The Bogaards in Mexico: Chacahua National Park

This weekend we left Puerto to explore nearby Chacahua National Park, about 2 hours to the west, on the coast. Getting there required several hours and multiple forms of transportation: on foot to the bus station, on bus to the pueblo of Rio Grande, in taxi to the banks of the Chacahua Lagoon – the heart of the national park, and then a 45-minute ride via motorboat (una lancha) to the town of Chacahua, located on the coast where the lagoon connects to the ocean.

Here is L and J in the back of a collectivo - a pickup truck with benches and a tarp-cover for the bed, where people climb aboard to ride from place to place for a fee. Part of the very good public transport system here in Mexico.

The view out of the back of the collectivo.

This is Carma - el capitan of our lancha - a very nice, spirited man.

This lagoon is warm, highly productive of fish, birds, and other wildlife, and it is the largest of a network of lagoons that inhabit the coast of southern Mexico. (we reviewed our trip to La Laguna de Manialtepec in an earlier blog). Chacahua is the closest thing we have seen to a tropical paradise: coconut trees, long sandy beaches, palm-roofed huts and homes, fresh fish, slow service, and pretty much nothing that has to be done…

Fishermen, father and son, in the lagoon, next to mangrove forests.

A view of the village - this beach is used by sea turtles for nesting/laying eggs.

The view from our window where the lagoon connects to the Pacific Ocean.

Che Guevara has his supporters in Mexico, to be sure. As long as there is extreme poverty, there will be support for Che in Mexico.

The dock on the lagoon.

A Brown Pelican - they are all over Chacahua.

This is the view from inside the mosquito netting in our room. Of course the mosquito netting did nothing to stop the cockroaches, the no-see-ums, the beetles, and other assorted creepy-crawlies.

Elijo - the son of a local restaurant owner, he was 10 years old, charismatic, an amazing surfer, and capable of making fart sounds from all parts of his body. Here is an armpit version.

Here is the back-of-the-knee version.

Fishermen on the lagoon - this is an island filled with cormorants, frigates, and other birds.

A Great Egret in the lagoon.

The bird life here is amazing. This is home to hundreds of different species of birds. During our three days/two nights based out of Chacahua nestled on the edge of the national park we saw ibises, grackles, woodpeckers, wood storks, herons, kingfishers, egrets, flycatchers, terns, gulls, pelicans, the magnificent frigate, magpie-jays, orioles, vultures, cormorants, hawks, swallows, sparrows, and probably a few others.

Magnificent Frigates roosting on an island in the lagoon.

Mangroves and great egrets.

The park apparently was created in the 1930s, when the owner donated it to the government, sold it to the government, or had the government take it from him during one of Mexico’s land reform episodes. Most of the lands of Mexico were “claimed” (some - myself included - might say “stolen”) by the Spanish Crown in the time of the conquistadores. Much of that land was then divvied up between the conquistadores and their descendents. Small amounts of these lands have been returned to the descendents of the original owners, but these reforms have never gotten too far, and the legacy of the Spanish Crown’s activities from 500 years ago live on today. But I diverge…

Chacahua is a small village located on an expanse of coast between Puerto Escondido and Acapulco with a significant population of people of African origin. In addition to enslaving the Maya/Mexica/Zapotecs/Mixteca/etc, the Spanish brought thousands of African slaves, especially to this coast. Many Africans escaped their oppressors hundreds of years ago, and disappeared into the wild coast of Mexico, established their own communities based on hunting, gathering, fishing, etc.

A young Chacahuan.

We have been told that the Indians and the Africans never got along well. The Spanish mistreated both peoples, and the Africans mistreated the Indians. As a result, the self-liberated Africans established their own communities, and did not interact much with the indigenous Mexicans. Today, all along the coast, there is the very notable presence of people of African descent – including very dark skin and tightly curled hair. I saw one fisherman on the lagoon with dredlocks to his waist, in a country with very few people of African descent elsewhere. Another legacy of the Spanish presence in Mexico...

This national park is also home to a native crocodile – one that grows as long as 7 meters! On our boat ride to Chacahua, we stopped at the croc hatchery that is working to rebuild croc populations in the lagoon, to eliminate an introduced variety from elsewhere in Mexico, and spur research and public education.

Welcome to the Cocodrilo Hatchery.

Los Cocodrilos.

We learned in a rather sudden manner that crocs can leave the lagoon and migrate to other lagoons on the coast, or simply spend time in saltwater in order to explore, fish, etc. On our last evening, I was on the shore, splitting my attention between the water (where A, L, and J were playing in shallow but wild waters), and the sand (where a group of locals were playing soccer). Suddenly, everyone on the shore is shouting, pointing to the water, and gathering on the water’s edge. I finally figured out that a croc had been spotted cruising the shallow water. A, L, and J got the message from a 12 year old surfer who had been hanging around them showing his mastery of the surf board in wild waves. They thought he had been called in to dinner as he paddled quickly by them and in plain English said "get out of the water there is a crocodile" they all came running back to dry land. Together we spotted the croc, reported by others to be three meters in length. It swam right through the very same waters where A, L, and J had been playing just moments before!

Crocs can run on land for short spurts 20 kph, and swim 40 kph. It looked a lot like a fast moving log moving through swells, whitewater, and waves. Truth be told, there are no reports of crocs attacking people on the coast that we heard about.

But still!

One more thing about Chacahua. It is also a big destination for surfers. There is a really nice break that starts far offshore near the mouth of the lagoon and runs sometimes what must be nearly a half mile down the beach. At the end of their ride, surfers exit the water, walk back up the beach, jump back in the water, and do it all over again.

Here are a few shots of L and J and J doing a lot of nothing on shore.