Sayulita Days and Vallarta Nights

We’ve heard great things about Sayulita and wanted to go with Julie. So, we put her in the car and drove north for the afternoon. The road heads up into the mountains and was pretty slow going. You are pretty much guaranteed to get stuck behind a long line of trucks and buses at some point. As usual, we weren’t in a hurry.

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Sayulita is a cool little town with a laid-back California vibe. As Julie said, “Everyone here looks like my brother.” In other words, there are lots of Duuuuuudes. Surfers, beach bums and Rasta drum circle guys mixed with the wealthy vacationers and gringos who have been buying up the place. Many of the shops on the main drag were run by gringos for gringos – jewelry stores, art shops, etc. There were perfect English speakers everywhere, and the storefronts were a lot nicer than what we’d experienced in other towns this size. Despite the gringo-ization, there were still plenty of mom and pop shops and the town still had a pretty cool atmosphere.

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The beach was pretty nice too – lots of people and lots of beach front restaurants. There were surf breaks for beginners and intermediate surfers and Jason and I checked them out a bit. We’re on vacation this week, so no surfing today 😉 We also checked out the campsites in case we return.

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Coincidentally, this place has the highest number of VW buses per-capita that we’ve seen so far in Mexico.  That includes Baja. We also saw our new all-time favorite bumper sticker.

We settled in at a small protected area with some tide pools filled with kids and hung out for a while. After we soaked up enough atmosphere, food and cervezas, we headed back to Puerto Vallarta with a brief stop at one of the many roadside rotisserie chicken stands on the way home. Tough day.

2 thoughts on “Sayulita Days and Vallarta Nights

  • March 15, 2010 at 9:28 AM
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    thank you for taking me to sayulita = ). love that pic of bode staring at the mural!

  • March 16, 2010 at 8:27 AM
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    OMG, that shortened H20 “bus” has got to be about the most godawful contraption I’ve ever seen. Thanks for sharing.
    Alright,
    Mitch.

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