That may be a poor choice for a title. Tim Taylor worshiped power tools. (“More power!”) At Los Tules, repairing palapas is done without a power tool in sight. Just three guys and a machete. Sorry, Tim.

Palapas here don’t last forever. In fact, they usually last for less than ten years. Eventually, they become ragged and develop holes in their coverage. Rain gets in. The rain water dilutes the margaritas below. Something has to be done:

You would think, with all the coconut palms growing at Los Tules, that they would use fronds from the coco trees to replace the roofing material. Alas, the coco frond lasts only about three years, even with good weather. Instead, fronds from what the locals call La Palma — a generic term; there are lots of species of palms around here — are used, with hopes that they’ll last ten years (plus or minus, hurricanes being what they are).

First, remove the old roof:

Now spend half a day replacing the rafters and weaving new fronds in place:

Then, with many subvocal appeals for admiration while bikinis look on, lift the new roof, put it back on the pole, and head for the cantina for a bucket of cervesas. Tomorrow, repeat the process: there are a lot of palapas on the Los Tules beaches.

¡Viva la palapa!