It was time to say adios to our little haven in Sayulita. We spent a beautiful few days there. I really really loved it there and felt for the first time on this trip that i was on holiday. A wonderful mix of locals and surfers and cute little streets lined with interesting shops set in paradise. Inevitably though when somewhere like this becomes "trendy" the prices go up. So it was a bit of a shock when we went out for dinner to a little place on the beach the first night to find them charging around $20 American for a main course!

We aimed to get to Playa Azul by sunset today. Our lay over has meant we are cutting it close to get to Guatamala in time for school starting on 3rd Nov. On the map Playa Azul is around 600 kms from Saylita so we thought a big day of driving, somewhere around the 7 or 8 hour mark and we'd get there. Ha ha. That was until we drove along the coastal 200 road!

First we had to deal with getting through Puerta Vallarta. A giant tourist town, complete with giant cruise ships docked in the harbour and a crazy beachfront promenade. Of course it was here that Matty stalled the engine as we crested a narrow hill - and Dora decided she didn't want to go again! Nightmare. Horns furiously peeping at us, Spanish expletives thrown our way, and 2 hot and restless screaming babies in the back....it wasn't pretty. But the old solar boost trick worked again and we were back on our way in just a few minutes. We think its just the intense heat that's upsetting Dora.
So it took us about an hour to get from one side of PV to the other and as we climbed the hill on the way out of tourist central the stark contrasts were once again evident. We passed the swanky cliff top hotels and condos and luxury holiday homes with high end cars parked outside and once again within a few hundred meters we passed the locals' little village nestled on the edge of the city. Their one room brick homes, laundry draped outside in the baking sun, people wandering along the street having just gone to collect water, dogs barking, a few chicken scratching in the dirt, a horse tethered by the side of the shacks.....do the fly/sail in tourists even know this side of Mexico exists? Do they really want to come to Mexico to experience Mexico? Or do they just want to come to the sun, get somewhing of a wishy washy idea in their head about what Mexico and her people must be like based on what they see in downtown anywhere tourist city? A sanitised view of a wonderfully rich culture being eroded by just that. I suppose its the same everywhere. I've been to enough foreign cultures to know that a lot of holiday makers don't care what used to be standing on the site of their hotel on the beach or the restaurant that'll make them bacon and eggs for breakfast everyday, which ever country they are visiting.
Well enough of that, it upsets me. So the road down the west coast of Mexico - the 200 - isn't exactly going to make it easy for us to zip on down to Guatamala. It took us around 5 1/2 hrs to get to Malaque, which is about 5 hours north of where we were aiming for! Although we did lose an hour to a time zone change. (We're now on Central time.) Long and (very) winding, and up and down hills and full of topes (potholes). Instead of fixing them they tend to just put up some signs to warn you of their existence, although we did see some guys working on fixing a few along our way today.
Malaque is a cute little seaside town and once again we are parked up looking right out onto the ocean. The waves here are pretty thunderous when they break on the beach. Matty went for a quick dip to cool off his sunburned shoulders when we arrived and on his return said there'd been a few hairy moments when he'd been taken by surprise by their ferocity.
Freja and Eir made their way around the campsite introducing themselves. We're surrounded on all sides by fellow Canadians. Alberta, BC and Quebecers are all here. It seems that a fair amount of Canada does migrate south for the winter.
We went for a walk to find some food but most places were closed already. The ones by the water front are as usual over priced so instead we found a family run taco place where we all wolfed down chicken tacos utnil we were stuffed. We suddenly realised we hadn't eaten since breakfast time. Delicious - her homemade chili and tomatina sauces were amazing. 8 Tacos and a giant glass of coconut water between the four of us for $58 pesos......less than $6 American, now that's more like it!
Well Playa Azul is the aim for tomorrow......after a breakfast of bacon and eggs at Mr Tony's?.....haha