I awakened at 3:00 a.m. and sliced a bagel into three slices and toasted the slices and spread cream cheese on them and then lay thin slices of red onion and Gravad Lax on them. I ate one with a cup of green tea and put the other two in sandwich bags. We had made turkey and a Jarlsberg sandwiches the night before going to bed and put lettuce, a sliced tomato, and pickles into sandwich bags.
At 4:00 the alarm range us up. We dressed, packed our food bag and put grits and food into the car and drove to the airport. We checked our bags and went to our plane that left Albuquerque at 6:00. We arrived at LAX at 7:00 and had to wait until 11:15 for our flight to Puerto Vallarta.
We cleared immigration and customs and was escorted to the rental car shuttle by an attendant when we arrived. We picked up our car, a VW Venta and drove to Sayulita. With some difficulty we found our rental on the hill south of town. It is a nice modern unit with a small sitting and kitchen area, a bedroom, and a bathroom.
After Tony oriented us to the apartment, we drove to the center of town and took his suggestion and ate at La Terra Viva on the corner of the street between the plaza and the beach. We shared two dishes, an appetizer called Stuffed Squid (calamari relleno), which was a large calamari stuffed with diced shrimp on a bed of sautéed vegetable, sliced into sections and drizzled with a mayonnaise and catsup shrimp sauce. We ordered the catch of the day, which was a grilled fillet of Mahi Mahi served on sautéed mixed vegetables and potatoes. We loved both dishes. As we left the restaurant we saw a couple eating a basalt grinding stone full of seafood stew. I made a note to return to try the seafood stew.
We walked the one block to the square because that is where the market is. We bought coffee milk, cherry preserves, a bollia, an avocado, a head of garlic, an onion and four eggs for breakfast.
When we walked outside from the market there was a stage in front of the market with towns folk assembled on the square facing the stage and a group of young women dressed in brightly colored costumes dancing on the stage, so we stopped to watch the festivities. I am continually amazed by the blend of indigenous and religious in Mexico. The women dancers were wearing lovely costumes with a native flair dancing an intricate dance to celebrate the miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This week of festivities we shall see in Sayulita and I suspect will be celebrated all over Mexico will honor Mexico’s patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The next dance was an all male dance by a group of young men dressed identically as railroad engineers all wearing black boots with taps on the heels and toes. They tapped their way around the stage even more intricately than the young women in unison so that their tapping became a part of and amplified the recorded music.
The dances were fabulous, but we were tired, so after the second dance we left and after several tries found our condo and went to bed. After a long 18 hour day of travel we were settled into our condo in Sayulita and had found a wonderful new restaurant and our first meal of fresh seafood.
Bon Appetit
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