Two weeks of bliss

Arizona Karen · Post by **Arizona Karen** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 11:34 pm

Our two families totaling 7 arrived at the airport to find Pedro Diaz of Diva Tours waiting for us. He loaded us into the Suburban while we exchanged money at the airport casa de cambio. We stopped at the new MEGA in Bucerias and stocked up on a weeks worth of groceries. Diva Tours waited for us 1.5 hours while we shopped. He charged us $80. We loved picking out fresh mangoes, watermelon, papaya, serranos and bolillos and pastries. The meat department is pretty good and the cheese department is phenomenal. The alcohol section is small but they have great prices, even lower than Wal-Mart's. It's a large, clean store but it doesn't have the variety that Wal-Mart has. If you shop here, offer your "points earned" to the cashier and it will be well appreciated. We were driven up to San Pancho and unloaded into Casa San Francisco and Casita San Pancho directly across from the Costa Azul Resort. This house complex is amazing! Here we were made aware of Frida Kahlo and her awesome self-portraits. We had barely beaten the rainy season so the crabs weren't out in full force yet.
We enjoyed the beach daily including looking at the variety of dead fish which had been washed up. We even saw quite a few dead blowfish and eels of various sizes. It's a large, empty and very clean beach. The water can be treacherous and has to be watched. We used boogie boards and body surfed. San Pancho is a real cute, friendly and clean town. We enjoyed the Mexican Night at Costa Azul; they put on quite a show. Often we would end up in the Costa Azul pool, playing pool volleyball and making friends. They do ask that if you aren't staying there that you purchase food and drink. Sometimes their salsa can be a little too mild.
We tried the rotisserie chicken and papas from the local chicken shop and LOVED it. We walked into town almost every morning for something or another and enjoyed the flocks of parrots on the way back. We also saw several larger, bluish, jay-type bird with long tail feathers and a crown and many Calandrias.
Towards the end of the week a slight sea foam showed up on the beach. We paid Diva Tours $10 to drive the 7 of us to Sayulita. We explored the shops and beach and then ate lunch at Don Pedro's on the beach. It's somewhat pricey but fairly good and has a nice view. I enjoyed the Mahi Mahi ceviche. If you're in Sayulita, make sure to visit Susanna at the Galeria Tanana Huichol Center (http://www.huicholcenter.org/). She's an anthropologist studying the Huichol culture and the proceeds raise funds for her non-profit project. We thought the Sayulita beach looked dirty compared to San Pancho's.
We hired Lisa Brewer from Sayulita and Octavia from San Pancho for massages. We enjoyed the tandem massages and the teens enjoyed their first body massages. Both Lisa and Octavia were very good. One in our party has had many massages and he claimed that Lisa's massage was the best he had ever had.

Diva tours picked us up and after another 1.5 hour stop at MEGA and a quick stop at Carneceria Del Mundo (great but pricey meats), transported us to Playa Royale in Paradise Village in Nuevo Vallarta. We enjoyed the beach despite the huge amount of sea foam. The waves, although calm, were enough for boogie boards.
We took the Marigalante Pirate Land tour and enjoyed it. Although slightly corny, it was fun, provided good food and lots of activities on Majahuitas beach. I'm not sure that if I was staying at the Majahuitas Resort and paying $300+/night for a so-called "getting away from it all" hideaway resort, I would want a boat load of tourists invading the secluded beach.
The last five days were cloudy and it rained on and off. We loved this as we seldom see rain in the Phoenix area. I don't think the temperature hit much above 80 every day. We especially enjoyed the rain during our Los Veranos canopy tour as it provided a cool respite from the otherwise warm and humid jungle. One rainy evening a sea turtle came on shore and tried to dig her nest to lay her eggs. She kept trying to get past the construction fence above the beach. We watched her for over an hour but she finally gave up and went back to the sea. She was yards away from the turtle conservatory and we were assured that the turtle people would be looking for her tracks that night.
We went to Claudio's at Mason Bay in Bucerias one night for dinner and really enjoyed it. There were wandering Mariachi's and quite a few of us ended up dancing. Be warned, they only take cash.

Our two weeks of bliss seemed to end too quickly and off we were to the airport in Phoenix where it has been 112 every day.

benito · Post by **benito** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:48 pm

i thought san pancho was awesome too....next time you go head up to guyabitos and playa chacala. they're just a little farther north on 200. nice day trips from san pancho. nice powdery sand on the beaches. hardly any people...

Arizona Karen · Post by **Arizona Karen** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:05 pm

We have an interest in checking out Platanitos/Costa Custodio even further up as we have heard how wonderful it is. We've heard it's even better than those above Guayabitos or Chacala. Check out the picture titled "View South towards Turtle Beach: 10 km of White Sand Beach" at vrbo.com/176097. Also the top two pictures at costacustodio.com/

Now that's a beach!

benito · Post by **benito** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:51 pm

wow, those places look awesome. are they both about 70 miles north of pv?..i wish i was going back tomorrow...

Arizona Karen · Post by **Arizona Karen** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:35 pm

Both of those places are at Platanitos &/or Turtle Beach which is just under San Blas. It sure is an awesome looking beach.