First of all, I must say...this is my busy season for work...(selling vacations to the tropics for all of the snow birds who live in Michigan, keeps me working long days)...so even though, I am sitting on my terrace in paradise, enjoying the view and watching the whales go by...I am still working 10 hour days...trying to make sure that all of my clients vacations are picture perfect just like mine is...
Speaking of pictures...I will not be able to add many photos (if any) in this posting, because our brand new Asus computer (only used 6 times down here) decided to crash yesterday while I was transferring approx. 600 photos from my memory card to the computer (we think the hard drive died)...that's a story for a different posting...ugh!
For now, you will just have to put up with my rambling and update in words as opposed to lots of photos...(I will add them later if I ever get them loaded to one of the other 2 computers that we have down here with us)...that is also a whole other story to tell at another time...(neither computer will let us download certain photos...)
Once the boys left to go back to Michigan from their Christmas Break...life got back to normal for Mark and I...we settled in to our Sayulita Life quite nicely...I would run each morning, Mark would go to the beach and boogie board and swim each afternoon...grocery shopping in town when we needed things...and once in a while go out for tacos or pizza (we are trying to check out all of the local taco stands to see who has the best tasting tacos in town...so many Taqueria's, so little time...We love the slower pace of life and it is so nice to just go with the flow each day...
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| Still LOVING Sayulita and each other!!!!!! |
Then one day I ran into a woman on the street who was carrying a tennis racket...immediately, I was intrigued, since I was unaware that Sayulita had any tennis courts...as it turns out, they only have 1 tennis court for public use (and 1 owned by a private resident)...the public court has seen its days...tons of cracks, lightly painted lines (which are also 2 inches wider than normal lines) and one side of the court is 3 inches shorter than the other...oh yeah! Did I mention that this 1 tennis court is at the top of the highest hill, but located in a bowl in the jungle (figure that one out)...crazy stuff...you have to see it to believe it...
Anyways, I asked this woman on the street where she was going and she informed me that they were looking for another woman to play mixed doubles (since the other gal in town, was now 5 months pregnant and had decided to stop playing)...as luck would have it...I would be a perfect replacement...with just one problem...I did not bring my tennis racket to Sayulita...no worries...the local tennis buff (Flip) has extra rackets and he was willing to let me borrow one...
So a tennis date was made and she would text me to let me know the details...
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| I love our one and only tennis court! |
About this same time, we learned that we now had a new neighbor...the Casa right next to ours (the only other Casa on our hill) now had a renter...his name is Piotr, originally from Poland and now lives in Portland OR...he would be renting the Casa for 6 weeks by himself (his wife decided to stay back in Portland and brave the cold weather)...Piotr has been coming to Sayulita for the past 6 years...renting different Casa's each year and meeting tons of people...(It seems like everyone in Sayulita knows Piotr)...and it just happens that Piotr is a very good tennis player, he brought his tennis racket with him (since he knew from past years that Sayulita had 1 tennis court)...and he has played mixed doubles with this group of people in the past...and he would love to be my new tennis partner...so we started a routine of playing tennis 2 times a week (at 8:00am for 2 1/2 hours)...on the other days...Piotr would teach a class on the beach, called Sayulita ROCKS...basically he would find very smooth rocks (all different weights) and teach his students to do stretching exercises with the rocks (think medicine ball exercises...)...he would teach the class every morning (when not playing tennis) down at the far end of the beach (1 mile walk from our Casa)...at 8:30am...it is so peaceful on that end of the beach in the morning...listening to the waves, lifting rocks, watching for whales...What a way to start the day...and the best part of all...is the class was FREE and it was a fun way to meet new people...I go for my two mile run, end up at the beach, take the Rock's class and then start my work day...(Life is Good!)
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| Sayulita's newest Mixed Double Partner's.... |
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| Sayulita Rocks class on the Beach! |
Piotr and Mark have been come great friends...they spend a lot of time on the beach together in the afternoons, swimming, riding the waves, reading and talking about life and travel...we will be very sad to say good bye to Piotr, he will be departing Sayulita this next Monday (February 25th) to go back to Portland...although we have a feeling we will see him down here again next year...or who knows, maybe we will go visit him in Portland someday soon...
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| Mark & Piotr at Antonia's Kitchen |
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| Mark & Piotr |
Right after Piotr arrived in Mid-January at the Casa next door, we had more visitors arrive from Grand Rapids...Ben & Michelle Newhof (Mark's Nephew and wife) flew down to stay with us for 9 nights...What a blast it was having them stay with us...they are a much younger couple than us, with tons of energy...they kept us on the go...something fun to do each day...they tried every beach vendor food on the beach and every taco stand in town...they tried surfing, stand up paddle boarding, boogie boarding and more...We are pretty sure they enjoyed their vacation in Sayulita and we sure loved having them stay with us...(will post some photo's if I can ever get them downloaded...)
Although I had to work many days when there were here with us...Mark was able to show them around the village and experience some new adventures too...we rented a car for 2 days...that was an adventure in itself...all 4 of us took the bus to the airport...then the Thrifty car rental shuttle from the airport to the car rental office and we rented a Volkswagon Jetta...I was voted to be the driver...so I signed the papers, got in the drivers seat and pulled out of the car rental agency on hwy 200...heading North to Sayulita...its a pretty straight forward drive from that part of Puerto Vallarta...and since we had taken the bus many times that way back to Sayulita...I felt pretty comfortable with the driving (although I had not driven a car in 3 months, it felt a little foreign, thank goodness they drive on the right side of the road, or that could have made it more interesting)...even the jungle road (which is 17km)...with lots of hills and really sharp curves, was a piece of cake...the true test was driving down our road (which still resembles a riverbed from rainy season) and getting up our driveway and hill (which is starting to wash away)... I had to drive very slowly and hope that we did not bottom out the car on a rock, or hit a pot hole that would ruin the tires...ugh! Somehow I managed to make it up to the Casa safely and with no casualties to the car...
We decided to drive to Punta Mita the next day, to show Ben & Michelle the town and a couple of other area beaches...after a little sightseeing, we settled in on Nahui beach (which is approx 20 minutes South of Sayulita) and by far one of the most beautiful swimming and walking beaches in this area...the water is more turquoise blue and the sand is more white than brown...the beach stretches for 3 miles and is pretty quiet...great for swimming and boogie boarding and most of all...watching the whales up close (right from the beach, only 200 hundred yards away)...the beach faces the Bay of Banderas, where thousands of Whales have migrated for the Winter (from as far North as Alaska)...they hang out in the Bay of Banderas, mothers have their calves and they play until April, and then head back North for the Summer...What an amazing sight to see...Humpback Whales jumping out of the water and flipping their tails back and forth, making huge splashes in the water...They sure are beautiful creatures...
This was one of our favorite days at the Beach...and we were so glad that we could share that with Ben and Michelle...
The next day we drove Ben and Michelle to the airport for their flight back to Chicago, and because we had the car rental for another couple of hours, we decided yo drive to Costco on the other side of Puerto Vallarta (only to find out that our Costco membership had expired 2 days prior...so we renewed our membership in Mexico...which will apparently work in Grand Rapids as well)...we stocked up on a few supplies (only the ones that we could stuff into our back packs, since we would be taking the bus back to Sayulita after dropping the car rental back off at Thrifty)...What a great bus ride home...always lots of adventures when you take the bus... :)
It was back to the slow pace of life, living down here has become so normal, that it is easy to just wake up and live...we still can't believe how lucky and blessed we are to live here...We love our new friends, the quirky little things that happen on a daily basis, the fresh fruits and veggies, the tacos, the fish & shrimp, the weather, the Whales (did I mention that we see tons of whales each day) and so much more...It is difficult to imagine living anywhere else right now...
About this time it hit me...Mark's birthday was only 9 days away and I had nothing planned for him...so I decided to have a surprise birthday party for him...only there were a few obstacles...1) Who would I invited? 2) Where would I have the party? 3) how could I keep it a surprise? 4) What would I do for food and a birthday cake...? (Seriously, what was I thinking?, how could I pull this off?)
Not to worry...This is Mexico...an it all fell right into place and was meant to be...we have met such amazing people down here and everyone that I contacted about joining me for Mark's special day, was happy to be a part of the surprise...Thanks to Storm and Courtney for letting me use the rooftop of their Pub...(open air space, a small bar, with tables and chairs, big screen TV, showing epic surfing videos, rock and roll music playing in the back ground, a fire pit with seating and a bean bag toss for entertainment...) a great place for a small party...and the menu that Storm and Courtney came up with (appetizers and snacks) was perfect...
Thank you to Sandrita for the delicious birthday cup cakes and for Mark's cake (German Chocolate...his favorite cake)...and we even refrained from the Mexican tradition of smashing his face in the cake...(I think he was happy about that)...
The surprise worked perfectly...Mark thought we were meeting Marv and Mary (His cousins, who live down here and own a hotel in town) for a quick birthday drink...and then he thought I was taking him out to a Romantic Dinner in Town (at one of the more expensive restaurants, although he did not know which one)...so we walked up the steps to the rooftop bar expecting to see Marv & Mary...and there were 15 people there waiting to yell SURPRISE and Happy Birthday....He was totally shocked...and honored that so many of our new friends in Sayulita would come to a birthday party for him...It was a great evening...one I think Mark will remember for a long time... (Thank you Sayulita Friends for making us feel so welcomed and for hanging out with us for the night...you all know who you are...)
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| Sandrit's famous German Chocolate Cupcakes...yum! |
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| The guys at Mark's birthday party... |
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| The girls at Mark's birthday party... |
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| Piotr, Marv, Mary & Mark... |
Things settled back down after Mark's surprise birthday party...and a few days later we had more visitors...this time one of my best friends, Olivia, her husband Eric and their two children Callie (10 years) and Cole (7 1/2 years)...they flew in from San Diego (they live in Carlsbad CA)...the kids had a short mid-Winter break...so they could only stay for 3 nights (Thur-Sun - Feb 14-17)...they rented a car from Thrifty (same Volkswagon Jetta that we had rented earlier) and drove from the Airport to Sayulita...they followed my directions perfectly and made very good time on the jungle road...we met them near the bus stop...they parked their car and then we walked in to town to have dinner at our all time favorite taco stand (El Itacate)...we had ice cream and churros for dessert....what fun we had with them over the weekend...we packed a lot of adventures in those 2 1/2 days...spent time on Sayulita's Fisherman's beach...rented a surf board, played in the water with the boogie boards, went shopping, drove to Nahui beach for a day, saw the best Whale show ever, ate beach vendor food (shrimp and mahi on a stick), bought Olivia's birthday gift on the beach (Coconut mask's to add to her collection), went to the Sayulita Day's carnival, threw rocks at beer bottles, went swimming in our pool, played the Mexican game called Loteria, just to name a few....It was Callie & Cole's first visit to Mexico and I think they had a good time...(we sure did, it was great fun having them all stay with us, hope they come back for a visit again soon)...
Once again, it is quiet and life is back to normal...the ebb and flow of visitors and quiet time is perfect...we are gearing up for another visitor soon...Marv (Mark's cousin) will be staying with us for 3 days this next week (Sun-Wed)...(Mary is back in the United States taking care of some business) and Marv rented out his apartment at the Hotel for 3 days and needs a place to stay (Welcome to Casa Newhof...)...so it will be great fun for Mark and him to hang out together...and then on Friday...My Mom, Sister Susan and Niece Danielle will be flying to Puerto Vallarta, staying a their timeshare in Nuevo Vallarta for the week...we will split our time between their condo and Sayulita (I will be back on the Mexican Hwy renting a car...watch out people)...I can't wait to see them and show them around Sayulita...
They fly home on March 8th...and then another visitor...this time Logan will be back in town (for his College Spring Break) along with his friend Josh...they arrive on March 8th and will stay a week...more fun and adventures to share....
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| Mark & Marv |
That is the thing about moving somewhere that is warm and sunny in the Winter...you get lots of visitors...which we LOVE...so happy that people wanted to visit us and spend time with us...and most of all it is great fun to share this special place that we now call home...We love Sayulita and we hope that all that visit us, love it too!
Until next time...and I hope to have some new photos posted soon...
Stay warm our friends and family in the North...we send our love, warmth and sunshine to you!
