Surfing safari.

[Maxmosbey]

We are heading out Saturday morning for our annual trip to Sayulita, Mexico to spend a couple of weeks catching waves up and down the coast. We are so looking forward to the trip. We fly into Puerto Vallarta, grab a rental car, then head North. I have a room in PV for the last night, so that we can go to our favorite restaurant there, and then we will be close to the airport the next morning when we fly out. The rest of the time we will use Sayulita as our base of operations. This is the first time we have spent the entire two weeks in Sayulita. Usually we spend a week up in Los Ayalas, but last year we thought that Los Ayalas was getting a little weird. I can't put my finger on it, but they paved three blocks of the main drag, which is only five blocks long to start with, and made it one way. What the heck? Also a lot of obnoxious near-do-wells hanging around on the street corners. Anyway, we are only six minutes from San Pancho, which is a nice place as well, and we are a short drive from Punta de Mita, which has some pretty good breaks. I don't know if we will have an internet connection in the place that we are staying this year, or not. We will have to see.

 

[tonycondon]

have fun!

 

[Everskyward]

¡Buen viaje!

 

[Maxmosbey]

We are back. The smile means that we had fun. It was probably the best trip down there yet. The surfing ended up a bust, but we had plenty to do anyway. The first day down there we had some pretty big waves. Mind you, I'm 60 years old, and not the greatest surfer in the world. I'm from Iowa, what do you expect? So we went out to see what we could do, and my wife got whacked in the face by her board within the first fifteen minutes. I stayed out a little while longer, but wiped out and got rolled over some rocks, hurting my back. So we were out of the water after a half hour. We got more beat up that first time out, than we have after a week of surfing every day in past years.

We just took it easy the rest of the first week then, and stayed out of the water. The water was unusually cold anyway. So we went sailing, laid out on the beach, walked around Sayulita and San Pancho, watched other people surf, stuff like that. Close to our apartment was a bar on the beach, and we tried out different drinks. That was a fun activity. Late afternoon on Superbowl Sunday we went to a rodeo that was a fund raiser for the Sayulita schools. It was a lot of fun. I have to say that those Mexicans know how to have a school fundraiser. School kids were carrying around big bottles of tequila and selling raffle tickets for them, and a couple of dads were selling iced beers to spectators in the stands out of five gallon buckets. That's what I call a fund raiser. We stayed out at the rodeo until after dark, then walked the mile into town to catch the last half of the game. We are generally in bed fairly early, but that night we stayed out until close to midnight. That is late for us.

The second week started out with some more "Oh my god" waves, so even though we carried our boards out with us, we just sat it out and watched the surfers who really know what they are doing. Finally, we got some good waves toward the end of the week and went out. We spent an hour and a half out one day, and an hour out the next, but as before, the water was cold. My back was OK, but I could still feel it once in a while. So that was about it for surfing. It was all good though.

On Saturday we drove back down to Puerto Vallarta and stayed down town at the Rosita Hotel. Not a five star, but it is right on the boardwalk. We spent the night there, and flew out early Sunday morning.

I know that we all like to complain about the airlines. I mean, if we didn't how would we justify feeding our addiction? However, our flights, down and back, went like clockwork. We never had to stand in line for very long, we got through security with no problems, and our layovers were timed just about right. They had the body scanners coming back into the US through Dallas/Ft. Worth, but it looked to me like they were not making anyone go through them. After we went through customs, we had to go through security again. Probably the worst part of the flight was going through customs, but even that wasn't bad.

OK, that is the trip report. We already booked the apartment for next year, so we are already counting the days. Maybe some day we will go down there, and just not come back. We can only dream.

 

[ApacheBob]

Thanks for the write up! We were down there last February. We drove from Paradise Village to Sayulita. It is pretty there.
We had heard the the rocks can be a problem for surfers there. Sorry to hear that you got roughed up.
Despite that, it had an awesome vibe. We were comfortable walking around there. Did you try any ricia?
ApacheBob

 

[Everskyward]

Sounds like it was a great trip! I looked up Sayulita and I didn't realize it was so close to Puerto Vallarta. One of these days I need to travel to some Spanish-speaking place since I have been trying to learn the language. Ironically, ever since I have been on this Spanish kick we have not gotten any trips to Mexico.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Great report, thanks!

 

[Maxmosbey]

Thanks for the write up! We were down there last February. We drove from Paradise Village to Sayulita. It is pretty there.
We had heard the the rocks can be a problem for surfers there. Sorry to hear that you got roughed up.
Despite that, it had an awesome vibe. We were comfortable walking around there. Did you try any ricia?
ApacheBob

You have to have something to make a surf break, and in Sayulita it is the rocks. To tell you the truth, we are just amateurs. We took lessons down there several years ago, and now we go down once a year. I think that I just got too big for my britches. I went down to the beach thinking yea, the waves are big, but I only have two weeks, I'm going out. We should have just waited for a better day. I think we learned a lesson. We discovered Sayulita much the same as you. We rented a car in Puerto Vallarta one year and drove up the coast checking it out. We found Sayulita and have been going there ever since. Anyway, I am feeling fine now and am already thinking about next year. I don't know what ricia is, but you tell me and I'll try it next time.

 

[Maxmosbey]

Sounds like it was a great trip! I looked up Sayulita and I didn't realize it was so close to Puerto Vallarta. One of these days I need to travel to some Spanish-speaking place since I have been trying to learn the language. Ironically, ever since I have been on this Spanish kick we have not gotten any trips to Mexico.

It is about thirty minutes North of PV. You are on four lane all the way past Bucarias, then a paved two lane the rest of the way. The road does wind around a lot in the mountains for ten mile or so. I don't like to drive it at night. I speak Spanish well, my wife does pretty well in getting across to people what she wants. It is handy to speak Spanish there, but a person can get along fine in English. It would be a great place to try out your Spanish if you are learning. People there are very friendly. The problem is that a lot of the Mexicans who live there like to practice their English as well, especially the school kids.

The interesting thing about Sayulita is that there has not been an invasion of tourists there, like you see in some places, rather, the tourists are sort of encouraged to come into the community to visit. Another interesting thing, I walked by the school there a couple of times, and you see a sprinkling of blond and red haired kids on the playground along with the Mexican kids. A couple of parents helping at the rodeo fund raiser were not native Mexicans. That was obvious. It was also obvious that they had been accepted as part of the community. I kind of like that mixture. So far it is fifty to one, Mexicans to tourists. Unlike Bucarias, where they bus their Mexicans into town.