Day Trip- Yelapa
By John (Jack) Matthews
“A palapa in Yelapa is better than a condo in Redondo”…a quote from their website. You MUST visit this remote village south of Vallarta, but the only real way to get there is by boat…Forget the tours, take the water taxi, backpack, a few essentials (leave the credit cards and your problems at home), and stay awhile. Aghh…it’s SO relaxing!…just a few folks…and the jungle creatures…oh, and a couple of really cool waterfalls!
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One of the first day trips my wife Loretta and I took after first arriving at Puerto Vallarta, was the trip to Yelapa. It was primitive back in the late 1970s, when the boat arrived and we were requested to step off the boat into the water and walk up the beach. The guide said that to get to the waterfall, you had to swim/wade across the small river, and walk up the small trail past the adobe houses before getting to the waterfall. Loretta decided to stay at the beach, not wanting to cross the river and take the trail.
She missed one of the best and most memorable trips I have ever taken. The river was swift, the trail was steep, and the adobe houses had no doors or windows, and one could see everything and everyone in the houses. At the waterfall there were large rocks around the pool at the base of the waterfall. Three slender young women in bikinis were on the rocks at the pool. Two crossed the pool and entered under the waterfall into the cave on the other side.
The third woman seemed afraid to enter and cross the pool, so I got in the pool and offered my hand. We crossed the pool as the other two women got out of the pool. Going through the waterfall, a rock wall and ledge was seen on the other side. I climbed up on the ledge and looked out through the falling water. The young woman was unable to climb up on the ledge, so I got down and offered my hand to help her up. Holding my hand she stretched her long right leg up onto the ledge, and in an unbalanced position, her bikini came down. I was in shock, she could not move.
When we regained our senses, she got up on the ledge, and I quickly exited the cave. Later when I returned to the river at the beach, the three women were siting on the other side of the bank, laughing and looking at me. I looked across, and saw Loretta waiting for me on the beach where lunch was served. I waved and quickly walked past the women. Back on the boat returning to the Marina, I told Loretta my story. Her reply ” You always seem to be so lucky!”.