Sayulita Scenes - Highway 200

Highway 200 is the two lane jungle road connects Sayulita to towns to the north and south along the coast.  Most importantly it connects us to Puerto Vallarta and the airport.  It could take you 10-12 minutes to emerge from the jungle or 2-3 hours depending traffic, accidents, construction, congestion, idiocy or just bad luck.  Beautiful though this time of year.

Highway 200.  Photo by others.

WAAAAAAAAY Overdue Improvements For Calle Libertad Begin!

The week before we headed north to Park City we were asked to attend a meeting concerning road improvements to our new street, Calle Libertad.  Calle Libertad is a cut through street from the main road through town to the main road around town.  It isn't an exaggeration to say that half the town either walks or drives up or down Calle Libertad daily.

Why does the street need improvements?  Well, during the rainy season the street becomes a muddy mess.  With the water run off from the rain,  erosion gets so bad that the street becomes barely passable when a deep ditch is carved down the street each summer.  The mud and whatever material the road is constructed with that week of the summer flows down the street to the intersection and then becomes a source of slurpy muddiness for months and then dust for months after.

Mud is only the beginning of the problems.

I left that meeting with the impression that the improvements plan was still in development and that any progress may actually be a while off just yet.  The rainy season had just about begun and is not a time to begin a project.  Well, when my phone rang during a hike in Park City I realized I was wrong about the scheduling of improvements.  The call was from our contractor and our car needed to be moved off the street immediately or risk having it towed as a new sewer line was being inspected and installed.  A first step to begin the regrading and resurfacing of the street!  This, I found out, meant that we received our sewer line hook up without continued permit hassle since they made sure every house on the street and project in progress was hooked up properly to avoid busting up a new road when our permit was issued. No more sharing with the church next door.  We got our own "poop pipe"!

We arrived from the airport and found the street blocked off at the top and bottom, large trucks at work and no cars parked anywhere.  So strange since there are always cars and trucks using Calle Libertad to get to where they need to go.  It was quiet other than the dump trucks and other machines leveling and compacting the street from adding road base.

A day or so after our arrival we saw a gathering of neighbors speaking with some of the road crew.  We could see guys were hastily putting away tables, chairs, plants and any other items that may be located on the front porch or stoops of the homes up the street.  Apparently they were being torn down to make way for part of the improvements to the street.  Our only guess is that over time these personal spaces encroached into the street right of way and were being removed.  These places were extensions of the local neighbor's homes.  A place where they sat and socialized, where they began and ended the day and escaped the hotter interiors of their concrete block homes.

Sidewalks being removed next to Alchemista.

  There was a look of some concern but not a lot of emotion about it.  Almost as if the neighbors knew they had grown too far out of their own properties and finally someone took notice.  Or, they figured the improvements were going to be better than what they had currently and did not complain much.

The front steps of our neighbor's house.

The twist happened when they started demolishing the church's front sidewalk.  We built our property wall on the same line as the front of the church and our neighbor on the other side.  All three properties line up but I suppose the church sidewalk was in the right of way and they made quick work of taking that out as well.

Early morning demolition of the church steps next door.

I do not even know the final plan for the street as of yet.  I have heard sidewalks similar to the ones that have been installed along other roads and around town.  Terra cotta stamped concrete.  Possibly changed to a "one-way" street and even no parking.  The designers made a big mistake with no parking on the street, Calle Pelicanos, that was "improved" last year.  They provided sidewalks, changed the street to a single direction and eliminated parking altogether.  Well, this pueblo developed around walking and every residence does not have off street parking like a driveway.  Many houses just do not have them. So people need to park their cars on someone else's street, in front of someone else's house or just park where ever they can like on the brand new sidewalks provided.  Our street is no different.  Most of the houses do not have parking so being able to park on the street is necessary.

This is what can happen when parking is not considered when improving the street.

Today, they even started taking out trees that have been part of the street as long as anyone can remember.  This one actually had a root system that likes to grow and cause problems for sidewalks, streets, plumbing and foundations.  A crew arrived with chainsaws in the late morning and by afternoon the tree was no more and the houses across the street were bathed in mid-day summer sunlight for the first time in decades I would guess.

A few more months of this but at the end we will have a brand new house and a brand new street all at the same time.  It will, unfortunately, delay some final work on the house but we will get there and Calle Libertad will look as good as it ever has.  The question will be "Will Calle Libertad "work" as well as it ever has?".

Mud Season

Having done some of my growing up in Vermont there was always a 5th season each year.  Spring, summer, fall, winter, and MUD season.  To state the obvious, the seasons here in Sayulita are much milder.  So much so that it is sometimes difficult to tell which season it actually is.  One season that is easily identifiable is MUD season.

All summer the rains try and try to come and water the plants and wash the jungle clean again.  When the rain does come the thirsty earth just drinks it all in until one day the earth decides it will drink no more.  The rain starts to come more often and in greater amounts and the town turns into a sloppy mess.  Side roads that are not cobble stoned turn into deeply rutted, gooey avenues of mud and only get worse as traffic tries to use these pathways.

Trace getting ride with our neighbor Pepe's ATV

Cars here are just not equipped to handle this kind of terrain for the most part.  Many of them do not have great tires or perhaps are rear wheel drive.  Few 4x4s.  I tried my luck with our little Ford SUV after I saw another car almost get to the top of this hill and have to back all the way down to the next muddy intersection.  It took me two tries but I made it.  I have to admit I missed my little Mazda truck today.

Calle Libertad is slicker than snot

This is the top of the road we are building our house on.  There has been talk for years about the possibility of cobble stoning it.  We hope that this year is the year the rumors become truth and we see a totally improved roadway as it is an important connector out of town for many people.  With improvement the road will get busier but at least we will be able to use it.

Sayulita Scenes - Road Improvements Continue

With the main entrance to town closed for what seemed like forever, the side streets became the main corridors in and out of town. Calle Pelicanos became the main route in to our pueblo during this time. It is easily the most traveled street after Calle Revolucion for car traffic. It is also the main route for people walking in and out of town, to school etc since it is the mid point between the front and back main entrances to town, runs along the river and is in or near several neighborhoods.

Once the new front entrance to town was mostly complete attention was turned to improving this particular side road.  Like a lot of things here, many things don't happen until they happen and may not even have the input of those being effected by certain projects.  There was actually an informal survey conducted on how this road should operate but whether or not it influenced the final plan is unknown to us.  This road originally had parking for residents on both sides of the street with about 1.5 lanes down the center of the road for traffic.  Not always a convenient route when there is two-way traffic, pedestrians and local resident cars parked on both sides.  I tried to never use this road while driving unless it was early in the morning.

The solution appears to be a one-way road.  Which way it will go is yet to be declared publicly but the assumption is that it will be a one-way exit road from the town center.  It is only about 1.5 cars wide with curbing on both side so there is no room for two way traffic.  There is also no room for resident parking.  Many of the houses on this street were originally designed without cars in mind so over time they were just parked on the road in front of the houses.  This will no longer be the case it appears.  Parking will have to be off the street.  There will also be a real sidewalk for pedestrians to use.  Stamped and colored similar to all the new sidewalks in town.

We will have to see how all this works out once complete.  We wonder how the residents on the street react with no parking and when some of the final details and decisions are made public.  Did they really have any input?  It is great that the street has a safe option for walking and many encourage Sayulita to become more of a walking town.   This is certainly a positive for the project.

Why is this street's transformation of interest?  Well, the street with our new house project may be on the short list for a similar make over.  It carried a heavy load during the entrance construction and becomes almost impassable during the late summer/early fall months when the rains come due to erosion.  We "hear" it's on the list but we have been hearing that for years.  We will wait to see.

Maybe not exactly the intended plan for the street.