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 Travel & Outdoors | November 2005 
Yelapa - A World Apart
 Erich Haubrich - PVNN
Every day at 4:00 pm the water taxi takes a boat full of people to the sleepy little village of Yelapa and I was determined to be on that boat. The village is at the mouth of a lush valley, surrounded by beautiful jungly mountains on three sides and is only accessible by water.
The round trip ticket is 200 pesos, even locals don't get a discount, but that's a small price to pay for the feeling you'll get from a visit to this magical place. The trip is worth the price if even just to view the gorgeous coastal landscapes of the southern part of the bay.
When I arrived I walked down the main path that connects all of the nooks and crannies with trails into the jungle and over to the beach area. The path winds through the very rustic little burg, passing a few shops and homes cresting a small hill with a beautiful view across the tiny bay and into the ocean beyond. Children and animals are quite common and it's not rare to be adopted by one of the towns many dogs, which are quite friendly and roam freely throughout town.
I missed a turn and ended up at the home of Santiago, a man that some of the locals say is over 100 years old. He showed me a room on the roof of his house that he said I could rent for 100 pesos per night. Although it was a very kind offer I wanted a little higher standard of lodging that didn't include a blind dog and some other interesting features that included a lot of broken appliances and various chunks of rusting metal. Santiago was the first in a string of many very interesting characters. I bid my farewell and he flashed me a knowing smile and said "Have fun, welcome to Yelapa."
I waded across the river and found myself on the beach. Having brought a six-pack of Pacifico I thought that now would be an appropriate time to sit down with a few of the locals and get the scoop on Yelapa. A small group of expatriates was gathered at a table at one of the beach restaurants and asked me to join them in the very warm and friendly way that Yelapans are famous for.
Contrary to popular belief, Yelapa is not a town full of drugged out ex-hippies and whatnot. On the contrary, the gringos I met, while many of them do sport long hair and casual attire, are a wonderful mix of artists, musicians, yoga instructors, retirees, fisherman and just about any other walk of life you can name. Not only are they not drugged out, but in fact they are quite healthy, intelligent, worldly and a hearty breed. I spoke with a man named Lucky that told me some tales from the old days when Bob Dylan and other cultural icons made regular visits. It is said that Hugh Hefner once had a place on the side of the hill and used to throw wild parties with all the usual trappings.
Visiting Yelapa is not the run-of-the-mill travel experience, if you're the kind of person that goes for air-conditioning, maid service, and the pampered resort experience this might be the wrong place for you. There are a couple of really nice places to stay and be pampered in Yelapa, but that's not the focus. It's really more of a rustic getaway, where you'll likely find yourself wading across rivers, hiking in the jungle and sitting next to campfires on the beach.
In keeping with the Yelapa experience, I wandered down the beach and ran into a friend sitting with a group of about ten other people, a few were Mexican, there were three from Uruguay and a handful from the US and Canada. They immediately invited me to sit down and have a cerveza and instant friendships began to form. I've been to lots of friendly places, but I dare say that in Yelapa it's an integral part of the spirit of the place. When someone asks you how you're doing they mean it and you're never far from a warm smile and a new friend.
On the recommendation of my new friends we all decided to have dinner at the Yelapa Yacht Club, this a restaurant on the side of town where the boats are anchored and overlooks the Yelapa bay. We had all heard about the Fettucine Alfredo with shrimp so my buddy Kellum, myself and the two Canadian girls we met on the beach ordered it. In a word, Amazing, the best Alfredo I think I've ever had, the service was also great and the prices followed suit. After dinner the place filled up to the gills for Disco Night, which they have every Wednesday and Saturday. We danced until about 1:30 ten headed back to the beach for the campfire and some stargazing.
Mars and Venus were clearly visible on opposite ends of the little valley and as the night went on the sky filled with a billion stars which appeared to funnel down into the horizon in the middle of the little bay. It felt like the center of the Universe as the night became almost completely silent save for the gentle lapping of the surf that can be heard throughout the areas of Yelapa near the water.
I slept like a baby that night gently rocking myself to sleep in a hanging bed in the attic of a palapa house which had been offered to me at no cost by the new friends I had made earlier in the day, although it got a little bit chilly late at night I had a wonderfully restful sleep and woke totally refreshed at about 8:00am, found my two new Canadian friend-girls having some coffee at their camp spot a little ways down the beach.
At 9:00 am a small crowd of kids was gathering at the far side of the beach for a parade to celebrate the November 20th Mexican Revolution. This was completely unexpected, and one of the cutest things I have ever seen - little 5 year old kids dressed up like Pancho Villa complete with little mustaches and capguns. As they marched down the beach they stopped every so often to shout "Viva la Revolucion!" There were a lot more kids in Yelapa than I thought there would be, many of their families living in El Paso which is just up the river and is a farming and ranching community.
After the Parade, Kellum showed up again and after we played a couple of songs for the girls the four of us decided to take a little hike up the river to see the rest of what makes Yelapa a destination for nature lovers. We walked up the river (in the water) to a main trail that winds through unspoiled natural foliage with a wide variety of tropical plants and flowers, many times having to step to the side of the trail to let some donkeys or horses pass, laden with cargo going up or down the valley.
We stopped to visit a friend of Kellums that has made an old Buddhist retreat into his home, the place is open and natural, sort of a garden of Eden with indoor plumbing that includes a natural pool formed at the base of a waterfall. We swam in the crystal-clear water for a bit then walked down the trail to see the owner of the property's new horse, which he had recently acquired for the stately sum of 25$ from a local ranchero.
When we reached the new bridge we crossed over to a little restaurant for their famous Shrimp Quesadillas, but the guy with the shrimp hadn't shown up so we had some great cheese enchiladas on a patio next to the river, basking in the sun and sipping cervezas while we rested our weary legs and took in the scenery.
We eventually hiked back down the trail to the beach to find another bonfire in progress and several folks engaged in conversation and sharing a case of cold Pacificos. It's great to be in a place where people are so casual, warm and friendly. We spent the remainder of the night watching the fire and the stars and talking about life, the universe and everything.
I camped out in a tent on the beach that night, sharing the tent with a local beach dog that had been following me around for most of the night. The dogs are pretty friendly, taking their cue from the people around them. When I awoke at around 7:30 am the only real activity on the beach was some folks raking the sand in from of their restaurant to prepare for the day. I saw Christie, one of the girls from Canada walking down the beach looking for coffee and hung out for a little while with her, then read for about an hour until the water taxi pulled up on the beach and we all hopped in for the ride back to Puerto Vallarta.
As I watched the coast pass me by I was already missing Yelapa and my new friends and thinking that I really can't imagine a better way to spend the weekend in Banderas Bay.
If you plan to visit Yelapa there are a few things you should bring: First and foremost a good attitude, it goes a long way with the locals. You should also bring a book to read, a sweatshirt or sweater because it can get a little chilly this time of year. A flashlight is also a good idea since streetlights simply don't exist there, largely due to the fact that the place only got electricity a couple of years ago. Some good shoes for hiking like sneakers or good sandals are a good idea if you plan to do any trailblazing, and of course a bathing suit since there is both the ocean and a nice river.
Yelapa's prices are a little bit higher than in P.V. because everything is brought in by boat, but they are still pretty reasonable, and rooms can be had rather cheaply as well if you're not the camping sort. |
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