For those like me who don’t know much about Mexico, Sayulita is north of Puerto Vallarta (where Liz Taylor and Richard Burton became very close friends during the filming of Night of the Iguana), tucked into a small bay, with “the best place to learn to surf in the world”. It is about even in latitude with Cabo San Lucas on Baja California and Santiago, Cuba. The cordillera or mountains (sort of an extension of the Rockies) run right along the coast and only leave room for a narrow strip of beach.
Monday, Dec. 19- Travel day, via DFW. The six of us, C and me and the Gregorys, were a little late leaving RIC but no major problems. We arrived in Puerto Vallarta where the exit from Customs is complete mayhem- zillions of guys trying to help us get out the door where our real ride was waiting for us with Beth. The driver greeted us with the offer of a beer and we started the 25 mile ride to Sayulita. As we got out of the city, things went from planned communities to more rural- lots of roadside stands with cocos frios.
The Villa Del Oso is pretty amazing. It sits right on a cliff right on the ocean. The pounding waves reverberate all thru the house. Leesa and family had a separate casita with rooms for A&T, a living room, a separate yard, and patio. The main villa was huge, with upstairs rooms for Jill’s family and nanny and downstairs rooms for Beth, Michael and Jeanie, and us. There are full size stone statues looking like Aztec men and women situated in many of the corners, a modern kitchen, about a million books with Grisham, Patterson and Joan Rivers well represented and even more magazines. The kids found the infinity pool and hot tub pretty quickly.
All dining is outside on a long, long table. Beth and August found a couple of palm trees to set up their hammocks and Gordon found a full outdoor bathroom (men’s and women’s designations) and a ping pong table which was well used during the week.
As we were getting settled, news from the others started to trickle in. Jill’s flight was running late but, worse than that, Ravenna’s passport had expired. Graham and Ravenna stayed behind and spent a very long day going from one bench or line to another in San Francisco trying to get her passport renewed. The story on Michael and Jeanie was a little confusing to me- at first I thought they also had a passport problem, but what really happened was traffic was messed up due to some transit repairs serving the Newark airport so they missed their flight. All four got to Sayulita on time the next day.
Tuesday, Dec. 20- A day of rest before activities started. Poor Alastair was a little cranky but other than that all went well. The Villa has a groundskeeper, a housecleaner, a manager, breakfast and lunch cooks, two cooks at dinner, and a night watchman. Pretty different from home.
Everyday seems to be in the 80s with 70s at night. At times we got hot in the villa but there was air conditioning available if one could figure which hand held unit had good batteries and which worked what.
It is a 5 minute walk into town which is very beach and tourist oriented. Lots of surf board and paddle board for rent places, little restaurants, yoga studios, etc. We had to go into town to confirm our reservations with the AlyKat and with Captain Pablo for fishing. (Pretty much everything we did required cash, either dollars or pesos, which surprised me and caused some scrambling.) August and Beth posed with Captain Pablo’s parrot, Pedro. In town the beach and water are pretty gradual with good surf but rocky. Up at our villa there is a pretty sharp drop off with a fair undertow.
Connie, Jill and I went on a short walk- if you go left out our very, very steep driveway on the road for about 250 meters, the paved road ends but there is a rocky path that goes along the coast but back in the forest. It seems like one could go forever but we just followed it until a branch of it came over to another section of beach. A good walk and very good catching up with Jill.
Dinner every night is good Mexican food- tortillas, tostadas, chips and guacamole, beans, rice, paella, chicken, mahi, or pork, and then some different desserts. The best night was barbequed pork tamales.
Wednesday, Dec. 21- Our day on the AlyKat which was really the Pato Bobo. We had a hard time figuring out what we were supposed to pay, how much we had paid as a deposit, and what we had paid to do, but we got it arranged and took off in the morning- all but Alastair and Valentina the nanny. The boat crew was very oriented to a much rowdier and thirstier bunch than we were. There was lots of what I guess was Mexican dance music, pretty loud. The first stop was to look for whales and we found a few breathing and diving but not breaching. Then we made a run to an area only accessible by boat where we were supposed to jump off a big rock, but it was too windy for that. Then we went to Yelapa, a tiny town only accessible by boat also where many people have their second homes and come to stay for 6 months in winter. On the way there were very many bottlenose dolphin following and bobbing up around the boat- just like torpedoes. Our group all went on a short hike thru town, by the gauntlet of vendors, to a very picturesque waterfall where we took a family photo.
On the walk back we passed a crowd of tourists more like what our boat crew was expecting. Some of our group split off to walk to the beach dining area (Graham contributed to the local economy by buying a piece of rosewood for handiwork back home) while the rest of us took a panga- the captain had to judge the waves and then make a fast run into and onto the beach sand with his boat. It was short but thrilling.
While we were having lunch on the beach under a big tent, Gordon and family posed for a photo with a gigantic iguana, Pedro, or Pablo.
Connie and I met a guy selling bookmarks and bottle openers who said it was his 75th birthday. He looked about 85 to me, very weathered, and he probably had a birthday 365 times a year.
Gordon and Thomas wanted to go paddle boarding so the crew helped them get started. The place where we were had a lot of boats at anchor, was somewhat protected, but there was a pretty stiff breeze. As the rest of us got ready to go back to the Pato Bobo, we tried to get Gordon’s attention to come in. Gordon and Thomas had drifted or were blown or paddled quite far apart. Gordon looked like he was having fun, Thomas looked like he was struggling (I think he was mostly tired), and Leesa was trying to get Gordon to paddle over to help Thomas. But it was impossible to hear anything from the shore. We all tried hand signals to Gordon without luck and Leesa ran down the beach to keep track of Thomas. She got one of our crew to swim out to Thomas and get him pointed in the right direction. I would not have given 2 cents for Gordon’s life back on shore at that time. August told me her family was like being on reality TV. Soon enough though all were back safely on board and some of our group started jumping off the top of the boat into the water.
On the way back two things happened- one good, one not so good. We saw a bunch more whales that put on a better show than the first bunch- that was good. On the other hand I guess I must have caught a norovirus from the airplane trip down, and its ill effects started kicking in. I felt nauseated, achy all over and had a monster headache- like a pile driver working on the center of my forehead. Just as we pulled into the slip, as everyone else was sharing handshakes and thanks with the crew, I was in the head on the boat “calling Ralph and Earl”, as they say.
That pretty much did me in for the next 24 hours.
Thursday, Dec. 22- This was the day for fishing with Captain Pedro, or Pablo. I did not go but Gordon and Graham and Michael and Jeanie went out and had a fantastic day- seeing whales and loading up on fish, pompano (looked like trevally to me), snapper, mahi, and bonito.
Our dinner cooking crew made fish tacos, ceviche, and some other fish dish, and I even rallied enough to taste some. The rest of the group hung around at the villa and went to the beach or the pools.
I am not sure if it was this night or another, but we all had a lot of fun one night taking Michael to task for his use of a “professional” fantasy football proxy.
Friday, Dec. 23- Zipline day for a large part of our group, but a couple were starting to come down with whatever I had.
Saturday, Dec. 24- Just relaxing and more relaxing around the villa. Beth led most of us in an hour of yoga by the sea, with the sound of the waves all around. I liked the meditation part best but I was not as inflexible as I thought I would be.
Later Connie and I went on a longer walk in a different direction and found Playa de Los Muertes (Dead person’s beach). A couple recovered from my illness and a couple more picked it up.
Christmas Day- Since we were all together and since we were all on the road with limited capacity for gift carrying in either direction, we drew names from a hat for one gift and that was it. Some of the gifts were meaningful like some clothing sewn by women in third world countries working to get away from trafficking for Beth from Jill, some were useful like a gift certificate for car detailing from me to Gordon, and some were jokes like the long hair and hat Gordon gave Graham so he can dress as Axl Rose’s lead guitar guy. After gifts all the kids took a swing at a huge golden star shaped piñata we hung from the ceiling at the bar on the upper deck. (Our piñata was a little illegal in that the case around the candy was ceramic and hence could cut whoever went scrambling for the candy after it was broken, but this is what they were selling in town and we didn't know.) For a few minutes we did not have to worry about the candy because the little kids couldn't make much of a dent in it. Then Michael took a big swing and broke his stick. On the next swing the piñata broke and all the kids immediately jumped in to scoop up the goodies.
Later all went to the Dead beach for a swim and rock climb. I took all the kids in a golf cart and we had a great time calling out the speed bumps.
The whole while, there was minimum TV and lots of card games like Uno and Farkle with Ravenna, although I did sit with Ravenna and Theron and watch about 45 minutes of ice skating while Theron did very impressive yoga moves on the couch.
Sunday, Dec. 26- uneventful travel day home. In all a truly wonderful family time together.
