Classic Nexpa Left Hander
I’m not sure whether it is that I have been to Barra de Nexpa before or that it is truly a special spot. I’m guessing it is most likely a little bit of both. Either way I was borderline giddy when we turned off of the highway. We have been anxious to get a little further south so oddly we considered skipping Nexpa and fanging it to Zihuatenejo. We don’t know what our return date is quite yet, but we may have to be back in San Diego on December 30th, considering we need 10 days to get home, that means that we may have as little as 3 weeks left to do as we please. Where does the time go?
Nexpa, and the upended cabana
Eventually sanity and reason mixed with some nostalgia won over and we decided on a couple days in Nexpa. Shortly after pulling off of Mexico 200 we ran into Lewis, a solo traveler from Reno, whom we had surfed with in La Ticla. Lewis is hopping from town to town by bus; a mode of transportation that while economical and efficient, often leaves him with a pretty long trek from the highway to the beach or town on foot, lugging his board and backback along. He jumped in the van as I, probably annoyingly, pointed out places to stay and eat to him and Natalie.
Chicho and a good size Snook his uncle shot with a spear gun...
The plan was to camp at Jorge & Helen’s place. I had stayed there before and thought the grassy area adjacent to the palapa would be an ideal spot to park the van and camp out. There have been rumors for some time that La Familia Michoacana has essentially moved in to Nexpa and had been harassing the business owners there for protection money and had started some land ownership disputes. The whispers that I had heard were that the bulk of the residents had been able to comply or work it out with the cartel but that Jorge and Helen were experiencing on-going headaches. The talk amongst the gringos in the water was that yes this was true and it seemed pretty likely considering the restaurant was closed and the hammock palapa seemed deserted and abandoned. Two ratty, forlorn hammocks is the only evidence that I had siesta’d away the afternoons there just two years prior. Their units still appear to be in good condition and there were people staying in them that had booked with Helen over the internet. Helen and Jorge were conspicuously absent, Helen having taken the kids to England for schooling in the winters as I was told was her custom now regardless and Jorge being in the United States for some other reason, planning on returning in January.
With that camping option now seeming less attractive we pulled up adjacent to a palapa next to Chicho’s restaurant – the best food in Nexpa, and amongst the best we’ve had on the trip. Lewis rented a cabana from Chico on the other side and we took to doing what you do in Nexpa, surf. The long left hand point break was considerably smaller than when I had surfed it before but the first day we got it head high and a bit bigger on the better sets. Despite the lack of swell it was still working properly and producing long, fun rides, the smallest day kicking up some little peelers that made for epic, all-time, Kassia Meador style longboarding.
Broken Reel... sad 😦
When the surf was blown out or we had enough we spent some serious time fishing. One day catching 20-some 15 inch jacks. Lewis also hooked into a large needlefish with some not-to-be-trifiled with teeth. Saddly my brand new reel broke. Nothing horrific but hard to fix and find parts in Mexico. Chicho’s uncle and I went on a spear fishing adventure, we didn’t catch anything that day but the man was a total badass. Probably in his early 60s, totally fit, the dude carried a monster spear gun and had it anchored to a boogie board that he used as a fish float for when he shot something big like a 40lb snook. He free dove with a weight belt and stayed underwater for several minutes at a time. He was and is still under the impression that I am also such; senior badass free diver, what he didn’t know was that I would come up for air and dive back down twice in the time that he was under once. Visibility was such that he couldn’t see my frequent surfacing for what it was and thus assumed that I was under for the entire time as well.
Needle Fish Hook Surgery
Other than the change at Jorge & Helen’s and a beachfront cabana with an eroded foundation that was now upended on the beach, Nexpa was as I had remembered it and remains a place I’ll come back to again. Lewis has taken up riding with us for the time being, he also had planned on Troncones as his next stop so we saw no sense in him bussing it when we were all headed there together.
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At somewhere over 10,000 feet these vagabonding insects congregate in the millions to mate and die during the multi-year and four-generation sojourn. Thought at one point by the locals to be a plague on the incredibly valuable lumber resources, the butterflies now have tens of thousands of hectares of reserve to reproduce and clue scientists into their singularly accomplished exodus. Monarchs are not endangered as commonly thought, huge colonies exist on Africa, Asia, and Austrailia, but none commence a migration like the ones in North America. The videos and photos don’t do it justice, you have to see it for yourself but in case you can’t get enough here there are many more photos over on Flickr.
Southern Exposure 