Hi friends! How are you? It’s about to storm like crazy here. Summer is coming in with a vengeance! Anyway, I mentioned a few months ago that I was going to take a travel break. Well, we already ended up making travel plans for this summer. I’m getting back on a plane again! (oooof). I’m not sure how I feel about it. Hesitant for sure. On one hand, it’s scary to put yourself in a situation that you’re so fearful of losing your life in– on the other hand life is short– so what am I going to do— live in a box? Ehhh. I don’t know. For now, I’m comfortable with the idea of traveling significantly less with specific parameters in place.

Like for this summer– I’d LOVE to fly back to the west coast of Mexico or explore central Mexico some more— but I didn’t want to fly anywhere that requires more than one flight per transit (so west coast is out of question) and I didn’t want to travel anywhere with an elevation higher than 5,000 feet (for health reasons) so central Mexico was out of the question too.

I’d love to make it back to the west coast one day. I had been wanting to go for a while before this trip. Sayulita was on my “one day list” for a while. One of my best friends in the world, Brian, moved out there a few years ago and I always said I would visit him one day. Well, this happened to be the one day– mostly on accident, but a happy accident for sure. Marlowe and I got invited out to a Spanish emersion camp out west and it turned out to be in the very same town Brian lives in. (I’ll share more about the camp later, she really loved it). I had called him a month before the trip asking if he had heard of San Pancho because I was looking to fly out there. Well, it turns out that San Pancho is short for San Francisco (I didn’t know that) and that would be his town.

It’s the tiniest town– with only one main road– so what is even the chance of that happening? I have no idea. But it was definitely a double incentive to fly out to San Pancho /Sayulita area last March. Both Marlowe and I are VERY happy we went. We both absolutely loved it. It was more laid back than a lot of the touristy towns we’ve seen in the Yucatan Penisula, the climate was perfect (a bit chilly at night) but perfect. The beaches were stunning. Honestly, the only hard part was that they were lacking in healthy + vegan options out there. But it was great otherwise. I’m happy we went.

Marlowe and I had the weekend to explore with my friend Brian. And then my friend Raha was scheduled to come in a few days later. And Marlowe was scheduled to spend the whole week in camp with new friends while Raha and I ate loads of fruit, chilled on the beaches, and explored the area. Perfect perfect.

Ps. Probably the only people wearing sweatshirts and beanies to a flight to Mexico– but we really don’t like being cold.

The time change is super weird with Sayulita and San Pancho. I don’t even remember how it worked. I told Brian at least 4 different pick-up times. I promised him that I was good at travel– I just wasn’t used to anyone picking us up when we arrived somewhere. We usually taxi or uber it out of the airport. But it all worked out. Β Marlowe and I did the layover in Mexico city before flying into Puerto Vallarta. And Brian was there to pick us up. We jumped into his dirty surf truck and headed down to his little town with the sun setting in front of us.

We dropped off our suitcase in our apartment and headed out into the town in search of food (limited— verrry limited). I met one of you guys in the street– next to the fire dancers (totally normal place to meet a blog reader, haha). And then we found a place to serve us rice, guac, and plain veggies before calling it a night.

The next day Brian made his way to our apartment so we could meet his sweet pup, Queenie and we could explore the town in the daylight some more.


But not without an acai bowl stop first. Always need to stop for acai bowls. I think this little place was one of the few places in town we really could eat at. Β (Organik, if you’re wondering– theres one in San Pancho and in Sayulita). Acai bowls were decent– made from real acai, not sorbet (hooray!)

Pretty little places.



And then a daylight beach stop of course. The night before we had walked down to the beach (to see nothing because it was dark as hell). And Brian had reminded me of my college years– when we would all (a big group of us) walk down to the beaches for bonfire nights and I would cry endlessly the whole walk– heh. I remembered the walking– but totally had forgotten about the crying part until he reminded me. Being scared of everything is hard, haha.
Speaking of being scared of everything– I should warn you guys the beaches of San Pancho have SO many bees! everywhere. Though… I’, not actually scared of bees. But Marlowe is! She was so brave when one flew into her hand. I didn’t even realize what was happening because she was so calm– but there was one sitting in her hand for the longest time while she internally freaked out! I guess have acai leftovers on us didn’t help. But just a warning– if you’re scared of bees and plan to visit, avoiding fruit, honey, or any sweeteners on the beach might be a good idea πŸ˜‰

After our quick walk to see the beach in daylight Brian asked if we wanted to head into Sayulita. His shop is out there– so he could stop by his work and show us around the town. It was a win-win.
Like San Pancho, Sayulita was super cute! It’s much larger than San Pancho though. Real roads, loads more restaurants, shops and more. I’m not sure which one I preferred. I guess I prefer the smallness and quietness of San Pancho, but I enjoy the easy access to food Sayulita offered.

Brian wanted to take us to a specific beach that you have to walk by a graveyard to get to. The beach is rightly named, “Playa de Los Muertos”



I heard mixed reviews about Sayulita before heading out there. I heard that viruses run rampant (and we were certain to get sick). I also heard the beaches were super polluted due to the lacking sewage system. And more. I can’t speak to these claims much– but I can tell you we did not get sick with norovirus. But we also did not go in the water much either– to be honest, (and this will sound silly to most) the water was just a bit too cold for us east coast Florida / Caribbean people.

Pollution problem aside, the beaches are beautiful. The cliffs are so different than anything on the east coast. During the day the beaches would warm up like crazy, but in the early morning or in the evenings we’d need to bring a sweater out. It was a really nice change.

Brians cute little shop, Quiverito.

And his stupid face.


Marlowe and I really had a great weekend. It was easy. And so very unplanned. We showed up not knowing what we would do, where would eat, and not knowing how much time we’d spend with Brian or not. We just showed up knowing we’d spend time on the beach and exploring a bit.


But it was so incredibly nice to spend so much of the weekend with him. An insider guide/ free tour guide is always great πŸ˜‰ And one you’ve known for SO long is even better. I still have a hard time believing that we went for ten years without seeing each other. But he’s just so much like me— sort of all over the place. It’s never easy to plan a meet up like that– especially when one of us has a baby in the middle of all of it. But I’m grateful to have this experience pop up.

It’s crazy how small the world can be, but I’m so very happy about it.

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