Mazatlan to Sayulita

We woke up at a slow pace after a long night at the Funky Monkey, but we had a long day ahead of us so we didn't waste much time getting out of there. We said goodbye to the few people we met the night before, took some pictures, and left before around 9:30am.

Eric in front of the Funky Monkey hostel. 

There are a few things to see in Mazatlan including the second highest lighthouse in the world (supposedly) and a 6 mile long boardwalk which is said to be of the longest around as well. We drove down the beach along the malecon (boardwalk) from our part of town and towards centro. There is actually a lot more going on with bustling businesses and restaurants in the centro area compared to the area where we stayed, and no American-Mexican commercialized restaurants as far as I could tell. The malecon is a great place to be. There are people all along the 6 mile stretch jogging, skating, bicycling, and playing around the kids playgrounds and pieces of artwork all along the centro part of area. We never did find the lighthouse that we wanted to see; it wasnt along the main beach area, but we took our time driving without getting off our bike to look around before heading out.

 

Originally we had planned to stay more than one night in Mazatlan. I actually wanted to get together with a couple I started following on FB with a blog called Bumfuzzle who had been living in Mazatlan for a few months, I believe. They had been traveling around on a sail boat from California and have two little ones tagging along with them. It looks as if they've stopped in Mazatlan for a bit so that their oldest can attend school. Though, we decided we only had a few more days before we had to fly out and didn't like Mazatlan enough to stay for one more day, so we never got a chance to meet up with them.

We took the toll road for a while but got off a bit early because the toll road is so expensive it makes me cringe, and we figured the libre would be more bearable heading towards the beach vs towards the mountains. The libre is actually much more stimulating and offers much more to look at than the toll. Even roads that have nothing to look at are seemingly prettier than the toll roads. 

 We ended up stopping for lunch just a few miles after getting onto the libre in a small town next to a gas station and bathroom. Normally when stopping for lunch and dinner we can get by with what little Spanish we know, but this experience was a little different. After checking out the menu we told the waitress what we wanted, but she then proceeded to go over the entire menu with us. We told her again what we wanted, but she just rattled off everything one more time. I pointed at a dish she had just made to order, but she said something which made us believe whatever she just made wasn’t actually on the menu. We ended up just ordering a dish that they guy behind us was eating because of the confusion. The dish ended up being quite good, but this experience made me realize that I need to start learning Spanish at a faster pace.

 

We had heard that San Blas, a small surfer town was worth a stop along the way to Sayulita. We decided to take the long way getting off the toll earlier to get to Sayulita mainly to see San Blas along the way. Since the town acquired the nickname “surfer town”, I had high hopes that it would be comparable to Barra de Navidad in its charm, but was a little let down when we entered the town. It looked like any other beach side town which we passed through along the way, but more plain. There were gringos everywhere, and some expensive shops and hotels the closer we got to the beach. We did find a cute beach restaurant area towards the beach and decided to take the time to get off the bikes for a bit. We didn’t eat here, but we thought this was the highlight of San Blas and would be fun to hang out around at night time. That was until we started getting eaten alive by noseeums and hurried to get geared up again to get out of there. I only took a few pictures in San Blas because in my opinion there wasn’t much to take pictures of.

While traveling through Baja, we used to see cattle in the street all the time. We even saw a few cows charge towards our vehicle as if wanting to play. In Mexico, this drive was the first time we saw cattle in the street, and they seemed harmless enough; though they felt no need to move in order to let cars pass.

About an hour away from Sayulita, we pulled over because we thought we saw rain in the distance. We decided the rain must have just been smog or fog or.. whatever else looks similar to rain, but we put all of our electronic equipment in dry bags anyway just in case we were wrong. After another 15 or so minutes it started to sprinkle, and then about 5 minutes after that it started to pour. We were traveling at reasonably slow pace (40 miles per hour) so I didn’t mind driving while riding in the rain, but as the rain got harder we decided to pull over at a local restaurant/gift shop. We ended up staying there for a good half an hour until the rain subsided. By this time it was past 4pm and we knew we had about 45 minutes to go until we reached Sayulita and didn’t want to be driving in the dark. We thought we should hit the road even if it continued to rain, as driving at night could be equally as painful as driving in the rain.

We enjoyed a nice freshly squeezed pineapple juice while we waited. 

Thankfully we didn’t hit any more rain the rest of the way. We arrived at Sayulita a little past 5 and before dark, and though it took some time to find our hotel we couldn’t have been more pleased at the looks of the town. Sayulita was just what we needed after a long day of riding and hiccups with the rain.  

Our hotel was great. It offered semi-secure parking, was big, clean and spacious, and was located in a short walking distance from downtown.  We were both feeling the need for a clean up before going into town even though it was almost dark after the rain mess earlier, so we hit the shower and then headed back out. Sayulita, known for its great surf break, is a great town for anyone afraid of going to Mexico to practice with. It has the feel of a hippie/yuppie American town but with a Mexican mix. It is clean, and there is a lot going on in the main centro area. We were happy to see so many people out and about enjoying Mexico as we walked through the crowded streets. It seemed as though every roadside eatery was full, every bar was thriving, and kids Mexican and American alike were playing in the town square. I especially enjoyed seeing so many people; adults and children walking around bare feet having just come back from the beach and stopping to get some food along the way. We chose to eat at a restaurant next to the town square as there was a concert going on and wanted a front row view. Later we learned that it wasn’t a concert but a political demonstration. Either way it was nice to listen to some music. We ordered some Ensenada style tacos (the ones we love) in order to see if they would be any better than the few we’ve had in the past few weeks. Guess what, they were! They weren’t exactly like Ensenada’s fish tacos; they were a close 98%. We got full off of tacos, drank some tasty and potent margaritas, and had some good conversation with one of the waiters who lived in Baja full time but was in Sayulita temporarily to make money during the busy season. He and another waiter invited us to party with them at a club on the beach after 11, but we never made it. It’s hard to live like a local when you have a full day of driving to do the next day!

After dinner, we did what we normally do which consists of walking around taking pictures. We liked Sayulita so much that we contemplated heavily on staying another night and even tried to book another night before going to bed, but out hotel ended up being full. We decided on spending a good part of the morning walking around Sayulita and then heading to Puerto Vallarta in the afternoon.

Our own patio sitting area.