Just when we thought we found our groove here in Sayulita, the ground shifted beneath our feet.
Overnight lows are dipping down into the 50s and the ocean is getting uncomfortably chilly for everything but a quick dip.
Like many places around the world, Covid numbers have started to race north again, after a lull in activity for the last couple of months.
And, we got our first dreary day of rain, followed by nearly a week of low clouds and fog.
It’s been a weird couple of weeks around here. And a surprisingly quiet couple of weeks at that.
But we know that’s about to change.
Everyone (and I mean, EVERYONE, from our neighbor to old men walking down the street) keeps warning us that the town is about to get very busy.
In our short time since moving to Mexico, we haven’t learned a lot that we didn’t already know about Mexicans. Both of us have spent time in Mexico previously (Lori having a spent a lot more, and having lived on the Texas Mexico border for two years).
One thing we have learned is the extent to which Mexicans love to go to beach. Makes sense, right? When you have two coasts adding up to thousands of miles of coastline (IN THE TROPICS), people are going to want to visit.
But I’m not sure we realized that it’s the MAIN ACTIVITY in Mexico during holidays. Heading to the beach seems to be the national pastime. And Sayulita happens to be within a day’s striking distance of some of Mexico’s biggest cities, including Guadalajara.
Thankfully, we’ve got Puerto Vallarta a stones throw south to bear the brunt of the beachgoing masses.
But Sayulita apparently gets more than its fair share. Just how much more we still don’t know.
But we’re just days away from finding out.
In the meantime, our life here looks something like this.
Riley hanging out with his beloved niñera, which he’s been doing more these days ever since we found that Noe’s school won’t have space for him until next year at the earliest.
Decking the halls, Sayulita style. Lori hiked for days into the jungle to find the one single, solitary fir tree in all of Nayarit State (or…she picked it up at the one little roadside bodega selling cheap Christmas decor).
My vote was for decorating the Agave that bravely guards the stairs to my man space from little ones, but Lori couldn’t resist. So plastic Christmas tree it is.
The boys don’t seem to care either way.
Another night for grilling!
More vicious Sayulita roof dogs.
“Development with Compassion” says the sign.
Pretty chill these days. But we did see some excitement around the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, one of Mexico’s biggest religious holidays celebrating the patron saint of Mexico.
In addition to the BOOM of cohetes in the night (industrial sized bottle rockets) which are common for any festivity, we also caught a glimpse of the torch runners, which are specific to the festival.
Each municipality throughout the country organizes their own team of runners. They’ll ride a pickup to the farthest point of their run, then do a relay back to the main church of the area, each running a couple of miles, while the rest ride along on the support truck.
In the last mile or so, they all run the torch up together until they reach the church. This happens in nearly every town and city across the country in the lead up to and on 12 December.
Five bucks says this ain’t gonna end well.
Out and about on a Saturday evening in Sayulita.
Alquemista is a relatively hidden gem of a cafe just south of the town center. We were particularly impressed by the size of their burritos!
In the last post, I mentioned the possibility of taking the boys to Playa Patzcuarito, as it seemed like an easy and enjoyable hike for them. So, here we are.
The most striking feature of Patzcuarito is its black sand, which is concentrated towards the north end. Not surprisingly, it was the most exciting aspect of the beach for the boys.
The southern end of the beach is much coarser golden sand.
Looks like we’re going left.
Back in Sayulita now. We’ve been treated to some pretty amazing sunsets lately, but this one takes the cake…
So happy to find this post—no longer getting your posts in my gmail. What can I do to receive them again? Great pictures of all of you and that INCREDIBLE sunset!!
That sunset was amazing! And so is the picture of the four of you together!!