San Pancho y Sayulita / Febrero 2019
Wednesday
Nellie stayed the night and we caught an 8am flight to PVR. The United desk folks kept talking to Nellie without checking her in so we had a nice time dealing with that for an hour before sprinting to our gate — f*** United (more to come on United). We landed in PVR, picked up a Suzuki Vstrom 650 from Yuegen who rents the bikes from his house south of PVR and talks for far too long. We then rode from PVR to Sayulita where Brennan, Lex, Marlowe, Ray, Izzy, Lisa, and Paige were staying. This was my first time seeing Paige since her mission. We all then drove to the AirBnB of Nels and I in San Pancho (San Francisco).
The place was basically the very last house at the end of the north side of San Pancho way up on a hill that was cobblestone, windy, steep, and lovely. We watched the sunset on the beach, and after the sun went down we had tacos from a place that nels and I like on the main road, and then we had brownie and gelato after the brenn-lex squad went home. Nels and I loved coming back to our lil place in the forest, it was soo well done. The casita we were in was simple, had two floors (both Airbnb’s) and was next to the owners large beautiful home. We fell asleep with with a blanket of rainforest sounds and the waves breaking at the bottom of the hill.
Thursday
Nels and I woke up and lazed around a bit, then biked to a great quiet restaurant next to the hospital called Emilio’s. The Crellin crew drove up, I rented a 5.8” sushi foam board and we spent hours at the water. The waves were small but fun. Brennan and lex both surfed, and nels helped Paige get out on the board and we helped her ride whitewater in twice on her stomach. Nels and I didn’t put in a lot of sunscreen and got toasty. We then drove down to Sayulita to everyone’s apartment there. Nels and I played with the kiddos of course on their large deck with a view.
We hung out at their apartment and played Monopoly deal for a bit before nels and I rode home in the thick dark illuminated by our single, large, speeding light through the forest.
Friday
Nels and I woke up and played some Monopoly deal in our little 1-room sanctuary before riding to Emilio’s to meet the crew for breakfast (they all drove up from Sayulita).
We rode down to sayulita then, and took a look at the tiny 1–2 foot swell. We walked around town, nels and I, and saw that in just a few months it had become even more “full”, or overfull. Sayulita is now just too loud, too packed with cars, too many confused gringos, and appears in ways to now be a US cultural landmark now, one we created over years of endless vacations, rather than the Mexican landmark it is. San pancho still carries that spirit, but it’s sliding a bit. We biked back again, two silly spirits gliding 80km/hr through black-green, on a winding black and yellow strip.
Saturday
We woke up, then went back to sleep then woke up then slept, then left a little late to meet everyone at la lancha. Did we play monopoly deal again? Maybe. Nels and I parked at the surf shop and walked the long path to the beach through scrub forest. We hadn’t been to la lancha, but it’s easy to see how it’s break and sayulita’s are both incredible. Sayulita for its long soft point-break right and quick left, and La Lancha for literally everything. Reef breaks on reef breaks.
Bren, lex, I, and nels all surfed on the 8’ bren and lex rented. Bren and lex were both catching and riding the slow breaking waves, and it’s fun to see them like surfing more and more. Surfing, in my eyes, is not the act of paddling and standing, and riding. Surfing is the act, yes, but also the search, pain, soledad, immersion, odd places, and requisite-seriousness. I suppose I like the characteristics and appendages more than surfing itself often, and surfing is just a medium that helps expose me! Nels carries that same yearning in even more purity, as I become much more enthralled with a board in my arm while she doesn’t use a man-made device as much as I, nor is it as important in her mind to use as a catalyst for being in the water and all that entails. I paddled out to be the farthest person and dropped in left several times, having found a great rock that would become exposed in the sets and mark my takeoff perfectly. I would stay forward on the board with my chest, paddle hard with the sluggish breaker, then scoot back, drop in, step back, turn, step forward forward forward and sometimes just crouch on the front part of the board and ride through the little crowd, and over the clear reef streaming underneath, warped in the smooth water pulled up and over as I slide by.
Nels and I took Marlowe and Ray out into the water and let them both swim on their own. Mom and Paige came out, we had a great time in the ~3ft water with the kiddos and each other. Ray would explode with smiling and laughing. After a long long time swimming and going up and over waves she was shivering, teeth chattering. We walked toward shore with her shivering in my arms before saying “back back back!”. We got back in the water, only to look at each other and know that our bodies couldn’t still do what our hearts desired, she shivered and smiled and I pulled her out and wrapped her in a towel. Nels did great with mar in the water, and got her to do quite a lot.
We spend more time on the beach with mom, Paige, and the kiddos while Brennan and lex went back out surfing. We walked the trail back, hung around the surf shop a bit, tired from the sun, and then drove back up 30m to Sayulita. Nels and I participated in some group decision-making-distinction, walked around, got a yogurt bowl, and rode back up the Crellin’s apartment before turning around quickly to spend a nice quiet night in san pancho, here are Brennan and Ray later that night as we were leaving:
Nels and I walked the Main Street in san pancho back and forth. I get quiet there, and for the second time the warm concrete, bird calls, air, trees, people, smells, homes, lights, darkness, memories, and thoughts swirl. Many thoughts are odd, some feel nice, many are hard. For the second time in a year nels and I walked in the night din of san pancho together, last year was my birthday.
What a treasure it is to walk that warm street at night with Nels. It sits in my mind, and lingers, and hasn’t faded. I remember the charcoal in the street from last year, Nellie and I wandering the fruit stand late at night while the family watched tv, her laugh, and the feeling in my head and self as we walked.
Sunday
Nels and I woke up early, packed in our things and rode down to sayulita to see Mom and Paige before they went to church. Nels and I stopped by the beach at sayulita. She got in with her bra and shorts. I love her for getting in, and for what she got in with. We dried off in the bike as we rode back to puerto Vallarta.
TRIP AINT OVER YET. We spent endless hours getting home after missing our first flight back.
Nels is sick on the plane. I ended up doing some insurance fraud to get her 3 antibiotic pills. She is all better now a week later
