That was me that talked of our trip to Sayulita from last June, Darn, I keep forgetting to submit, its not that long so here it is since it sounds like you are leaving shortly
We love Puerto Vallarta because of the tropical old town feeling, but been there done that. I then found Sayulita in my search, a small fishing village that caters to wintering Americans and lots of surfers that is 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta. I found what I thought was a great deal going out of our local airport, which is unheard of usually we have to make the 2 hour trek to Sacramento. We had a brief layover at LAX and wa la we were there!
It was nice coming out of the airport, being mobbed by people trying to sell us tours or give a ride to see my name on a sign from our reserved driver, we were whisked away in an air conditioned suburban. Our driver Guemo asked us what we like to drink, we were confused, Tom said Bohemia and I said me too. He pulled into a mini mart and bought us each a beer. As we continued to Sayulita, I noticed how brown everything was and plants looked to be struggling. They hadn’t had any measureable rainfall since February. I later learned this is the tail end of the dry season and the wet was soon to start.
We then stopped at a market, it was new and kind of like a super Walmart to pick things up for our casita. We had not planned on doing any cooking but wanted basics like fruit, milk, eggs, and snacks.
Thirty minutes later we were in Sayulita. Our Casita was beautiful on a hill overlooking the bay. We settled in and sat outside enjoying the view, I was enjoying a glass of wine that I brought and Tom a cervesa. We wondered into town and found an ATM, and got pesos. The exchange was great 1.37 pesos to our dollar. I would guess the town is about 8 blocks total with small shops and restaurants throughout. We walked the beach and there lots of surfers and dogs everywhere! They looked to be well care for. They were having a blast running thru the water, digging holes and chasing coconuts. We wandered the town again. There is a beautiful square in the middle of town. A huge celebration was going on, a stage was set up with people on it singing, and a banner that read ”Gracias Mama”. They had to cancel their their original Mothers Day celebration due to the Swine flu. Tables were set up down the streets for a big dinner afterwards.
For dinner we decided on MIro Vino, an Italian restaurant overlooking the square. I had grouper with Mango Chutney, I can’t remember what Tom had but both our meals were delicious along with a couple of glasses of Chardonnay, the meal came to about 600 pesos. We enjoyed talking with Luca the owner. He is an Italian from Perugia that settled in Sayulita recently and just opened his restaurant in January. He said things were doing great until the flu scare and that the summer slowdown started a month and a half early. The only other people in the restaurant was a couple from Montreal. We chatted with them briefly and then met them at another bar for an after dinner drink. R and F are French Canadians that moved to Puerto Vallarta three years ago. They were spending the week-end in Sayulita. F had retired from the government and R wanted out of hi-tech rat race. R said they traveled to PV a few times and thought wouldn’t it be great to live there. On a whim R searched the web for jobs and there was a position at a private school for someone to teach English. He applied and got the job, so they sold their homes and moved to PV and said they love it. We bid them farewell and wandered back to our casita. We were surprised, it was after 11 pm and the Gracias Mama celebration was still going strong.
Sunday morning we awoke to a beautiful sunny day and the sound of the waves lapping the beach.
We wandered down to the espresso café, I had a delicous fruit smoothie, and bagel, Tom had a huge plate of fruit along with our coffees.
We pretty much sunned on our patio all day, but took a break and walked to town for lunch at Leyzas which sits on the square, I had fish chili reallanos and Tom had enchiladas. Toms were very tasty, my rellanos were kind of fishy tasting. We went back to our casita and I took a nap!, For me that never happens, very nice even though brief.
For dinner, we wentt to Calypsos a very nice restaurant on the square. Tom had the whole red snapper and I had mahi mahi and 2 glasses of red wine, which was relaly good, they had the best wine list in the town. For dessert I had chocolate cake and ice cream. I was on food overload, we really over did it on this day. On the way back to our casita, we heard live regae/funk music coming from an upstairs bar, we went up, most of the people hanging out were rastifarian and aging hippies. We stayed for an hour and enjoyed listening to the music.
Monday morning Tom went into town and found a bakery and brought back cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I was still in bed wondering why my throat was so sore, I could barely swallow, I thought I now I have the swine flu! But that can’t be, I hadn’t been here long enough for incubation. Otherwise I felt perfectly fine. I took a Sudafed and an hour later I felt much later, it brought the swelling down. I don’t know if I had an allergic reaction to something or what. We went down to the beach and rented beach chairs and an umbrella for the day. Another day of doing nothing, For lunch we went back to the casita and had cheese, fruit and bread, then back to our beach post watching the surfers. Late afternoon we wandered down the beach and found a small beach bar, had margaritas and watched the sun set. We ended up coming here every night.
Since it was my birthday, we splurged and went to Don Pedros for dinner only one of 2 restaurants on the beach. We had grilled artichokes which were delicious. I had the snapper and Tom had mah mahi. The fish was good, but we liked Calypsos better and we each had a glass of white wine that was not very good and too expensive. We went back to Calypsos where I had the chocolate cake and ice cream again.
Tuesday is our hike to the “secluded” beach in the next bay north of us. I called it my death march. I am not used to the humidity and even though we left about 9 am I was melting. We walked along the beach and over the steep hill. Luckily there was shade most of the way. Remind me never to let Tom pack for a hike, he only brought one small water! The beach was indeed secluded, we were the only ones there, it was beautiful, we only stuck our feet in the water since this is not a swim beach due to the rip tides. We stayed about an hour. I was not looking forward to our hike back in the heat. It was only in the mid 80s, but again the humidity is a killer. I wanted to find the road and hail a cab, but that wasn’t reality. We stopped at the first beach bar so I could re-hydrate and we ended up staying 2 hours eating nachos and watching the surfers and dogs and going for a refreshing swim. Did I say dogs, my gosh, dogs are everywhere, I think they belong to the surfers, as they all look so healthy. We wander back to our casita and I take another nap, I am getting used to this! For dinner we walked to town and hit the famous Sayulita Café, known for their chili reallanos. Tom had the reallanos and I enchiladas, both delicious along with a couple of glasses of wine.
Wednesday, we woke up to another leisurely day, except I could barely walk! Walking in the sand and up to the Casita ever day, my calves were throbbing. Tom said “Why don’t you get a massage, there is one at the bottom of the hill. I had passed by it several times and always looked at it dubiously. It was very rundown looking at there is a chalk board out front and you just put your name by the time and say whether you want a massage for acupuncture. I decided what the heck, I need some relief. I was surprised the Massage Therapist was an American who had a degree in Physiology and a Certified accupunctarist. He had come to Sayulita a few years before for vacation and decided this was where he wanted to live and work. I had a very nice massage and my calves were thanking me. We decided to go the next town north of us, San Pedro. We hired the driver who picked us up at the airport. It was a quick 15 minute ride. The town was desolate. It looked like its being built up as a fancier Sayulita but not having quiet the success they thought. I was surprised since it’s a university town. We walked down to La Ole Rica on the beach, only a few other people here and had lunch. Tom had the fajitas, which were excellent, and I had Nachos. We then laid on the beach chairs for 2 hours and read. I felt nervous going in the water as there was talk of rip tide so we just got our feet wet. Back at Sayulita we took naps and read. Then went Terra Nova for dinner I had delicious shrimp kebobs , Tom had Mahi mahi, he said was his worst meal there.
Thursday, we decided to check out the beaches south of us and followed a trail through an old cemetery, then over a hill and down to another secluded beach. We sat and enjoyed the beach for awhile and watched what looked like a massive home the only one being built on a bluff over the beach. Back in town we went to the famous Sayulita Fish taco restaurant for lunch and of coarse had their fish tacos, another delicious meal. We wandered the town again and went back to our casita to read and do nothing. For our last night we went back to Miro Vino. We had Pizza from the wood burning oven, again another great meal.
Friday, we headed back home
a view from our Casita
