The coast of Michoacan

We returned to the coast once more during a long weekend at the beginning of May.  This time we turned north and explored some of the towns along the coast of Michocan.  

Playa Azul 
Our first couple of nights were spent at Playa Azul, only a few km north of Lazaro Cardenas.   I guess you could say it is one of the old-style "resort" villages that has since been eclipsed by more modern places like Ixtapa.   Though it is clearly a vacation spot, there is nothing fancy about any of the places we saw.  Instead, there was a wide beach lined with many large palapa restaurants.



We made the mistake of befriending a female dog in heat and she and her 10 suitors followed us up and down the beach.

 

     




Sarah had her hair braided by these two pro-braiders.



Finally, time to read some fiction:
 

     



Caleta
The next day we drove about an hour north to the down of Caleta.  There the hills came closer to the ocean and the coast was mostly rocky, although there were still many small sandy beaches in most of the little coves.   We spent one night in Caleta, but we quickly decided that we preferred the much quieter beach at Nexpa, where most people were busy surfing and we had the beach almost to ourselves.
 







Nexpa
This was one of our favorite spots along the coast.  It is a surfer's beach at the mouth of the Rio Nexpa.  The people there are mostly 20-something gringos, waiting for waves and hanging out.  We enjoyed it because we could stay in a little cabana right on the sand, lie in our hammocks and do a lot of nothing!  
 

 

The downside was that is was not a good swimming beach because of the huge waves and strong currents.  We played a bit in the river mouth, but ending up going elsewhere to swim.



We spent much of two consecutive days sitting at this beachfront restaurant, enjoying great food and looking out at the water!