better and I could understand Hermalinda and Elide a lot more than before. We actually joked and I could tell them stories, it was so cool. Nancy didn't mind as she is learning spanish and was happy to listen and try to speak occasionally .
I asked Celida at the Inernet cafe if I could keep my bag at her place and of course, she said, no problem. We chatted a bit and she told me about her daughter going off to Vancouver to study. Her place is closed for the summer, and they are taking a break from everything. She is so lovely. I introduced Nancy to her, telling her that Celida makes the best tortilla soup in Jalisco.
I took Nancy to the beach and we met some cool people there from Java and the Indonesian islands. There wasn't much more time left before she had to take the 3 o'clock boat back. It was ten to three and she was worried. "Don't worry," I told her, "It will take 7 minutes to walk to the pier and another 10 before the boat comes to the dock and then another 5 minutes to load. Relax, this is Yelapa."
After the boat left, I hung out by the shady part by the dock and ate my bag of cookies, sharing it with a very sweet blond lab puppy who wouldn't leave me alone and then brought two other friends over. A few people walked by and recognized me. Gee, I like that feeling. Eventually Felix showed up from the walk back from Verana and it was another reunion for me! I hadn't seen him since I left to go to California. We walked back to his new place, up a bit high, and with a view of the bay and very jungly feeling. His kitchen was outside on the deck, with two rooms inside and a deck facing the bay, overlooking banana trees and other houses lower down. Flojo, the pit bull/mastif was excited to see us and was still as big a pain in the ass as always. Poor thing. He had gotten more muscular but not that much bigger. Still had fleas, and now had found his voice. I was surprised by how sloppy Felix's place was, not at all like the impeccably clean flat he had down in the village. He must be working too many hours, I thought. Or he was just turning lazy.
We went out for tacos at Glorias, which had a closed sign on it, but of course because the family lives there and we popped our head in to ask if they were REALLY closed or could we eat. Of course, we could eat. The rains had not really come yet and the river which runs beside the house, was a trickle. There were a lot of flies around and we made a game of shooting them with spit balls through a straw. Felix was a good shot! There wasn't much else to do but go home and sit in the hammock and play with Flojo. Felix fell asleep and there was no waking him. I sat on the balcony and just listened to the amazing sounds of the jungle. Birds screeching, big insects humming, and other things I don't know about making interesting exotic sounds. I wish I had brought my sketch book. Or even better, a tape recorder. I was mesmerized by all the sounds, the warm rich air, the smells and the gorgeous plant life surrounding this place.
I was tired too, so also went to bed early, but got awoken at midnight by the dog who wouldn't shut up. I yelled at Felix to let his dog in but he wasn't waking up for anything. After I got up and pulled Flojo inside, he kept growling like there was something out there. I could hear animal noises and was worried that a skunk or racoon would walk in from the open deck. I didn't sleep much after that, then a couple of hours later the electricity went and I was woken up by the heat, since the ceiling fan wasn't turning anymore. At dawn the church bells started ringing which you would think would sound nice - but in Yelapa, the sound is akin to someone smashing a metal pot over and over again, against a rock. Really nasty. I couldn't wait to leave! I could have stayed longer, but also I had to leave so I'd be back for my 11 am job interview in the city.
Have I turned into a princess or is it just too jungly for sane people at this time of year? I had planed to get to Keradwyn's to get some of my stuff I had left there, but I realized that I had a rucksack and a beach bag and not enough hands to carry what I wanted. It would be over rocks and through the jungle and well, I just wasn't up for it. Felix was no help, he was sleeping like the dead and I didn't have the heart to wake him, although briefly, I did think it would be fun to spill some water on his head. I was feeling rather bitter about how he could sleep through an invasion of roman soldiers and me, as soon as the fan stopped turning, was wide awake.
So, instead of hiking through the jungle, I hiked up to Donkey Heights to visit Aurora, my former landlady. I knew that at about 8:15 in the morning, she would be outside doing laundry at the big cement washing stand. The dogs were still barking like always as I approached the house, passing the donkeys tied up to posts. I peaked my head around the back and there she was. "Oh, santos cielos, eres tu Sandra! - Que sorpresa, que placer de verte!" She smiled a big smile and gave me a hug, still in her house dress. "Come on inside and let me make you some breakfast - will you eat some fruit with me?" It was so nice to see her face again. I love watching her prepare fruit and I sat on the stool at the counter chatting while she made up a plate of mango, banana, papaya, pineapple - all with with salt and lime. Veronica came by later on and we hugged and had a good chat while she walked me to the pier for the 9am water taxi. I saw a bunch of people I knew and it was different saying goodbye this time, because I know I'll be back.
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