EXPLORING THE SOUTH
The People of Cabo Corrientes
 Summer is here and a lot of the tourists and seasonal people have left. It is a good time to get a better sense of the Mexican life and it’s people. When you head out to the rural areas and the small communities you immediately notice the people and their way of life. This is especially true in Cabo Corrientes, the large area south of Puerto Vallarta.
Driving south from Puerto Vallarta on highway 200 is always pleasant and within an hour you reach El Tuito, the gateway to Cabo Corrientes. Tourism has not fully arrived at much of this area, providing an opportunity to experience a more authentic and traditional Mexico. You’ll see, ranch country, cowboy towns, farming and agricultural communities, and fishing villages. You travel in the shadow of the Sierra Madre Mountains, through pine forests, over mountain areas where the air is fresh, and along the valleys towards the coast and the Pacific Ocean. As you drive through the little communities, a smile and a wave is always returned. If your Spanish is decent,  a conversation is most always welcomed. Maybe share a cerveza. There are a lot of stories waiting to be told. There are a couple of areas, El Tuito, and Tehuamixtle that date back to the Spanish occupation of Mexico. Many of the communities are much newer going back only three or four generations. The first generation that settled these communities in the 1950’s and 60’s were few in number and tough, only the strong survived and it was not uncommon for disputes over land and water to be settled with a gun.
Today things are peaceful and you’ll find that everyone knows everyone as the families have grown. A friend lost count of his extended family after counting 75. When a house is being built, it becomes a family community event. On roofing day, you might see twenty people working on it.
 In the early days, there were few roads. The only way to reach Tehuamixtle was by boat. It was a ten-hour walk from Mayto to El Tuito. A horse was more important than an automobile and the only road to Mayto was from la Cruz de Loreto in the south. Kids would walk two hours to school. Today, the horses have been replaced with pickup trucks, and a few ATV’s. Roads, power, and water projects are shaping the future for Cabo Corrientes and the south coast of Jalisco. Change is coming to a lot of these areas. The people know it and most welcome it, and the promise of new prosperity it will bring to these communities. These areas are worth taking a look at. Email to a friend
Enjoy the month!
John Van Dyke
E-mail: mailbox@tehuamexico.com
Please visit: http://tehuabay.blogspot.com/ & http://maytobeach.blogspot.com/
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