Sayulita, Nayarit Rissask Report

[Rissask]

We had a wonderful ten days in Sayulita, Nayarit, which is about 30 kms north of Puerto Vallarta.

On July 31st, we drove 7 hours from our home near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Calgary, Alberta where we flew from. My dad lives there so we had a nice supper and visit with he and his....girlfriend/partner/live-in (why oh why is there no better terminology for a older couple who live together?).

The poor guy is 67 yet still insists on getting up and driving us to the airport, this trip our flight was 6:30 AM so we had to be up at 4:30 to get to the airport by 5, yuck.

We flew with Frontier Airlines, which reminded me of a domestic carrier we have here in Canada called WestJet- no frills, stale snacks, cheesy jokes (like. "Please refrain from smoking in the terminal, and then, for the rest of your life" ....."If you have a small child with you, or someone acting like a small child , put on your face mask first, then help them with theirs.", etc. Ha. Ha. Ha.) But it was fine and we liked the individual tvs in the seatbacks, even though the Direct TV never worked after we crossed the Mexico/US border.

We stopped in Denver and had an hour to make our connection, no problems at all.

Arrived in Puerto Vallarta about 4 pm. It was HOT. Hot and STEAMY. Coming from a dry climate, that hit us like a ton of bricks. Wet bricks.

And the temp was only about 32 C (90 F) and that is what it stayed around the whole trip- same temperature it was at home, but MUCH more humid, and boy- what a difference humidity makes.
After a couple days we adjusted and it was quite bearable, except on the rare occaisions when we would get caught outdoors in the direct sun with no shade or breeze. We of course much preferred the winter months but I wouldn't turn down a trip to Mexico any time of year!

We were actually surprised too at the scant amount of rain we had, for the rainy season. The first 5 days it sprinkled about twice. Then overnight it rained one night hard, then the next night we witnessed the biggest, loudest thunderstorm ever. Amazing bolts of lightning over the ocean and sheets of rain. Both days, the next morning the ocean was muddy from the river running into it, but it quickly dissipated.

We cleared Customs and collected our bags very quickly (PV airport is a well-oiled machine) and crossed the street on the pedestrian bridge to catch the bus headed north to Sayulita. It was supposed to come every 20 minutes, and cost 20 pesos each for the hour long trip.

Instead we met a guy who was also Sayulita-bound so we made a persistent cabbie happy and shared a cab, it was 350 pesos for the three of us. Bob was from Sedona and it was his third trip to Sayulita, he assured us we would love it and gave us some tips about the area on the ride. (Why someone from Sedona would come to Mexico for the summer, we didn't get around to asking. )

We arrived around 5 pm. We had rented a casita in a privately owned casa for the nine nights, Casa de Ensueno. (There are some hotels in town, but not that many, there are tons of villa rentals though.)

The driver seemed to know the general area our villa was in, he headed to the south end of town, but soon ran into trouble trying to climb the very steep and rutted dirt roads, and had to stop. Luckily, Feliz the gardener was watching out for us and met us at the cab and took us up to the villa on foot. Small place, indeed- he even knew the cab driver.

Luckily as well, we packed very lightly this trip, only a backpack carry-on each plus a duffel bag- so we didn't have a problem lugging stuff around. I can't imagine trying to roll oursuitcases up that hill, ay caramaba! Oh, and we had Don's big surf rod (that we managed to gate check the way down and back very easily)- but it was light, under a pound.

The villa was great! We have never stayed in as nice a room before, ever. Spacious and well-designed, very Spanish in style with tile floors, tiled shower and ktichen, and those rounded bucket chairs and table. A huge deck with a palapa roof. And the one whole wall was windows/door sections that all completely folded back so you could fling them wide open to catch evening breezes. Not that there was every much breezes, being the Pacific coast. The bathroom was HUGE, the kitchen had everything we needed. Including a big purified water bottle that they replaced twice during our stay.
And the VIEW...wow.

[Sukidog]

Sheesh, why would you want to stay there... More, more, more, please.

[Sukidog]

Doh.

[jsotherj]

Now I want more
First trip to mx was PV - and we will probably go west next year. Really interested in your report - thanks

[Rissask]

The pool:



view outside door (beautiful rock paths!):



The owners were in California, so we went upstairs to meet their friend who was staying there, no one home. So we unpacked and got settled in, then moseyed down to town (about a ten minute walk) to check it out. The roads were a little hard to navigate, to put it mildly. Dirt roads, steep as hell, and rutted because of the rainy season. NOT a place for people who have difficulty getting around.



Found a nice little tienda (is that correct? ) and bought mangoes, bananas, yoghurt, margarine, jam, and bread for breakfasts, and some beer-Pacifico, natch. (Although I will be honest and say by the end of the week we had both switched to drinking Corona almost exclusively- that is good beer, I am with you, James! ).

We went to a restaurant we had heard of, the Sayulita Cafe, for supper- it was excellent! I had the chilies rellenos with chicken, Don had shrimp fajitas. I also had the hugest mango/strawberry margarita I had ever seen, I needed help finishing it. This was the only night we saw a traveling mariachi singer, and he was great. We never had a shortage of places to eat, even though it was low season and a few places were closed, we ate somewhere different each day.

Back to the room and an early night, we had been up since 4:30 so we were pooped. Poor Don wasn't yet missing having a TV- that would come later. Ten days with no TV, no Sportsdesk!!! The horror! But he managed. Even read four books, and I read five.

I can't recall the exact events of the next nine days so I will do the rest 'by category' (AKA the 'easy way out' ).

Area

Sayulita is located in a small bay surrounded by the Sierra Madre mountains. The stretch of beach in the bay is fairly wide and stretched pretty much the entire length of the bay. To the north the surf breaks fairly close to shore and it's bigger, so swimming in not recommended. But in front of downtown and to the south, it is perfect swimming beach- shallow a loooong way out, sandy bottom, no rocks, and nice, long rollers that break far from shore, great for boogie boarding, which we did on three different days for 2 hours at a time. Body surfing was fun too.





view from ocean when we went fishing:



There is two surfing breaks right in front of the 'downtown' area, one left and one right. The surf was pretty big, IMO, the surfers looked to be mainly local boys, and were very impressive. You could take surfing lessons which we had every intention of doing one of our last three days- but then the surf almost completely died off and while there was still the bigger waves, the smaller ones almost completely disappeared. Dammit. But we watched a lot of beginners taking lessons in the days before that, and it seemed like almost all of them got up their first day of trying! Don commented one day there was more females than males taking lessons- possibly because of the very cute local teachers?

[sctx]

Originally Posted by Rissask

We flew with Frontier Airlines, which reminded me of a domestic carrier we have here in Canada called WestJet- no frills, stale snacks, cheesy jokes (like. "Please refrain from smoking in the terminal, and then, for the rest of your life" ....."If you have a small child with you, or someone acting like a small child , put on your face mask first, then help them with theirs.", etc. Ha. Ha. Ha.) But it was fine and we liked the individual tvs in the seatbacks, even though the Direct TV never worked after we crossed the Mexico/US border.

wow, you didn't have "Fun Bob" as your steward did you???......... he had us rolling in the aisles when we flew Frontier to Cancun a couple of years ago

[Rissask]

Oh, and did I mention since we were the only couple staying there, plus the elusive Bill from upstairs (whom we only saw three times the whole ten days) we had the pool to ourselves? It was a smaller, plunge pool but 5 five feet deep, so very nice. We would normally sit by it once we got back from the beach or whatever we were doing for the day- the ocean temp was about 30 C ( ) so the unheated pool was more refreshing.
The Town

Sayulita is a pleasing mix of rustic, traditional fishing village and the new gringo influx influences. Small concrete houses situated right beside much ritzier places. Fishing boats on shore on the south end of the beach. Internet cafes and real estate offices (ouch! the prices!) right next door to pollo asado places. Americanized coffee/breakfast places next door to very traditional Mexican restaurants.

There is a nice little zocalo where everyone hangs out in the evenings, it is two blocks up from the beach. A few (mainly seafood) restaurants along the beach, and several more around the square and along the roads running perpendicular to the beach. We found the restaurants very good, there was the Red Dragon for surprisingly tasty Chinese food, Sayulita Fish Taco for (what else?) fish tacos and bean bowls and enchiladas, Calypso had AMAZING food, great pasta, and a great view, upstairs above the plaza. An Italian ristorante I can't remember the name of that had very authentic Italian food and pizza, the wonderful Sayulita Cafe, El Espresso and Chocobanana for great coffee and breakfasts ('Rollies' was supposedly the best place for breakfast, but they, like a few others, were closed for the low season). Capitan Pablo's on the beach had really good food too, as did Terrazola farther north on the beach.

We also went to hear a band one night at the Red Dragon, the lead singer was from Corpus Christie and looked a bit like Sammy Hagar. He did a great bluesy version of Jack Johnston's Staple it Together, some Stones, even Bob Marley. Very eclectic!

Leysa's was a traditional Mexican place that was super cheap and VERY tasty- we paid $78 pesos for the two of us for supper one night- I had enchiladas and Don had chile rellenos.
Don Pedros was the main upscale restaurant (think $20 an entree, ouch) that had a great view of the bay and sunsets. Can't speak for the food but we did go have mojitos there one night, for the view.

On the weekends, several families were roasting chickens right in their front patios, so we bought one on the Saturday. 70 pesos gets you a whole roasted chicken, a bag o rice, bag o salsa, bag o slaw, and 5 flour tortillas! Not bad. Overall, we found it to be pretty cheap there- I would say we spent in the range of $100 CAD a day in general for our room ($50 a night) plus our food and drinks, and including the days we rented beach lounges and umbrella for 100 pesos too.

There is a trailer park there and a few small hotels, also a couple of fancier hotels- Villa Amor looked like a nice place to stay as did Casablanca Suites.

The infrastructure is pretty good, from what we could see; the water pressure was fine and even though it was the rainy season and we had a few T-storms, the lights only went out one afternoon for about two hours. As far as the toilet paper/OK or not OK to flush situation- it was a mystery - there was no note about it amongst the written instructions left by the owner, yet there was a garbage pail beside the toilet....and the maid Lupita spoke not a word of English, so we erred on the side of caution and didn't flush most. TMI, sorry!

We were cautioned to only brush our teeth with bottled water, and we did. But we had no tummy troubles whatsoever the entire trip, and ate anything we wanted, even at small taco stands, so that was good.

There was, however, like every other place in Mexico we have seen, a lot of littering done by the local people. Not sure why that is, but it is too bad, it takes away from the beauty of the area. The 'main' touristy areas were fine though, like other places.

One day it was spitting rain so we decided to take the bus to Bucerias (ten minute ride, ten pesos) to get money from the ATM. (Sayulita is still small enough so there is no banks or ATMs, although they have a cambio.) Next time we will get all of our money right away at the airport ATM and not waste time going elsewhere- our impression of Bucerias was NOT positive, it looked like an extension of PV but without the character/history- just concrete hotels, shops and restaurants lining a dingy looking narrow beach. It is just before you reach the end of Banderas Bay, whereas Sayulita is outside of the bay.

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by sctx

wow, you didn't have "Fun Bob" as your steward did you???......... he had us rolling in the aisles when we flew Frontier to Cancun a couple of years ago

Was he a cute little brunette, quite flamingly gay? If so, possibly.

[ryshkus]

Rissak- This place looks breath taking! I am so very excited for the rest of your report. Great pictures!

[Rissask]

Wildlife

There were chickens wandering around loose everywhere- and roosters crowing at all hours of the day and night- don't they normally just crow at sunrise? Silly roosters. Apparently this is mainly in the south end of town where we stayed, which was mostly local dwellings and a few gringo houses- most of the gringos stay on Gringo Hill in the north end of town.



And of course, the ubiquitous Mexican beach stray dogs. But this town had way moer than other places we have been; time for a good spay/neuter program. And yet another reason to watch your step everywhere. They were mostly quite friendly (more on that later). But it would be nicer if they didn't have dogs pooping on the beach. And it was sad to see them scrounging for food, the last morning having breakfast I snuck my sausages to one sad soul, and noticed a big bite mark on his cheek that didn't seem to be healing too well. Poor thing.

Here is a gorgeous dalmation peeing on a food stand.



Didn't spot any large iguanas but quite a few small geckos, the kind that puff up their necks and it turns red. Also a small salamander was killed by Tito and left for us by the door one day- mice here at home, in Mexico the cats leave lizards apparently!

CRABS!! One day we took a walk to Playa Carrazitos, about 40 minutes from the main beach. There were thousands of these little guys all over the place. Don was waving his arms at the bigger ones to watch them spread their claws and open their mouths while skittering sideways away, they looked so funny (animal cruelty? ).



The weirdest thing we saw were these bugs that looked like small black moths. They flashed like fireflies and also had neon green glowing eyes that could turn on and off, and also glow brighter and more dull. Very strange! Anyone have any idea what they could have been? We had never seen them on previous trips, and they were everywhere.

As were butterflies- flocks and flocks of them! Sometimes in a clearing they would like clouds of leaves fluttering in the wind. VERY pretty.

We also saw a huge green walking stick insect one night, and one day I went to do the dishes and moved a plate covering the drain- cucharacha! Eek. They have long antennae! I smushed him with a shooter glass and a paper towel since Don was engrossed in The Half Blood Prince and wouldn't help me.

Also spotted the biggest freakin' spider I have ever seen, it was about two inches across and had hairy legs like a tarantula *shiver*.

Horseback rides on the beach with Manuel looked fun....but we didn't do it, too hot. The guy was just so durn nice and friendly, and kept stopping in the mornings to chat with us, we were tempted to. He takes you for an hour-long ride along the beaches or you can go up in the mountains for a whole day ride. The horses were well cared for and healthy looking. You commonly saw people on horseback all over town, moseying along. There were also quad tours, and quads seemed to be a common vehicle for the locals, handy on the steep hills.

Birds of all kinds, making very strange calls....and colourful green and red hummingbirds that 'clacked' when they moved- must have been their wings moving so fast). Of course lots of pelicans, seagulls and those pterodactyl-looking frigate birds.


Not too many cats, surprisingly. Maybe because there were so many dogs? But we had the cutest grey cat that 'came with' our room, apparently. El gato Tito. He met us at the door, like he was waiting for us, our first day there, and from then on he hung out with us all the time, even sleeping on our bed on rainy nights! We are cat people though, and he was a good sub for our 2 at home. Very sweet and friendly cat. He was well fed the time we were there anyway, even getting leftover dorado for a few days.

Here he is with Don in the kitchen (Don just woke up and isn't looking his best.)



and with Don in bed (obviously I get stuck taking the pictures out of the two of us.)



We were hoping he didn't have fleas.

[sctx]

Originally Posted by Rissask

Was he a cute little brunette, quite flamingly gay? If so, possibly.

flamingly gay might be a just little understated

[Sol]

Thanks for the trip report Rissask. Great pictures!

[Rissask]

Fishing

My husband is big into fishing. So he went out shore fishing in the early morning a few times, not much luck there though. He hooked a rooster fish once but it the line broke on the rocks. Unfortunately, he has never had much luck shorefishing in Mexico anywhere; this was the third trip he brought his rod along....he is an eternal optimist though, so I am sure he will continue trying.

We also went out with Fidel one day (of 'Fidel's Sportfishing Tours') on his panga and hit pay dirt. Seven, count 'em, SEVEN, dorado. They were great fun to catch, they fight like crazy and jumped a lot. My first ocean fish!!







And tasty?!? My my my. Mahi mahi is the best tasting fish, besides tuna, IMO. We kept two of the bigger ones and Fidel kept the rest. We cooked up 2 meals worth, with garlic and butter, for ourselves, gave some to Feliz and Lupita to take home to their families, and the grey kitty got some too.

We also saw some sea turtles and a big pod of dolphins when we were out fishing. One dolphin took a liking to us and swam in front of the panga halfway back to the bay almost. I was hanging over the prow watching him the whole time.

We also took some to a beach restaurant where they cooked some in garlic and also made ceviche with some of it- it was our first ceviche and we were very impressed. There were some young boys selling stuff on the beach who were hanging about, and we gave them half of the ceviche- they were pretty happy, although they pushed their luck a bit asking us to buy them Cokes as well.

One day we went to a beach which was forty minutes away, Carracitos (may be spelled wrong). There was supposedly decent snorkeling there, but maybe only in the winter, the waves were huge!





This was where we accidentally ended up on land that was private property somehow- it was posted but we missed the sign the way we came....suddenly a very scary looking guard dog came running toward us, teeth bared, barking and snarling...*gulp*. At first we thought he was chained up, nope. He came within about ten feet and then just stood there, hackles raised....we backed slowly and making no eye contact, luckily he never came after us. Can't recall when either of us were more scared.
We took a different path back to the road.

We also passed the town cemetary on the way:



Overall, it was a nice, quiet vacation...maybe not the place for those of you who enjoy a more sophisticated atmosphere with people-watching or hopping nightlife scene, or are used to places a bit more upscale....but if you want a peaceful and picturesque little place to do some serious chilling out, with some funky shops, nice sunsets, cheaper prices, good boogie boarding and surfing, and good food- you would like it in Sayulita.





One thing- man was it GREEN there! Never realized how brown and dry it is in the winter, 'til we saw Mexico in the summer! Also, when we got our pictures back, we were struck by how cloudy the sky looks in all the pictures...but there was mnay sunny days with blue sky, and even when it was overcast, it's so warm you don't really notice (actually it was better overcast, not so hot.)

[Jacko]

Thanks Riss! The fishing trip must have been fantastic. Congratulations for your first big catch!

[Rissask]

Originally Posted by sctx

flamingly gay might be a just little understated

Might have been, then! He was funny.
Thanks Jacko, and Sol, and everyone else.

I already talked enough about our trip home, the day after the terrorism plot was foiled in the UK- we had some stuff in our carry ons taken away and had to give our duty free alcohol away- but all the all the trip home was uneventful, no delays, not even a lineup at security - we sure like our normal direct flights better than having to connect out of Denver, though. But since we only paid $544 each, it was worth it.