Chacala

The population consists of approximately 300 full-time residents but can swell to over 1000 during Mexico's most popular vacation periods, such as Semana Santa (Easter Week) and Christmas.

[3] The notable but idiosyncratic Jesuit missionary Father Eusebius Francesco Kühn, commonly known as 'Padre Kino', and his party departed from Chacala on his Atondo expedition in May 1683.

[4] After slumbering for decades as a small fishing village and coconut plantation, Mexican doctor Laura del Valle's arrival in 1980 spurred a period of change which, in a relatively brief 15 years, transformed the town into one of Mexico's more distinctive destinations.

Del Valle first built simple accommodations at Chacala's south end, where dense virgin first-growth rainforest teeming with wildlife, including ocelot, margay, and jaguarundi, grows down the flanks of a small collapsed volcano and plunges into the Pacific.

Today, it has evolved into a Retreat & Wellness Center called Mar de Jade that still supports and runs a variety of non-profit projects for the local community and the neighboring impoverished farming town of Las Varas.

A Zen Buddhist with a strong commitment to helping the less-fortunate, the word of del Valle's work soon spread, and Chacala started attracting others with similar ideals, along with 'eco-tourists' looking for a tranquil, unspoiled, and little-visited beach-town 'off the beaten path'.

[1] Over the next decade and a half, others looking for an environ where efforts to help a local populace resulted in changes which could be seen and felt, or those just looking for an idyllic charming beach-town, found their way to Chacala.

Chacalilla, the small cove just north of Chacala and the surrounding land was purchased by a developer to build a gated complex with luxury homes ranging from approximately $550,000 to US$1,800,000.