The Costa Esmeralda in winter

A comment to my last post was from a woman in her mid-50s, thinking of driving her SUV to the Emerald Coast north of Veracruz and tenting on the beach for a while this winter with her dog. She wondered

• Would it be warm enough for tent camping in winter?
• Is the water warm enough for swimming?
• Is the area friendly and safe?
• Is it crowded?

So I decided to make this a new topic, so others could find it. Obviously, having been in the region a few days does not make me an expert. As for what is safe for a solitary woman, I don't really know. I personally would not feel comfortable doing what she is thinking of. However, here's a tip: when Kelly and I park our small RV in a place that isn't a campground, we go around and talk to local people about whether it is safe. Here's a story from my book Mexico with Heart about the one time that we were told it wasn't safe:

http://www.mexico-with-heart.com/book/09-beyond-xalapa.html
near the bottom of the page

And while I'm giving links, here is the page where I talk about our stay on the Costa Esmeralda:

http://www.mexico-with-heart.com/book/07-toward-xalapa.html

Now for a bit more on her questions: Some days it was warm enough for swimming, other days it was a bit too chilly. Once in a while some of that cold Artic air comes down via Canada and the American midwest, and zaps the Gulf Coast. I don't know about tenting or swimming on those days. We hit some of that weather as we entered Mexico, but on the Costa Esmeralda I wore shorts and sandals most of the time, slacks in the evenings (partly because there were bugs).

We were told by local people that some parts of the beaches have undertows.

We found the people there as friendly as anywhere in Mexico, which is to say very friendly. As for safety, considering that you and I are fabulously wealthy compared to the average Mexican, your possessions are always something to be aware of. Hmm, that would be another issue in tent camping, if you left your tent and stuff. There are MANY campgrounds along the Costa Brava, so it would be best in my opinion to select one and bargain with them, rather than try to camp right on the beach. I think that is more common in Baja. As for personal safety, I addressed that a little bit above. I didn't find the region crowded, just a nice number of people around. However, at Christmas and Easter it is likely a mob scene.

A note about driving down: Hwy 180 along the coast is very very slow and full of potholes and topes (traffic bumps). I remember this mainly before and after Tampico.

This whole region is much less accustomed to folks from the US than is Baja, so another factor could be how good your Spanish is or how comfortably you get along without much.

I'm writing this in Texas, before we cross the border. We are thinking of going soon to a fishing village north of the Costa Esmeralda, called La Pesca. If we get there, I will post about it, so y'all-come-back-and-see-us-again-now-hear? (Typical Texas goodbye when you leave a shop)

All in all, it's a very nice region, keeping in mind that the beaches are not the glorious white of some other parts of Mexico. A high point of our trip was the nearby El Tajin ruins, also described in the book. (Go to mexico-with-heart.com and then the sitemap to find the link, I'm running out of time!)