Jejenes are not Cool

Every guidebook mentions them. Phrases like “a great campground, but usually empty because of the horrible jejenes.”

My idea was to go to this town and beach but to get out before sunset. We didn’t make it, and Jason is not so scared of biting insects. He doesn’t have my track record.

San Blas is a beautiful beach town with some amazing history, great surf and nice people. It would be on the resort town list if not for the nasty bugs. In most towns around here, these buggers are around before and after sunset, but no longer. Here, they come out at 4, and it isn’t safe outside until 9am.

Why do people come and stay here? Then again, we grew up in Texas with giant mosquitoes. You can get used to anything.

I guess my real question is why I’m covered in bites despite trying to stay in the bus all night. Jason has only a few despite being out several hours around sunset and early this morning, and Bode has none. These voracious flesh eaters left only small marks on our bodies, but they have itched for days.

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These guys were having trouble with their VW bug, so we tried to help. But in true bug fashion, once we got there, the car suddenly started and ran just fine. They thanked us profusely and gave us some insect repellent.

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We headed further south and found a cool town at Playa Chacala. Muy bueno…but we had to move on. Jason wanted to stay. There is nowhere to camp, but you can generally park and camp outside the restaurants if you buy something. Everyone here is very cool and it is a neat little village crammed into just a few blocks on the beach.

Instead, we went and found an RV park with hot water, laundry and the works. Tough choice. It was absolutely packed full of Canadians and it was “hamburger night” too, so our complete lack of food wasn’t a problem. And, we got to do the macarena with the Geritol crowd. We thought we were sacrificing the cool happening beach town of Chacala for a quiet night’s rest here, but these folks partied late into the night. Watch out for hamburger night in La Penita.

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