ChrisJenTravel.com – Honeymoon Trek

We took the 18-hour ferry ride to Mazatlan without incident. We opted to pay an additional $36 for a cabin so we could get a good night’s sleep that made the trip a little quicker. Along the way we met some cool travelers from Australia and ended up staying up in the Ferry “Disco” sharing stories. Jane and Lomas, about our age, have been traveling for 3½ years and have been everywhere from Africa to Canada. They stop to work as a chef and electrician when they need money and plan to travel for a full 5 years. We also met Rick, Maya and Jess who met in Bali and were going to the mainland for a few days to relax from their jobs of running a surf camp in Baja. Rick and Maya traveled with their two year old, Jaia and she was already learning two languages. After a few beers we joked about our crazy cultures – they’d never heard of Outback Steakhouse and thought, “Shrimp on the Barbie,” sounded weird since they didn’t even use the word shrimp, they use prongs. Instead, all of their steakhouses are called “Texas Longhorn” or something of the sort. They all impressed us since they seem to be doing just what they want to in life and we vowed to try to do the same when we return home.

We woke up with the ferry pulling into Mazatlan and quickly decided it was too big of a town for our taste. We had planned to spend a day or two there so heading south would actually save us a few days. We mapped out a few options and, after waiting to unload the car (we had rushed to be the first ones on the ferry so we were the last ones off!) hit the road at around 10am to find a cool town for our next few days rest. We were immediately pleasantly surprised at the contrast in scenery from mainland mex to Baja – mainland is very tropical and colorful instead of dry and deserty. The people are still extremely friendly as they were in Baja. Not an hour into the drive we caught up with Lomas and Jane in their camper and found out we were heading to the same region. We all stopped in Tepic, a medium-sized inland town, for a great lunch of fresh, cheap tacos with flour tortillas made right before our eyes. They followed us south a few more hours to San Francisco and Sayulita, sister beach towns about ½ hour north of Puerto Vallarta. Both are really cool towns built around picturesque bays right where the mountains come down to meet the sea – pretty much what you would expect on a honeymoon postcard. They are both still so small that you can walk everywhere and there’s a good mix of Mexican and Expatriate feel. We decided to stay in Sayulita since it had a great campground right on the beach ($5 per person with bathrooms, showers and plenty of palm and banana tree shade) and a few more options for food.

The next few days we hung out with Lomas and Jane surfing the little waves that came into the bay (perfect for Jenny and Jane to polish their skills), snorkeling, checking out the town and stuffing ourselves with the great .70 cent tacos. Chris got carried away on a 7-taco binge one night so he’s almost back to pre-traveling weight. We were quite hot the first night camping so we even bought a fan from the local hardware store and after Chris rigged it with his supreme handy man skills the tent is now like a suite. The last night in town we taught Jane how to play poker and enjoyed a game at the campsite where she took all of our chips. We shared a lot of our favorite music and more stories and agreed to try to meet up again further south for some good surf and more fun before they turn around to head back to the States for a few months of work.

After leaving Sayulita we stopped off in Puerto Vallarta for a few hours to check out the traditional Spanish architecture, cobblestone streets, public art sculptures and breathtaking views. PV is an amazing town founded by the Spanish in the 1500s, which still retains a lot of its history. The only problem is that Hollywood discovered it for a movie in the 1960s and the flood of tourists quickly followed. There are now tons of mega resorts built around the bay, the obligatory Hard Rock Café, Outback Steakhouse and Hooters for the unadventurous tourists hoping to experience real Mexico, and even a Super Wal-Mart (we have to admit we actually stopped off here to look for oil for the car). Nonetheless it’s a nice town to visit for a top-notch vacation or for a half day of exploring the sights. If you are deciding between Cabo and Puerta Vallarta for a vacation, definitely choose Puerta Vallarta – without a doubt.

Really anxious to find some good-sized surf we’ve now driven a few more hours south and stopped off for the night at Barra de Nativadad. Again, a nice little town with a good mix of Mexi/Gringo feel but not nearly as artsy as Sayulita. We found another great guesthouse run by Benjamin, who has lived in the town his entire life and started a bottled water company (good idea in Mexico). He gave us a tour of his guest home at sunset, with a view from the top of the entire city. He proudly told us about Barra de Nativadad, which is his paradise and his 5 kids who are working in the family business or have become dentists. He also corrected our Spanish (we had asked how much per night and with one letter, we had turned our question into a really bad slang word). $18 for a nice room which left some cushion for a terrific dinner of fresh fish ($15 with drinks for both of us) at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. But, again, NO SURF! It seems like we’ve been cursed since Northern Baja with small swell or beaches that face west/north and don’t pick up the Southern swells that come this time of year. The locals ask if we are professionals (ha ha) because of the arsenal of boards we are carrying but we haven’t been able to really use them in some time. We are promised really good surf as soon as we get a little south of here so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

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