Feels like Safe Haven

The idea was to live in front of the sea, in a place far from the police and excessive radiofrequency and electromagnetic fields, with as little people with covidphobia as possible, surrounded by Nature, without winter, and food available in case of a hard 2nd lockdown.

I researched for months, asking friends and freedom-lovers from all over the world, and a few mentioned Yelapa as being the nearest to my desire.

So I came.

Yelapa is a little village of around 1200 people. 800 Mexican, 400 foreigners (mostly Americans and Canadians). First, you get a bus/car/taxi/Uber from Puerto Vallarta to Bocas de Tomatlan (30-40 mins) and then you jump on a simple boat (“Panga”), which needs another 40 mins to arrive to the main beach.

There you step into the water with your things, like a refugee escaping a planetary cultural and economical meltdown, and then maybe cross a river (on foot) to the main “Pueblo” (a disorderly bunch of houses around the coast).

I would say it is surrounded by lush tropical forest if it were not that it is IN the lush tropical forest. You walk through little cobble and cement paths, peppered with horse manure and the odd candy wrap or beer can, and to the sides, you find alternatively cement and wooden houses, some abandoned in the middle of the construction, some plain looking, some quite enchanting.

I arrived in a boat full of a friend’s stuff. She moved here for a job hired by an amazing woman intent on helping the community, increasing awareness for the protection of the environment, mothers, and children.

The move was a lot of work. All the contents of a house, -including a refrigerator and a queen size bed- on a simple boat had to be taken from the shore of a river, barefoot through an uneven gritty sand path, and then up stairs of stone to the new house.

I thought I’d stay with her for a few days, to check the village out and have time to find a proper home, but the next day she left for Puerto Vallarta and told me I couldn’t stay there, so I was forced to quickly find another place. Even though I was upset about it, I decided to trust, flow, and follow my intuition.

When I was in Puerto Vallarta, I had done an internet search and had found one of the most beautiful houses for rent in town.

I decided to treat myself and rent it. But in Yelapa that day the electricity was gone,  and I couldn’t communicate with the owner, to see if it was still available. That meant I had to do it the old way… go there in person. It was relatively far and I didn’t have much time before the night, so when a quadricycle passed by, I hitchhiked full of hope.

The driver, a young man, stopped and told me to jump on. To my question “where are you going?” he answered, “to bring you where you are headed”. Given his good sense of humor and generosity, I started a conversation and asked him of course…what he thought about the Coronavirus.

He said he regards it as an exaggeration from the government, that is stressing people out with fear, and hurting the town family businesses enormously. His sister had a tough flu a couple of months ago and she thought it was “Covid”. In a few days, after resting and drinking home-made soup, she recovered and said “Dengue was much worse”. No-one else in the family got it, even though they were always in contact, hugging her and sharing everything. In the whole town, four people (in their 80’s and with other illnesses) were diagnosed as dying from “Covid”, and that was it.

On the way, he shared that his mother had a house to rent and showed me pictures of it on his phone. They looked interesting, so I agreed to visit it later.

As it turns out, the luxurious one was not available, the owner wasn’t there, and without electricity/phone/internet we couldn’t reach him. So I went to Jairo and his mother’s house. The place looked like it had been abandoned for months. It was full of dirt and bugs, metal accessories ran down by the sea salt, but I imagined that after cleaning, it had great potential.

Besides, it was on the main “road” (path, there are no cars in Yelapa), right in front of the sea, with a beautiful tropical garden on different levels, recliners, a hammock, and even included 2 Kayaks! Just amazing. The lady was so friendly and happy at the prospect of someone renting it, she promised to clean it up in a few hours, and when I saw it ready I HAD to take it.

After living here for 3 days I confirmed the rest of the month.

Now I wake up to the sound of the ocean, the birds, and even a little waterfall beside the house.

I have internet and mobile signal thanks to a satellite dish, so I can work on the table, looking from time to time through my –glassless-  window to the ocean and the mountain behind it.

It has two floors and both are open to the environment for air to flow through and bring some cooling in such heated weather. This makes it possible, for example, for birds or butterflies to enter on one end and leave through another! This place is so charming and in contact with Nature, I often think to myself: ‘you GOT to be kidding me”.

I’ve adapted fast to the idea of co-living with spiders, mosquitoes, mini-crabs, and scorpions (from the latter I haven’t seen any yet, but heard the stories), and multiple little unrecognizable bugs that seem to have a fondness for humans.

That is compensated by beautiful solitary beaches and waterfalls at walking distances, delicious healthy food at a few local restaurants, and soon (around a month and a half, when the dry season begins), blue transparent sea, with plenty of colorful fish to observe to my heart’s content.

Plus the important factor: people here are relaxed, friendly, they care for each other, there is a sense of community, and they live their lives as if nothing unusual was happening in the rest of the planet.

I haven’t seen someone with a mask in days. I haven’t heard talk about “Covid” nor “social distancing”; plenty of kids play unabated in the footpaths and beaches, the population hugs and kisses each other and gets together as habitual, just as if the world was a safe place, full of beauty, love, and laughter.