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Breve reseña de la llegada del Huracán Kenna a Nayarit y los daños que causó.

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Small towns, big buzz: Where to hit the beach in Riviera Nayarit

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Small towns, big buzz: Where to hit the beach in Riviera Nayarit

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Murió "La Loca del Muelle de San Blas" - Rebeca Méndez Jiménez http://flip.it/GdNLgN

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Murió "La Loca del Muelle de San Blas" - Rebeca Méndez Jiménez http://flip.it/GdNLgN

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LA VERDADERA HISTORIA DE REBECA LA MUJER DEL MUELLE

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Leyenda de La Novia de Culiacán-Dulce_García

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Murió "La Loca del Muelle de San Blas" - Rebeca Méndez Jiménez

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La mexicana Rebeca Méndez Jiménez, falleció a los 63 años; era conocida como "la loca del muelle" por su particular y trágica historia de amor. Rebeca Méndez Jiménez fue la mujer que inspiró al grupo mexicano en el tema, "En el muelle de San Blas".

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Semana Santa, the Holy Week preceding Easter, the Mexican Spring Break is one of the more fiestive periods in Mexican calendar. We have been warned, that most Mexicans from the interior of the country will join the Occupy movement declaring all beaches and coastal areas free from boredom and liberated from any rules. Despite spending five months in San Miguel de Allende, a city which knows how to party, we truly didn't expect what we were about to experience...

We arrived in San Blas on Monday, which gave us couple of fairly calm, although painfully aware of mosquitoes days to explore the town. Ignorant of it's history and past importance for the entire western hemisphere, we thought San Blas is just one of many small, sleepy coastal communities like many in this part of Mexico. At that time, we didn't realize that San Blas was the first, once fairly large, very powerful and influential port on the Sea of Cortez. In fact, if it wasn't for the Mexican naval base, we wouldn't have known that there was a port at all! The fishermen in their little boats with outboard engines account for about the whole maritime traffic in this area. Inhabited today by roughly ten thousand people, it's hard to imagine, this community was once several times larger and under the orders of the Spanish crown, ruled this part of the World.

We used the time before arrival of hordes of Mexican party-goers to discover the town. This actually took us only few minutes - there isn't much beyond the main square and a few blocks in either direction. The time saved on sightseeing, we spent relaxing on the beach, taking surfing lessons and exploring miles of sand dunes.

On Wednesday, the amok started. Our campground, empty when we arrived, quickly flooded with hundreds of people. Most of them arriving in groups of twenty or more - usually in just one or two vehicles. The small family of iguanas, who lived in the bathrooms got quickly evicted and the palace has been conquered by Mexican women getting ready for their night on town. And I mean the entire night, not just a lousy evening, but literally the whole night. After dusk, the entire downtown area has been turned into an open air disco, with people drinking, dancing and (unfortunately) singing until dawn, at which time the party moved from downtown to the beach, where continued uninterupted until the following dusk. Then the cycle started anew. For five days in a row, the town, the beach, the campground were all ruled by forces of chaos and the Mexican fraction of the Occupy movement. I doubt if there is any affiliation...

Seeing the amount of people on the beach, we decided to escape the crowds. Fortunately, in a nearby village of La Tabera, there is a small farm of cayman crocodiles, a perfect attraction for the underage members of our crew. They loved the ride on the river in a small motor boat, seeing all kinds of wildlife was just a minor addition and didn't really affect the experience. In fact, the most interesting part of a visit to a crocodile farm, filled with huge caymans, a jaguar and a few other, exotic species was... feeding the fish. Even the pond with crystal clear water and a tree branch swing couldn't compete.

Two nights of passive partying was about all we could handle. On Friday morning we packed our stuff and kissed the midget mosquitoes goodbye. I'm sure we won't miss them, even if we were to painfully remember them for several more days.

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Semana Santa, the Holy Week preceding Easter, the Mexican Spring Break is one of the more fiestive periods in Mexican calendar. We have been warned, that most Mexicans from the interior of the country will join the Occupy movement declaring all beaches and coastal areas free from boredom and liberated from any rules.

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Some 30 hours are better than other 30 hourses. Morrissey said that. And I say San Blas, three hours north of Puerto Vallarta, is worth the drive.

The beach is fine - a dark brown sand beach with no one on it (weekdays, or when it's not Semana Santa) - and a scrappy little town that's a hoot to spend time in. Particularly when one hour at the boozy San Blas Social Club turns to three, and the tequila bottle comes out. The bartender, Bernardo, is a tiny guy with a thick Hemingway beard, perhaps unsurprisingly considering he once was a bullfighter in Mexico City.

Much more to say, crocodiles and English poets for example, but will just sum up some of what I did in 16 seconds.

About Robert Reid

Robert Reid is a travel writer (Lonely Planet, New York Times, ESPN), travel expert (Today Show, CNN's Headline News), travel videographer (76-Second Travel Show) and travel artist (don't ask).

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Some 30 hours are better than other 30 hourses. Morrissey said that. And I say San Blas, three hours north of Puerto Vallarta, is worth the drive. The beach is fine - a dark brown sand beach with no one on it (weekdays, or when it's not Semana Santa) - and a scrappy little town that's a hoot to spend time in.

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11 May 2012 | The Good and Bad of Progress

We have enjoyed anchoring in the San Blas Estuary now for 4 years and it's truly one of our favorite anchorages in Mexico. The sights, sounds, and tranquility of the Estuary is exactly what was in our minds when we cast off in search of whatever it was we were looking for. The sight of sunken shrimpers in the shrimp boat basin was a constant, but that and a whole lot about the San Blas Estuary is about to change.

Workers have begun the process of pulling up the 5 sunken boats that were blocking portions of the dock with ambitious plans underway to turn the Port of San Blas into a bustling commercial port complete with a cargo container loading/off loading facility and a newly dredged Estuary and Port entrance.

A new port Captain has arrived in San Blas from Chipas, with experience in turning sleepy port towns into thriving commercial ports and we were lucky enough to get a meeting with the busy young man to hear his plans for the Port's future. The plans and drawings of the project almost seem too big to be true, but if brought to completion San Blas will become a smaller version of the busy commercial port in Manzanillo. The Manzanillo port is currently undergoing a massive expansion and the same money backers from China have committed hundreds of millions of dollars with the goal of adding another commercial port to the coast.

It of course will forever change the face and look of San Blas and we are happy we got in our experiences now before the changes, but at the same time the project will add many high paying jobs and give a huge boost to the local economy. I'm sure the project isn't looked favorable by all the locals, development and change never is, but the local elected officials in San Blas are very excited about what a thriving port will mean for the town.

It will seem strange the next time we motor into San Blas with the current sand bar being replaced with a dredged entrance channel to 25ft, along with the estuary, but that's in the works to make way for the commercial ships. Anchoring in the estuary will still be allowed, according to the Port Captain, but just a bit further up the estuary past the marina, which is where we love to anchor anyway. As a result of the cargo ships, perhaps even more made in China "Mexican Crafts and Tourist Shot glasses" will be available in the town plaza once the port is functioning? Some things never change and I'm also sure that crazy captain Norm "jamma" will be telling anyone who still listens to him on the VHF Radio (which isn't many since none of the 8 boats here at the moment are responding or checking into his radio calls) that he somehow is involved and "is approved to help" by the port captain and other Mexican officials. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I can't say too much about it yet at this point for fear of causing chaos and worry....but yesterday we were checking out our new digs here in San Blas. One block from the Plaza, two blocks from my favorite taco stand and an easy walk to the Bakery! The list of things we need to bring down for the place is longer than our boat to-do-list, but like I said, there are Changes in San Blas, lots of good mixed in with a little progress!

Want to know more about San Blas?
Check out this Website:
VisitSanBlas.com

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11 May 2012 | The Good and Bad of Progress We have enjoyed anchoring in the San Blas Estuary now for 4 years and it's truly one of our favorite anchorages in Mexico. The sights, sounds, and tranquility of the Estuary is exactly what was in our minds when we cast off in search of whatever it was we were looking for.

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San Blas Nayarit Mexico Pacific Vacation Information

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San Blas Nayarit Mexico Pacific Vacation Information

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The origins of San Blas date back to the late seventeenth century, a time when the port was constructed as a shipyard and point of departure for the colonization expeditions of the Spanish Crown.

This town was founded by Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán in 1530, although King Charles III of Spain did not recognize it as a deep sea port until 1768, the same year that Franciscan friars led by Friar Junípero Serra headed out of San Blas towards the Nuestra Señora de Loreto Mission on a quest to colonize the Californias.

In San Blas, the first maritime customs house on the Pacific was established, and the town became the most important of the region during the Colonial period. Be sure to visit the historic buildings of the port to learn the history of San Blas first hand through the stories of its chroniclers, people and architecture, silent witnesses to the events of the past.

Your tour can begin in the Contaduría, a stronghold constructed in 1770 atop the San Basilio Hill and where the accounting offices of the colonial hacienda were established.

Just a few steps down the hill are the ruins of the Nuestra Señora del Rosario Temple, con- structed in 1769. Here, you will feel as if you have stepped into a scene from a period film as you begin to imagine how life must have been for the first faithful followers who lived the splendor of San Blas in the early centuries.

The building, near the pier, where the Culture House currently stands was once the Former Maritime Customs House, erected in the nineteenth century to control the traffic of merchandise that came through the port.San Blas also played an important role in the war for Mexico's Independence.

The port's essential involvement can be seen in a sculpture located high up in the Contaduría of priest don José María Mercado, an insurgent that fought to defend the freedoms of Mexicans, a fight that would eventually take his life.

Also earning a place in history is the Battalion of San Blas, which honorably defended the capital of Mexico in 1897 from North American invasion.

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San Blas Nayarit Mexico Pacific Vacation Information

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The origins of San Blas date back to the late seventeenth century, a time when the port was constructed as a shipyard and point of departure for the colonization expeditions of the Spanish Crown.

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San Blas, Nayarit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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San Blas, Nayarit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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San Blas is both a municipality and municipal seat located on the Pacific coast of Mexico in Nayarit.

San Blas is a port and popular tourist destination, located about 160 kilometres (99 mi) north of Puerto Vallarta, and 64 kilometres (40 mi) west of the state capital Tepic, and three hours drive from Guadalajara. The town has a population of 8,707.

The municipality had a population of 37,478 in 2005. The Islas Marías, the site of the former Islas Marías Federal Prison, are part of the municipality. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced in 2021 that the former prison would be rehabilitated as the environmental and cultural education center "Muros de Agua- José Revueltas" in honor of the writer who was imprisoned there.

In 1768, the Bourbon Visitador José de Gálvez decided to found the port of San Blas as a jumping off point for military expeditions to Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California and Alta California. The military nature of San Blas distinguished it from the commercial port of Acapulco to the south. A subtext to the founding of San Blas may have been Gálvez' desire to curtail tax evasion on trade with Asia out of Acapulco, which was controlled by businessmen of Mexico City. Both Acapulco and San Blas tied New Spain to Asia through Manila. Gálvez also founded a shipyard in San Blas, with the next shipyard being Cavite in the Philippines. From 1774, navy ships delivered mail from San Blas to Manila. By tradition, the crew could carry private merchandise, so there was a small commercial subtext to San Blas from its inception In the 1790s, the Bourbon monarchy approved special permits for private ships to sail from Cadiz to San Blas. In 1801 and 1807, two ships of the Royal Philippine Company stopped in San Blas, though they were officially permitted only to sail to Lima. It was not until crisis broke out in the Spanish Empire in 1810 that San Blas opened its ports to trade between Lima, Panama, San Blas, Guaymas, Monterey and Manila. Silver mined in Mexico's northwest was shipped out of San Blas to pay for imports of goods, particularly from Panama, which was flooded with British products that entered through Jamaica on the other side of the isthmus.

At first, only two ships were assigned to the port: the packet ship , commanded by Juan Pérez, and El Principe, commanded by Vicente Vila. Gálvez ordered four new vessels to be built, one of which was the schooner Sonora, later sailed in 1775 by Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra to Alaska.

In many ways, San Blas was a poor choice for a deep sea harbor and settlement. The harbor was so small that it could never hold more than four ships at a time. Silting caused by the nearby Río Grande de Santiago resulted in the need for the harbor to be regularly dredged. The climate's stifling humidity and torrential rains from July to October, coupled with extensive mangrove swamps that surrounded the settlement, resulted in San Blas being plagued by clouds of voracious mosquitoes. A variety of sicknesses were endemic, including dysentery, typhoid fever, malaria, and other fevers. Naval officers and workers regularly complained about the climate. When Alessandro Malaspina visited in 1791, he found San Blas's climate so unhealthy that he refused to stay there, instead transferring his operations and some of San Blas' ships and personnel to Acapulco. San Blas's location was useful and logical, however, because it minimized travel time from Guadalajara and Mexico City without increasing the total distance to the Californias. Also, the area around San Blas had a plentiful supply of hardwoods useful for ship building and repair. Fresh water was also available year round.

A hillside fort was built in 1770 to defend the town's sea trade with the Philippines. Its front has stone carvings of the kings of Spain. On the hill behind the fort are the ruins of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, built in 1769. The ruins once contained the bronze bells that are said to have inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "The Bells of San Blas". The ruins of a 19th-century customs house are on Calle Benito Juárez, three blocks from the main plaza.

Ruins of a Colonial church on the Contaduría Hill, in San Blas

During the colonial period, hardwood forests provided the raw materials for ships that did a brisk trade with the Philippines and the Manila galleon until the shipping moved to the port at Manzanillo, and later to Acapulco.

Modern history

In 2021, ejidatarios (farmers) from Jolotemba and nearby communities blocked access to the luxury tourist complex "Limoncitos Hills" owned by Canadian developer Angela Birkenbach. The complaints go back to 2019, when the developer deforested virgin land, without permission. Birkenbach's latest move was to take over an access road and 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) of virgin beach, one of the last along the Nayarit coast.

Spain's colony in California was supplied by two supply ships out of San Blas which arrived once a year. on March 12, 1768 Junípero Serra, Father President of the California Missions, departed for California on the locally built barque Purísima Concepción.

On March 16, 1775, the San Carlos was set to depart San Blas, Mexico, for San Francisco Bay, stopping in Monterey to unload supplies for the mission there. The vessel was a product of the shipyard established on the Santiago River. Her length was 58 feet, the officers and men numbered 30.

San Blas also became the base for Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest. The Chinese were willing to pay up to $120 per otter hide ($2948 in 2022 dollars) which stimulated exploration of the Northwestern Pacific. From 1789 to 1795, San Blas was responsible for establishing and maintaining the Spanish post at Nootka Sound and Fort San Miguel (in present day British Columbia). For about twenty years in the late 18th century, San Blas was one of the busiest ports and shipbuilding centers on the Pacific coast of the Americas, rivaling Acapulco, the eastern terminus of the trans-Pacific Manila galleon convoy.

A dock in San Blas

At its height, the town had 30,000 inhabitants and became headquarters of Spain's General of the Southern Seas.

Yaqui deportations

During the 1900s, San Blas served as the arrival port for thousands of Yaqui men, women and children forcibly removed from their lands and sold into slavery. At San Blas, these families were forcibly marched 200 miles to San Marcos and its train station. Those who did not die on the march were sold into slavery at San Marcos, where they were deported to the sugar cane plantations in Oaxaca, the tobacco planters of the Valle Nacional, and the henequen plantation owners of the Yucatán for use as slave labor. Most of the enslaved workers died within the first year of their captivity.

Municipal presidents

Term

Municipal president

Political party

Note

1917-1918[11]

Jesús N. Jiménez

2008-2011[12]

Hilario Ramírez Villanueva "Layín"

2021-2024[13]

José Antonio Barajas López

PAN
PRI
PRD

Coalition " Va por Nayarit"

The area is noted for its surfing. Playa de Matanchen was famous for having the longest surfable wave in the world, as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. A hurricane and subsequent storm surge filled part of the bay with sand, greatly reducing the size of the waves.

The area has an abundance of migratory birds in the surrounding estuaries and lowland palm forests, attracting significant numbers of birders. The Christmas Bird Count regularly finds well over 200 species, with a record 292 species in 1983.

The town is also a gateway, along with the nearby village of Matanchen, to the La Tovara park, an extensive mangrove forest and federally protected nature preserve accessible by small boat.

The formerly elegant Playa Hermosa, built in 1951, is on a lonely and beautiful stretch of beach about a mile from the plaza. In the 1960s, Hollywood had a brief hideaway flirtation with San Blas when actors, including Lee Marvin, discovered San Blas for its fishing. The hotel is now abandoned.

The economy is based on agriculture, fishing, and the tourist industry. The main crops are beans, sorghum, tobacco, corn, watermelon, and citrus fruits. There is a substantial cattle herd, and shrimp are raised in the extensive marshlands.

The San Blas Pier is the inspiration for the hit song " En el muelle de San Blas" by the Mexican rock band Maná. The song was inspired by Rebeca Méndez Jiménez who waited at the pier for 41 years for her fiancé to come back from a fishing trip. It is believed he died in a sea storm.

Marismas Nacionales-San Blas mangroves
Nayarit

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San Blas is both a municipality and municipal seat located on the Pacific coast of Mexico in Nayarit. San Blas is a port and popular tourist destination, located about 160 kilometres (99 mi) north of Puerto Vallarta, and 64 kilometres (40 mi) west of the state capital Tepic, and three hours drive from Guadalajara.

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San Blas, Mexico - Fotos, Photos, Rentals, Real Estate - Nayarit

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San Blas, Mexico - Fotos, Photos, Rentals, Real Estate - Nayarit

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San Blas, Mexico - Fotos, Photos, Rentals, Real Estate - Nayarit

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San Blas in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico | VisitMexico

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San Blas in Riviera Nayarit, Mexico | VisitMexico