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First Time Reader? ......here is the background to this series of blogs:
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lobo/9/1233502800/tpod.html
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Click on SLIDESHOW and then the rectangle in the bottom right corner to see photos in full screen format
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Mexico: 23 Destinations to Spend the Winter Months
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Cuyutlán
No. 13 of 23 Destinations (this is not a ranking)
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Cuyutlán - Some Like it Remote and Memories of Hell 

"Without a camera I felt, well - useless and of course, full of self-recrimination. How I could have been so careless with such a valuable piece of equipment?" 

After a half hour bus ride from Colima to Armeria located on the Laguna de Cuyutlán, we switched from a mediocre bus to a typical bus that one imagines in a B-movie about transportation in Central America . It has its charms but it's murder on the backbone. This authentic bus ride would take us from Armeria to the Pacific coast resort town of Cuyutlán.    
 
The bus ride through a fertile valley was noteworthy for its beautiful scenery and bananas, limes, papaya and guava plantations.

While the bus ride was interesting the same could not be said about our arrival in Cuyutlán. It seemed so remote and isolated that there was a strong urge to remain on the bus or take the fast bus out of town. It had all the appeal of an outpost in the middle of nowhere. A lady waiting to get on our bus assured us that there were hotels just two blocks toward the beach. That seemed to lift our spirits.  

The main street turned out to be exceptional in several aspects.

Our first surprise was the exceptionally smooth stamped concrete surface we found on main street.  It was extremely friendly to the small wheels on our suitcases .  In most other towns/cities we would not be walking down main street with our suitcases and the street surface and especially the sidewalks would be anything but suitcase friendly.

Secondly, to our amazement, this was like entering Dodge City just previous to a gun fight. The only people on the street were Barbara and I. Now we were not engaged in any shootout. In fact we had different agendas. Since it was almost 19:00, Barbara, as usual, had only one thing on her mind and that was to head for the beach, suitcase and all, to take photos of the gorgeous sunset.   I, on the other hand, was savoring the moment of entering "Dodge City" as the only dude on the street. With Barbara far ahead of me, there was only my suitcase and I on the street. I took the opportunity to take photos of the deserted street and my parked suitcase. How often does that happen in Mexico?

I was encouraged by the sight of a cluster of hotels near the beach. At that moment I was overcome by a feeling of panic for the sun was about to set and I had the camera . What good is a sunset without a camera? That is a situation that Barbara found herself in and I could just imagine what names I was being called at this moment. With that in mind, I hustled my way down to the beach, suitcase and all and sure enough there was Barbara frantically waving for me to provide the missing equipment and in this case it was the camera. Unfortunately all that was left was the last few seconds of the sunset. It's now hours later and I don't think I've heard the last of it. ("He's exaggerating!")

First impressions:

-       this place is awfully small - how could anybody spend two or three months here?
-       wow - what a fantastic black sable sand beach!
-       what a lovely wide "malecon" along the beach again finished in stamped concrete with inlaid stones
-       there sure is a lack of people here - the holiday season is over
-       the air by the ocean is so windless that beachfront umbrellas are left in an open position
-       there are numerous Mexican restaurants of a temporary nature lining the area between the malecon and the sea providing for the authentic Mexican experience
-       it is so mild even after dark that a sweater is not necessary
-       there is a distinct tropical atmosphere here as many restaurants and hotels have glassless windows
-       the only expats we saw was a group of men enjoying an evening drink at the restaurant of the Hotel Fenix whose architecture reminded me very much of what one sees in Key West, Florida
-       the tropical ambiance finally got the better of us and enticed us into an outdoor bar to sip on a pi ñ a colada and a margarita; there must be some magic to this place because normally our drink of choice is a glass of wine or a beer
-       however, I still come back to my first impression, how can anybody spend several months here despite the beautiful beach? (Barbara says "I could!")

One of the highlights of the evening was to witness a group of indigenous people perform a traditional symbolic dance adapted to the Christmas time in the local church . Their costumes were embellished by images of the Virgin of Guadeloupe and at the end of the performance the "Baby Jesus" was removed from the manger and passed around to the collective group to be kissed by all. As the "Baby Jesus" was getting near us, that was our signal to leave but nevertheless, we were very happy to be witnesses to the scene.

Those are our first impressions but "manana es un otro dia y vamos a ver que passera ma ñ ana".

Up to this point the blog was written in Cuyutl á n for which I am grateful because there is nothing like first impressions recorded at the time. Despite our best intentions we did not do enough of this but it does require self discipline to create the time for writing when the actual exploration of a destination is so much more interesting.

Mañana
(written May 30, 2009)

Now that I am in a recall mode there are two significant events which merit inclusion into this blog.

Firstly, I shall always remember Cuyutlán as the destination where my carelessness got the better of my digital camera .

Since blogging is dependent on three aspects: travel, writing and photos my first reaction was - without photos "what's the point of my blogging".

The photos not only add a beautiful dimension to the written blog but they also are the chief means of recording what was seen during the trip and thereby the photos are in large part the basis for the written blog. Often it takes the photos to jog the memory or to provide the information needed to write.

Without a camera I felt, well - useless and of course full of self-recrimination. How I could have been so careless with such a valuable piece of equipment? In addition, Barbara's comments of "I told you so" did not succeed in raising my spirits either.

Well, let's just go to the "replay" mode to see how my Canon Digital camera met its demise.

As the photos attest, the beach at Cuyutlan is absolutely beautiful. Wide beyond anything we had seen in Mexico, smooth due to the fine black sable sand and inviting thanks to the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. That is where I headed for a closer inspection - the lovely waters of the Pacific . It wasn't that I went swimming. Let's just say I was wading into the gentle rolling waves along the beach.

As a photographer you always look for the unusual angle that will give an interesting perspective to a photo. It was at that moment that I got the bright idea that one of my classic "along the water" shots which I had used often on lakes and rivers in Northern British Columbia would really be nice.

So there I was bending over to get the camera closer to the water, snapping away as the gentle waves were breaking on the shore. I was really pleased with the results so why quit when you are on a roll?

The rest of the story is obvious as a proverbial "rogue wave" decided to claim my Canon as a victim of the Pacific Ocean. It was all very cunning. It wasn't like the camera was ripped out of my hand and I was swept out to sea. That would have made for a great story had I survived to write about it. (Otherwise Barbara would have been writing this.)

No, it was nothing like that. It was more sneakiness. The Pacific just decided to give my camera a very light washing of maybe three seconds . It was not that it was dunked, it was just sprayed for Pete's sake.

Dunked or not, that was enough to immobilize one good camera. That was it - the end, kaput!

There were however two possibitlites. Would the camera maybe still work after it had completely dried out? The next day it did humour me by actually taking two more photos in Lazaro Cardenas but that was the final end.

The other ray of hope was that our next destination was Acapulco. If I was to lose my camera, just before Acapulco would probably have been the best place because of the big box stores where I could surely buy a replacement camera perhaps for less than back in Canada.

That was the camera story, so what was the second event worthy of inclusion in this blog?

It goes back to a point which I made earlier in my blog.

- the only expats we saw was a group of men enjoying an evening drink at the restaurant of the Hotel Fenix

Well that is what I wrote the night before.

The next morning as I was walking along in the middle of the the main street I actually encountered someone on the street which so far has been a rare experience in Cuyutl á n . Had I been back in Prince George, British Columbia I would have walked right by the person or even changed to the opposite side of the street. But this was Cuyutlan and since the other person looked like an expat I couldn't wait to strike up a conversation.

That is where the story began as "Nils" from Washington, DC was one of the men in the group we had seen the night before. They were doing what everyone else does in the evening in warm, tropical, small and remote Cuyutlan - they were having an evening drink.

However it turns out they were raising a glass to more than a good time. They were raising a glass to life itself. What could be greater than celebrating life, enjoying the moment so to speak, with the realization that fate had been kind to them. They had been through hell together and had come out on the other side perhaps stronger for the experience or perhaps the shared experience had left them scarred for life in a way that no one will ever know. That was not the point. The point was that they were here on this day in beautiful tropical Cuyutlan to one more time share the memories of Vietnam .

Yes, Nils and the rest of the group - Neil, Roger, John and Kip - were medics in the Vietnam War. Although the war between North and South Vietnam waged from 1959 to 1975, large numbers of American ground troops were not committed till 1967.

The U.S. got involved in this, the only war it ever lost, to stop communism from spreading in south-east Asia as part of the "domino theory". Eventually over half a million U.S. soldiers were thrown into the fight. The role of the medics could not be overestimated as they often meant the difference between life and death not to mention the ever-present dangers to their own lives.

By the end of the Vietnam War, signaled by the roof-top helicopter evacuation of the remaining personnel from the US embassy in Saigon, over 58,000 US soldiers were casualties of this very divisive war. Understandably so, the five men who were gathered in Cuyutlan had the ultimate reason to celebrate.

For more on the role of medics in the Vietnam War:

http://www.ichiban1.org/html/stories/story_43 .htm

http://www.glynn.k12.ga.us/BHS/academics/junior/durham/megane23540/home.html

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_medics_like_in_the_Vietnam_war

Of the five men, Roger was the reason that this year's reunion was held in Cuyutlan because he is the expat from British Columbia who lives here.

My questions about the cost of accommodations in the area revealed that a house near the beach could be rented for $300 while a new place in the suburbs south of town went for $500 per month.

Roger also gave the following website as a good source of information:
- click on the real estate link for more details

www.cuyutlandirectory.com

In conclusion who should stay here?

-       you are looking for peace and quiet and you will find it here except during the Christmas holiday season and Holy Week
-       you like to relax and walk a fabulous beach like perhaps no other in Mexico (black sand) for miles and miles
-       you are looking for affordable prices in housing
-       you are comfortable with a very small expat community of about 30 (source: Roger)
-       you don't mind driving or taking a bus (there is a bus other than the chicken bus we took) for 45 minutes to get to some major shopping in Colima

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Feedback: travelswithlobo@yahoo .com
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Coming Soon:

Acapulco: The Original Mexican Resort Town
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For a great interview with Mexican President Calderon:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7971732.stm