Week 2 Playa La Ticla

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From Manzanillo we decided to head to the little village and surf and surf camp of La Ticla.  We hopped on a second class bus for this trip.  The second class buses do not have bathrooms or A/C.  It was not too bad as long as the bus was moving but when it stopped the heat was pretty intense.  The bus dropped us off on the side of the highway and we had to catch a ride in a truck to take us down to the beach where we camped under a thatched roof on the beach.

Second Class Air Conditioning

The view from the bus.  You can see all the smoke in the air.

We stayed in La Ticla for 5 days.  It was really cheap for us to stay there since camping cost us about $6 a night and we cooked most of our meals.  Micah got to surf every day and Nev made some friends, 3 brothers Manuel, Giovanni and Orbert.  They were the grandsons of the man who owned the place we camped at. 

Two of the boys Nev made friends with

 It was an interesting place to stay.  Probably one of the most primitive places we will be in Mexico.  Michoacán is a pretty rural state for Mexico and the people there are don’t have a whole lot.  The town and the people there are pretty simple and have little in the way of services. No cell phones, rarely Internet.  I think they have gotten electricity where we stayed only within the last 10 years.  The surfing tourist that visit there probably contribute substantially to their economy.  It was really smokey there and I had noticed a lot of smoke in the air on the trip down there. I am not sure why they were burning so much.  Maybe it was to keep mosquitoes away, to burn their garbage and/or cooking. The smoke was a little difficult to handle at first but it did make for some amazing sunsets! 

Nev playing on the beach

Fishing at sunset

It was real hot here which made it difficult to sleep at night and for Nev's naps.  We bought him a little hammock and hung it under the palapa.  He really enjoyed it and his first nap in it was over 3 hours.  Something he had not done for a while. There was also a lagoon near camp where Nev was able to play.  The water was extremely warm but it was still some relief from the heat.

I think one of the highlights to our stay there was the football (soccer) game we attended. They definitely take their football very seriously.  It was a pretty good team for such a small village of about 600 people. It was a minor league team playing a team from a town south of there. We met some people there and Nev found a friend.  Chappo spoke really good English and befriended us when we sat down next to him.  We learned that he had lived in Eureka, CA for some time and he still has family there.  Small world!  At half time he toke Nev on the field and began kicking the soccer ball with him.  Then a young boy, Antonio, came over and started playing ball with Nev.  Nev had a blast kicking the ball with him. Antonio showed Nev how to hit the ball with his head.  When the game started back up the two played on the side line the rest of the game.  Even though Antonio was quite older then Nev he was very sweet with him.   Of course Nev did not want to stop playing and was sad when we had to leave the game.

Getting football lessons from Chappo

Already working on his pose

Learning how to bounce it off his head with Antonio

Part of the team

Having a good time with Antonio

Unfortunately on the way back to camp after the game Nev’s arm got hurt when we were swinging him for his arms down.  It is an injury that has happened before but it seemed to last longer then before and we all had a sleepless night.  The next day we had decided to head out and go south so we were packing up camp.  We met a man named Paul and he asked me what was wrong with Nev's arm. He is a retired chiropractic doctor and he said he thought it could be a pinched nerve from a misalignment in his spine. He checked it and did a quick adjustment on him.  I was a bit sceptical and it was hard to watch this man take my son by the head and crack his neck but it worked!  Amazingly he went from crying anytime he moved his arm to being completely fine and fully using his arm after a few minutes!  We hired someone to give us a ride up to the highway where we waited for the bus.  It was not much of a bus stop but there were a few burros hanging out that were fun to watch.  We didn't have to wait long and we hopped a bus to Lazaro to spend the night in a hotel, get a good dinner and sleep in real beds.

Waiting for the bus

A baby burro