When Lori learned that Noe’s old school in Sayulita held a Kids Club every Saturday, it was an opportunity too good to pass up. The boys could make some new friends and we could have a day out and about in Sayulita.
Never mind that we only arrived back in Nayarit last night and aren’t even all the way hooked up (we opted for some sunset beach time instead)…details.
We arranged for a driver to pick us up first thing Saturday morning so we could make the 20 minute drive from Lo de Marcos to Sayulita, arriving just in time.
It’s funny to think that the last time I made the trip out to Noe’s old school was in our golf cart. Fun days.
And here we are, back in the old neighborhood.
Of course, the boys don’t remember any of this. Riley was two when we were living here, so no surprises there. But Noe turned five in Sayulita, so I thought there might be a chance.
After dropping them off, a couple of Noe’s old classmates arrived. “He’s going to flip!” we thought.
Driving back into the Centro, the driver took Calle Plascencia, our old road. They had paved it! Our minds were blown. Our old road was virtually unrecognizable.
This was the same road that was cut-off on both ends after the hurricane that greeted us upon our return in October 2021.
A huge tree had fallen on one end, and the other end was turned into a raging river. The road had always been a dusty, soupy mess (depending on the season). Now, so urbane and civilized.
Hungry and this being Saturday, we thought North Side Cafe might be a good bet.
Already, we’re surprised how clean, tidy, and generally put together Sayulita looks. The town always looks pretty good towards the end of the dry season before the rains come and wreak havoc.
Given that our final memories of Sayulita were in rainy season might have something to do with it as well.
Still, somehow the paint on the buildings seems brighter, the foliage healthier, and the papel picado more abundant.
Speaking of abundance, the number of vendors have exploded in the past two years as well. In addition to running the entire perimeter of the ballpark, they’ve completely taken over the main plaza. It’s a shame, given that there were already a ton of vendors in Sayulita, and we have so many good memories of the kids playing around the plaza with other local tots and their parents.
The central beach was always crowded on the weekends with umbrella and beach chairs four-deep, but we could generally count on finding some space near the mouth of the river (what the boys called “Rock Beach”) or farther down around the boats (what they called “Lancha Beach”, not to be confused with La Lancha).
Now it seems that the umbrellas and chairs have overflowed significantly into both areas, even stretching into North Beach almost as far as Bar Miramar. And the vast majority of these chairs won’t even be used until late afternoon.
Even if we did want to jump in for a dip, I’m not sure where we’d go. Surfers literally everywhere, from end to end.
No worries. We’ll just wait until we get back to Lo de Marcos. Better swimming beach anyway (and only a fraction of the people).
Soon it was time to pick up the boys. Fun times were had by all, despite Riley’s uncertain look.
I asked Noe if it was fun seeing his old classmates. “Who, daddy?” I told him their names and described what they looked like. “Oh, I played with those kids.” Completely clueless. As were the two other kids, apparently.
Despite having spent nine months together nearly every day I guess they were just too young. Oh well, at least we have pictures.
However, Noe was VERY excited to peek in on our old house, which we would visit occasionally after moving to Chacala. So I guess the bulk of Noe’s Nayarit memories seem to start at around 5-and-a-half. Good to know.
On the way back to Lo de Marcos, we took the public bus. Cheap and easy. We didn’t have a car when we lived in Sayulita (just the golf cart), which made us feel a bit cut-off, particularly during the pandemic.
We often wondered where the bus went and thought about all the places we could explore on the cheap. But buses always looked packed and it didn’t seem worth the risk of getting us and Noe’s classmates infected and closing down the school for a week.
So the bus remained an elusive dream…until today.
The past few days in Lo de Marcos have been a whirlwind of activity and fun in the Nayarit sunshine. We tried to make it to Lo de Marcos every month or two when we lived in Chacala. And while it always seemed like an agreeable enough town, we never seriously considered moving here because of the lack of a good school for the boys.
Having been here for a few days now, it has very much grown on Lori and me. Without a doubt, I’d say it is now my favorite town in all of Nayarit.
Superb beach, good swimming for the kids, great diverse group of people, few crowds, no beach vendors, reasonable prices, great restaurants, the list goes on. And perhaps best of all, it’s centered around a real town full of locals.
Oh, and we’re really happy with our RV Park situation, which is owned and operated by friendly older local couple.
I can definitely see us being here a few weeks.
One of the highlights of our time in Lo de Marcos so far has been meeting up with old friends from Sayulita who have relocated here. Their daughter was an old buddy of Noe’s (of course they had no recollection of each other). Despite this, they seemed to really hit it off. Again.
She even had a body board to share, which made Noe’s week. He jumped right on and started riding waves like he never left Nayarit. At least that’s one thing he hasn’t forgotten from his time living here.
The beach is awesome, but the food in Lo de Marcos is also one of its best attributes in my opinion.
Yeah, Sayulita and San Pancho have expensive and trendy boutique cafes and resto-bars. But Lo de Marcos has a lot more excellent casual and street food dining options (without the tourist mark-up).
So many good taco stands and holes-in-the-wall. But then you’ve also got a number of quirky expat-owned establishments, from burger joints and beer joints to deli counters and even an Indian restaurant.
Hankering for some comfort food, we stopped into the sports bar and grill on the main drag after an action packed few days. Maybe a tad bit too action packed for some of us…
