Guest post by Jonathan Baggs
Memories from our 2018 trip through Mexico

Bus Adventures

After a fun first stop in Sayulita, Marieke, Steph and I got on a morning bus to the Puerto Vallarta bus station, where we’d catch another bus to our next destination, Barra De Navidad. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t know where to get off, so we ended up passing by the bus station and had to get off and backtrack on another bus.  Again, we overshot our destination and were on our way back to Sayulita before getting off at another random stop. In the end, we took a cab to the bus station.  

The buses in Mexico are generally very nice, but the one we ended up on was the exception.  One of our fellow passengers was a little boy, travelling with his parents, carrying a pet chick dyed bright green.  It was a literal chicken bus. He showed us his colourful pet, whose name was, fittingly, Pollo.  Besides the chicken, for entertainment we had three consecutive Kevin Bacon movies dubbed in Spanish. 

We had met a guy named Josh from B.C. earlier in the day who was heading the same way we were and was experiencing similar issues of getting on the correct bus(it wasn’t just us). He was a spear fisherman and carried a huge case full of spear guns and spears. His intention was to head further south to Manzanillo, but it was already evening by the time we reached BDN. With Manzanillo still hours away, he decided to break up the journey and stay in BDN for a couple of days. 

Barra de Navidad

We had a great, relaxing stay at the Hotel al Alondra, which gave us access to a pool and a decent sandy beach. Being hungry was never an issue with delicious street food on every corner and rooftop bars with beautiful ocean views. On our first morning, we found a great rooftop café. Marieke and Steph were stoked to get iced coffees and we met a couple from Saskatchewan named Bob and Linda, who told us they were also known as; Big Beaver and Little Beaver. We ended up running into them a few times.

After breakfast, we found a place to do our laundry. The launderette owner said she could have it ready by 4pm the next day, which was perfect since we had to be in Guadalajara the day after.

Paddleboarding Mishaps

We had all planned to go paddle boarding, but the street food was not sitting so well with Marieke, so her and I chilled on the beach and Steph went with Josh.

Since Steph likes to be economical and Josh wanted to spear fish, they decided it made more sense to share a paddle board so Steph could stay on it while Josh dove. Unfortunately, the two lacked coordination and Steph got a paddle right in the face, making her mouth bleed. Then, when Josh went fishing, a fish broke the line and took off with one of his spears. To top things off, when he surfaced he discovered his very expensive dive watch was missing. After a fair bit of searching, he managed to recover his watch, but not his spear. Josh wasn’t able to get himself back on the board without knocking Steph off, so he ended up having to swim back shore.

Needless to say the two were pretty spent by the time they joined us on the beach and Marieke and I were pretty happy her stomach had prevented us from going.

Fishing Success

Josh did manage to organize a spearfishing trip with a local fisherman named Jorge the following morning and invited me to come along. The coastline was amazing. We saw whales and flying fish as well as an old oil tanker that had grounded during a hurricane years ago and was now slowly being destroyed by the surf. Josh and Jorge managed to spear quite a few groupers, red snappers and amberjack while I talked(mostly through hand gestures because of our language gap) with Jorge’s brother about the similarities between the fishing gear they were using and what fisherman like my dad use at home in Newfoundland. 

After a great morning on the water we got back to the fisherman’s wharf where the fishermen were making fresh ceviche.  Josh gave most of his catch to Jorge, keeping one red snapper for our dinner.  We found a nice, beachside restaurant that would cook the fish for us that evening and went to meet the girls on the beach.

A Rogue Wave

Marieke and I left the beach and were in our room packing when Steph showed up soaking wet and in a panic . Right after we left, a rogue wave has washed all the way up to where she was reading on the beach, dragging her sarong and bag towards the water. When she recovered the bag and checked it, the wallet with all our money was gone. After searching for it unsuccessfully, she came to get our help. We combed every square inch of the beach for the wallet and even Big and Little Beaver, who were enjoying cocktails nearby, joined in. The wallet was nowhere to be found and we returned to our room defeated. Marieke went to get something in her bag, only to find the wallet safe and sound. We had all forgotten that it had been transferred from Steph’s bag to hers earlier in the day.

The wallet fiasco had caused us to lose track of time and when we went to pick up our laundry the shop was closed. The sign said it would be open in the morning, so we would still have time to grab it before we departed for Guadalajara.

That evening we headed to a rooftop bar to enjoy the sunset and some drinks with Josh. We watched the sun go down over the water while whales breached in the distance. Of course, Big and Little beaver showed up too and we invited them to join us for dinner.  We had amazing fresh fish tacos from Josh’s morning catch. 

Laundry Stress

Conveniently, our launderette was right next to where our bus would leave. Less conveniently, it was closed. A woman across the street said it was closed on Sundays, a contradiction to the the giant sign outside. Our bus was leaving in an hour and Steph had to conduct online job interviews for work back home the next day, so we were in a bit of a panic. There was no contact information, but they did have a Facebook business page, so we sent a message, not really expecting an answer. Thankfully, the owner saw our desperate messages in time and generously offered to come and get our things.

As we waited, we said goodbye to Josh who was heading to Manzanillo. The launderette owner soon arrived to give us our clothes while we thanked her profusely. Our bus followed soon after.

We traveled to Guadalajara in style on a premium bus with reclining seats, personal entertainment, a clean bathroom and even got a simple but enjoyable lunch.

TRIP PICS

•