Jocotepec - an overbuilt weekend getaway?

There's been lots of concern and controversy over the thousand plus houses and apartments being built just beyond Jocotepec in El Chante. Most of the concern has been about how the permits were issued and can the treatment plant handle that much sewage and keep the lake safe. Who knows?

They have thought of the traffic this will produce and have a nearly completed Jocotepec bypass road on the hillside north of town. They are also widening highway 15 from Joco out to highway 54 and the entrance to Guadalajara. This new road may end up being better than the existing road into Chapala and therefore adding even more traffic.

Since there is no major shopping in the Joco area I can't imagine what Bodega Aurrera and the centro market will be like weekends or vacations let alone in town driving. This is a large part of why I'll probably be moving back to the beach towards the end of the year. A tourist escape so close to a city the size of Guadalajara is not what I came here for.

Hill side of the highway some of the 1000

Lake side of the highway some of the 1000

A little further towards El Chante building more

And here is an apartment complex that could number another 1000

Highway Tuba Vendors

Even though this section of highway 54 is actually in Jalisco it's the gateway to Colima. They have been working on widening the section over the canyons for about a year but now it looks like they may be adding another lane or two. With so much hillside to move they have had to close one lane in a few places for the last month.

Stopping traffic for extended periods for months requires vendors and sure enough the Tuba vendors from Colima are stationed at each stopping point. Tuba is a palm drink made from the sap of the tree. It originated in the Philippines and was imported during the Spanish Gallon trade

Tuba Vendor