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Rincón de Guayabitos - La Peñita de Jaltemba & Punta Raza
By Nora Hernández & Jesus de Avila | Photos by Jesus de Avila |Translation by Eduardo Rincón Gayardo – July 2008

Located approximately 40 miles from Puerto Vallarta’s Gustavo Díaz Ordaz airport, with excellent weather throughout the year; Rincón de Guayabitos ―a strategic touristic spot of the Riviera Nayarit―, a former fishing village; gives you an oasis’ welcome through its wide avenues leading to its expansive, golden beaches bathed by tranquil waters and decorated by tall palm trees.

Rincón de Guayabitos is nested in a bay next to the town of La Peñita de Jaltemba. Isla Coral (Coral Island) rises in the center of the bay sheltering the beach from stronger tides. There are two more islands in this destination, named Cangrejo (Crab) and Coral in whose transparent waters diving and snorkeling are very highly recommended.

The place is a family tourism destination with 47 places to stay with a wide range of prices among bungalows, hotels, inns, condos and villas.

For visitors’ delight, on its long and wide beach you can find refreshing shaved ices (flavored with varied fruits essences), fruits of the season dressed with salt, chile and lime; coconut milk, tejuino (a semi-fermented corn refreshing drink), basket tacos (small steamed tacos, folded like quesadillas, not rolled like traditional tacos), fresh oysters, as well as kebab-like charcoal-broiled fish and seafood on a stick.

Walking about the main avenue, the visitor finds shops where he can admire and acquire arts and crafts from the whole country, mainly those coming from the southern regions.

Rincón de Guayabitos’ ascent to its successful touristic destination status started in 1970, when the current federal administration decided to create a bank trust backing up the construction and development of what is now enjoyed by thousands of international tourists visiting every year.

There is presently a select number of families, both Mexican and foreign, owning beautiful houses and villas that make up the first-class residential area to the north.

According to recollections of whom for the past 34 years has been responsible of caring for the gardens adjoining the church of La Señora del Perpetuo Socorro; (Our Lady of Perpetual Succour); before becoming a vacation center, Rincón de Guayabitos was a fertile land for growing beans and corn. There were fishermen’s cooperatives capturing shark and sea bass. Back in those days families arrived for days or months to fish, returning then to their campgrounds and to travel to other beaches.

Most of the tourism industry’s workers presently come from the town of La Peñita de Jaltemba, a neighboring town not as touristically developed as Rincón de Guayabitos, where you can enjoy a smaller though beautiful beach offering some bungalows as lodging option.

As a result of a conversation with 52 year-old Mrs. Reinalda García Plasencia, native of the town, La Peñita de Jaltemba was legally formed as an “ejido” (a form of land ownership in Mexico by which land is given to people so they can inhabit and make their livelihood from it, though they cannot lease or sell it) in 1936. In those days the town headed the area’s administration, covering the nearby towns of El Monteón, Chula Vista, Villa Morelos and Lo de Marcos.

The inhabitants of La Peñita de Jaltemba were Rincón de Guayabitos’ tourists and their preferred place was “el rincón” (the corner) of the bay, abundant with wild guava trees for the length of the beach, therefore the name: “Rincón de Guayabitos” (corner of small guava-trees).

There was in La Peñita a large ranch dedicated to the harvest of oil coconut and banana, while in the surroundings, on what is now across the road, towards the east, the land was dedicated to growing tobacco.

Through a dirt road between hills of lush greenery, after crossing a security gate, you can now visit a beautiful beach bathed by an ocean of various hues of turquoise.. Punta Raza.

This place used to be a nursery growing cucumbers, chile, mango, eggplant, avocado, soursop, various types of papaya, pineapple, peanuts, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, radish, tomato, sorghum, corn and beans, among others.

During the times when La Peñita de Jaltemba housed the Fair of Bahía de Banderas, it offered the products grown in the nursery of Punta Raza where a great touristic high-level project is in the process of consolidation.

Here, attracted by the magnificent and abundant natural wealth of the zone, being preserved and cared for as the surrounding environment for great residential developments, “Baby Boomers” have started searching for properties which will become in the near future, their long awaited retirement haven. Email to a friend

Jesús de Avila
E-mail: editor@pvmirror.com

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