VINTAGE VENTURES: I write my travel journals to be able to look back and remember our ventures. A secondary reason is to allow me to organize all my trip photos. I have thousands of photos. Organizing them into a cohesive story makes sense.

So, while I am convalescing after my gum grafting surgery here in Mexico, I decided to turn this idle time into something productive. I am organizing our very first trip to Mexico back in 2017. By the time I have completed this project, I hope to be ready to continue our present-day ventures.

The coastal town of Sayulita is Puerto Vallarta lite. It is colorful and funky.

Sayulita

We heard that the coastal town of Sayulita is the place we outta go. Descriptive words like hippie, hip, funky, laid-back, slow, and surfboarding haven were associated with Sayulita.

To get there by public transportation, we had to decipher the bus system. Sayulita is 50 miles north of the Zona Romantica of Puerto Vallarta. We discovered that we would have to take two buses. The first bus is a city bus that runs from downtown to the outlying Walmart near the airport. Then we transfer to a Compostela bus to Sayulita.

Over the past five days, we have seen a myriad of buses zig-zagging helter-skelter. Determining which buses to take seemed daunting. A Google search taught us that all the buses have destinations written on their windshields. We could easily see this, but the Spanish names all seemed foreign to me. Probably because they were foreign. After studying a zillion buses, I learned to spot a couple that had Walmart written on them. That solved the first bus problem.

At Walmart, there is a bus transfer station where another zillion buses come and go. We had to find a bus that had Sayulita written on it. Fortunately, the Sayulita buses run often, about every ten minutes. So, we were off and running.

These old Mercedes buses are PV city buses. Much of its route is written on the windshield. It is a wonder that the driver can see where he is going.

It seems that each bus driver can decorate their bus as they see fit.

The bus station in Sayulita is an empty lot with an outdoor seating area. (Spoiler alert: This was the bus station in 2017. Compostela now has a proper bus station in Sayulita)

The first thing we noticed was all the golf carts being used as transportation in Sayulita. It makes sense. Sayulita is small enough to use golf carts to zip around anywhere in town.

The second thing we noticed was the liquor store carts parked in the street. Open carry was not just tolerated; it was encouraged. Every block had a trailer selling bottles of booze, beer, margaritas, tequila sunrises; you name it, all packaged for your immediate consumption.

The third thing we noticed was the taverns. They had such a funky atmosphere, like the bar with swings for seats. This informal, funky atmosphere pervaded the entire town. Every establishment had some cleverly quirky spin going for it. It could be a cool logo, an especially splashy color scheme, a giant mural, etc. We immediately loved the town, and that was before we even got to the beach.

The beach area adjacent to the downtown was packed with open-air restaurants, umbrella rentals, and surfboard schools. The farther north you walked along the beach, away from downtown, the quieter things got. You could choose the level of beach frenzy you wanted, from crazy to secluded, by your location on the beach.

We spent the entire day poking around town. We had lunch and supper at two different eateries. By the time we returned to PV, evening was near. This was a perfect last day in Mexico. Tomorrow we head home. Jeff was correct. Greater PV is a nice place to be a snowbird.

I can't get enough of these bright red flowering trees.

Fish tacos for lunch. This was the third fish taco we had this week. I am getting hooked on these tacos.

Our waiter was a charismatic kid.

Above and below: The church is located in the central plaza.

Above and below: Now, that's what I call a liquor store.

This food cart served Ceviche on the beach. Ceviche is a dish made from raw seafood marinated in citrus juice. It was surprisingly good. I didn't know that it was made with raw seafood at the time. By the time I found out, it was too late to worry. Since I didn't get sick, I guess it was all right.

Farther north up the beach, the pace was quiet and slow.

Our last supper in Mexico, an excellent enchilada at this mom'n'pop restaurant in Sayulita.

When we returned to PV, we slowly walked back to our Airbnb. I took a few last photos. I had hoped to take the bus to the airport for tomorrow's departure, but I'm not quite sure how they run yet. Fortunately, the taxi driver that took us to El Eden promised to pick us up for our airport run.

The six days flew by. We are hooked on this world travel stuff. Next, we need to stretch these ventures into more extended visits. I am mostly retired. I still play in a band and drive school bus part-time. Wanda will be retiring in a couple of years. When she retires, we plan to drop all of our responsibilities and travel much more extensively.

The journey home was routine. Flying standby, often a nail-biter for me, went without a hitch. We made all of our flights. We returned in the middle of April. Winter was turning into Spring. Summer in Wisconsin is glorious, and it is just around the corner.

CORRECTION: In part two of this Vintage Ventures Mexico 2017 series, I mistakenly stated that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in the 'The Night of the Iquana'. Elizabeth Taylor was not in the movie. This movie was made just before Taylor and Burton were married, and she was at the movie set during the filming of the movie.

In part one of this series, I said that Taylor and Burton stayed in two hotels across the street from each other. These weren't hotels. The building on the right was called Casa Kimberly and was the home of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor while they were married. The house across the street on the left was another house owned by the couple. It had a swimming pool and was Richard's hangout when his pals stopped by. The bridge was nicknamed the Bridge of Reconciliation because this house was also Richard's 'dog house' when he got in trouble with Elizabeth. He had to walk over the bridge to get back into Elizabeth's good graces. Taylor sold Casa Kimberly after Burton died in 1984. It is now an exclusive hotel and restaurant.

Dave and Wanda

Get Vaccinated To Save Lives.

Virtual Business Card

North America . Europe . Mexico . Asia . Product Reviews . Books & Maps

Please send us your thoughts and any errors we may have missed. We're on the road and cellular service is intermittent in the remote areas. As soon as we get online, we are eager to read all of your messages.

Message us: 715-252-6664 | 715-252-3326

Email: alloverthemaptravelventures@gmail.com