Carlos Alberto, a resident of Chacala, Mexico, plays guitar on the beach in the small Mexican seaside village 60 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Restaurants, under swaying palm trees and palm-frond roofs, line the beach at Chacala, Mexico. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)
Downtown Chacala, Mexico, has just a few streets, most of them unpaved, and a handful of shops selling bright-hued beachwear, toys and curios. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)
Mar de Jade is the biggest and oldest tourism enterprise in Chacala. It has 30 rooms and a prime slice of beach. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)
A vendor sells shrimp from the back of his pickup truck on a street in Chacala. Mexico. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Las Brisas is a popular beach-front bar and restaurant in Chacala. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Chacala, Mexico, is on a small bay, which has a gentle surf that’s ideal for swimming. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
An inviting hot tub borders the beach at Mar de Jade, a hotel in the small Mexican village of Chacala. It has 30 guest rooms, and most have no phones or TVs. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Chacala is built around the beach, a handsome half-mile crescent of jungle-adjacent sand. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
The tall palms, the quiet, the loop of the beach the landscape of Chacala, Mexico, banishes worry. (Christopher Reynolds / LAT)
Canadian snowbirds mostly inhabit the RV park that takes up a part of the beach at Chacala, Mexico. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
Take your beach-front seat to laze away another Chacala afternoon. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)
