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. 

 

Guadalajara to Mazatlan

We have a few places that we like to call home including Ocean Springs (our official residence), my home town in FL, and Eric's home town in CA, but there is something about being in Mexico that makes us comfortable enough to feel like we are right at home there too. Maybe it's because we spent three years hopping around Baja while we were living in San Diego. Maybe it's because we got married in Cabo San Lucas. Or maybe it's because we have seemed to have settled into the role of living two lives (our official motorcycle blog name) already. Whatever the reason may be, it felt great getting back into Mexico and back into our semi-developed routine. We arrived around 8:30pm on the 18^th but by the time we left the airport and arrived at our hotel it was almost 10 already. We were hungry from the flight, so we hurried to get some food right away before the stores closed down. Thankfully and unlike many towns in Mexico that we have been thus far, we found a couple places to have a few snacks before closing which was past 11. For this I give Guadalajara two thumbs up since places to eat in other towns are slim to none past 8pm. We were a little tired from our flight and eager to wake up early to get our bike and get out of town at a reasonable hour so we ate dinner, hit the Oxxo station for a nice night cap, and called it a night. We were staying at the same hotel we stayed in last week in Guadalajara since we left some luggage with them in order to make our carry-on weight more manageable. Hotel Portobelo never let us down once in three separate stays. Great hotel. 

 

 The next morning we took the bus over to Carmen Motors BMW where we had left our bike to get serviced while we were gone. We arrived early, so the woman we were working with last week hadn't shown up for work yet. She had been the only one we spoke with about the bike before since she was the only one who could speak a little bit of English, so it was difficult getting someone to help us find our bike. Eric took a walk around the garage to look for it and came back to tell me that it was nowhere to be found. Interesting. Finally a man was sent over to help us who worked in a different department but could speak English. He left us alone for about 5-10 minutes to go on a search for the bike and in that time the woman who was helping us last week finally arrived to work. Thank God! She was able to get the bike out to us in a matter of minutes. I have no idea where the bike was stored since it wasn't in the garage when Eric went to look for it, but it was returned safely to us and I suppose that is all that matters. The bike was fixed so we paid and headed back to our hotel.

We had packed before leaving to go to Carmen Motors so all we had to do was grab our luggage, put it on the bike and check out. We were happy to see that the temperature light didn't come back on after 20 minutes of riding (Phew), and started heading north towards Mazatlan, where we were originally supposed to hit the coast line after leaving Zacatecas. The drive took us 6 ½ -7 hours, and man did it feel like it. It's surprising what 10+ days off the bike can do. I had gotten used to the long rides by about the third day on our 14 day trip so I thought I was “broken in”, but my butt proved me wrong. Along the way, we stopped for some lunch in a small town called Jala. We ordered some tortas at a road side stand which were pretty great. Unlike many other tortas we've had in Mexico and Baja, they were made on French bread instead of grilled hamburger buns or other sorts of bread. Yum! 

 Cute dog hanging around the lunch stand. I thought we was hungry but my left over bread was not good enough for him.

We took the toll road to Mazatlan instead of the libre because the libre was said to take a few hours longer than the toll, which we didnt have. By the time we left Guadalajara it was about 10:30am, and the drive to Mazatlan was supposed to be 6 hours alone. We would have been driving past dark to Mazatlan which we don't like to do if we had taken the libre, so we ended up paying 30 USD in tolls along the way. We did end up getting bored with the drive on the toll since it is nothing but freeway and trees most of the way, so we took the libre for a few miles, but got back on the freeway pretty quickly as we got stuck behind a few sugar cane trucks which are not only dangerous to drive behind in case of falling sugar cane, but rather slow in progress. 

It looks like they just strap down the sugar cane on the trucks as high as they can. Of course some is bound to fall off. We ran over many fallen pieces of sugar cane while driving on the back mountain roads.

 The kids in Mexico are adorable. Quite a few kids thus far have given us the peace sign as we drive by. These kids gave us a peace sign and took our picture. I took this opportunity to take theirs too. They were pretty excited to get the attention.

We arrived in Mazatlan around 5 pm. We had reserved a room at a hostel a few days prior which I paid $3.40 in advance for. It took some time to find the place since it was in a residential area, and upon finally arriving we were not impressed with the outside looks of the place. Not only did it seem dead, but unlike a hostel in any way. We were about to call our losses on the $3.40 deposit when the manager came out to greet us. I figured it would be worth a look and was happy with the tour so we ended up staying. We were also happy to know that we weren't the only guests there and that everyone else was out at the beach. This was our first hostel of the trip and I have to admit we were getting quite used to living in nicer, cleaner places. Really just fancier places. In past trips, Eric and I had been used to staying at the cheapest or next to the cheapest hotels and hostels in town. This trip, for some reason, we set our standards a little bit higher. Mostly because we would like to have a room that includes secure parking. Maybe because after a long day of riding we just want a nice place to relax in. While our hotels thus far have been decently cheap, the Funky Monkey Hostel was definitely the cheapest bed we've had this trip.

We checked in and immediately went for a walk around town before the sun went down. The hostel was actually about 10 minutes away from the beach, and I had no intention of getting back on the bike after just getting off of a 7 hour ride, so we walked down to the beach instead. While the sunset was amazing, the walk ended up being a bad choice on my part as Mazatlan is huge and we had a hard time finding a good place to eat. Along the beach closest to our hotel was covered in resort style hotels and restaurants alike. As senior frogs was the center of it all, this brought our moods down from an already low point. We were both tired and irritated after the long ride and not having yet had a shower, so we chose a commercialized fast food style taco shop on the way back home. 

 

Arriving back at the hotel we ran into a few guys who were staying at the hostel. We showered, made drinks, and took our computers out to the common area to

mingle. It is amazing what a nice shower can do after a motorcycle ride in the summer. We ended up meeting a couple really great guys at the Funky Monkey. The manager is a rather nice, young American who blends in well with the other guests (I thought we was a tourist for a good part of the night), and a few other young guys who had some pretty interesting stories. We ended up exchanging information with a guy who was seemingly a just out of college graduate named Louis who planned to leave Mazatlan on canoe and make his way down to Panama, and maybe further if all went well, and a lawyer named Jose who seemed to have been on vacation in every part of Mexico imaginable. Its possible we may run into Louis down the road on our trip since we are taking our time traveling through Mexico.

This hostel stay was exactly what Eric and I needed to get ourselves back into our old way of things. I forgot how fun hostel style living can be. Though they seem adolescent and for college aged persons only, hostels can attract many people of all different sorts, ages, and stories that are enough to keep you “grounded” to a certain reality. What I love about hostels is that mingling is almost expected even if you have a private room, opposed to any hotel where people will usually walk right by without saying hello. Our conversation with Jose and Louis lasted until about 1:30 am, and finally we decided to call it a night.

Barra back to Guadalajara

We took a second class bus back to Guadalajara on the 11th since we had to fly home on the 12th. The second class bus took a bit longer than the first class bus as the second class picks up stragglers at regular bus stops along the way. The ride also gave us a heavy case of motion sickness which was far worse than the way over. I was supposed to study the whole way back home, but we both ended up sleeping the whole way back instead to try and fast forward time and try to forget about how ill we felt. We checked back into the hotel we had stayed at while in Guadalajara a few days before, got our moto gear back, went out for some tortas and called it an early night.

We booked a round trip ticket from Guadalajara to Gulfport and back to Guadalajara while we were on this trip. Our plan is to fly back into Guadalajara on the 18th, pick up our bike where we left it at the BMW dealer, and make our way to Mazatlan like we had originally planed before the bike broke down. We hope to make it from Guadalajara to Mazatlan and down to Puerto Vallarta in the 5 days that we have next trip. This shouldn't be a problem, unless we have another exciting mishap with the bike again. We'll see!

Bus ride back to Guadalajara

Eating at super torta again since it's right next door to our hotel 

Boarding the plane to go home :( 

Lost in Barra de Navidad

We had every intention of starting our 5 day 4 night remainder of the trip in Barra and moving to 1 or 2 more towns after, but it was so relaxing in Barra that we decided to spent the remainder of our trip just hanging out on the beach in one spot instead. Throughout the next few days we did the same thing as the first night: ate, drank more booze, spent time lounging in the sun, ate some more, and toured the rest of the town. We did manage to make it to St. Patricio-Melaque, the next town over, which is only a few miles away by bus and about 3 miles walking distance on the beach from our hotel. We opted to walk the distance instead of taking a bus because we hadn't exercised since we arrived in Mexico and thought we could use exercise.

The beach was much softer than I expected which gave us a well needed "burn". In Barra, the town is quiet, relaxed, and though there are bars there is not much happening past 9 and even before that there is hardly anyone left in the streets. In Melaque, however, there was much  more going on which we were happy to see. It was a Sunday, and locals were out playing on the beach with kids, Canadians were out playing ladder toss and drinking beer in the sun, and beach side restaurants were packed. Locals were out selling meats and fruits on sticks (one of my favorite ways of eating a meal), and boaters were making good business pulling kids behind them on banana boats. It was a good change of pace. We had ate lunch right before going to Melaque, and I didn't bring my bathing suit to go swimming, so we just walked around town for a bit and caught the bus back home. I had homework to do anyway so we decided we would spent the day in Melaque the next day.

The following day we took a bus over to Melaque instead of walking with plans to sit on the beach all day and grab some food. When we arrived at the beach we realized quickly that the reason for the busy scene we saw the day before had been because it was a Sunday; there was hardly anyone on the beach today. I was bummed that I wouldn't be able to eat the chicken and mangos on a stick that I had saw the day before, but we found a shady spot at the only restaurant with people in it at the time, ordered drinks, a BLT, and relaxed there fore a few hours anyway. Lesson learned: next time don't walk away from a fun atmosphere expecting it to be the same every day.

I actually had finals that I needed to work on in between trying to enjoy our vacation, so we spent the next few days just hanging around the hotel and pool enjoying the view while I worked on my homework.

This margarita wins the award for worst margarita thus far. This is how full it was when they brought it to us, and it was far too sour. 

We've been on the search for fish tacos since we arrived in Mexico. We used to get them all the time in Baja and we had been craving them since before we even entered Mexico. Of course, there weren't any fish taco stands inland but we finally saw fish tacos on the menus in restaurants on the coast. We tried this place because they had good prices, but the tacos themselves were much different than the ones we were used to getting in Baja. In Baja, they deep fry them in a way you think is done by magic. In Mexico they still fry them but don't use the same magic potion. These tacos were somewhat disappointing. 

Walk to Melaque

Melaque on a Sunday. The action goes all the way down to the mountain.  

This stray dog had found a stick close to us on the beach and was thrilled to have something to play with. I offered him a game of tug-o-war and he accepted. He won, of course, and I went back to my seat. For the next 30 minutes or so I played quite a few more games with him as he kept barking at me to come back whenever I sat back down. 

How can you say no to this face? Maybe next time I wont offer to begin with.

Above is another great deal we got on a tequila fresca combo. Below is day 2 sunset. 

 For dinner we found a place with a guy playing live music. He was good enough to draw us in even though the food on the menu looked so-so. I'm glad we ate here, because the fish tacos were pretty good (still not the same as Baja) and Eric enjoyed a great aquachile.  I recommend ordering the aquachile if ever the opportunity presents itself.  It is like shrimp ceviche, but it consists of whole shrimp tails, raw, soaked in lime juice.  It is like sushi.

 Day 3: back to Maleque to relax for the day 

 Eric shows he is quite capable of being of artsy ways even when hes had a "few".

Day 3 sunset

The next day we were able to eat at a place that we had been trying to eat at since we arrived. This little palapa-style restaurant opens around 12 and closes at 6. We had come by during off hours three times but finally made it in. The food was great and inexpensive, and we met an interesting 84 year old American who lives in Barra for the snow season as well. He was working on his memoir.

 More fish tacos

We thought we would take advantage of our roof top bar on the last night in Barra. There was no one else in our hotel by our last night so it became pretty lonely. Many people in Barra come to out hotel's roof top bar just for the nice view. We met another Canadian couple and spoke to them for a good while, danced to a few songs, and enjoyed our last night at the beach.

View from the top