Tropic Escape
Winter 2013 was cold. Sure, we’re spoiled, but it was still cold.
And the winter surf was less than thrilling. So a few Goleta boys walked away from the daily grind
and slipped into a tropical dream. It was a quickie, but it was a warm, wet dream.
Sayulita is not hard to get to.
A quick, painless flight to Puerto Vallarta, just enough time to enjoy a nice airplane cocktail.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted by these friendly gents in the airport.
And here we learned something….
Point a camera at these normally aggressive salesmen and they shrink like snails under salt.
They didn’t utter a word. They didn’t even wanna look at us!
A short drive later, we arrived at our home for the next few days, Casa Concordia.
This amazing house has a Goleta connection, one of the owners is a local surf legend.
<p”>We were close to town, but up on a hill away from the hustle.Thus allowing us to keep an eye on
the surf and all the goings on in town while we relaxed on the balcony and sipped our cocktails.
Here’s a link to see more of the house and get rental info.
Click Here.
The weather was perfect, mid eighties, the water was warm and there was surf the whole time.
Just what the doctor ordered.
Sayulita has plenty of delicious food options, and after surfing a couple times a day,
we always had a healthy appetite.
Tacos Pastor with this guy, above,
was very entertaining.
Our favorite restaurant was this one though, Los Afortunados. Just a short walk from our
house and guess what…it’s owned by another Goleta boy!
Gregory Allen Pearce, a Dos Pueblos graduate, has had this place for years….
And after we devoured a great meal, we had a nice long walk down memory lane,
talking about Goleta and all the folks we know in common.
Crazy small world.
While the main focus of this trip was surf, something happened every night.
That something was the Sayulita nightlife.
This place in particular had really good bands every night.
This musician was our favorite. He jammed, and he drank White Russians.
“The dude abides”.
These guys played Blues and Rock, very loudly and very well.
Long haired, barefoot Mexican dudes jamming perfect Beatles and Stones…
How do you get to bed early when that’s going on?! You don’t.
But somehow we managed to drag our butts out of bed in time for a morning session,
every morning.
A couple of really good surfers were gonna come with us,
but they had to go and have the Rincon Classic the same weekend we took this trip….
But really good surfers wouldn’t do cool things like this.
And we utilized the new mouth mounted Go Pro.
One day we took a nice little walk from Sayulita
to some beautiful and secluded beaches.
As always, when we go to Mexico, we see some stuff and say,
“Wow, you don’t see that at home”…
Like unrefrigerated raw chicken at the grocery store, with a little ice on it….
….we don’t have these delicious Bimbo snack treats at home….
….we don’t have many crocodile warning signs in Goleta….
…..a mobile Farmers Market……(actually not a bad idea).
Frigate birds..
Panga repair on the beach…
…..pangas on the beach, however, aren’t all that uncommon in Goleta…..
This dude was showing his buddies how he practices his aerials on the beach…
A funky little carnival had not one, but three booths of this same game…..
Breaking bottles with rocks!
We had to partake.
This baby was ready to attack us.
This was an unusual sight…
Ain’t seen nothin like that struttin’ around Goleta…
If you do get up early, you’ll be one of the few in town
The dude on the right got up ridiculously early, every morning.
So to summarize, Sayulita is a little slice of paradise.
With it’s warm waves….
…beautiful, happy people….
….and it’s amazing tropical climate….
…..make this a perfect place to take a break from reality.
Life is short, enjoy it.
Viva Sayulita. We shall return.
Special thanks to Mike at Casa Concordia and Greg at Additional photos by Chris Wittak, Bruno Berlin and Tony Modugno.
