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Mexico 2023
St. Paddy's Day
Wait For It! - Playa Malpaso
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The Pineapple Paradise Restaurant and Bar. | |
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St. Paddy’s Day
Wait For It!
We have been to Playa Malpaso, the remote beach between Sayulita and San Pancho, four or five times, but we never swam there. It was time to rectify this. I also wanted to hike the mile or so jungle trail to the beach. Normally, we climb over the tall cliff that separates Playa Sayulita and Playa Malpaso. The views from the top are astounding. There is a jungle trail behind the cliff that we have only walked once. I enjoyed our jungle walk last week from Boca de Tomatlan to Las Animas so much that I thought we should try this jungle trek.
First, since the Friday Sayulita Market is just a block away from the bus station, we stopped for breakfast. This is a miniature version of the arts and crafts market. We opted for a couple of egg and toast dishes from a vendor specializing in ghee, which is clarified butter. I don’t anything about ghee; however, their sign lists all the reasons that ghee is better than butter. They cook with ghee, and they sell cosmetics with ghee. I don’t know about rubbing clarified butter on my skin, but I can attest that the breakfast cooked with ghee was delicious.
Some people might think we are going a little overboard with all these markets we are visiting. Perhaps, but they are a great excuse for traveling around the area. And we usually only stay long enough to mow down some chow before heading off to do something else, like swimming at a world-class beach in winter while our friends and relatives are shivering back in Wisconsin.
|  | The Sayulita Market is just one block from the bus depot in a back lot. | This veggie stand is the first vendor as you enter the Sayulita Market. | Above and below: These towels are made from recycled plastic. | I wish more of these fruit vendors would come to Bucerias. | Jackfruit, aka Yaca, is reportedly a superfood. This jackfruit stew or salad is undoubtedly unique. | This grilled meat stand, La Patagonia, sets up in all the upscale markets. | What is a falafel? It is a middle eastern croquette made of dough and deep-fried. | The ghee place that we ate breakfast at. | Above and below: Our breakfast cook. Notice how spartan her kitchen is. She only has a single-burner camp stove. | |
Above: Toasted sourdough bread with guacamole and fried egg.
Below: Omelet over sourdough bread.
| This board extolls the virtues of ghee. Well, I don't know 'bout dat. | The Sayulita Market had the requisite musical act. Notice the drum set, especially the homemade bass drum, which sounded surprisingly good. | As soon as we finished breakfast, we headed directly for Avenida Del Palmar, the main street heading north out of town. It parallels the ocean and deadends a mile from downtown. This is where the jungle path begins. The dense green jungle was surprisingly cool. I loved all the oversized leaves and fronds. | We were on a mission from the beach gods, so we quickly bypassed the downtown. | A sizeable permanent street market is set up at the start of Avenida del Palmar. | The street market extends for several blocks. | After the street market, a small area of bars and restaurants sprouts up, followed by upscale homes. | After the street dead ends, the jungle trail begins. | And then, we reach the remote Playa Malpaso. |  | |
The beach was all but abandoned. We saw maybe, six other people during the afternoon. After a quick shut-eye lying on our beach towels in the shade, we tackled the ocean. The waves were the biggest we faced all winter; however, we’ve experienced bigger ones in past encounters. The waves crash differently on each beach. Here at Playa Malpaso, they crash very close to shore, making it tough to get in and out. Once you get past the breakers, it is easy to float up and over the rollers. This also makes bodysurfing impractical. As soon as you catch a ride, the wave spits you out onto the sand. That’s a quick and rough way to end a ride.
This was the second day that the water was warm from the start. The other warm water day was two days ago when we swam at Playa Flamingo at Nuevo. As Winter edges closer to Spring, the ocean is heating up. The water was so refreshing that it was heartbreaking to get out, but all good things come to an end. Getting out, as I mentioned, wasn’t easy. With the breakers crashing right at the shore, they would tumble us onto the sand. Then we’d be full of sand and have to get back in the water to rinse off, only to be re-tumbled onto the sand. Eventually, we got most of the sand off us, but later in the shower at home, I found sand in body cracks I never knew I had.
|  |  |  | Wanda is looking for a shady spot to lay out our beach towels. | SPLASH! Swallowed by the wave. | There he is, still alive! | After a snooze and a refreshing swim, time to walk the beach. | On the walk back to the bus station, we stopped for supper at Pineapple Paradise, a popular corner restaurant and bar on Avenida del Palmar. The food was excellent but a bit on the pricey side. All-in-all, it was another phenomenal day in paradise. | |
Heading back through the jungle. | It is hard to see from this photo, but this is a thick vine nearly covering a tree inside its grasp. | Check out the roots on this tree. | We ate supper at the Pineapple Paradise. | This was our appetizer - an order of guacamole. It came with tortilla chips and fried sausage slices. | The sandwich was called the Luigi. It was an Italian meatball sandwich with marinara sauce. | |
An odd, but cool hotel building. | |
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March 18
Last Hurrah at Sunshine Bar
Ken and Mel showed up today, making my last gig here in Bucerias a special event. Both guys can absolutely sing, and they inspired Jeff and me to kick it up a notch. It was our best showing yet.
I am going to miss these gigs. I hope to meet up with Jeff and play a gig or two over the summer in Wisconsin. He usually books up to 40 summer gigs in the Minocqua, Wisconsin, area, so we should be able to work something out. Ken has talked about the possibility of visiting Jeff in Wisconsin this summer. If that pans out, I would be proud to be part of those gigs.
As far as next winter goes, it is up in the air if we make it down to Bucerias again. We hope to go to Europe for at least part of the winter. If we can have our cake and eat it too (now that's a strange expression), we will spend a month in Bucerias and then go to Belize. With or without me, Jeff will be in capable hands with Will committed to coming down and playing guitar.
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Left to right: Mel, Ken, and Jeff. The three-part harmony was angelic. | | | | |
