Barra De Navidad (Bar of Christmas) takes its name from the large sand bar which projects from one side of the town out into the lagoon.  The sand bar still exists but it is now a covered walkway and protected from storms by rocks. The town has a long colonial history starting in 1540 when Viceroy Don Antonio de Mendoza arrived to put down a rebellion. In later years it became a major shipbuilding center. Many of the Galleons built here were used in the capture and control of the Philippines.

In 1565, one of these Galleons discovered the easy route across the Pacific. This was used by the treasure galleons of Spain to bring the riches of the orient home to Spain via Mexico. Eventually Acapulco became the major trading and transit center and Barra fell into obscurity.

Wednesday, 26 February 2014 – The town of Barra is quite small and tourist friendly; there are a few small grocery stores with limited supplies so most serious grocery shopping must be done in the next town to Barra called Melaque. A local bus travels frequently between the two towns and costs seven pesos per person each way.

This morning we had breakfast in town and then took the bus to Malaque. There was a street market in progress and the whole street was taken over by this market. It proved to be interesting although much of the craft work was more expensive than Mazatlán. We also found a Peluqueria (Hairdresser) as both of us needed haircuts which cost us less than $5.00 each.

Because we finished up with several heavy bags from grocery shopping, we took a taxi back from the Barra water taxi stand and they took us right to our boat; what a service.

Thursday, 27 February 2014 – We relaxed and swam in the pool and then the beach.  In the afternoon, we went into Barra to see the start of Carnival. There were too many Gringos who seem to have hijacked the event, so we returned to the Marina.

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Friday, 28 February 2014 – During the morning, I worked on a document to make manual sight reductions quicker and easier to do. I made a spaghetti dinner and afterwards we watch a movie.