Those of you that read yesterday's journal certainly noticed that my caption for the opening photo was goofy. The image was a selfie of Wanda and me on a beautiful beach with blue skies and ocean. The caption went on about the snowy mess. Oops!

Let me try this again - no snow in this photo. Here we are, overlooking the Pacific Ocean from the cliff between the Playa Salulita and Playa Malpaso.

March 6

As Wanda and I helped the lady wiggle under the wire fence, she said, “Teamwork makes the dream work.” I had never heard that phrase before, but I immediately loved it. More on this later.

After taking care of some errands, we hailed the bus to Sayulita. There is a jungle hike on the northern end of Sayulita’s beach that we wanted to tackle. The trail connects the popular Playa Sayulita with the remote Playa Malpaso. We haven’t hiked it since 2020, so we were keen to return to the jungle as preparation for a more vigorous jungle trek on the rugged trail from Boca de tomatlan to Las Animas. 

A large cliff outcrop separates the two beaches. The trail that climbs up and over the cliff offers amazing vistas of the two beaches and the ocean. The difficulty of the climb kept all but the hardiest of revelers from leaving Playa Sayulita. That was in the past. We were surprised by how many people were accessing the path today. It was still just a trickle, but it was a steady trickle.

Above and below: One of the errands was dropping off our laundry. They weigh the laundry and charge by the kilogram.

Above and below: The bus station at Sayulita.

Looking north along Playa Salulita.

There are some nice villas along the beach.

The prominent rock outcropping begins at the extreme northern end of Playa Sayulita.

Wanda is starting up the cliff.

The jungle was lush. Playa Malpaso is huge, so even with the increased usage, it was sparsely populated. There isn’t any development along the mile of sand. The tall hill that faces the beach is verdant with unbroken spans of jungle foliage. Occasionally, a rock formation with crazy patterns of wavy stripes juts out from the tall hill to shake hands with the water.

The path up the cliff overlooks the ocean before it dives into the jungle.

At the north end of the cliff, Playa Malpaso comes into view.

Notice how remote Playa Malpaso is. There is no development and few people.

The path then dives deep into the jungle.

Once we reached Playa Malpaso, the rocks along the way became twisted, slanted, and craggy.

The jungle behind the beach is undeveloped and wild.

At the northern end of Playa Malpaso, the beach is blocked by another dense outcropping of jagged rock. Accept for swimming around the outcrop; it looks impenetrable. Too bad because the town of San Pancho is on the other side. 

When we were still on the jungle walk, we met an elderly couple that told us about how they found a way through the barrier, which included picking their way over rocks and even crawling under a fence. 

Do we try it? It would be nice to walk all the way to San Pancho. We could eat there and catch the bus back to Bucerias from San Pancho. Ezy-peasy. We decided to at least walk across the entire mile of the beach and assess the situation when we reached that end. 

As we approached the outcrop, we came across a steady stream of people that were coming from San Pancho. All indicated that if careful, one could overcome the various barriers.

When we reached the outcrop, we saw another couple climbing over the treacherous-looking rocks. We followed. We came to a tall fence, presumably the same one that the elderly couple told us about. The fence was old and not in the greatest shape. It ran up a steep hill. The guy decided to figure out a way to climb the fence right where he was. The lady reasoned that if we clawed our way up the hill we could find a weak spot in the fence. We followed the lady.

Her intuition was correct. We found a spot where we could lift the bottom of the fence just high enough to wiggle under it. Here is where teamwork came into play. Two of us had to hold up the bottom of the fence for one person to crawl under. This is when the lady triumphantly cried out, “Teamwork makes the dream work”. Our dream of walking to San Pancho was nearly realized. Did the guy make it over the fence? Yes, he did.

Once through the fence, we recognized where we were. It was the end of the dirt baja-road that we had taken when we went deep sea fishing several weeks earlier. The far southern end of San Pancho's beach lay right in front of us. It was a half-mile of pure sand to downtown San Pancho.

Above and below: This villa is between Playa Malpaso and San Pancho.

We had to slowly and carefully pick our way over the rocks.

Once we passed the rock and fence barrier, San Pancho's welcoming beach greeted us.

We reached Downtown San Pancho at 4:45 pm. It was time to look for a restaurant. We have tried many of the eateries on the main drag, so we decided to look for something off the beaten track. The main plaza in San Pancho is a few blocks from downtown which is unique as most central plazas are centerpieces of the downtown. I found a quaint little specialty restaurant across from the plaza, Su Pancha Madre. Gourmet sopes were their specialty. We hadn’t had sopes since we were in Valladolid, Mexico, in 2018. They weren’t my favorite, but then again, they weren’t advertised as gourmet sopes. 

So, what is a sope? It's a pile of fixin's on a flat round tortilla. That doesn’t sound very earth-shatteringly different than a street taco. But, if you give the tortilla a little thickness, add a rim around it, and make it red, it is now a gourmet tortilla. Then pile it high with the most delicately delicious meats and sauces and present it in an artistic manner; you have a gourmet sope. We tried three different flavors: Mahi Mahi, mushroom, and steak. All three were incredible. They had their own beer, Su Pancha Madre beer, that came in two flavors: blond and amber. A brewery in Guadalajara makes it for them. Sadly, they just received their shipment, and all the bottles were still warm. We ordered sparkling water.

Downtown San Pancho.

Su Pancha Madre Restaurant, home of the gourmet sopes. This was a unique and fun place to eat. Sopes were the whole menu. And speaking of menus, there weren't any. The waiter told us, "I am the menu."

Seating at Su Pancha Madra was in a pleasantly shaded courtyard.

Left: Mahi Mahi Sope. Right: Mushroom Sope.

Steak Sope.

We wandered around for a while after supper. We continue to be amazed at how young the people in San Pancho are compared to Bucerias. For example, a group of 20 or so young women was doing a little jazzercise routine in the main plaza shelter. All the shops cater to a much younger and hipper crowd. There are many young French Canadians with little kids in tow, either talking French or Engish with that lyrical French accent. There are two hostels in town. And, of course, the wonderful Community Center full of little kids. 

All-in-all, by the time we reached the bus stop, we had logged a solid 8 miles. It felt good. It cleared the cobwebs.

Like many Mexican towns, San Pancho is a great place to wander the back streets.

Above and below: This funky hot dog stand featuring the odd van looked fun. Too bad it was closed.

In the plaza shelter, we came across this jazzercise group.

I believe this church is St. Francis. San Pancho is also known as San Fransisco. In 1524, the Spanish military explorer Don Francisco Cortés gave the village its name, claiming to name it after St. Francis of Assisi. I wonder if he didn't actually name it after himself. I have no idea how the town also came to be called San Pancho.

Dave and Wanda

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