A Slice of Paradise by Pat Cypher

This past winter, a friend of mine, Wally Kennedy, a retired journalist, visited me in Lo de Marcos for one week.  When he returned to the US, he recorded his impressions for the Joplin Missouri Globe newspaper. And Wally too fell under the spell . . .

Wally began,  “I am confessing that I have cheated on you to survive the winter.  I was out of the country on a one week vacation to — of all places — Mexico.  I had to go someplace where I could wear T-shirts, shorts and flip flops and worry about getting too much sun.”

“I found the place.  It’s a little fishing village on the Pacific Coast of Mexico north of Puerto Vallarta, the place made famous in the 1964 movie “The Night of the Iguana”, starring Richard Burton and Ava Gardner.  The village I visited was a lot like Puerto Vallarta 

was before it became a destination for the rich and famous.”

While Wally was in Lo de Marcos for that one week in February, we were busy.  We inspected the tide pools at Venados Beach, dug our feet in the sand and ate fresh oysters at Socios. We watched children and dogs playing on our beautiful playa.  We had breakfast and dinner at Arcelias, drank Mojitos and watched the surfers at Tomatina’s, and ate guacamole and drank cervezas at Olivias.

We were lucky to be able to tour the hills just outside of town with a local Mexican friend.  We visited Tim and Lisa’s Organic Farm and at home we feasted on salads made with their fresh organic greens with tomatoes and avocados from our local markets.  

We ate wonderful homemade ceviche at our Mexican neighbor’s house.   We ate alitas and drank Jeff’s perfect Margaritas at the Endless Summer.  

We shopped the handicrafts and ate our way through our Saturday Tianguis, sponsored by Galvan Real Estate  (where I also got my weekly indigenous massage from a gifted Hochule curandero).

We howled as we watched the Chili Pepper eating contest, sampled the wonderful chilis, and enjoyed the music and entertainment at the Lo de Marcos Chili Cook-Off, a town fundraiser again sponsored by Galvan Real Estate.

Later, walking home, we watched a horse being shod in preparation for its performance at the Chili Cook-Off.  And finally, for the first time in his life, my friend Wally saw our amazing local Dancing Horses.

Finally we attended a dinner party hosted by Robert and Amando of Galvan Real Estate where we savored Mama Norma Galvan’s wonderful Mexican food and enjoyed the company of our fellow estadounidense, Canadian, and  Mexican friends.

In his article Wally raved about the food,, “The food and drinks I had were amazing.  One morning for breakfast I had a shrimp and cheese omelette with slices of avocado on top.  I had a burrito made with Marlin for lunch one day. I had oysters on the half shell that were harvested just hours before.  We’re talking fresh food. I could go on and on.”

“One last thing”, Wally wrote in his article, “don’t believe the hype about Mexico.  It’s not filled with rapists and murderers, Before I left I had friends tell me they feared for my well-being.  They said, “You’ll be kidnapped and held for ransom, and your life will become a made-for-TV movie.”

“But not once did I feel insecure.  What I found was a culture where you could hear the sounds of horses walking on cobblestone streets  Where roosters crowed at all hours of the day and night. And where parents faithfully walked their children to school each day.”

“What I found was a place where Mexicans, Americans and lots of Canadians could co-exist in a beautiful place with mutual respect for each other.”

“It was a slice of paradise.  Am I going back? Absolutely.”

Pat Cypher

Lo de Marcos, Nayarit and Ward, Colorado