Tag: food

Melaque

On By ellenbessoIn change, travelLeave a comment

My daughter and I were welcomed with open arms by our hotel family and the Tito restaurant family on our arrival in Melaque on January 16th. I have never before experienced such a warm homecoming. And that’s what it was…a coming home…a return to this warm, comfortable friendly Mexican beach community. Mexico calls to me. It calls me back again and again. The energies of the country and it’s beautiful people permeate my being.

Bronwen and I enjoyed our two weeks together, exploring the town centre and spending most of our time in our small, village like beach community. My daughter enjoyed the beauty, the water and the peace, and plans to return again with a friend and her mom.

My experience of the place was different from last year, as expected. That magical two months could not be reproduced as I knew… and I had changed in the meantime.

The open mic singing opportunities remained, and I sang several times at the Tuesday evening Jack & Friends events. Never having the opportunity to practice with Jack, sometimes my performance, accompanied by Jack and two others, turned out very well; once it was such an embarrassment for both of us I returned the next Tuesday for an encore, this time a successful accapella version of Summertime.

Time moved on lazily in our beachfront community, then, three weeks after my daughter left, on Sunday February 22nd, El Mencho, the head of the largest Mexican cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and one of the largest in the world, was fatally shot by the Mexican Army. The entire state of Jalisco, where I was located, and some adjoining states, went on Red Alert Lockdown. We were told to shelter in place.

We were relatively safe in Melaque, 30 minutes from Manzanillo, particularly on the West Beach. But the violence was a bit too close for comfort, with the road between La Manzanillo and Barra, on the other side of the Bay, blocked by a burning vehicle. Also there were attacks in Cihuatlan, an inland town half an hour from us.

Traditionally, the cartels do not attack beach towns, but with the fatal shooting of this major cartel figure, Puerto Vallarta was the exception, the epicentre of the violence.

The next leg of my trip was to the mountains outside Guadalajara. My planned departure was only one week after the uproar. I was to take a five hour bus ride on the highway from Melaque to Guadalajara. The trip did not feel right, so I sadly opted to put off my trip to Ajijic for another time.

** More about what happened in Mexico, the possible longer term ramifications of it for the beautiful Mexican Nationals, and my personal experience in my next blog.**

Love & Light

Ellen

Copyright 2026 Ellen Besso

PS I returned to Canada on March 5th, 4 days after my intended trip to the mountains near Guadalajara and 11 days after the violent event in Mexico.

My Small Melaque World

On By ellenbessoIn change, spirituality, travel1 Comment

The small beach community I called home for two months extends in one direction as far as I can walk without going along the beach or onto the hot streets, past the karaoke venue around the corner from Hotel Bahia and ending at Leovy Restaurant with its bamboo and rattan umbrellas. In the other direction it reaches the top of the Malecon boardwalk, about one and a half miles long, I overheard someone say.

My morning begins with a walk on the Malecon, all the way to the end if its not too hot, then coffee under a beach umbrella, served to me by Tito…if Tito is there the restaurant is open.

I sip my morning java while listening to the waves and watching the beauty of the unfolding morning, staying until I become too warm or my body insists it’s time to move. Forty pesos is a miniscule price for this uplifting experience.

From time to time I venture down the beach or into town for music or to my favourite breakfast place. Melaque has retained its simple Mexican tourist town feel, although busier now. The town centre is bustling and fun, quite different from the West Melaque beach energy, the friendly folk at Tito’s Restaurant where we eat and where the open mic shows take place.

Towards the middle of February things begin to change. While a few Canadian and American visitors prefer a late vacation, the long term folks at my hotel begin drifting home. Fewer musicians appear at the Tuesday evening “Jack and Friends” open mic, and the audience shrinks. I keep performing, Jack’s glad to have me I think, some of the other women singers have left, returning to jobs in Canada.

Only a quarter of the rooms at the hotel are occupied now. Short term visitors, mostly Mexican weekenders, will occupy the place from now on the manager tells me.

Last weekend the controversial new “big city” Mexican hotel at the end of the beach was fully occupied by busloads of middle class looking Mexicans from out of town. Other Mexican visitors have settled in for the day at Tito’s beach tables, with carryalls of food and bathing paraphernalia and the ubiquitous giant Coca Cola bottles.

The six month visitors like my music mentor Jack and his partner are still in residence until sometime in April, and the transplanted expats remain. Another great winter season is coming to an end.