Barra de Navidad
Barra de Navidad is a location I have been coming to since the 80’s. Physically, a lot has changed in terms of size and population, but after returning from an almost 20 year break it had a similar feel still. Some people still recognized me, which was nice. Another huge difference are the bugs. I remember tons of cockroaches, flies, mosquitos, scorpions, spiders, and other vermin. I didn’t see much of any of them. Even mosquitoes, but I’m sure there are still a lot. Located on the pacific coast of Mexico, in the state of Jalisco, it lies 60 km north of Manazillo. I would consider it a small fishing and farming town. It is a great destination if you desire a small town beach feel, great seafood, and a relaxing environment.
Malecon ❤️🏠
The malecon used to be just a sandbar. It's a nice little walkway now. To the west is the beach and ocean. This seems to be a good place to swim, though it wasn’t my swimming spot, though I have swam in the area. To the east, is the lagoon, an area to swim, if you wish. Aside from the ocean and lagoon, there are 3 points of interest here. First there is the statue of Triton and a mermaid, next is the Monumento Aniversario 400 De La Salida Hacia Las Filipinas. I actually didn't know any of this history until now. All I knew was that this monument used to be in a different part of the town. The monument highlights Barra as a place where the Spanish built and repaired ships, and a jumping off point to the Philippines.
La Laguna ❤️🏠
This lagoon has always been a fishing and swimming spot for me as a kid. Now, it might be more contaminated as the size of Barra is bigger, and they have canals, so lots of boat traffic throughout the day. They got mangroves here and some islands, more back then, than now. There are restaurants on one of the islands. I recently went kayaking here and explored the back side of the island and there are quite a bit of bird species out here. As a kid, this was an area I would fish with my brother and cousin Willy. We would get a crushed beer or soda can, get a line, tie it to the beer can, get a hook, tie the end of the line to a hook, get a rock as a weight, somehow tie it and make it work, and take bait from my grandma's restaurant and fish all day, every day. This was like an 8 hour session everyday. Super hot weather during the summer, fishing off little piers, boats, or restaurants that were above the waters. At that time no one cared what we kids did. We also made crossbows for spear fishing and would spear fish and in some cases the water snakes in the lagoon. I don’t know if the snakes are still there. The 80’s as a young kid in Barra, during the summer despite all the rough living, were some of the best of my life and really toughened me up and prepared me for traveling abroad.
La Laguna de Tule
Funny how names change. I grew up calling this place “La Laguna Dulce.” And still call it that. La Laguna de Tule is a name I just learned about from Google maps as I write this. My mom washed her clothes there as a child. We called it La Laguna Dulce, because it was a freshwater lagoon. There are crocodiles here, which is why I enjoyed coming here. I wanted to see crocodiles in their natural environment. During big storms the beach would open up and the water from La Laguna Ducle would empty into the ocean, covering the beach with vegetation, and well, some of the crocodiles would be out there in the ocean.
Playa Navidad ❤️🏠
This is where I got my swimming in. If I wasn’t fishing, I was swimming here. My main spot was in front of the Sea Master restaurant. My grandma’s restaurant called Alices was across the street from the Sea Master, but we weren’t along the beach. There was a pathway between Sea Masters AND, and you could just go down and swim. Now there's a bunch of rubble there. A lot of physical changes happened since I’ve been gone, and this was one of them and one I didn’t particularly like. This is where I became a good swimmer. I would dive into the waves as a kid, purposely get wiped out, and swim around. We also made fun of tourists, Mexican or otherwise, because oftentimes they didn’t understand the ocean and would get wiped out a ton of times. This was the 80’s, we made fun of fat people who got knocked by the waves and wiped out over and over, women getting their bikinis knocked off, and more. The 80’s wasn’t a sensitive time, and 80’s Mexico, you’re gonna get clowned HARD. Again, some of the best times of my life, super funny, and it toughens you up, even if you’re not a tough kid.
Every now and then my grandma would come swimming with us and she just jumped in with her normal clothes, we thought that was hella funny.
El Jarro
This was the late 90s and beyond spot. We used to go to El Galleon which was more of a club deeper into Barra. We clubbed out there as teens and young adults. I remember getting 2nd place in a dance competition, when I was a street dancer. I had to battle my cousin Danny who was living in LA and I always admired his dancing skills. Beating him was a big deal to me, because he has a simple, but slick flow. I lost to Odin, who sucks ass. I lost because at that time he was the heart throb in Barra, and no skills was going to be the hottest kid in Barra, who all the girls loved. It was a contest voted by the crowd. Afterwards Odin came to me and said, “We both know you’re better than me, but the girls love me and they don’t love you.” I was happy he acknowledged I was far better than him, and I lost because I wasn’t good looking. Anyways, I’m getting lost in the past. El Jarro is along the beach by the malecon and it was a decent spot to party, but we always made fun of the clubs in Barra. My sister, brother and I had this joke that they always play Ace of Bass’ “I Saw The Sign” everyday for 20 years, which is actually true. I must have been to a variety of bars and clubs in Barra and the music just wasn't on hit for me. I wanted Snoop and Dre and got Hotel California and I Saw The Sign. Looking back, it's amazing, but at the time, we hated it. I didn’t do any partying this time around, at least not at bars and clubs, so I don’t know how El Jarro is now, but my cousin who lives out there says it's still cracking. All the locations from here on out are opinions of my cousin Francia.
Barra Mia
This was my grandma's restaurant. Now called Barra Mia. I didn’t come here. I don’t know who owns it, nor do I know if it's any good. I don’t even know if my family still owns the property, but my cousin says it's cracking.
Samsara Beach Club
Hotel del Mar
I am going to throw some places to stay. To be honest, this is kinda it for Barra in terms of activities. It’s a small place. Fishing, seafood, relaxation, basic party life, the beach, that's kind of it. There are other things, but they won’t be mentioned on this website, but thats kind of it, but still totally worth coming out here. Hotel del Mar is in Barrio Nuevo and this area was pretty damn new to me. The hotel was about 35 USD a night for a solid clean room, on a vibrant street with food and about a 20-30 minute walk from el centro.
Lighthouse
I don’t know much about this place, but I mention it in my video. Its a place you can stay. Looks like it could be a whole community for rent. It looks pretty dope. Check out my video on Barra.
Now we are going into some day trips that you can do from Barra. My Barra video goes over more of the info, but I'll touch up some here.
Cuastecomates ❤️🏠
This is a small beach I have never been to until this year, 2024. Current and waves are far weaker than Barras, at least that day, so I expect it to be safer. A few restaurants along the beach. It was nice to get away. My sister read reviews, and I guess sometimes this beach can have a lot of trash. When we went it was nice. I usually don’t research stuff and just go, especially today since everyone is trying to show fake ass shit on the internet, but maybe double check before you go.
Restaurante Marisela
This joint was recommended to us by our driver. It did the job. It’s fresh seafood and hella good.
Cocodrilario La Manzanilla ❤️🏠📸⭐
You can see some hella big ass crocodiles here, in their natural habitat. That was my main reason for wanting to come here. I’ve been here years ago. They got a wooden walkway above the river, and it's a fairly long walk. When you get to the intersection go to the museum first, then finish the rest. It ends in a crocodile nursery, where they are caged. You can talk to the people there for information. 50 pesos for adults, and 20 for kids. Worth it.
Playa La Manzanilla ❤️🏠
Like the others, there are restaurants, and it's a long beach, very long. It’s nice, worth checking out in conjunction with eating and seeing the crocodiles.
Apazulco
Another name I didn’t know until I google mapped it and confirmed it with my cousin. This was always to me, called Miguel Hidalgo Viejo. I am only mentioning this for context. This is where my aunt and uncle live and where we spent some of our summer. There really isn’t any reason to come here. It's a rancho. It’s hella rural. I brought it up to set up the next location, but you can still come here. Cows, horses, heat, bugs, chopping chickens heads off and watching them run around and eating them for dinner are but a few memories here. My uncle was a well respected teacher of this place. We made slingshots and would shoot each other with rocks, hunt iguanas with .22s for BBQs, check out shoes and the bathrooms for scorpions everytime we had to go or put on shoes. It was wild. We’d sleep and dozens and dozens of black beetles would crawl into bed with me. You can get rid of some, but not all. We also would go to the best beach in the area via here. We would rent a truck and load up about 30 to 50 of us and mob over toooo….
Playa Tenacatita ❤️🏠📸🚗⭐
This was my favorite beach in Mexico, until I hit the Yucatan. This beach is where I first snorkeled, saw coral reefs, and lots of sea life. It was pristine back in the day. Most of the coral is dead now, but it's still a nice beach. But what's good is the road is nice now. This used to be a challenging drive because the road was horrible, but now it's paved. There's even a town nearby. There was a lot of drama regarding this place. People wanted to open up hotels along the beach, but that didn't happen. The people rose up, fought and won. I don’t know the details, but aside from the death of the coral reefs, it's pretty much the same. Restaurants along the beach, and there are 3 beaches to easily access. If you go over the hill, you will come to two other beaches. The one on the left is the better snorkeling spot, but the one on the right has stronger currents. I would totally recommend coming to this beach for a day trip. It’s no more than 1.5 hours away from Barra, and probably closer to 1.