Tapatios (and some expats) in the know, know about Chacala.
There’s something much different about Chacala than other Riviera Nayarit beach towns. A half-kilometer beach in a beautiful bay with gentle waves and smooth sandy bottom. A small Mexican village of about 400 year-round residents, a few small hotels, posadas and B&Bs, but no mega-resort (yet) looming over everything and everyone. You still get a chance to enjoy the village experience in Chacala: roosters crowing, fireworks exploding, fishermen selling their catch on the beach. There are no bars, no discos, only one taco stand and not even a tortilla shop or cenaduria in town.
Londoner Emilia Robinson and her husband Arturo Padilla found this out when they were planning their Guadalajara wedding and friends told them to look at Chacala for a honeymoon spot.
They were looking to open an business and thought about a Mexican restaurant in Oxford, England, where they had been living the past five years, but decided that Chacala needed a good coffee shop.
They purchased property in the adjacent Marina Chacala gated residence development just next door to town (known locally as Chacalilla) and began serving coffee soon after the wedding. “We knew Sayulita and thought we’d become the Chocobanana of Chacala,” although they have moved far beyond that simple concept.
Three years later, they are now ensconced in the most recent reincarnation of their Chac Mool Cafe in a large open beachside building next to the town plaza. The quality of their thin gourmet style pizzas, fresh baked cinnamon rolls and cool cocktails keeps both the gringo contingent and locals coming back for more. And they have finally become locals after suffering through a few summers. “They used to refer to our place as ‘the gringo restaurant,’” said Robinson, “but now, particularly the younger generation, have come to accept us. Chac Mool is friends with most of the local kids on Facebook and they come to hang out and have frappuccinos.”
They offer movie nights and show sports with a large projector on one of the restaurant’s walls and don’t mind if people wander in from the plaza and sit down to watch, even if they don’t purchase anything. They also keep a hand in any community project that seems to be moving the town forward: a scholarship program that sends kids to secondary school, helping to put out a bilingual book on the town (The Chacala Story), working with folks to protect any marine turtle eggs that are deposited on the beach (teaching locals about why they should help save them), working to get Chacala through the “Playa Limpia” certification by sifting beach sand in front of their restaurant, keeping campfires off the beach, etcetera. “The bay’s water has already been certified clean in the program,” said Robinson.
What made them leave England and move to a small beach town?
“Chacala was less of a risk (financially) than England and and idyllic place to live as well. We figured the Chacala Marina (with over 50 luxury homes now built and dozens more lots for sale) would give us a market for a deli-style restaurant,” said Robinson.
They cater to the expats who come down each year, and know many as friends. “We cater their weddings and parties.” They also run the restaurant on the small bay around the corner in Marina Chacala, which only serves the development’s residents and guests the same upscale food options.
This past year about ten Canadians purchased half-million dollar homes in Marina Chacala, said Robinson.
The couple also act as property managers for many upscale residences, small inns and guest houses. They have three websites promoting the town: ChacalaVillas.com, ChacalaHoy.com and ChacMoolCafe.com. Robinson also helps fill some of the Techos de Mexico properties, which are small suites built above local homes with loans, that are then paid back as vacationers fill the apartments. When someone is looking for really cheap digs, she lets them know about the Techos.
How long will they stay in Chacala? They’re playing it by ear. Once Sayulita began collecting a lot of gringo residents, good schools became available. Whether that happens in Chacala is in the back of their minds as they think about a future family.
Chacala tidbits:
How to get there?
Driving south on highway 200, turn right at the sign for Chacala just 2 kilometers after you pass the last traffic light in Las Varas and continue on on a paved road for 9 kilometers until you see the beach restaurants.
What's to do there?
Enjoy the breeze, waving palms, warm gentle surf and good food at 7 beachside restaurants.
You can also climb a volcano;
ride bikes to swim at a nearby lake;
look for up to 170 species of birds in the area,
surf some tough waves at nearby Caleta Bay (pros only please);
hike or boat to some underwater caves at another bay just a few kilometers south where the snorkeling is excellent;
take a boat ride to fish, see other small bays or whale watch;
15 minutes away by car is a riverwalk and waterfalls at El Capomo;
and another five minutes beyond you can see as many as 800 petroglyphs averaging 4,000 years old in Altavista;
20 kilometers down the highway you can visit the Thursday tianguis (outdoor market) in La Peñita de Jaltemba;
The Mar de Jade spa in Chacala offers spiritual retreat offers Spanish lessons, massage, and Buddhist retreats.
Some Chacala history:
*The Texcoxquin settled in Nayarit more than 4,000 years ago and created the petroglyphs in nearby Altavista. Their descendants, the Huichole, still practice their religion at Altavista.
*Francisco Cortes, a nephew of Hernan Cortes, recorded a trip to the bay of Chacala in 1524. He noted there were about 400 people living there at that time. (Not much has changed it seems—a recent survey by the Mexican government states that 350 people are recorded as living in Chacala)
*Chacala in Nahuatl means the place where there are shrimp or large shrimp (maybe local lobster).
*Sir Thomas Cavendish, an English privateer, sacked the town in 1587 and was knighted for his bravery.
*Pearls were known to be harvested in the area in 1629.
*A munitions armory was constructed in Chacala between 1780 and 1790. It was later turned into an agricultural storehouse and it's old stone pillars can be seen in front of the guest house Casa Magica next to the town's boat ramp.
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