There is quite the retirement community in Bahia Tenacatita. And I’m not talking about a residential community, I mean the other cruisers that hang out there. It seems like there’s a group that spends their summers above the border and their winters on their boats in and around the vicinity of Tenacatita. They run a daily VHF radio net that reaches down as far south as Barra de Navidad, so we found out quickly that there’s a group of folks who swim to the beach in the afternoon and then hang out at the restaurant and drink beer. So, Tim and I decided to join them, and we quickly realized that we were smack dab in the middle of the retirement community. Tim played bocce ball with all the guys on the beach while I took a walk by myself down the beach. When I returned, everyone was at the restaurant and all the men were at one table drinking beer and all the women were at another table playing dominoes and drinking various things that were not beer. I ordered a beer and sat next to Tim for a while, and then I just decided to conform, and I went and joined the women’s table. They were nice and pleasant, and they let me join their game of Mexican Train. They had a few different rules than I was used to, but I got the hang of it, and was constantly laughing inside at how competitive they were. Some were chatty, and I tried to talk and get to know them, but others were focused on the game and always had to tell the rest of us when it was our turn. I think I came in last place, and I also think this endeared me to them in contrast to how it would have been received had I kicked their asses. Anyway, I just kept thinking, wow, they do this every day?
While I was walking alone down the beach, I decided to try to go all the way to the end. I don’t know why, but I like to walk the beaches we come to end to end and take photos from different perspectives. I walked past a pretty big hotel that looked majestic from afar, but as you got closer you could see that it was a bit weathered and run down. I kept going just a bit further until I got to some rocks that extended out into the water. I climbed up a bit trying to decide if I could get over them safely since I could see that the beach extended further past the rocks. Then I heard someone blowing a whistle. At first, I didn’t pay it any attention, since why would I think it was directed at me. Well, it turns out that it was. I noticed a hotel security guard walking towards me, so I abandoned my quest of climbing over the rocks and headed in his direction. He told me I couldn’t be over here and that I needed to go back to the hotel, and he asked me what I was doing. I was nice and polite and told him I was just walking to the end of the beach. I agreed immediately to turn back and apologized that he had to walk all the way over here to collect me. Then he started teasing me asking why I wanted to walk to the end of the beach, and I told him I just like to do that sort of thing. He kept teasing me and said I just wanted to go see the nudist beach. Nudist beach? Really? There’s a nudist beach over there? He said, don’t pretend like you didn’t know, you are a bad, bad girl. I never saw any nude people, so I have no idea if it really is a nudist beach or if he was just having a bit of fun with me. I asked the retirement community, but they had no idea.
Gresham Family Exodus 