Hello Mainland! I completed my journey across the Sea of Cortez with my new found friends and landed in the port of Mazatlan, Sinaloa. Mazatlan is a fairly large city situated right at the southern edge of the Sea of Cortez. In contrast to Los Cabos in Baja (full of Americans), Mazatlan serves as one of the largest tourist destinations for Mexicans looking to take a beach vacation. There’s a miles long boardwalk along the beach running from one end of the city to the other, the south end of which veers into the historical center. I spent my first day walking to the top of a lookout point that gives you a full view of the city and some nearby islands and then wandered through the streets of the old town to check out the colonial architecture and explore the markets. On my second day in Mazatlan I rented a surfboard then hopped on a bus with a few people from my hostel to a nearby beach at the north end of the city. There was a really fun right point breaking here and although my equipment was sub par I spent the whole day at the beach surfing and hanging out with people from the hostel.
My initial plan had been to spend just one night in Mazatlan and then take a bus down to San Pancho, Nayarit to surf for a few days in a smaller, less touristy, town. I was pretty quickly convinced to stick around for an extra day— I’m quickly realizing it’s very easy for this to happen— which ended up very much working to my benefit. A couple who had been managing the hostel I was staying in were planning to drive down to the town nearest my destination and offered me a free ride with them. I was more than happy to save the bus fare and the extra time it takes with all the stops the bus makes. We jetted out from Mazatlan late morning and started making our way south along the coast of Sinaloa. As soon as we had left Mazatlan behind us we entered beautiful green rolling hills speckled with agave, fruit tree groves, and a variety of other crops scattered on either side of the highway. The greenery transitioned to more jungle and vines but there was still the drier shrubbery and cactus mixed in throughout that was more prominent along the highways in Baja. About two hours into our trek I took over driving and ended up driving the remaining 6+ hours down to San Pancho (I guess this was me paying for my ride!). The final 2 hours of our drive were through winding mountain roads and thick jungle that completely encompassed the highway on all sides (basically driving through a tunnel). I was definitely happy to be the one driving and super thankful that I’ve spent plenty of time in my life driving on narrow mountain roads in Switzerland.
After the long trek down to San Pancho I spent my next few days surfing (a really fun left point and beach break) and exploring the few miles of coast around the town. San Pancho is just north of a more well known town called Sayulita— a place I’d been a few times in the past. My friend Tommy from the ferry ride was staying in Sayulita so I bounced back and forth between lively Sayulita, and the more tranquil San Pancho. On some occasions I jumped on a bus, or hitched a ride on the back of the moped Tommy is travelling on, but undoubtedly the highlight of my trip was hiking down to Sayulita on my third day. The hike is about 4 miles and begins with a small ascent through dense jungle, up to a plateau with a great view of the pacific, back into the jungle until you are suddenly spit out onto a secluded beach between the two towns. When I arrived on the beach I had the entire thing (a solid half mile stretch) to myself and even after a swim and some time relaxing on the beach it was very difficult to tear myself away from it to continue on the trail down to Sayulita. Through some caves along the beach, over another jungle covered hill, a stretch along the cliffs over the ocean and I was dropped onto the north end of the beach in Sayulita.
On the whole it was really interesting to rediscover an area I’d been to from a totally different perspective than the last few visits. I’m happy to have seen it again in this new light and it gave me a strong sense of affirmation that the way I’m traveling and exploring this country really suits me. Next, I’m onto completely unfamiliar territory (and very excited about it)! I’ll be spending a few days in Guadalajara, Jalisco which will be my first experience in Central Mexico. If I have to pick one thing I’m most excited about I’d have to say the food. From everything I’ve heard the variety of the cuisine changes dramatically in the central states!
Alright guys, thanks for reading, and thanks for the patience between posts (hi Teddy). I’m finding that unreliable WiFi and compatibility issues between my iPhone and my laptop (chromebook) slows down the process of posting a bit. Hopefully, I’ll have all this down pat by the next post.