Una Escobo Nueva Barre Limpia

January 26, 2021

One of the things I find most fascinating about Melaque .. (and I am going to use this name to review to the entire town) .. is it's topography ... in the photo I took of a poster I have included here ... you can see that the town is crescent shaped ... and bounded by rolling hills that rise quickly to a plain behind them ... the small bay in front of the town is also crescent shaped and equally bounded by two arms of rock that seem to try to enfold it .. almost like the bay was formed by a meteor strike at some point ... and the drop off at the shore is steep and deep ... suggesting that possibility even more ...

The town is finite because of this .. as is the beach .. and therefore it is a place you can get to 'know' ... it is not a collection of various clans and groups .. it is one town .. one language .. one culture (essentially) .. and I find that comforting.

The roads in the town seem to be of various construction .. and I am not sure why that is ... in the picture you may be able to make out two large roads that run from the bay up to the main highway ... that runs parallel to the bay ... those roads are of interlocking brick ... the roads that branch off from those two main arteries ... can be dirt .. rough cobble .. smooth cobble ... interlocking brick ... or various mixtures of all of these ..

The traffic in the town never stops ... it starts at 8 AM and goes until about 8 PM .. but there is always someone on the road any hour of night .. sometimes with music blasting at ear splitting levels ... the other night it was 3:30 AM ... a vehicle rolling by .. music so loud ... it rattled the dishes in the kitchen ... all this traffic roils up a talcum powder like dust that gets into everything ... some folks will hose down the street in front of their house to keep the dust down .. others will throw dishwater on the street or whatever water they have left from laundry or general cleaning .. everybody is sweeping all the time .. sweeping dirt .. fallen leaves .. from the many flowering shrubs and trees that line the roads or are in the yards of homes ... sweeping plastic ... which is ubiquitous now in this world ... wherever you go ..

Most homes have running water ... but I am betting there are still a few that do not .. you still can't drink the water here ... 20 litre containers of filtered or spring water are available for about $1 Cdn ... and in fact there are delivery trucks that drive incessantly throughout the town with musical notification that 'agua' is readily available if you need it .. I get my water from the grocery store across the street ... the owner carries the 20 litre jug up the flight of stairs to our second floor apartment ... a real bonus with my bad knee ...

The store seems to be a social hub for some folks .. as they come and go during the day .. they will sit down either in the front of the side or on the shaded side .. and drink growler size bottles of Victoria beer ... they play music through a large self powered bluetooth speaker .. and they play it loud ... sometimes it is norteno .. sometimes it is rap .. sometimes it is classic rock ... but always loud .. always with laughter .. and always with beer ... it is only a matter of time before I join them ... :-) ...

Phil (26 January 2021 - San Patricio de Melaque - 9:29 PM)

Mexican Proverb - 'Al que madruga Dios lo ayudo'

Aerial photo of Melaque and the bay ... always rolling surf .. and always a beautiful sunset ..

Here is a street paved with interlocking brick .. bordered by what I call 'loose cobble' ... if you look at the top you will see a speed bump ... and there are several of these placed on the streets in town .. seemingly randomly ... if you don't know the streets and drive like a maniac .. you will be airborne .. and then be picking up the pieces of yourself and the vehicle on the downstream side ... they are called 'topes' here .. notice that the one in the picture has a cut in it for bikes, scooters and motorcycles .. it is angled so you do have to slow down to catch it just right ...