November 25th - Chacala

Another day, another surf fishing lesson.  I arrived on the second breakwater on our beach where a local fisherman had just got a very prickly porcupine fish and was trying to pull his hook out with his hands.  I said uno momento and pulled out my needle nose pliers for him, he was very happy.  I set them out between us so we could share.  He had about 3 small perch like fish and one foot long red snapper in his bucket.   He was using a line with a small hook which he whirled in a circle then sent flying out.  When I pulled out my shrimp for bait he said "no cameron" "no like".  He showed me the small little shrimp he was using which he called by another name.  We couldn't really talk so we fished with the usual fishing comments like when a fish bit my megahook in half he said "Aiyee" and laughed.  The fish also pinched 2 of the barbs on my Mepps treble hook shut.  I caught puffer fish and porcupine fish.  He caught some of those as well as one more good fish.  Then we called it a day.  It seems you have about an hour at dawn to catch the right tide then the fishing drops off.   When he left he said "Mañana".   I just nodded although tomorrow is market day and I need to get some of those little shrimp before I go fishing again.

My fellow fisherman

My little puffer

My bigger puffer/porcupine

We accompanied the neighbours north to a little town called Chacala.  While it can be busy on weekends, today there was our group and four other folks on the entire beach.

The parking lot was formerly an RV Park, but when they had problems with the sewage system, the RV'ers were just dumping their black/grey tanks in holes in the ground.  No more RV park.  You can dry camp for a maximum of three days, but there is a guard on the gate to ensure the rules are followed.

Turtle nest protection

We obtained refreshments from the nearby beach restaurant, sat in the shade, and generally admired the absolute beauty of the place.  I lazed in the shade while the active types went for a swim and snorkel.

Then it was time for lunch at Las Brises, along with a cerveza or two

 Nancy's coconut shrimp

My camarones diablo, along with a Pacifico.

As we packed to leave, even though we were still in the sun, thunder was rolling over the mountains to the south.  As we drove south, we hit the rain.  La Peñita got enough rain to soak things down.  While it smelled great, the rain shot the humidity through the roof.  Today was 29, but the humidex at 5 pm was 36.  Both the heat and humidity are hanging on later than usual this fall, creating late season storms like Hurricane Sandra (which is predicted to make landfall well north of here)