El Capomo

El Capomo is a village of 1,031 people (2020) in the municipality of Compostela, Nayarit, about 73 meters above sea level in the low hills between La Peñita de Jaltemba and Las Varas. A branch road of about 2.5 km links it to the El Capomo junction on the highway. It grew from a dozen inhabitants in 1900 to almost 1,800 in 1980 and has stayed at around a thousand since 2000. The economy of the municipality is mainly rural, based on farming and livestock.

The name also belongs to the coast to the west, promoted as Costa Capomo and reached in about ten minutes north of Rincón de Guayabitos. Its wide beaches of soft, pale sand are still largely undeveloped, backed by thick vegetation and wetlands. About 200 hectares of those wetlands are a protected natural area, home to many birds and to crocodiles, and threaded with canals that can be explored by boat. Walking the shore and watching birds are the things to do.

That may change. Costa Capomo was chosen by FONATUR, the federal tourism development agency, for a master-planned resort project with hotels, a golf course, beach clubs, shops and a marina for more than 400 yachts. For now there is only a simple campground on the coast, and visitors sleep and eat in Los Ayala, Rincón de Guayabitos or La Peñita.