Being in the heat all yesterday and out in the salt left us both way too dehydrated. The funny bit is we didn’t drink too much – serves me right for skipping on the Pacifico. We slept bad and woke up tired. Today is the last full day we have and we are going to take it easy. Yulia headed to the beach and I slept in a bit. After resting and wandering to see if the Member’s lounge was open, (It was but the Salesmen were starting to show up so not worth staying) I headed over to Yulia at the Infinity Pool.
Yulia said when she got there they were just finishing a full clean and refill – that meant the water was actually cold. Or cooler. I dropped my stuff and marched straight in – it was such a help. This week has been crazy hot and humid. Cooling off has been a real challenge, and the pools and ocean have been hot as well. This was such a welcome change. After floating in this for a while I felt a million times better.
Yulia mentioned talked to the concierge and since we skipped the tour of Sayulita, we could just get a taxi there this afternoon and wander about on our own. It was only 20 minutes north and had lots to see. That seemed like a good plan, so we swam more for a while and went for lunch.
Or at least tried to. One thing that has driven us nuts is that there’s only two places that have lunch – the big buffet, or the restaurant by our pool. The Infinity pool and beach have no food. It’s a little crazy since at Tulum the beach restaurant was the perfect spot to relax and eat. Here we need to walk across the resort. I suspect this has to do with we are here in the Off season. It’s just less busy overall so I imagine they have more at peak weeks. We had lunch back at our Pool restaurant – it does have the best view.
In the afternoon, after some more swimming and rest, we headed to the lobby. The bellman waved us a taxi over, and we headed out. This place was 25 minutes further up the coast, so the taxi would wait for us there. It was a good deal since I doubt we could get even a bad taxi outside of the main town and resorts. The ride was actually a bit better than going into town. the roads were a little better and no traffic at all. We pulled off the main road down into a cobblestone street that headed towards the water.
Sayulita was beautiful.
The streets were narrow, shops lined the streets and were all brightly painted – some with murals. The central plaza has a little market setup, and that’s where our taxi dropped us off. We agreed to meet in a few hours at the same spot, and we walked down the street. Golf carts are zipping along the small cobblestone streets as water drips off the top of the roofs. You can tell things are looking up because buildings are brightly colored and painted. It’s all fresh. There are galleries that are charging western prices from Mexican goods. Really, we should see more of this. This is the kind of thing that brings an economy up. The thing you know that it’s working is because it’s attracting Californians.
Sayulita is a fine example of a small Mexican town that has been slowly turned into a Southern California tourist trap. You can tell by the preponderance of golf carts, which have replaced any kind of traditional Mexican transport such as mule, horse drawn cart, or Volkswagen Bug. It’s beautiful. And you know it’s beautiful because you have to pay more money than you would normally in Mexico. But the important thing is this means that people are getting more money for what they want. That’s honestly good for the locals.
The real money is on the homes and condos. People have come out here to live and have put significant money into large non condominium or at least non condominium looking homes. We are seeing far more gringos here than we are seeing around the resorts. The resorts are really now where Mexicans hang out in Mexico to relax. This is where the gringos go. The beach is more surfing than anything else. This place is so safe. Even the decorative cactuses that line the streets have had all the spines pulled out. They look dangerous, but they’re completely sanitary. Unlike the ice water. That you still have to watch out for.
We had a great dinner on a beachside restaurant. It was still hot and muggy but they were kind enough to put fans out for us. The food was upscale again. We had octopus, carne asada, Taquitos – a far cry from street food. They also brought us about 6 pounds of Guacamole. We were only able to finish 4 pounds. They were able to make me a Last Oxacan cocktail – a favorite at home but you need a deep bar to do it (Mezcal, Green Chartruse, Maraschino Liquor, and Lime Juice. ) We took our time and ate way too much.
We grabbed out leftovers and met our taxi back at the market. First thought was to head up to the members club for the evening, but after the drive we had nothing left. we had a drink in the room and just watched a film on TV.
That was a great side trip.
Cognitive Dissonance 