Chico's Paradise

Chico's Paradise is one of those places that I tend to avoid. During the high season here it is a featured destination for tourists out to experience something a little different. It was September, which is the dead month here and the Mexican vacationers have returned home because school has started and the "snow birds" from up North will not arrive until late October and November. So the locals call September, Septiembre in Spanish, Septi-hambre, hambre meaning hungry. It's very quiet.

So I decided one day to take a drive to Chico's Paradise and see what it was all about. Chico's is up in the mountains on a river that has spectacular waterfalls. September is the end of the rainy season, so I figured that the waterfalls would be pretty spectacular. To get there you take the highway south from Puerto Vallarta towards Mismaloya. Passing Mismaloya, you continue on to Boca de Tomatlan. At Boca de Tomatlan, the river which flows through Chico's Paradise comes down out of the mountains and meets the Bay. At Boca de Tomatlan, the road turns away from the coast and follows the river up into the mountains. Several miles up into the mountains you arrive at Chico's Paradise. It's a very easy drive, paved blacktop all the way. 4 wheel drives are unnecessary

Chico's was pretty quiet when I arrived. There were about 10 tables with people eating lunch. The place looks like it could easily handle 60 or 70 tables at high season. It is a very beautiful palapa style restaurant, completely open on two sides giving open views of the falls. I found myself a table with open views of the falls, ordered lunch and started taking some pictures. When I looked out into the river, there was a large rock and standing on top of the rock was a man. I couldn't figure out how he got there since the river was rushing furiously on all sides of the rock. Imagine my surprise when he walked up to the farther end of the rock and ran directly towards the end overlooking the falls. he launched himself into space, did a somersault and dove directly into the water at the base of the falls. Whew! I was so surprised that I didn't have the time to get my camera ready. He was in the water before I could pick it up. Fortunately he climbed back up the rock and repeated his performance a number of times.

My lunch arrived and I dove into it, so to speak. The food was good, the prices were higher than average, but still reasonable. The fare was typical Mexican cooking with a few surprises, like BBQ quail. A couple beers, and a shot of tequila at the end and I was enjoying the day. There was a table of Mexicans not far from me who had commandeered a local singer/guitarist who was playing some great Mexican tunes which were being enjoyed by everyone.

I payed my bill and headed out to climb the rock a see if I could get some more pictures. There were some young Americans there who were taking diving lessons from the expert. The Americans were only diving from the top of the lower falls, there were none who dared try it from the top of the large rock. There were some calm shallow pools by the river so taking along a bathing suit would be a definite plus.

Although billed as a tourist attraction, it was a very relaxing and calm place to spend an afternoon, with an enjoyable lunch and a refreshing dip at the end, not to mention "the show".

 

Comments

[John Dillon]

Just a side note; there is an archeological site on location at Chico's. Although I had always made it a point to go there on holiday I didn't find out about this until my last visit. To say it blew my mind would be an understatement.

[Thomas]

Watch out for your bill

Seafood is OK if you don’t mind the oil. The diving is speculator and view is great.
They hard sell the expensive seafood combo plate. The told me lobster is included but they gave me crawfish (looks like small lobster) instead. Then they play ignorance game between the owner and the waiter. BTW, they charged me $3300 but the bill is actually $1800. Check your bill carefully if you go to this plan.

[Ed Fladung]

Thomas: FWIW!! The behavior you describe is SOP at these kinds of restaurants. It's part of the learning process. For the most part I am not a fan of Mexican mariscos. They are expensive and to my taste not well prepared. I usually go for the fish or the traditional Mexican specialties (chili rellenos, tampiquena, Mexican plate).

[Asics shoes]

very cool space! I love your taste and it looks like it'd be so much fun to poke around in there... I used to live in DE but am now in VA, but if I ever go back that way to visit family I'd love to see it in person :)

[Debra Goodson]

Just back from eating a lobster and steak lunch At Chico's. It was very good but, as described above, the bill was a bit in error. It was corrected when we called their attention to it though AND there is still a guy that dives from the top of the large boulder. We were seated with a great view and a wonderful breeze. Just check your bill but good foodWish I'd known about the archealogical site! Where is that? I did photograph a large boulder that had some markings on it that looked interesting to me when I was hiking over to Chico's and I wondered if there was more of that type of thing around but didn't run across it.