Monday, January 6, 2014

Panga

Village pier, or muelle, is at center. The bow-anchored pangas always face windward,
to the open water in the afternoon, inland the rest of the time.
There is no road to this village from the outside, so watercraft called "pangas" are as ubiquitous as cars everywhere else. Almost everyone’s daily round here is propelled either by foot or panga, with enough going horseback to litter the cobblestones with more or less drying dung. 

The panga is a high-bowed, outboard-powered fishing boat. They run between 18 and 28 feet, and the engine of choice is a Yamaha 200, V6. The Yamaha brand is fitting since that company developed the design of the boat as part of a World Bank project in the 70s. They are common in the developing world, and as a sidenote, are the vessel of choice for Somali pirates.

Acrobatic souls, disembarking at the playa, 
from a panga
In our little cove there are usually a few daytrippers in yachts from Vallarta, a sailboat or two from further ports, but the rest of the up to thirty or so craft are pangas belonging to the locals, and used mostly for fishing and transport, or just as a simple runabout.

Fishing is the traditional livelihood of the people living around this cove. Today, though, most of the wealth comes from tourists, trickling down through the family-owned rooms for rent, restaurants and tiendas. All of the people and 95% of the goods that power this economy come by panga.

Everything from toilet paper and beer to people come and go
from the muelle.
A dozen water taxis ply the water route between here and Puerto Vallarta, each several times a day. They are also all pangas, and unless they are pulling up to the playa to let their hardy passengers pop off the bow and into the surf, they come and go from the muelle, or pier, just below our balcony.

What more, and what more varied activity, could two people-watchers want?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have any celebrities discovered your Shangri-La? For a cough, make a tea with some thyme leaves and boiling water. If you can’t find thyme, two shots of hot tequila will also do the job.
N. Rosie

The Last Quarter said...

Hi N, I understand Dennis Hopper used to hang out here back in the day. Five or six years ago Hilary Swank stayed at the one semi-luxe palapa-like hotel. Thanks for the medicinal tip. I'm working the tequila.