Mexcaltitán

After being in tourist Mazatlan for a couple nights, we needed to get out of the tourist zone. We read about a little village a couple hours south of Mazatlan called Mexcaltitán. The village has about 2,000 people living there and is on an island in the middle of a lagoon. There are no cars. To get there we had to take a 3.5 hour bus to Peñas, then a 30 minute taxi to Santiago Ixcuintla (we spent the night here for $8), then an hour van ride, then a 20 minute boat ride. Everything not found on the island is imported by boat so we rode in a boat packed with fruits, vegetables, cookies, and soft drinks. The lagoon that it is in is beautiful and the long travel time really gave us a sense of being remote.


When we got to the island, there were a group of men "paving" the dirt road with stones. It`s interesting to think about the interaction between such a tiny remote village and the state and local governments. We walked across the entire island in about 5 minutes and got to the village`s only hotel. It was almost lunch time so after a quick walk around the circumference of the island we went to one of the 2 restaurants. People in this village subside on mostly the shrimp they catch in the lagoon so we ate shrimp for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. The lunch shrimp included garlic shrimp and shrimp soup. In fact, it`s impossible to escape the shrimp because about 25% of the sidewalks are covered with drying shrimp, which permeates the smell of shrimp throughout the whole village. After lunch we walked around the island again before realizing that there was really very little to do here. The locals believe that Mexicaltitan is the original settlement of the Aztec who immigrated to the mainland. There is a museum on the island that documents the evidence for this belief. After visiting the museum, we went back to the hotel for a nap.


View from our room ----------- Camarones Seco (Dry Shrimp)

We were awakened by booming music. We went outside and caught the end of a birthday party for a little kid. One of the nice things about being a small island with no cars is that it`s safe for kids. Everywhere we went there were kids playing in groups or on their own and they were out until way after dark. A group of young locals were sitting in the street right in front of the loud speaker. They called us over and offered us beer and camarones seco. We ended up spending the entire night with them which was great because a) It was interesting to meet locals and speak Spanish and b) We had absolutely nothing else to do. They were very interested in the US and asked very direct questions about what Americans thought about Mexico and how our political system worked. It was interesting for us to find that most of them had jobs or school off the island and commuted back and forth every day. The internet and media really create a shared experience that people all over the world can experience together. They knew many of the musicians, movies, and websites we enjoyed. The island is billed as "untouched" but the internet cafe, Coca-Cola ads, and sound systems tell you otherwise. The technology-geek part of me is really excited about the possibilities of a connected world but there is also a part of me that worries about the loss of distinct cultures and viewpoints. Hopefully we can reverse the melting-pot trend and become a society that shares information, ideas, and values on a global level, while valuing and celebrating the diversity that makes us distinct. Anyways, the next morning we got up and ate shrimp tamales for breakfast (the best shrimp meal!) and then took off for Barranca del Cobre.