Sayulita 🇲🇽

Surfing with Victor

Between my two stays in Mexico City, I had the pleasure of being visited by Victor. Greetings to the guy. I flew from CDMX to Puerto Vallarta, the closest airport to Sayulita. The plan was to land one hour before Victor and then welcome him at the airport with a Corona and Tacos to get into the Mexican mood. Unfortunately, everything went differently than planned because Lufthansa had to go on strike, so Victor arrived two days later. So I waited for him in the hostel Viajero in the middle of the night and we had Tacos Al Pastor and a cold Corona. We only spent one night together in the hostel because the double rooms were very expensive. The hostel was highly recommended overall, as it was super clean, had a rooftop pool with a view over Sayulita and the entire bay, had super friendly staff and housed nice travelers. We often came here for pool days.

Emily already told me so much about Sayulita in CDMX, so I already felt like a local when I arrived. She lived here for two years. On the first day, I was the tour guide again and went exploring the village with people. I also got the contact from Bloyd through Emily, who rents out Airbnbs. Victor and I had three different accommodations with him, which we received very cheaply, without any layovers from Airbnb. He also gave us so many tips that we had enough recommendations for other activities when there were no waves for surfing. We stayed in Sayulita for a total of 3 weeks. Our main focus was on surfing, so we were often on the water for two sessions a day. The rest of the time we spent in the little sweet village, where you already knew many people after one week. We also had the opportunity to try out my mini projector and watched the new Lord of the Rings series after our sports sessions.

In the village, we ate a lot of fish tacos at Mary's. A small, super cute restaurant in the center. There were also many tacos at Tacos Al Pastor Ivans (right next to the park in the center and Yambak), as well as the best and cheapest margaritas in town. After only two days, the cook greeted me and asked if I would come back for margaritas. We brought many people from the hostel to both restaurants and often ate together with 6-8 people.

Our two favorite surf spots were La Lancha and Sayulita. We found a surfboard rental shop that had a shop at both beaches. Bloyd recommended Wildmex to us. So we could always take an Uber or bus to La Lancha and rent boards there or surf the left at Sayulita with good waves. We had a great time with this option. La Lancha was always a bit of a hassle. It took about half an hour to get there and then you had to walk with the surfboards through a muddy mangrove forest for 15 minutes. There were also crocodiles, which gave it a strange attitude. In the end, you were rewarded with fantastic waves. It became a tradition that after surfing in La Lancha, we took the bus for 12 pesos (60 cents) to Punta Mita and treated ourselves to breakfast and a sensational frappé latte at El Cafecito de Mita. We were there with Marc first, then with Harry and Emily, whose engagement we celebrated, and later with Milena, Angus, and Tara, our bloody Aussis. I also met Georgia on the flight there, who also came to Sayulita for three weeks to work at a surf school. We also spent many evenings together with her and Max, the surf instructor.

One day we took a trip to the hidden beach Carricitos. Here we sunbathed and escaped the tourism of Sayulita. A second time, Miguel, Georgia's boss, invited us to a bonfire for the sunset. After a few tequilas and chelas (Mexican word for beer), I accidentally hit two toes on the stone, so the two smallest toes on my left foot were sprained and one toenail completely flipped over. After a short faint, I stood up and had two margaritas at Ivans, and we danced at Yambak, an open club in the center of Sayulita.

We also visited our Aussis in San Pancho (San Francisco is the actual name) and had dinner there with Amber, Max, and Georgia. We arrived just in time for the sunset, so we could still see the last seconds of a fiery red beam of light. San Pancho is a small, sweet village next to Sayu.

We also celebrated my birthday in Guadalajara. This is the third largest city in Mexico. We were able to celebrate from Independence Day into my birthday. Unfortunately, we couldn't experience much due to the long journey, so we simply had delicious burgers in the evening, a classy party at night, and a really good breakfast (Chilaquiles) the next morning. My favorite Aussis also accompanied us.

We also perfectly timed the heavy rainfall in Sayulita and didn't notice it. Normally, the river is dry and cars park there. The current was so strong that the cars were washed into the sea. The water was also so dirty in the following days that we tried to avoid Sayulita. Instead, on Lukas' birthday, September 19th, Victor and I had to experience our first real earthquake. It wasn't too strong in Sayu, but it was much stronger in Mexico City. It reached 7.8 on the Richter scale. While I was doing my daily push-ups, Victor said, "Nils, are you hitting the bed?" At that moment, I stopped and stood up, but the bed kept moving. It was a strange surreal feeling.

In total, I was able to fully enjoy my time in Sayu thanks to the harmonious interaction and shared interests with Victor. I look forward to more trips with him!