New Hostel, Same People - Feb 26
In the morning, most people were getting kicked out of the hostel because of a few large groups of people that were staying for a few nights. Some of us spent a little bit of time figuring out that we were all just going to go down the road a bit and reserve the hostel down there. Eventually only Ida and I needed to get a place so we reserved it, left our stuff and headed out for the day.
I went back to Los Muertos with some girls from Tofino, Ida, Mel, and Jake and resolved to relax during the day. The waves were quite big and there were a ton of tourists trying to swim who failed miserably. It was funny. I tried it, it didn’t go well for me either. The Tofinians left to the main beach to see if the surf was good enough. We walked back to the beach but failed to see them. As we decided what to do with the night, Ida revealed she wasn’t feeling too well and decided to call it early. I met Maria, a girl that works at the hostel, who was relaxing on the couch. I revealed that I spoke Spanish and so began the day’s Mexican lesson. We chatted for a while and I feel like a held my own quite well. I can’t repeat this enough, slang is important. After an invite to the beach party that night, Maria left to do stuff, not sure what. We proceeded to get a little liqoured before heading to El Camaron. It was a lot of fun, I met a girl named Rumor who will be staying in town for a few months. I also met some dudes from San Pancho who told me to visit and say hi to them at their Chocobanana. Fernando and Enrique. So Mexican.
Eventually Maria showed up and the Mexican lesson continued with a dance lesson. Dancing is also important and fun. I think I might even be getting better. It was tonnes of fun. After that I went to sleep. Pretty decent day.
Return of La Lancha - Feb 27
After another healthy breakfast with Ida, we both love porridge, we headed out to La Lancha again with Nick and Rumor. Nick is from Seattle, he juggles and does poi. Pretty cool. This day was super lazy but so wanted. All we did was dip in the water, read books, dip in the water, and sleep. So nice. I love this beach. At one point we saw Sascha and Shaun we were going surfing. As soon as the sun started getting close to the horizon we headed back to Sayulita, hitchhiking again.
Here are some photos from the beach and the hitchhike in.
Windswept Ida.
Air-dried Rumor.
The wind whistling through Nick’s locks.
Me looking a little bit Miami Vice.
The night at Lush was beerpong night, hell yes. After a quick cleanup shower I headed to the hostel to find a partner to play with. It was a little last minute but by the time the last game finished Nick showed up and was down for a game. After the obligatory “He, you wanna play?”, “Yeah.”, “You good?”, “Yeah, you?”, “Yeah.” and head nod, the game was on. Our first game was ten cup and while it started out well, we narrowly won with a few quick cups at the end. The reason for the win was the we finally were able to get the other team to adhere to the elbow rule. After that they shot everything a little bit short. Life is good. After getting the buy for the semi-finals we played the last game. After the half way point, we definitely clicked into the groove. Done and done. Winning the tournament means you get your entrance fee of 50 pesos back and a free shot. It tasted so good, thanks Nick.
After that, the group did a little bit of dancing, casually, and those of us staying at the other hostel headed out a bit early to get to bed for a hike the next day.
Dirty Feet, Huge Margaritas, and Farewell to My Favourite Norwegian - Feb 28
Shaun has a friend, named Cabiria, in Sayulita that lives above a tattoo shop who had previously done a hike up Monkey Mountain and they were planning on doing it on this day. Since we weren’t able to get ahold of Cabiri before breakfast Sascha, Shaun, Ida, and I got some banana pancakes for breakfast. After we hitchhiked near the base of the mountain and headed up, stopping once for a break. The top had a pretty sweet 360 degree view and it was well worth the effort. Here are a few photos I took at the top.
Ida on the rock.
Shaun on the rock.
Sascha asking for my camera on the rock.
The pose I ended up with when Sascha told me to do something interesting. I’m
not even sorry.
Beautiful panorama I took, hat included.
Here’s a photo you’ve seen on Facebook, our feet after the hike.
After some serious clean up we decided to do the tourist thing after Cabiri left and get some grande margaritas. First we got some Burrito Revolution monstrosities which filled us more than sufficiently. Then came the booze. These things are huge, man. Don’t do it. Shaun had some trouble with his so he poured about a quarter of it into mine. I definitely felt it to say the least. It must have been a funny site for the locals to see this white guy with a Miami Vice length beard, Hawaiian looking party shirt, and a cup filled of margarita and one straw walking around the town a little tipsy.
After a small section of chilling out, it was time for Ida to leave. This was probably the sadest departure I’ve had so far, mostly because she shares a passion for languages, something that I’m developing during this trip. She was a huge inspiration for me. It was sad to see her go. Thanks for everything, Ida!
I spent the rest of the night hanging out and getting golf cart rides from other people from the hostel attempting to forget about my sadness. It almost worked too.
Let’s Get Inked - Feb 29
Today’s the day for Shaun’s big tattoo. Shaun, Sascha, and I went to the banana pancake place for breakfast and then Shaun and I went to the beach where he showed me the ropes for swimming in big waves without hurting yourself. At 12pm Shaun went to the tattoo place, and I began doing research into some things for my travel in a year or so across the pond and also through Mexico, chatting with Wes, a guy who works at the hostel.
I checked in on Shaun a few times and he’s doing quite well not at all screaming like a little girl. Good man. Today is a blog post day. However you should know that I’m taking a few more nights because there are no ride shares to get to Guadalajara until Friday. Basically, I’ll have stayed here for almost two weeks. I kind of like it here.