A Week in Mexico
There is a lot of negativity associated with Mexico. Drugs, guns, murders, trouble at the border, it doesn’t have a good reputation. But when we were looking for a break in February, a family member recommended Sayulita on the west coast.
I will be honest, it was a mixed experience. Travel usually is, but on this occasion, there were some real delights and some things that made me really angry.
Whale watching with La Orca de Sayulita. This was wonderful! A three hour trip in a small boat watching whales as they migrated along the coast. Whales have a majesty about them and to be cruising slowly alongside them was pure joy. Andrea, our guide, was extremely knowledgeable and answered our questions fully. As well as providing pleasure for tourists, these trips contribute to conservation data gathering and a portion of ticket prices goes towards research work. This trip is a positive experience in all ways. 100% recommended.
Sayulita has a good main beach. There are lots of bars and restaurants along the beach, each with loungers and umbrellas. Unsurprisingly, it can get very busy and the incessant vendors can get tiresome. So walk to the south end of town, through the cemetery to the Playa de los Muertos. This is a sandy beach in a cove that is much quieter than the beaches in town. Still some vendors but a better experience. If you are not afraid of a walk, continue on foot to Playa Carricitos. This is another 20 minutes walk from Playa de los Muertos along dirt and cobbled roads. But every step will be rewarded one hundred-fold. The beach faces directly west and is a perfect place to watch the sunset. The beach is quiet and clean. A long expanse of sand is interspersed with dramatic boulders. The powerful waves make this a dangerous place to swim and a challenge to surfers. But the roar of these waves and the showers of spray as they break over the boulders remind you that powerful forces are at work in the ocean. Powerful, relentless forces that dwarf us humans. Part of reconnecting with nature is appreciating our place in the order of things. This beach is somewhere to understand the power of nature. To gaze in awe and to hear the roar of the sea. Then the sun starts to set, the colours warm and the low sun illuminates the plumes of spray from the breakers. Rays of warmth, beams of light, colours and reflections entranced me. It was beautiful.
Reluctantly, we turned away as darkness fell. Night falls quickly here, so if you intend to repeat our experience, take a torch. It will save you some trips and stumbles.
Back in Sayulita, there are plenty of opportunities to satisfy your hunger. Mary’s is the best place we found for traditional Mexican food. Very fresh, very tasty. Chocobanana is great for breakfasts. Its open sided layout means you feel connected with the street, although this can be overwhelming. Sayulita is a party town. If you want a raucous bar-crawling experience, you will have a good time. The relentless music, from clubs, bars and from bands playing impromptu music in the streets, often all at the same time, can get to you. Sayulita abhors a silence, there will always be music from at least one source and someone yelling over it. Personally, it all got too much. An American visitor described Sayulita as a madhouse. It’s hard to argue with that.
This coastline does offer alternatives. San Pancho is a little further north and has a totally different atmosphere. Quieter, more refined, in some ways it feels more like a Californian town especially at the Tuesday Market. Many Americans have moved here and there is a large ex-pat community.
Even further north is So de Marcos. This is an unspoiled seaside town, there are just two bars on a long sandy beach. There are little restaurants and corner shops rather than clubs and bars. It is quiet and safe. We met some Canadians on the beach who had been coming here for years and were desperate to move there full time. I found this curious. They were happy to acknowledge that Mexico was dusty, corrupt and had toxic tap water. So why leave the liberal paradise of Canada? I would have loved to spend more time with them to gently interrogate this desire. Is Canada not as heavenly as it claims? Is the romance of wild lawless Mexico worth living on bottled water?
Picture the sandy, wind-blown streets of western towns in spaghetti westerns and bring the buildings more up to date but still a bit rickety and shabby. That’s So de Marcos. A town beloved of Canadians escaping long chilly winters.
Some words of caution. The water in this area is not suitable for drinking. Even when drinking bottled water, bouts of diarrhoea are the norm for visitors. Imodium or the equivalent is your friend. Vendors on the popular beaches are relentless. On one occasion, I said no to four in the space of a minute. This is indicative of a widespread (but not universal) attitude to visitors, that they are wallets to be opened. Most people I dealt with were honest and traded fairly, but there were a few notable exceptions I will share with you.
At a petrol station, we were wildly overcharged. The pump attendant filled the tank and took a card payment on a handheld machine. On checking, we realised that we had been charged around three times too much. We challenged this. An error was blamed, and a cash refund was offered. It was a rip-off and we called them out.
On picking up our rental car, the desk agent informed me that the deal I had booked on Expedia was no longer available and the price would not be honoured. Negotiation followed and but I ended up with a car at a much higher price. Only later did I realise what had happened. He had foisted an upgrade on me without any explanation or my consent. It was a crafty manoeuvre carried out under the cover of the language barrier. I have raised a fraud claim with Expedia, Mex Car and my credit card provider.
Having taken charge of a far bigger car than we wanted, we started to drive to Sayulita from Puerto Vallarta airport. We were stopped by a traffic cop who informed me that I was speeding and a cash fine was payable. Obviously this is a shakedown, confirmed by other visitors. The correct response is as follows. Don’t query the alleged offense. Ask for a written citation, the officer’s name and badge number and offer to pay the fine at the nearest police station. This is the legally correct process. Because the officer is looking for cash to pocket, they will usually back down at this point. We followed this approach and the officer did indeed back off.
This kind of grift leaves a bad taste in the mouth. I recognise that that there is a huge economic divide between most visitors and most local people. They want a piece of us and I can understand why. But visitors like me are happy to pay our way. I make a point of spending with local businesses and trying to make a positive impact with my money. Tourism is a vehicle for wealth distribution, and I am happy to be part of that. But I don’t enjoy being ripped off.
Respect goes two ways. I saw a man with a Californian accent haggling in a market with a local vendor over the price of a belt. I recognise that haggling is a part of Mexican and other cultures. As a part of that culture, it is an efficient way of bringing together buyers and sellers. But when wealthy visitors appropriate that practice, something different is going on. The developing world does not exist to provide cut-price shopping opportunities for wealthy people. Show some class, pay the price, make a difference.
Mexico is a big country. Much of it is pretty dangerous for visitors and for the people that live there. The authorities recognise that keeping visitors and their money safe is important. To that end, squads of heavily armed soldiers patrol the streets of towns like Sayulita. This is obviously effective, I felt safe as I went about my visit. Sayulita and the nearby towns are safe places to visit. You need to be careful with the water. If you like to surf all day and drink all night, Sayulita is a great destination. If your tastes are different, do your homework to avoid disappointment.
Puerto Vallarta, Sayulita and San Pancho are hugely popular with visitors. I spoke to as many as I could and the experiences I list above were not unique to my wife and I. If you visit, you will probably get sick and probably have someone try to rip you off. But if you can rise above that, there are beautiful experiences to be had. The sunsets and the whales will live with me forever.
