La Ropa Changes

It's Friday morning, and there is no longer any sign of the "rental shade, tables and chairs" area. Gone. Even the chairs are gone. Just an empty area between Casa los Pajaros and La Perla.

Déjà vu. We've seen all this before and for all the same reasons. The restaurants complain that the Promotora de Playas (the folks responsible for the blue tents with the chairs) attract food vendors and create a bad image and don't maintain their facilities, so they convince the local government to remove them. Then all the busloads of tourists who are the only tourists the government focuses on attracting now (because in government quantity is always more important than quality any day) will start showing up and the local and state and federal officials and news media will all start hearing complaints from all these tourists about the lack of shade and chairs for the tourists who can't afford to consume in the relatively expensive La Ropa restaurants. Then meetings will take place, deals will be made, backs will be scratched, and the blue tents and beach chairs will appear once again on the beaches.

Personally I think they are butt ugly and I have always wished they would remove them since they first showed up on our beaches around 20 years ago. I'd rather see some public picnic areas with palapas near the beach and facilities for charcoal grills and PUBLIC RESTROOMS (free of charge of course) and PUBLIC PARKING (minimal fee if any). The beaches should be for everyone to enjoy, not just the privileged.