Mexican Riviera, Old Friends & Pink Dresses

The view north of Marina

Day 2 in Mexico involved driving north from Puerto Vallarta to check out the towns along the coast. After a large Mexican breakfast made by Rosario at our friend's penthouse, (papaya, refrieds, eggs and banana) we took off in our rental Hyundai and joined the long line of traffic heading north, cutting through the mountains to get north quickly. Our plan was to work our way south.

We are big fans of the HGTV show Mexico Life and hope one day to own a place in one of these towns so this was research. Guayabitos was our first stop where we drove around the town and stopped at a beach side cafe for some fish. The beach sand is so hard there that trucks and jeeps drive on it. No regulations there! Someone backed down to the water to trailer their boat. The beach was full of colorful umbrellas and people and the water was full of fishing boats. It's a small town but with lots of flavor and hotels.

Guayabitos Beach

Next was Los Ayala, just around the corner. The beach there is very similar and the town is much smaller. We met some nice Canadians who've lived there in the hills in a gorgeous house for 9 years and over those years have rescued 6 dogs and 8 cats!

Downtown Sayulita

On to Lo Marcos which was a cute town with a deep sandy beach. San Pancho too. We liked the charming town of San Pancho! Very colorful and clean and lots of fun restaurants and attractions. It was late by this time but I insisted my hubby head the car into Sayulita. I LOVED this town. Very touristy, which for some reason I am drawn to. Cute little shops, strings of flags over the streets, a lovely open ocean beach, perfect for surfing and pretty little colorful buildings lining the clean downtown streets. My favorite so far.

Sayulita Beach

After a quick stop at the grocery store we arrived back at the penthouse for a glass of vino, some work on our respective laptops and when our benevolent friend Ramon came home from a huge search for a missing escaped from rehab young man we took him out to dinner at a fun streetside restaurant nearby. La Barra, I think it was called. Great atmosphere and food in the Vallarta Marina. I walked home from the restaurant and left two friends reminiscing about the old days when they were single men in P.V.. I leashed the chihuahuas and took them for a lovely stroll outside, something they only do every few days because they have a plot of turf on the balcony for their "business." The female, Cici, has a pink dress in her bed that she dragged from a bag of clothes to be donated to less fortunate children and claimed it as her own. When Ramon tried to take it from her bed, she growled, knowing that little girls sometimes need a pink frilly dress when living with two men.

Cici on the left, Mancha on the right

Last night a chihuahua slept with me, like a little stuffed toy all curled up by my shoulder, his tiny pink tongue sticking out of his mouth. So sweet.