Chacala

I've had the wonderful opportunity to spend several weeks in a wonderful little town on the west coast of Mexico in the state of Nayarit called Chacala. Chacala is a fascinating place. It is a full two hours north of Puerto Vallarta and, for that reason, is outside the "sphere of influence", if you will, of the high rise hotels, condos, Costcos, and all the big-city civilized trappings of the metropolis known as Puerto Vallarta. Chacala today is similar to what Puerto Vallarta was in the movie Night of the Iguana.
The powers that be in the state of Nayarit, the governor and his administration, have decided that the entire coast of the state of Nayarit, basically from Puerto Vallarta north to Mazatlan, should be turned into a mirror image of Cancun. Bigger is better, higher is holier, and the widely held belief, valid or not, is that the whole area must be made as Americanized as possible in order to attract gringo dollars. This means turning tranquil little beach hamlets into high rise condos, marinas, time shares, gated communities, the works, offering franchise fast food, Starbucks, etc. Chacala was (and at the time of this writing, is) a marvelous backwater, regrettably only two hours away from growing Gringolandia.
Chacala boasts a small beach, maybe half a mile in length. Half of the beach fronts restaurants and the dozen or so shops on a dirt road that constitute the "downtown". The other half of the beach was fronted by a grove of palm trees. In the past, gringos and mexicanos would come in their RV's and tents, camp in the palm grove, walk to the beach, and patronize the local restaurants and grocery stores. About 6 months ago, the state government erected a cyclone fence barring people from entering the palm grove. The government did so with no notice. They did so without indicating that this was a state action, causing the locals to wonder "Who did this?" In other words, they acted in typical mexican government fashion. They then paid a couple of "vigilantes" to guard the fence and make sure no one breaches it. The owners of the palm grove do indeed have plans to develop this area. This governmntal action effectively eliminates any subsequent actions by locals claiming they've acquired a right to adverse use or possession.
The developers plan to turn the large area into a gated community (mexicanos love gates; even gated communities INSIDE gated communities!), complete with condos, restaurants, a marina, hotels, etc. In short they want to make a mini-Puerto Vallarta out of this otherwise undeveloped little bay. It seems to be an accepted fact that the governor of the state and other governmental authorities have been handsomely paid off by the developers. From the mexican point of view, this is not something to be angry at; this is a lucky job perk that comes with political office.
The locals seem to have mixed feelings. About half of them naively believe that this development will bring more income their way. This of course will not be the case. I point to Puerto Aventuras as proof. The other half are opposed, but absolutely all are resigned to the fact that it makes no difference what they think or how they feel. The decision will be made by the state-level politicians and their decision will be decided by how much money the developers will be able to put into the politicians pockets.
Chacala of course is not unique. I think, however, it's analagous to the canary in the coal mine. As goes Chacala, so goes the rest of rural Mexico with a beach.
So....bottom line: if you want to go to the beach south of the border and still be in Mexico, now is the time to enjoy this little hamlet! The development may have been delayed by the sad state of the US economy. Those that wish to enjoy rural Mexican life at the beach(the rural lifestyle is the heart of Mexico) may still be able to do so for a few more years.