Checking out little town of Singayta

Thursday a.m.

Another beautiful morning on the beach. Going to be another hot day I think. Can feel the sun heating up already. Willie is getting a bath as I write - he really got dirty yesterday with all our roaming through the plantations. More on that later.

Last night we back into San Blas for dinner at Tradiciones – it was an excellent meal. And under $30 for four of us. Probably going there again for breakfast as soon as I get this posted.

A couple of days ago I was looking around on the net for things to do while here in Aticama and I found a web page about the little town of Singayta. According to the web page. It was a town built in the old tradition and the people living there had started a nursery to grow orchids. They also had a tourist center where horses could be rented and boat rides into the mangrove forests were available. So we thought – what the heck lets go find it. Well we found it – a very interesting little place just off the highway. We turned off the highway up a cobblestone road. One of the homes set back from the road. Imagine walking up those steps with your groceries.

This looked like it might have been a meeting place of some sort – no one around it now. In fact we didn’t see anyone as we drove around and through the town. I've just learned that these pointy shape roofs are palapas and the flat ones made with palm fronds are ramadas.

Lots of signs of inhabitants though – laundry on the line drying and sounds of music in the air.

Lots of “living” fences this one would certainly keep me out!

Finally we saw this woman walking down the street heading for a tiny abarrotes – a little general store.

We parked and Bill went in to talk to her – ask her about the nursery. When he got back into the car he knew where the nursery was. As he backed up onto the main street we saw a school where a bunch of the children were out in the yard. They were waving to us and hollering “Hello” “Hello” so of course we had to stop. Bill got out with a bag of candy we always keep filled for just this type of occasion.

He went up to the fence and immediately had lots of friends. The teacher said it was okay to give them the candy. Bill and George had a wonderful time interacting with them. Even some kids who weren’t in school showed up with their Mom.

Some of the bigger girls got brave and come up to the car to talk to Carol and me. Their English was pretty good.

After asking our names and shaking our hands they wished us a good trip and went back to their studies.

Then on to the nursery where we talked to the owner Francisco who told us the sad story of the orchids and tourists attractions. They are no more. The government took control of the orchids and put them on a protected list so they can’t be gathered or raised or sold anymore. They still grow in the hills but the roads getting to them have been destroyed.
As for the horses and boat rides – no tourists came and according to Francisco the village didn’t make an effort to promote it so like so many dreams here in Mexico they have just disappeared.
However the nursery is still up and running. It is a beautiful and well cared for place.

We spent a lot of time just walking around under the shade and enjoying the exotic plants. These are different type of Birds of Paradise.

Just liked the look of this palm leaf.

Francisco told us if we drove further up the highway we'd come to the little town of La Libertad and from there we could drive up into the mountains through all kinds of plantations. We didn’t have to be told twice! Off we went.

We are off to get breakfast now - will continue about La Libertad when we get home. Also just put a load of laundry in - always chores to do.