La Peñita de Jaltemba
Four years ago, we stumbled across the huge market in La Peñita. La Peñita is the northernmost city of a series of three linked communities located on Jaltemba Bay, a small bay 40 miles north of Bucerias. From north to south, the three towns are La Peñita, Guayabitos, and Los Ayala. So far this year, we have visited Guayabitos and Los Ayala, but not La Peñita.
When we first visited La Peñita four years ago, the Thursday market was mainly the ‘low-brow trinkets’ variety of markets. It started in the central plaza and overflowed down several streets. It was big and colorful, but I don’t remember seeing any artisan vendors. Yesterday, when we went to the upscale Nuevo market, I noticed that some of the vendors had a schedule of the markets they attend, and La Peñita was included. This needs investigating, giving us a perfect excuse to head up to La Peñita.
All three communities seem old. The middle city of Guayabitos is the resort center of the three. The myriad of hotels and bungalows have a patina of wear and are in need of a facelift. Los Ayala is the tiniest and the quietest of the three. La Peñita is considered to be the commercial hub with banking services, a library, a post office, grocery stores, and veggie markets. Transportation-wise, all three communities are linked by inexpensive collectivos that constantly run back and forth.
Pineapples, mangos, and bananas are grown in the area. Fruit markets and fruit street vendors are abundant in La Peñita. For some reason, this is lacking in Bucerias. When we first visited La Peñita, we found it interesting that the beach was not set up for tourism. It was a ‘working beach’ with plenty of old fishing boats. The main feature of Jaltemba Bay is Coral Island sitting right in the middle of the bay. The Guayabitos beach has scores of water taxis jocking in position to take tourists out to the island. Not so at La Peñita’s beach.
Anyway, today we took the Compostela bus to Guayabitos. It was 100 pesos ($5.30 US) each. We could either walk the two miles to La Peñita or hop in a collectivo. We chose to walk. The curvy street that links Guayabitos to La Peñita is in the more upscale end of town with the newest and most modern homes. The street abruptly ends at a narrow creek. A swinging footbridge crosses the river. And the bridge truly swings - wildly so. Of course, I loved it.
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