My mom was supposed to arrive for a visit yesterday, but while at the airport she found out her passport was expired. No go. After I got her message Ali said to me, “We went with her when she got her passport renewed right before Ouest was born. How can it be expired?” When I talked to my mom later I mentioned that, which got her to thinking. She went back to wherever it is she keeps her passport, and lo and behold, she had grabbed her old expired passport, while her new one sat right there next to it. Doh! Don’t ask me how everyone failed to notice the hole punched right through the old one.
She arrives in two more days.
We went over to Sayulita today, just a few minutes down the road from Lo de Marcos, where we are staying with the bus at the moment. Wow, has Sayulita exploded. The beach reminded us of a European beach with hundreds of umbrellas and chairs stacked nearly on top of one another. In the water were hundreds of swimmers competing for space amongst dozens of beginner surfers. It was crazy, and for the first time in probably a dozen visits there, I felt uncomfortable. The chaos was a bit much. Sayulita may have finally become a place we used to visit.
While we were there it started to rain. Rain in March? Weird. I was swimming with the kids at the time and when the raindrops started hitting the surface of the ocean they both exclaimed, “Pretty!” They thought it was pretty cool to be out there swimming while the sky was dropping everything it had on us. It was one of those moments that you have now and then with kids where I got to see the world through their eyes. The rain on the water was something beautiful that would have otherwise escaped my notice, because it is nothing new to me. It’s only made new again by seeing it with my kids.
Ali was up on the beach scrambling to keep our stuff dry underneath the umbrella, so the beauty may have escaped her.
Anyway, it’s been a weird week. We were expecting my mom, so we sort of boogied down to Puerto Vallarta to pick up a rental car (I got a mid-size for under $3 per day!) then went back up to San Francisco (San Pancho) to check into the house she rented. The road to the house turned out to be too steep for even our rental car without a running start, so obviously the bus wasn’t going to make it up. We had planned to just sleep in the bus in the driveway of the house, but with that option out we had to move to Lo de Marcos just down the road. So currently we’re staying in the bus in Lo de Marcos, driving to an empty rental house in San Pancho to catch up on laundry, and hanging out everywhere from Puerto Vallarta, to Sayulita, to San Pancho, to Lo de Marcos. On top of that we’ve got different friends in just about every town who just happen to be here at the same time. Weird week. Grammy should roll in soon and calm things down a bit.
Mexican rule of the road number one: Never stop in the highway to make a left turn—pull off to the right and wait for both sides to clear.
Lo de Marcos — a couple days in an RV park with a water slide. Pretty much awesome as far as these two are concerned. Pretty quiet little town.
Puerto Vallarta.
San Pancho.
Sayulita.
And all over the place.
22 Comments on “Our Towns”
Oooh, I just adore the photo with the waterlilies. So beautiful! Like swimming in the rain! You are so special for noticing these amazing moments that other people let slide by.
Wow,Sayulita! Nothing new, but you have become a very fine photographer. I look forward to your pics.
Great pics and story’s as usual. That prickly fruit picture, are those Durian’s ? They really do look similar and surprised not having read anything about the stench they make ? It not native to the Americas but who knows 🙂
Those are breadfruit.
Not breadfruit, jackfruit. Not as smelly as durian, but still hard to extract the edible parts. Native of southeast Asia (India). Juicyfruit gum flavor is mostly from jackfruit, but fresh jackfruit doesn’t have the artificial flavor of course. Dried jackfruit makes a great snack.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit
Leaves are not breadfruit leaves. I thought they were breadfruit also but looked at pictures and decided they were not.
I always have thought people in bathing suits on the beach trying to stay dry out of the rain was a little strange. Great pic.
Mark and Cindy
ditto
And sometimes when you want to make a left turn there is not a shoulder where you can pull off – so you drive on to the next wide spot or hamlet where you can pull off, turn around when you can, then return to make a right turn.
Beautiful beaches but, yes, Sayulita is a bit crowded now.
Brings back very recent memories for me… we spent a year and a half living in San Pancho and I spent much time with my wife and kids surfing all around there.
Lo d is very mellow and a whole ‘nother world than Sayulita, no!?
While you guys are still in Lo De Marcos, there are a couple of the small groceries that sell the best Mexican cheddar cheese. It’s white and is in rounds. We bought half a round (about a kilo, if I remember right) and wished we’d bought a whole one. We found it in the largest of the little groceries. Also, there’s a tiny carneceria on the main drag. Best bacon ever! Sliced to your specifications of course.
Just curious where you guys are planning to be for Semana Santa? I have never been to a beachfront Semana Santa. I plan to be at Coconutz this year, but I do not think it sounds like much fun. I also doubt if it will be very “kid” friendly. “They” tell me that we need to be there to look after our place. The mayor called a meeting of townspeople today for preparations, but we are not anywhere near there at the moment, and not able to attend
.
Still not really sure. We thought about bailing out and heading inland, but aren’t quite ready to give up the beaches yet, so we’ll see. We’ll probably end up right in the thick of it. At the RV park in Mazatlan they told me they expected to have 600 people in there, almost solely in tents. They said the line for the showers would go on for a full week. Anyway, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Cool Hot Wheel track….
Y’all are having too much fun!
So do you ever give that surfboard on the roof a workout? Surely you stumble upon some fun breaks occasionally. No need to give out coordinates but some pics would be awesome. Keep up the good work!
Ouest is the perfect lady always has a dress on when not getting wet. Good work Ali.
Is that Brad from Drive Nacho Drive sitting with you by the pool of water lilies?
No, that’s our friend Nick, who also happens to be my co-author on Live on the Margin.
Brad is always welcome to hang with us as well. 🙂
I love your blog! And now that you are in Mexico I delight in all of your pictures. I was in Sayulita about 4-5 years ago and was astounded at the change – no more quaint sleepy little town. It reminded me of PV when I lived there in the early 90’s! Too many gringos with lots of money on vacation. I am sure I would really not like it now! And, ha ha, you made me laugh about the right hand, left hand turn lane! I had forgotten!
$3 for a rental car! great rate, who’d you rent it from?
It was actually $2.42 per day. In Mexico you have to purchase the third party liability which they get a full $15 per day for, but it still ends up pretty good at that rate. FOX Rental Car.