Adiós Sayulita

Adiós Sayulita

Our final couple of weeks in Sayulita were brimming with activity including a 3-day visit to San Diego to renew our tourist visas (original intention) and transport Diego (secondary yet most important reason) to his new PuppyMama. We also connected with friends and took final walks on our favorite beaches.

This post is mainly photographs, representing about 1/10 of the photos taken the last couple of weeks in Sayulita. That whole “a picture is worth a 1000 words” thing hopefully rings true here.  Yet I would be remiss to not share Things I Learned and Things I’ll Miss…about Sayulita. You’ll find that near the end.

Folks are asking us when we expect to return to Sayulita, but sadly, we do not expect to return.  And this is because we are on a journey to fully explore as many places as we can and within a limited amount of time.  With that, I bid you a kind farewell Sayulita.  You will forever have a place in our hearts.

Saying good-bye to friends

Our final days with Diego…

Have golf cart will travel.  Katie and Brad took Diego for a day so we could pack and organize our things.  Apparently he LOVED riding in the golf cart.  They found a vagabond along the way and picked him up too.  Do you see the other dog in this photo?  She’s the one that LOVES golf carts and will jump on them while they’re in motion…much to our chagrin.

Being part of such a special, creative, and nurturing group fills my soul.  And I was given this original and Pulitzer Prize-winning poem to boot!

There was once a girl named Kenda
Who would never concede to use Splenda.

Her food was as pure
As her charming allure,
She is someone we’ll fondly rememba’

Now Kenda is a kind ole soul
Who’d rescue an iguana or mole
She’d care for a frog and get lost in the fog
To help a wayward, poor dog.

We thank you Kenda this day
For making the circle quite “gay”
Your photos are divine
That you’re leaving behind
As you go on your exciting new way.

We love you!

I love you too.

Transporting Diego to San Diego

Sarah drove all the way to LAX (we had a layover) to pick up Diego.  Diego was freaked out about the plane ride.  It was a hard journey for him, but probably would’ve been easier had the conveyor belt not broken leaving him stuck in a cargo tunnel of loud sounds and darkness.

The tears.   It was bittersweet, because we knew he was going off to his wonderful new life with Sarah.  We wanted to explain all of that to him and let him know great things were happening.  We also knew we would miss his silly, sweet, puppy self.

San Diego

Sarah met us at Con Pane for brunch the day before we returned to Sayulita. I was missing the lil guy already. 🙁 But Diego was already well-adjusted and in love with his new PuppyMama. He looked so big. Is it possible he grew in the two days since we last saw him?

Back to Sayuilta for two final final days…

Patzcuaro Beach – it’s Crab Time

Despite all the other necessary activities (like packing up our crap), we had to visit Patzcuaro beach one last time.  It is our fave.  Usually it’s a smooth beach with sections of gorgeous and hot black sand.  On that day we had the exceptional privilege of witnessing the commencement of crab season!  All of those mounds are crab burrows!

Check out this awesome land crab video filmed by Yohana Dela Rosa.  You’ll see they emerge by the thousands and thousands!

To learn more about the Land Crabs, click on this article written two years ago by Octavia and Daniel and published in the El Sayulero.

Walking back to town

More good-byes and butterflies

The following photos were taken while tooling around my last afternoon in Sayulita.

Bye Jungle Nature

All Our Bags are Packed, We’re Ready to Go…to the K5 Surf Bar (Punta de Mita)

Since we had a rental for our trip to San Miguel, we maximized on the wheels by taking our stuff to the Recycle Depot and then treating ourselves to some drinks and food at the highly recommended K5 Surf Bar. Totally cas atmosphere with the upstairs outdoor bar. I asked for an exotic drink, and they made me this marine blue thing that was super sweet, very pretty, and probably toxic with Dye #something or another.  I cared not.  It was refreshing. BUT the highlight was my fabuloso vegan meal. Ay dios mio.

• The sun rises at 7:30.
• The sun sets about 8:30.
• Always shake out my towel before using it to dry myself or deal with the impending bug clinging mercilessly to the towel.
• Rinse toothbrush before using to avoid brushing with gecko poo.
• Watch where I step.
• Look inside my sneakers before putting them on (there are scorpions here).
• Keep an eye out for the beautiful caterpillar that seems to take the same footpath as we do – inside the casa.  Caterpillars also hang out on my clothes sometimes (not sure how), so I pull them off gently and place them outside.
• Check Stella’s ears for ticks.
• Check our heads for ticks.
• There are fireworks on most Saturday nights, all holidays, and some Thursdays.
• The crows of the local roosters sound a bit like the tune to “Candy Man” from Willy Wonka.
• The lyrics Who can take the sunrise and sprinkle it with dew, cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two are stuck in my head from 4:15 AM to about 9:30 AM.
• That to increase shower water pressure, one must turn on the faucet at the kitchen sink.  To increase shower water temperature, one must turn on the hot water at the kitchen sink.  We try to conserve water by one doing dishes as the other showers.
• That I can get accustomed to dirt and even go to bed with dirty feet…sometimes.
• I really can go a few days (okay, two days tops, and not when it’s humid) without showering and certainly without shaving.  Waxing is totally unnecessary when one doesn’t care what others think.
• People will burn their trash despite the fact it’s against the law.
• There are many less rules here than in the states.  On one hand, that fact is very refreshing, and on the other, sometimes there “should” be some rules. For example, there should be a rule about driving a vehicle with your baby on the dashboard.
• Burning trash smells very toxic.
• If hanging freshly washed clothes when someone on the hill is burning trash, the clothes smell like burned trash.
• I was told by more than one Mexican national that Mexicans don’t like to express anger.
• I found first-hand evidence of the contrary when encountered by Flaco who mistakenly thought Diego was his dog. But then again, Flaco has a reputation for being unstable.
• Parades!  There are lots and lots of parades here.
• I don’t need all the crap I once thought I needed.  Apple cider vinegar, for example, cleans fruit and veggies, can clean the toilet in a pinch, and when added to oil makes a nice vinaigrette.
• One doesn’t actually need shampoo to wash one’s hair.  Hair conditioner triples as shampoo, conditioner, and shave cream.  One could actually wash one’s hair with apple cider vinegar if out of shampoo.
• I can make vegan cookies with chia seeds, which have innumerable health properties.
• Chia Pet cookies taste slightly weird and have an unsavory viscosity.
• I can make AWESOME no-bake vegan cookies with coconut oil, oats, sugar, chocolate, and soy milk.
• When placed in the freezer, the no-bake cookies make for a super yummy hot afternoon treat.
• Living with less is totally ok.
• I will never tire of beans and rice.
• I miss Indian food when I don’t have easy access to it.
• It’s cool here in the mornings despite the rising temperatures.
• Pricing is not consistent.  Case in point:  The exact same latte could be 40, 50, or 60 pesos depending on the barista.  And the longer we stayed in town, the more the prices dropped.
• Lupe at El Espresso takes good care of me.
• That if you need something here and clearly state the intention, it will manifest.  For example, if we are out of water and walk into town, we don’t find Victor the water guy.  But we will then find him on the hill as we’re walking home, or he will simply drive by later that day and honk his horn.
• That your electric bill will be delivered on foot by a guy who drops it through your gate or puts it in front of your door with a rock paper weight.
• Some wasps build their hives on your kitchen light.  They don’t like it when you turn on the light.
• A lot of bugs get trapped on top of the mosquito netting.
• Directions to anywhere rarely come with street names, so one has to know all the main landmarks before attempting to find a new place.  Go to the corner where Javier chopped down the tree.  Turn left at the garbage trap, then go left at Michael, the acupuncturist’s house.  It’s adobe, so you can’t miss it.  Go straight until you come to come to the Iguana tree.
• Garbage traps are relocated on a regular basis, thus rendering us helplessly holding a bag of basura that we carried down the hill.
• Some dogs here have a less than desirable existence but because they are unaware of the more positive options, they express happiness in their own way.
• Beauty is all around and once one (I) is able to see past the trash, everything is shiny.
• There’s only so much basura that one (I) can pick up in a day.  Perfection isn’t doing it all as best as possible, but doing what is feasible and knowing that doing a little is okay too.
• Things that seem intolerable one day evaporate into thin air until one (I) doesn’t even remember the frustration.  I’d give you and example, but for the life of me, I can’t seem to come up with any.
• Wasps are my least favorite pollinators.
• Chocobanana has the best french fries in town.
• Pedrito’s has the best papas.
• I really really like potatoes.
• Puppies will eat incense if you leave it out in a place they can find it.
• Puppies can find anything anywhere.
• A hot breeze is still better than no breeze at all.
• It’s humid here in Sayulita.  My skin and hair love it, but my skin doesn’t love the mosquitoes that come with humidity.
• I don’t despise mosquitoes as much as before, but I will still never ever invite one for dinner.
• Coconut water is like a super food.
• There are coconuts everywhere.
• I don’t like the taste of coconut water.
• No-seeums are little bugs that you can’t see.
• No-seemus bite you unexpectedly, probably because you can’t see…em.
• That by putting in ear plugs, one doesn’t hear the bugs nor get the bugs in one’s ears.
• The 11:00 PM skunk comes by every night in May to terrorize two of our five or seven (depending on your philosophy) senses.  You can guess which ones.
• Fearing an ankle break on steep cobblestone roads is a waste of psychic energy.
• Cobblestone makes for strong ankles.
• Walking up a very steep hill everyday sometimes two or three times makes for very strong ankles.
• In the dry season, the collected dirt on steep cobblestone roads becomes as slippery as ice.
• The local gardener uses a leaf blower on the cobblestone which creates large dust clouds of dust that come into the casa.
• One (I) can slip, almost fall, and still keep one’s bones intact.
• If your camera lens rolls off the counter and onto a stone floor it will break.
• I can have an entire conversation in Spanish as long as it doesn’t extend beyond the weather, the general physical condition of the other person, and if the person has family members.
• Folks, in general, seem less stressed here.
• I see a lot of smiles everywhere I walk.
• We can live without a car when everything we need is within walking distance.
• We don’t need as much as we thought we did.
• Bats can fly directly at my face and make a sudden U-turn at what seems to be 6 inches from my nose.
• People, in general, are good at heart.
• Life is very very good, and it can be for anyone if they decide to make it so.
• Home is where my dog and husband are.

Things I will miss
This is not an all-inclusive list…I will likely continue to add to it.

• Friends
• The CVIS Middle School students
• The cutout window in the bathroom especially when hummingbirds fly up to the flowers on the bush just on the other side of it.  I can watch hummingbirds from the toilet.
• Butterflies flying into our home.
• Bats
• Hummingbirds
• Beautiful flowers
• Iguanas
• Friends
• Funky bird sounds
• Chachalacas every morning
• The smell of sea air and the afternoon breezes
• This lovely sense of community
• Helping people out – like Jose.
• Meeting like-minded people – like Homar who helped me rescue Iggy, the Iguana, and all the dog people.
• Friends
• Antonio, who works down the hill and who adores Stella.  We didn’t get to say good-bye to him.
• Diego’s silliness and Frida’s sweetness
• The ocean at night
• The ocean at morning
• The ocean during the day
• The garden that’s growing at the bottom of Gringo Hill
• Seeing beautiful brown and golden surfer kids in town
• Watching the jungle come to life with the summer rains
• The Sayulita Writers’ Circle gals
• Wondering what I forgot to do while here
• The feel of being in an open-air casa at dusk – the air feels great, the colors are stunning, and it feels like we are part of the sunset.

All changes are more or less tinged with melancholy, for what we are leaving behind is part of ourselves.
~Amelia Barr

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.
~Lin Yutang

Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
~Mother Teresa

The following is my goal…a lifelong work in progress.

There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.
~Jean Paul