Coco Loco

We really like Coco Loco. It's small (just 12 hotel rooms), quaint, and very comfortable. The setting is peaceful, the dogs have the run of the place (especially important given the traumatic nature of our last stop) and have been fascinated chasing sand crabs, and we feel very much at home. Our host, Martin, is super nice and very accommodating. Yet another good friend to add to our rich assortment of extended family.
 
 
 

We arrived on a Monday afternoon and enjoyed a whole day and a half of warm weather and sunshine before the clouds rolled in. It was really only cold for a day or two after that, but not seeing the sun since Tuesday is depressing. Compounding that is the fact that the lack of sun has allowed the mosquitoes to breed like crazy so we've been spending a lot more time inside than we would normally like.

 

Regardless,we've enjoyed our time here. We had the place to ourselves up until Friday when a few more guests started arriving. We have a few couples staying in the rooms and a very nice couple and their three little girls camping on the beach. We feel sorry for them because it's rained most of the time they've been here, but they are undeterred and having a grand time. Between Martin's 2 dogs, our four, and the 3 more from the beach combers, we have 9 dogs wandering freely and all getting along quite nicely.

Martin's been busy since we arrived, but we did manage to squeeze in one day of hanging out with him. He made us his specialty cocktail, shared a nice seafood appetizer with us and told us his story. He's from Switzerland and has been here since the early 90's. He claims to be our age, but he looks much younger. He bought his land and, at the time, the government was paying 110% interest to anyone who parked $10,000 in the bank here! So, he did just that and earned $1,000 a month for doing nothing. Ah, the good old days. In any event he built Coco Loco and has been living in paradise ever since.


Laurie treated Martin to her roasted chicken and rice one night and a pork stew the next night. He couldn't stop raving about her rice and he liked the stew so much he took a second portion home and kept the bowl. It was nice giving him some special Laurie treats.

Martin's on-site restaurant is quite good. We've had their pizza twice. They also have pastas, seafood and crepes. There's also a nearby seafood restaurant we've enjoyed a couple of times. A bit pricey, but very good fish dishes. Since the menu is in Spanish and none of the servers speak English, we've had to rely on their recommendations. Both times were great.


We had planned on leaving a couple of days ago, but we've been rained in. Allegedly, there will be a small window of opportunity tomorrow so we'll go for it and head south. Our next official destination is Catemaco. I thought it was close by, but somehow I messed up my estimate so we're going to have to stop halfway there. There's a good chance we'll get held up by the rain for an extra day at mid-point, but we must march on if we're ever going to make it to Belize. Given the forecast, we could have rain for much of the rest of our travels in Mexico.

My sister, Mindy, sent us a funny email the other day. She was visiting with her plumber and talking about our adventure when he told her he is from Belize! He still has family there and very kindly offered to put them in touch with us. His uncle has already sent us a welcome email and we're looking forward to meeting him and his family when we arrive. God willing, just a half dozen more stops before we hit the border. We're hoping to get there in a couple of weeks - fingers crossed - we're ready.