Holiday weekend in Nayarit
This was a holiday weekend for the locals and we got a small taste of what high season must be like.The quiet street of el anclote suddenly filled with tourists and college students in from Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. Every other home seems to suddenly become a vendor, dragging their bbq out to the street and firing up dozens of 1/2 chickens into pollo asada. Sadly, we put this off until too late in the day and missed our asada opportunity.
After surfing, we made the quick 20 trip back to sayulita in hopes of meeting up with the mexican paparazzi (as they had written us in advance of their long weekend to let us know they would be nearby). Sayulita was even more packed, and the quiet beaches we walked just two weeks ago are now littered with sunbathers, surfers and vendors. The water is so full you can hardly imaging catching a wave amongst the madness; and the beach chairs and umbrellas have come out of hibernation to snag a few dollars from those willing to pamper themselves for the day. We walked the beach and didn't see anyone we recognized so we gave up and headed north to san pancho so jen could truly see her old stomping grounds around the resort of Costa Azul.
No sooner do we pull into a parking space near the beach we see the waving arms of Juan Carlos. While the rest of the paparazzi aren't with him, we spend some time catching up about our trip and the rest of his time in vancouver and then turn down an invitation to join he and some friends for dinner because we want to go explore San Pancho and see Costa Azul. He wants to be sure to catch up with us later and see us during our trip to guadalara so he gives us his phone. Seems like it may have been easier to simply write down his email address, but we accept the generosity and he agrees to take the phone back next time we meet.
We drove through the resort and after some looking jen finds the house she used to live in 15 years ago. Talk about a flashback. Sadly, the resort is looking a bit worse for wear but we walk the pool and grounds as jen points out the changes past to present. We absolutely loved the town of San Pancho however and will definitely be coming back to spend some tine in its sleepy streets, on it's beach and hopefully on it's wave.
On our way back to Anclote we stop in at a pizza place we had heard about the day before and who should we see sitting inside but Dean, Yumiko and the boys. Apparently our day was simply scripted to meet up with friends. We talked with them over pizza, then all headed back to anclote to hit the beach and cool off in the ocean. Another of their friends, JP showed up later in the afternoon after returning from his vacation and we all shared happy hour drinks and apps on the beach. After Dean and Yumiko departed we made the fun mistake of inviting JP up for one more tequila and it turned into a late night of drinking and talking.
We have been hitting the surf just about every morning and may not be noticeably improving our skills but are gaining strength and comfort and are having a blast. We still can't seem to figure out what time zone we are in (the area is supposed to be an hour behind Vallarta but decided to use Vallarta time to help tourist catch flights on time) as our computers keep reset ting and we don't have a watch or clock to help out. Only negatives from the last few days are finishing a surf session to find that our waterproof camera had taken on water (major bummer for our trip if it doesn't dry out and start working again) , myself either bruising or cracking ribs during another session, and jen having a bit of a rough day following a night with mucho tequila.
Last night we spent having dinner at Wes' house while Jay painted a mural on his back wall. Fun evening talking and watching a tropical storm roll through most of the evening. All in, we are still loving life and just negotiated a longer stay in the area. It's official- punta de mita will be our jumping off point through mid-november.
