Extremely late Rincon de Guayabitos trip report, part 2

[MikenJulie]

We were showing our trip pics to some friends, Julie gave me heck for not completing the report so I'll do a condensed part 2 so you can see the pics.
Here's part I
http://www.playa.info/playa-del-carm...a-nayarit.html

Continuing on, the beach was always quite busy, vendors selling everything but household appliances everwhere


No palapas unless you were there at 7am, not much "towel hogging"


This dude has skewers of meat, chicken, beef, shrimp, very tastey, 10 pesos a stick. Needless to say the pelicans swarmed him constantly for scraps


Ate at the restaurant up on the hill twice over the week, DEADLY coconut shrimp, shrimp cheveche, angus beef, mouth-watering salsa. Julie did stuffed peppers and Kalamari, awesome. Similar prices to Playa, worth every penny


Calm down ladies, this hunk of bodacious pasty white hairy man is TAKEN


Not sure what this lady was selling, oysters maybe?


The Decameron front view, nice small place


The bartenders got a nice fat tip for this gift, they felt bad for me since I was running back and forth every 10 or so minutes getting more beer so they cut the top off this rum bottle, much more convenient!

........the only downside is that I dumped enough of the beer all over my drunken self since the top side of the bottle was weak and flimsy, had to drink with care!

One of the several pooches running free in the area


I was so loaded I figured this parasailer paid huge dollars since he was up for 2 or so hours........ turned out to be a kite.


Can you believe there's a bike under there?!?


Back at the pool, a few new friends enjoying conversation and a beverage


Here's Julio, we really enjyed haning out with him and his wife Mary, awesome people, the whole place was super friendly.


On our way to town for dinner


On the left we have Mary, Julio, and the hotness known as Julie


This place was advertised as "Live music, live band!" Right on, turns out one older gent doing Sinatra kerioke, bar and stage in the background


I don't remember taking this dumb picture of myself, which means, suprise, I was drunk


Next day, we're off to the beach club in Lo De Marcos





The beach club was nice, only a few vendors


The beach is just beautiful here











Awesome place for a house




An RV park, cool, we'll be taking down the Winnebago for sure now!


A run down house up on the hillside, the veiw must be awesome


On the way back to the hotel





The roads here scare the hell out of me. I'm used to a bit of forgiving curb, nothing like that here. 12" outside the line is a steep slope that will suck you in the bush before you can say WTF?!?!

...........coincidentally, I have never seen so many crosses in 120km's of road before, lots of lives lost in this area on the road

Once we got back to the hotel, I went for a walk to the store for some soap, the dry hand/wash soap provided was less than satisfactory for Julie. I also grabbed one of my favorite beverages in the world, ice cold Coke in a GLASS bottle. Every sip was heaven, heheh


The next day down at the beach, we got to see a Bday party, mini mouse piniata, how cool is that




This kid put on a show, he did a few flips and dance moves, grabbed the stick and completely missed mini mouse and hit a clown instead Full points on the scorecard!


The lethal blow


A scramble ensues....... not sure about the adults though, shouldn't the kids get the candy?!?


The decapitation complete, kinda creepy


Back to the beach, picked up this plastic cup for 7 pesos, holds a full quart of beer, a beautiful thing.


............. I found it much better than an insulated mug, I had 10 or so minuted to finish each cup, with a mug I could slack off on the drinking, not acceptable!!

Here's a wierd little place, Tequila Willy's. Nice atmosphere, Willy ran around giving out shots of different flavors and brands of Tequila, most appreciated!!



We didn't complain about anything


A couple we met from Manitoba, they was also staying at the same hotel


Another couple from Kelowna


Lounging at the beach


Another pooch in the shade


Tomorrow, we go to the market........







































.

[Rissask]

Thanks Mike.

Jeez, finally! I had forgotten all about this unfinished report.

I have a question- it's Don's turn to pick our trip this winter, for late February, so he wants to go check out Barra de Navidad which is about half an hour north of Manzanillo and 2.5 hours south of Puerto Vallarta. But we can't fly to Manzanillo from Saskatoon, just from Calgary, so we were thinking of getting the direct flight to PV from Saskatoon on WestJet, heading up to Rincon for a week and staying either there or La Penita, and then back to PV and bussing it down to Barra for the second week- is this doable do you think? And would you stay at the Decameron de los Cocos again or just get a VRBO or a non-AI hotel?

[MikenJulie]

Originally Posted by Rissask

Thanks Mike.

Jeez, finally! I had forgotten all about this unfinished report.

I have a question- it's Don's turn to pick our trip this winter, for late February, so he wants to go check out Barra de Navidad which is about half an hour north of Manzanillo and 2.5 hours south of Puerto Vallarta. But we can't fly to Manzanillo from Saskatoon, just from Calgary, so we were thinking of getting the direct flight to PV from Saskatoon on WestJet, heading up to Rincon for a week and staying either there or La Penita, and then back to PV and bussing it down to Barra for the second week- is this doable do you think? And would you stay at the Decameron de los Cocos again or just get a VRBO or a non-AI hotel?

I would definitely do the Decameron again, we're planning a few weeks in March next year, bringing the girls along this time too. I loved the area, I could see myself with a condo in this area too. Direct out of Prince George, can't go wrong with that!!

Doing the Rincon to Barra de Navidad........... it is doable but alot of time spent on a bus. Realistically you're 6-7 hours of travelling, and your return trip to the airport will be probly 3-3.5hours. Traffic, slower town speeds, stops. If you two are fine with the time in the bus, go for it, and take pics!!

[Rissask]

6-7 hours ...yeah, I suppose with stops and everything, it would be a long bus ride. I just hate to have three travel days.


I thought maybe we could get a one week package at this hotel and get two week airfare....to break it up maybe we could stay down in Boca de Tomatlan near Mismaloya on the way to Barra or something. I think it might be a better idea to fly into Manzanillo and then do one week in La Manzanilla and one week in Barra instead.


I read the TA reviews, (saw yours ) and they were all so positive! Just our type of small, clean and basic place. When you go back, make sure to check out Sayulita and San Francisco/San Pancho too if you haven't been there!

[MikenJulie]

The market in La Penita, on our way



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The tomatoes just looked awesome. Nice firm crips 'maters, put them in the fridge, nice thick slices, sea salt course ground mill, toasted pita bread, not much better than that!


The best corn tortias I've ever eaten


Wow, the detail, the time involved for something like this!








Not sure what this was here, looked like this dude was selling chucks of a root?


Not sure what kind of music this is, but I bought 14 copies anyway!!


To quote Juie Andrews: "These are a few of my favorite things........."


First a naked girl on a cd case, then bras, now melons?!?!


Women's clothing and lingerie?!? I have some hidden issues maybe?!?






Past the market, heading down to the beach


Julie took these ones



Nice area, behind some houses and condos, not many people




We had 7 tortias with shredded beef, a couple cokes, it was something cheap like 20 pesos.

I gave the family 40 pesos, all the little kids hanging off the mom guilting me into a tip worked as planned. Probly not even her kids, they just get a cut!

We're walking back to the resort along the beach, this spot was just 15 minutes from La Penita





Nice looking place here





Back at the hotel the next day, hanging around the pool


Here we have Gordon and Donna from Vancouver, Julio and Mary from Calgary, and Julie at the end. We hooked up with Donna and Gordon this summer in Penticton a few times, they have a condo there. Nice to keep in touch with travel friends


Here we have some other friends, Ted and Mertle from Edmonton


More to come.......

[MikenJulie]

Last night, dinner on the hill


Ate meat, shrimp, more meat, followed with shrimp for dessert


The view was quite pretty from up here, the night pic doesn't do justice


Last day, we pack


On our way.


Those curbs scare the hell out of me





Just missed the driver of the year pic, this guys was just swilling a big bottle of water, chips in the other hands, steering with knees. Felt very safe!!!


Haven't seen people in the box of a truck........since............


............... the last time in Mexico!





Back at the airport, having a smoke outside




Inside having few beers before we go our separate ways


Julio and Mary were a blast, we didn't get their contact info but I gave them ours, hope to here from them again!

Off in the plane, 5 1/2 hours of flight to Prince George


We were peasantly suprised, things warmed up while we were gone, it was only close to freezing!

I stepped aorund to the driver's side of my truck, while loading the bags, my foot broke throught the ice, about 8" deep freezing water, my ankle cut up by the ice, and only wearing sandals. A great welcome home!

I took this pic hoping to capture the snow flakes coming down,

regardless, it was as warm as it looks!

We really enjoyed our west coast trip, price was great, met some really nice people. Stuck on Sol now, change can be good, heheh. Next year, two weeks, kids are coming so we'll have to rotate irrisponsibility Hope you liked the read!

[vamonos]

MikenJulie, that was a great read . Good sense of humour and wide variety of pictures along with fantastic description of your vacation. Muchas gracias.

[Jesus]

Not sure what this lady was selling, oysters maybe?

Exactly, Ostiones=Oysters

Not sure what this was here, looked like this dude was selling chucks of a root?

Herbal medicine (well, supposed to be) and he is selling bits of tree trunks, different ones for different maladies.

[MaeEast]

La Penita is (quickly but silently) becoming a good expat retirement area, great house prices, cool town -good market as one can well see, and personally, I think the beach is nicer (and less busy) than Ricon de Guayabitos. Was up in that area July last year.

Looks like you had a grrrrrrreat time! Thanks for the pics.

[MikenJulie]

Glad everyone enjoyed!!!! We'll do a better one this year........

[MartyC]

Thanks for finishing your report Mike. It looks like you had a great time. I agree that the La Panita market is really something. We're really looking forward to our trip in March.

[Rissask]

A belated thanks from us too, Mike. I have a friend who LOVES La Penita, she is going for the third year in a row this year.

We ended up booking two weeks in the Manzanillo area - an AI (the first week at the Blue Bay Los Angeles Locos in Tenacacita Bay and the second week in a condo in Barra de Navidad) and we are flying from Calgary to ZLO the last week in January, so watch for a TR from me in late February.