La Panga

For many years, La Panga was Catemaco City's finest civilized entertainment locale for adults.

"Panga" means small ferry in Mexico, elsewhere it describes various fishes.

Built on stilts within the Catemaco lake, the place offered a great view, especially on moon lit nights. Live music on weekends stayed on the romantic side and the owners¡ selection of piped in music was remarkable. Their liquor selection was excellent, and after beating them over the head, they even began serving coffee in the winter. Regular clients were primarily from San Andrès plus a small cadre of Catemaco connoisseurs.

Historically Catemaco has had numerous "things" built on stilts along the lake shore, but they disappeared, until in the very late 1990's, the then owners of the Hotel del Lago received a federal concession to build in the lake across from the hotel.

Some time after 2005, the then municipal administration sued to revoke the concession, but lost. A while later the owner ran into legal problems and fled to the Yucatan while trying to sell the place for 1.5 million pesos. Deterioration set in, the music stopped and regulars disappeared.

Just before the Catemaco flood of 2010, half of a La Panga was decapitated and its pier and flooring became dangerous to tread.  Local rumors now claim the owner leased the place, or maybe she sold it to the former secretary of Catemaco tourism, famous for promoting discos with noise levels of rocket testing facilities, and his then boss, famous for trying to turn the Malecon into a beer orgy.

Significant reconstruction has been under way for several months and should be completed soon.

I sincerely hope La Panga retains its original format, and reverts to being one of Catemaco's most attractive landmarks.

See more of La Panga (mañana)

when it is finished