Prologue.....
"Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear-are caused by too much future, and not enough presence".......Eckhart Tolle
.......................................................................
Stepping through the doorways of fear and trusting the Journey....
........................................................................................
Hola to all..... and welcome back to our travel adventures as we close out 2017.
After some months tending to life at home, we are on the road for a short trip looking for sun and warmth.
We fly into Puerto Vallarta, direct on a Westjet flight from Vancouver, Canada. With our carry on packs, we get through customs and are out of the terminal before most baggage is even off loaded.
Avoiding taxis (250 + pesos), we hop on a local bus for 7.5 pesos and head for Zona Romantica and find the Hotel Eloisa, just a block from the malecon.
Old town PV/Zona Romantica is bustling, a noisy place with a wide range of rooms, food, views, entertainment and music to suit all tastes.
Our rough plan, as always, is to just make things up as we go along. Having been in this area in early 2017, we are pretty familar with the region.
We spend a few days in PV, meet old friends, make new ones, walk, and enjoy the heat.
We discover a new beach about 2 hours south of PV....Mayto Beach. Seems it's a "wild beach" with limited services. Mayto is a bit of a haul....we first take a bus to El Tuito, situated on Highway 200...then once at that town, we need to find some transport to take us the 40Km or so down to Mayto Beach.
Hey, why not? We love the unknown and the unsettled. Better yet, a friend staying in PV over the winter, is interested in 'how we travel' and wants to come along...so.."Three's Company!"
Again, bus travel throughout Mexico is a breeze...all sorts run in every direction. Our hour or so trip to El Tuito goes without a problem. At El Tuito, we ask around about rides to Mayto Beach. Eventually, we hire a local driver/car to take us another hour down the bumpy, windy rough road to Mayto Beach.
Mayto Beach....a shore fisher's paradise, kilometres of desolate shoreline, big surf, gorgeous scenery and pretty nice rooms at the Hotel El Rinconcitas.
We stay for several nights, eat fabulous food, have a bar that operates on the honour system - you just grab a beer from the fridge and write it down under your name in their guestbook.
Rooster fish, the catch of the day. So good grilled on the open wood fire.
We swim, walk, suntan and chat with guests and locals. Pretty laid back, with nothing really to do and steps from the big, pounding surf.
Soon, it's time to figure out how to get back to Highway 200. We can hire a driver to drive us back up, or we can take a local community bus, that, may be running.
The three of us opt to try the bus....so there we are at 7am, on a lonely, dark and dusty beach road corner...waiting for a bus that might come. We've given ourselves about an hour, and if there isn't a bus, we'll hire a car.
Ah, but no worries, about 20 minutes later, there it is, a bus, actually an old school bus, all cleaned up and available FOR FREE to locals and anyone else that happens to come by.
We hop on for the hour trip up from the beach. The bus picks up/drops off school kids, people going to/from the tiny roadside communities to work along this stretch and those going all the way to the coast highway to head into Puerto Vallarta.
Once back in El Tuito, we grab some breakfast and figure out when the next bus comes by to take us further south to Punta Perula.
Within minutes of getting to the highway, a bus comes along and the driver says.."Si!" We are off to Punta Perula.
Punta Perula is a beach town we came across in February, 2017. It is a wonderful, laid back fishing village with several decent places to stay and eat. Blessed with a giant, gentle flat bay great for walking or swimming, it is also an anchorage for sailors traveling along this part of the coast.
We reconnect with several locals and travellers who've settled into Punta Perula.
One evening we luck into a pig roast hosted by a local restaurant. So good served with vegetables, rice and salad.
Soon, we head off about an hour further south to La Manzanilla. Instead of taking a bus on highway 200, we opt for a private/taxi service. With 3 of us travelling together, it makes good peso sense and is faster and more direct than the bus.
In La Manzanilla we book into a 3 bedroom - 2 bathroom, full kitchen, along with a living room and upper deck. The cost is a reasonable $30/person/night Can. Just a block or so from the beach and main road, it is safe, but not so quiet. The roosters crow, dogs bark and even the donkey brays, along with the rockets and music that showcase the 12 Days of Guadalupe.
Other than a sleepless night or two, we enjoy the beach vibe & drinks. Still low season, the bar action and music are pretty non-existent. Seems it is still early for the hordes of tourists, things will ramp up over Christmas and continue into January and beyond.
We take a day trip in Melaque, about a 20 minute bus/taxi ride south of La Manzanilla to visit an ATM and check out bus times back to PV... Melaque is on one end of a 5km bay, with Barra de Navidad on the south end.
After 3 nights in La Manzanilla, we catch a direct bus from Melaque back to PV (4 1/2 hours), and return to the boom-boom and tail end of the Feast of Guadalupe.
Our short stay comes to an end as we reconnect with old friends travelling through PV, enjoy the music and night life, eat some fine foods and catch some final rays before returning north to our home.
On this trip, Shayne decided to test out some new clothing from Unbound Merino. The company claims that their clothes hardly need to be washed and can be worn for weeks at a time.
Well, we are always looking at ways to lessen the weight we carry and simplify what we bring. So, after wearing it in the heat, sweating in the sun, dancing in bars and even sleeping in them, these clothes rock! They do the trick. The t-shirts look great, it keeps you cool and every item of clothing doesn't stink! If you are looking to jettison your pack of poor clothing choices, try Unbound Merino.
As usual, the trip was a blast...meeting new friends, reconnecting and sharing our travel adventures with others.
Here's to Coco's and all the other 2-for-1 margaritas bars!
...................................................................................................
We leave you with a story (Taoist).......enjoy....
There was a farmer whose horse ran away. That evening the neighbors gathered to commiserate with him since this was such bad luck. He said, “May be.” The next day the horse returned, but brought with it six wild horses, and the neighbors came exclaiming at his good fortune. He said, “May be.” And then, the following day, his son tried to saddle and ride one of the wild horses, was thrown, and broke his leg.
Again the neighbors came to offer their sympathy for the misfortune. He said, “May be.” The day after that, conscription officers came to the village to seize young men for the army, but because of the broken leg the farmer’s son was rejected. When the neighbors came in to say how fortunately everything had turned out, he said, “May be.”
Adios until the next time...and all the best for travels in 2018....
Shayne y Yvonne
