February 15, 2026 Breakfast - Yogurt and Granola and apple Lunch - Polo Club Dinner - Cold Shrimp, Leftover Julienned Sautéed Vegetables, and Bundles of steamed green beans wrapped in fried bacon

February 15, 2026 Breakfast - Yogurt and Granola and apple Lunch - Polo Club  Dinner - Cold Shrimp, Leftover Julienned Sautéed Vegetables, and Bundles of steamed green beans wrapped in fried bacon

Today was the best shell collecting day ever.

It started simply with peach yogurt and granola and an apple.

Then at 11:30 TR. drove us to the Polo grounds in San Pancho, a highly developed site where there were a series of cooking stations set up with grilled items, paella, quesadillas, chicken mole, chicharrones in salsa verde, mushrooms, waffles and fruit salad. Suzette liked the shrimp paella and chicken mole best. It was all delicious. we ate around noon.

                                         The grilled meats section

We were seated at a table with a divan and two side chairs along with fifteen or twenty other similar groups ten or fifteen feet from the side boards of the large polo field.

Then at 1:00 the polo match commenced with four riders on each team.

The match was divided into four chuckers of 7 1/2 minutes each with breaks between chuckers and a longer break after the first two chuckers to allow the attendees to go out onto the field to replace digits.

The match was tied at the end of the four chuckers so there were 8 penalty shots. 

After the match we drove home and rested until 4:30 when we decided to walk to the beach. I was very slow but with the aid of four glucose pills I made it. When we arrived at the beach we walked right toward large rocks and toward Sayulita. There were not many people on the beach. Soon Suzette began finding beach worn Robertsi cowries. We found 11 in all and 1 Isabella Mexicana and several other gastropods.

It was the best day of shelling in years, perhaps ever. Here is a photo of our finds.

We returned to the villa at Linda had prepared dinner,cold boiled shrimp, cocktail sauce, the leftover julienned vegetables from several nights ago and bundles of steamed green beans wrapped in fried bacon.

We ate and the talked with Bolla Pinot Grigio, beer, coke, and water. After dinner we shared a tube of Oreos.

We went to bed at 9:30.

Bon Appetit 

February 14, 2026 Breakfast - Ham and cheese on bolillo spread with pineapple preserves Lunch - Ham, cheese, and d avocado on multigrain bread. Lunch Ham and cheese Sandwich on Caracoral beach. Dinner at San Pastor Restaurant on plaza in Sayulita

February 14, 2026 Breakfast - Ham and cheese on bolillo spread with pineapple preserves Lunch - Ham, cheese, and d avocado on multigrain bread. Lunch Ham and cheese Sandwich on Caracoral beach. Dinner at San Pastor Restaurant on plaza in Sayulita

We woke up and took showers and dressed and I buttered and toasted a bolillo and added a slice of ham and a slice of provolone cheese for breakfast.

Then we took the ham and cheese over to the big house and I made ham, cheese, and avocado sandwiches on the multigrain bread for lunch. Around 10:00 we drove toward Punta Mita and went to the end of the old cemetery road along the ridge and parked in the little hotel’s parking lot where there were already lots of cars parked.

We walked through the walkway to the beach and discovered hundreds of people and a small concession stand. We have been coming to caracoral beach for 25 years and years ago we were the only folks on the 1 1/2 mile expanse out to the headland. The hillside was dotted with new homes and there was a large lounging area with dozens of divan chairs at the north end of the Four Seasons property.

After we passed the new bathing area and most of the houses it seemed to be the original Caracoral, a word contraction for carratera coral or Coral Highway, due to the fact that there is a coral reef near the beach that rolls chunks of coral and seashells into the beach during storms that accumulate in ridges at the high water line. This was a bad day for seashells. Suzette found the best gastropod, a Robertsi cowrie broken in half by the wave action and pounding against coral and rocks. I found a small California limpet common to this area.

After an hour we had reached the rocks where pelicans, cormorants and gulls sit watching for fish where there was a rock in the shade under a mangrove tree. We ate lunch of the ham, cheese, and avocado sandwich and blueberries with beer. Then we looked a bit longer and turned back and walked back to the beach front concession stand. Suzette went to the car to fetch my wallet and I watched the young man cleaning needle fish. 

I observed a large pile of what appeared to be oysters and asked him how much they were and he said, “Dos ciento cincuenta pesos por una docena”. I said I will take a dozen, so I began picking 12 of the ugly rock incased oysters, trying to discern which were largest. He then washed them in sea water and knocked the end off with a thin machete and stuck the knife edge into the opening he had made to open the shells. This low tech method worked well if you did not care how battered the shell looked, because the animals were fresh and mostly whole and for $14.57 per dozen for native oysters that had been taken from the rocks this morning, it was a very special experience. 

When Suzette returned we were each given a plastic platter with six oysters and three wedges of lime. We sat inside the stand at a plastic Pepsi table and squeezed lime juice on the oysters and let them stand for a few minutes to cook a little of their briny rawness out of them. They were delicious. The last time we ate raw native oysters was at Castropol, on the estuary that separates Asturias from Galicia.

These oysters had a similar spread hand shape with five nods and a short shell similar to the Castropol ones.

After we finished we returned to Villa Bali and rested until 5:30 wth no ill effects from the oysters.

We showered and dressed and around 6:30 TR drove us to town in the Polaris and we found a parking spot 1/2 block from the plaza. We took a table on the street at the corner bar named Stoners. Next door was a small restaurant named San Pastor with a taco cart in front on the street next to our table.

Soon a heavily tattooed waiter came to take our beer order of locally brewed beer. Three of us chose Sayulita Lager and Linda ordered the IPA.

Then we chose tacos. We ordered a total of 7 pastor and two carne asado tacos for 24 pesos each for a total of $12.57.

I don’t know the cost of the beers but they were more expensive.

After dinner TR’s guitar playing friend, Pablo, came by and sang three songs, Besa me Mucho, Volver, and La Paloma. TR mentioned that strolling musicians singing traditional songs was a dying tradition.

Then Linda walked down the street and bought two creme caramels fo dessert. We could not eat them all and took some home for a later meal.

We walked to the west end of the plaza where the Sayulita sign and a Valentines display was set up . Mexico celebrates Love and Friendship on February 14. I took a picture of Suzette and Linda.

We drove back to Villa Bali and said goodnight.

Bon Appetit

February 12, 2026 Breakfast - On beach in PV Lunch - Mexican pastries. Dinner - Tropical House Bistro and Bar

February 12, 2026 Breakfast - On beach in PV Lunch - Mexican pastries. Dinner - Tropical House Bistro and Bar

When we woke up and dressed we walked three blocks to the beach and then turned south until we came to a restaurant with tables on the beach. We took a table in the sand and ordered breakfast. I ordered a pancake sandwich: an egg over easy, two pancakes, fruit salad, and two strips pf bacon on a platter. Suzette ordered Machaca with beans and guacamole. We both ordered fresh orange juice. I loved the deconstructed pancake sandwich.

After breakfast we walked along the beach to the river and walked through the shops along the river to the bridge where we doubled back to the hotel where our car was parked. We bought pastries and a chocolate cake at the bakery across the street from hotel Posada Roger and drove north.

Just beyond Bucerias we stopped at the huge Mega supermarket to buy a few basics. The quality and selection had worsened since we last shopped at Mega three or four years ago. This was confirmed by TR later, who said they shop at Comer now. Comer is the other huge supermarket located next to Mega.

W bought avocados, limes, an onion, a bottle of Rompope, sliced ham, sliced cheese, two bolillos, four palmiers, peach yogurt, granola, corn chips,Negra Modelo beer, three apples, a big coke, and pineapple marmalade. What I used to love at Mega, the wine selection, was now terrible, so we bought no wine or spirits.

We then drove to the Phillips’ bungalow outside Sayulita and stowed our gear in their casita next to the main house.

We talked for a few minutes and then we retired to the casita for a nap until 5:30 when we showered and dressed for dinner. We returned to the main house and I prepared guacamole with 1 1/2 large avocados, juice of 1/2 lime, a slice of onion minced, and some hot sauce and salt.

We sat on the patio under the pergola and chatted for a few minutes and then TR drove us to the north side of town to the Tropical house Bistro and Bar. We ate at the Tropical House Restaurant several times before when we stayed at Bungalows Palmar across the street. But tonight it was run by a New Zealand and Australian crew.

The three others started by ordering margaritas. I instead started looking at the extensive wine selection. I then was approached by a young man who was probably the sommelier and asked if he could help. I went several feet to the bar and inquired if they had a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or Albariño. The bartender’s lit up as he responded, “We have Albariño.”

I became excited and asked what Albariño. He dug into the back of the fridge and drew out a chilled bottle of 2021 Burgan’s Albariño from Rias Biaxes, Spain.

I asked the bartender how much it cost and he said, “One Thousand pesos” at $61.00 the price seemed a little steep, but I bought it because I had no idea what he had to pay for it in Mexico and I did not know if I would see another Spanish Albariño on this trip and I had bought this wine at Whole Foods in Albuquerque several years ago and liked it.

The others all ordered grilled Mahi Mahi. I ordered Chicken Piccata with Pasta because I wanted that vinegary caper sauce with the pasta and chicken. My dish was cooked to perfection except they ground black pepper into the sauce. Luckily, it was easy to remove the largish chunks of black pepper.

After dinner we drove to the main bridge into Sayulita and parked the small four wheel drive beside the bridge and walked the block to the Art Fair that was located in a long circuitous street that wound up the hillside from the Main Street. There were flags of plastic motifs hanging across the street and a profusion of people. TR and Linda met several ex-Pat friends among the throng of what seemed to be mostly young tourists. I was reminded of Madrid last year where we saw 10,000’s of young tourists in the three days we stayed there and none except one couple from California at Michelin rated raw bar in Compostela in the month we traveled in Spain in 2024.

TR could not believe his eyes. He said, “I have lived here 25 years and I have never seen crowds of tourists like this before.”

I told him that a year or two ago I received an internet feed from a travel site I received that ranked Sayulita among the 6 best beach town in the world, which put it on lots of folks’ travel map.

Later we told TR and Linda that when we asked a young couple at a popular restaurant several years ago how they selected a Sayulita as a travel destination they told us they travel by Google. 

So Sayulita has been discovered. It has changed from the small quiet beach town off the map into is a world famous commercial tourist destination with high rise hotels, brightly lit restaurants and thousands of tourists.

Suzette and Linda left TR and me to go shopping and Suzette bought a leather briefcase and both bought decorated luggage rags while we watched the entertainment on the stage.

At around 10:00 we drove back to the house through town, stopping for Linda to buy two servings of Cream Caramel at the ice cream shop at the Plaza. 

When we returned Linda brewed me a cup of tea and we ate a VW bites of the custard.

At 11:00 we went to bed.

Bon Appetit

February 11, 2026 Breakfast - Mushroom, steak and cheese omelette ,Lunch - Chicken Caesar Salad. Dinner - D’ Cortes in PV

February 11, 2026 Breakfast - Mushroom, steak and cheese omelette ,Lunch - Chicken Caesar Salad. Dinner - D’ Cortes in PV

I woke up at 3:15 and drank a glass of lemon water and watched the  

 Olympics and the early morning  business shows  until 4:00 then I dressed and ate breakfast of leftover steak and mushrooms omelet and one half of a bagel with cream cheese.

We heft or the airport at 5:00 and took a 6:15 flight to Phoenix where we shared two warm empanadas with a coffee for Suzette’s breakfast and bought a chicken Caesar salad for our lunch on the flight to Puerto Vallarta.

We arrived in PV at 1:15 and it took 1 1/2 hours to clear immigration and customs because there were so many people.

We picked up our rental car and drove to our hotel, Posada de Roger in downtown PV. It is a large four story posada that has been converted into a hotel without food service included but with a roof top communal kitchen.

We 

We rested until 6:00 and then obtained a small bag of ice and drank the complementary bottle of Don Simon Spanish Rose with ice in the small roof garden next to the kitchen and watched the sun set through the buildings and trees. Posada Roger is three blocks from the beach.

Here are several pictures of the hotel and our room. Suzette was fascinated by the woven plastic covering the patio.

We then drove up the hill to the small restaurant in a densely populated neighborhood. It was a charming small restaurant serving gourmet food at reasonably steep prices.

We shared an appetizer of about a dozen mussels in a thick Mornay sauce made with heavy cream and Parmesan cheese.

Suzette ordered Mediterranean Octopus which was boiled octopus served with butter sauce with a puddle of potato cream and vegetables.

I encountered the heavy cream sauce again when I received my entree of Pasta with shrimp and mussels in a cream sauce. We liked all three dishes that each exceeded the average quality due to their sauces. We drank a Mexican Sauvignon Blanc that was 1200 pesos for the bottle, which was more than the entire food amount. The check was $150.00. My sense is that the days of cheap prices in Mexico are gone with the arrival of the flood of tourists.

After dinner we drove back to the Posada and walked a few blocks on our street that is one of the main shopping streets in downtown PV.

We went to bed by 10:30.

Bon Appetit