May 19- June 2nd Trip Report

benito · Post by **benito** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 8:35 pm

trip report may 19-june 2nd.

We bought our condo Bendita Casita 3 years ago and have made many trips down to pv since, always to work on our place. not this time. We decided that this trip would be pure vacation and fun. Once again pv didn’t disappoint.
We had an uncrowded flight down on united from SFO. tried to talk ua into letting our dogs ride with us, since there was so much room in the cabin but that didn’t go too far, so into the cargo hold they went.
They dropped us off at the new terminal. The only point for that it seems is to make you walk much farther to get the bags and dogs. I miss the tarmac arrival with the buses when that warm humid air would hit you. Breezed thru customs, even with the dogs. The very gracious cab driver stopped in at the first OXXO we saw so we could have a beer for the ride into town. Traffic was light, it only took about 20 minutes to get to old town.
The first week was a whole lot of doing nothing. Early morning trips to los muertos beach so the dogs could swim. some mornings there was literally no one on the beach. low season is now in full effect. As such a few restaurants on basilio badillo have closed. Cafe de olla was busy every time we passed, it doesn’t seem to matter what season it is for them. we’ve become friends with Rogelio at olla, his brother owns the place. So as a perk for the 5 block walk up basilio badillo to our place he would give us free margaritas para llavar. so nice and civilized.
The weather was probably the best i’ve experienced in countless trips over the years... low to mid 80’s everyday with just a hint of humidity. Rainy season is just around the corner. It was cloudy a lot and looked like it might rain but never did. The rio cuale was very low. too low for the dogs to swim. So we spent a lot of time at the beach. A couple of days we would hike over the rocks near the meza del mar and go to the amapas beach. pretty nice, no one around. there are some nice casas right over the beach there. If you own near amapas beach you’re livin large.
We didn’t eat out as much this trip. Went to Mega and loaded up on comida. Their meat dept. had excellent steaks and chicken so we bbq’d on our balcony 3 times the first week. the bakery there at mega has the best croissants and pan dulce. cheap too. the small croissants were 25 cents. also the sandia (watermelon) was the yummiest, juiciest we’ve had in a long time... Susana made excellent sandia margaritas. One of our first purchases for the condo was a good blender. we gave that thing a workout. when we weren’t eating in we were hitting as many different taco stands as possible. our favorites, in no particular order, memos, aguacate/b badillo, mariscos cisneros, aguacate between v carranza and f madera. the lunch counter across the street from the rizzo... great camerone tacos. the 3rd taco stand up from the side of the guadalajara farmacia. forget their name. but great al pastor tacos with pina. marisma fish tacos on naranjo between b badillo and v carranza in the shadow of the tunnel....most of these places press out their own tortillas fresh made to order.
Only made it to andales twice this trip. don’t know why, we never could seem to get there. met up with our friend emma who was our real estate agent and went to cyc’s. great margaritas there. also had a good breakfast at freddy toucans. That first week just seems like a blur now, feels so long ago.

Semana dos
To start the second week we decided to try the rhythm of the nights tour. our friend pedro who sells day trips on the beach at the los arcos hotel gave us a discounted price so we went.... oops. the ocean was angry this night. half the boat got sick on the way to the show. it wasn’t pretty. the wait staff on the boat were amazing. staggering around the deck with a tray full of drinks without spilling a drop. In my opinion though, i thought the tour was overpriced. the food was ok, but we felt like they were rushing us. i liked the dancing though, the way i would describe it is jungle ballet. the trip back was a little easier but still a lot of people on the boat weren’t having such a great time. let’s pay 150 bucks for the privilege of getting sick. They said alcohol helps mal de mer and it worked for me so i believe them.
The next morning we rented a car thru our property manager pvrpv. advantage rent a car came right to our casa to drop off the car... sweet.... a cool little nissan platina. i’ve wanted to go to san pancho for a couple of years so this was our motivation to get out of pv. cruised by the new home depot then mega on the outskirts of bucerias. Some old friends from san francisco, adam and nicola have opened a wine bar right in bucerias across the street from the shamrock irish pub. block and a half from the playa. we checked out their nice space, then went to lunch on the beach. after lunch we headed out for san pancho. the first thing i noticed on highway 200 northbound were all the gravestone markers right on the highway, especially on the turns. there is a good reason for this. people drive like maniacs on this 2 lane highway. passing on blind turns, hauling a$$, no shoulders on this highway, only ditches. i asked my mexican friends about this and they smiled gravely and shrugged their shoulders.
San Pancho is a sweet little town. the turn off is about 5 minutes north of the sayulita exit. there is a long main road that takes you right to the beach. a nice park is about halfway down. it reminds me of old time mexico. i love how everyone smiles and says hola to you. we had the beach to ourselves. except for the birds. and the dead flat fish on the beach with the middles carved out of them. the vultures were bouncing around, marveling at their good lunch fortune. the sand at san pancho is golden but very soft, even at the waters edge you would sink way down. it was a good workout to counter the beers i was drinking, I told myself.
We continued north stopping in at lo de marcos. it reminded me of san pancho but not quite as nice. we just cruised thru, not stopping at the beach.
Next up was Rincon de Guyabitos. this place was my favorite. A large crescent shaped beach with small mexican style hotels and restaurants all along it. lot’s of stationary food vendors. This day was the 10th anniversary of me adopting my dog billy (the black and white one, if you look at the trip fotos) so she got a lot of fish on a stick in lieu of her customary anniversary steak. it was getting late in the afternoon, so we looked for a place to stay here. The second place we checked (the san carlos) allowed dogs so we booked it. a real nice simple place with a great pool, comfortable beds, nice little restaurant/bar with simple food and friendly staff. We hung out all the next morning at the pool and the playa. i could have stayed there another couple days but we had dinner plans back at the bucerias wine bar so we headed for one more beach. playa chacala. you turn off the highway and take the road about 5 miles to this sweet little oasis. there are lots of tall palm trees lining the small beach. We parked near where people were camping. A surfer came up to us and told us to move our car. the coconuts fall like bombs where we were. Had chips and salsa and some coronas at one of the cantinas. there was a big mexican family having a reunion. pretty festive atmosphere.
On our way back to Bucerias we stopped into sayulita. haven’t been there in about 12 years. wow, it’s changed.. so many hipsters running around. the waves were small and we quickly got bored watching people surf.
Made it back to the el bien vino wine bar about 7pm. Adam and Nic were open for business just hanging out. we dropped off our bags upstairs then went down for some champagne. next thing you know it’s one a.m.
Next morning walked the length of bucerias playa with the dogs swimming a lot. had the beach to ourselves, as usual this trip.
I highly recommend renting a car and checking out nayarit. it is beautiful. and cheaper than pv. next time we’re gonna try heading south.
Made it back to pv to close out the last 3 days of the trip. It’s weird but i start missing pv when i’m still in pv. right about this time with 3 days to go.
Spent the last 3 days just kickin it, swimming in our pool and going back to amapas beach. and eating too much. Susana found these great ribs at a meat store in our neighborhood so we had one last bbq our last day then dinner with friends at the cafe de olla to finish us off.... damn this was fun...... i posted some pictures in the photos section of this board........back in october/november for five weeks... cant wait....

Plus4 · Post by **Plus4** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 3:06 pm

Very nice report..

Thanks for taking the time to post...

travelbug_jp · Post by **travelbug_jp** » Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:59 pm

I thoroughly enjoyed that report. Did you get a chance to sample the fresh mangos? My top ten things to do list includes a trip to PV when the mangos are ripe.
Joyce

sjl330 · Post by **sjl330** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:45 am

What a great report. Thanks for sharing. And your pics are great too. Just a few more days......then ahhhhhhh.

beachluvr · Post by **beachluvr** » Mon Jun 09, 2008 10:33 pm

thank you. fun reading, wish i was there.
you're right, nayarit coastline is beautiful.

smitty · Post by **smitty** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:06 pm

I like the way you include your dogs and treat them special .

ellen · Post by **ellen** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:16 am

A nice report, benito. It sounds like you had a wonderful time. What street is Bendita Casita on?

Arizona Karen · Post by **Arizona Karen** » Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:34 am

Sounds like fun. We hope to buy there at some point.

benito · Post by **benito** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:05 am

hola ellen,
it's in the condos jacarandas complex...jacarandas and m.m dieguez.

ellen · Post by **ellen** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 1:20 am

We looked at a condo in that complex too. I really liked it but this particular one needed alot of work so we passed. But it's a nice part of town. We ended up in the downtown area.

Arizona Karen · Post by **Arizona Karen** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:40 pm

benito wrote:trip report may 19-june 2nd.
Made it back to the el bien vino wine bar about 7pm. Adam and Nic were open for business just hanging out. we dropped off our bags upstairs then went down for some champagne. next thing you know it’s one a.m.

Benito,

Does Adam also work for Gecko?

benito · Post by **benito** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:30 am

hola, az karen, what is gecko? adams nickname is snow. he's an aussie, nicola is british. if you hung out at all in bucerias you would have run into them.

Arizona Karen · Post by **Arizona Karen** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:36 pm

benito wrote:hola, az karen, what is gecko? adams nickname is snow. he's an aussie, nicola is british. if you hung out at all in bucerias you would have run into them.

Benito,

An Adam works at Gecko rental car in Bucerias and he's from CA and since you are from SF, I thought that might have been the Adam you were talking about.

May 19- June 2nd Trip Report

Lovely Report

Adam