Xcalak, Mexico

A scant 13 kilometres south from us, down a beach road ravaged by potholes and topes (Mexican speed bumps made from cruise ship ropes), lies the very small town of Xcalak. A once bustling community, thriving off coconut plantations, is now a meagre place of under 400 inhabitants. Hurricane Janet, of 1955, completely decimated the town and scattered most of its people to other areas. It is now essentially a fishing village with a small amount of tourism based on the reefs that litter the coastline. People come for snorkelling tours, diving expeditions and apparently, outstanding fly-fishing. In town one can find a few different tiendas (shops) selling basic canned goods and an extremely limited variety of vegetables, such as limes, onions, garlic, tomatoes and the occasional wilting head of cabbage. Local cheeses, eggs and chorizo can often be found as well. Mostly, you will find processed junk food and Mexican Coke (tasting different and some say better, as it is made with cane sugar). The locals and beach road inhabitants heavily rely on grocery trucks that come from 100’s of km’s away each day for the bulk of their produce. There are a few stops dedicated to beer and liquor, but that is about it. Amongst the tiendas, are our few favourites offering non-gringo prices, the best cheeses, chorizo and coldest beer. Side note on beer: split one on ice and/or chug within seconds of removing from fridge or be left with a warm, flat mess, as the weather here is nothing short of living inside a furnace, every minute of everyday.

There are 5 restaurants in the actual town. One is a run by a Canadian couple, who only operate in high season, so we have yet to eat there, but hope to come November. The rest are locally run, but are very different from each other. Two have menus and two do not. The two with menus are a rip off, but do offer a greater variety. Still, they were one-off experiences for us. The other two basically only offer tacos, empanadas and Coke, but will run out to a tienda to grab you beers! On average with two meals and few beers each, we spend 100 pesos (5-6 bucks). Throw in a 50% tip and you have still spent almost nothing, but given a little more to some very needy, hardworking and honest locals.

The town itself has a few dirt roads, again littered with potholes and topes, but a small main drag contains most of the action. The buildings range from stable concrete structures, to do it yourself tin and wood huts, possibly on super sketchy stilts. There are two small schools, but unfortunately the kids here cannot get an education past grade nine or ten, so many are left to fend for themselves in the small town after that and do not ever return to school. Protection for Xcalak is done by the Marines who have a very small base, but a few trucks they use to patrol town and even the beach road up to where we are. Rebecca did take a picture of their shabby headquarters, but was then ordered to delete it by a Marine who caught us. The marines and basically everyone in Xcalak love to wave and smile when you pass by and are very welcoming to us gringos.

View more pictures of Xcalak by clicking the Photography tab at the top of the page.