Have you ever heard of Sayulita Days? Us neither, but apparently they exist, and they were happening all this week! I didn’t see them advertised in our weekly emailed newsletter either, hmmm.

What is Sayulita Days, you ask? Well, we’re not really sure, but I can tell you its CRAZY crowds, horrible traffic & no parking, loads of Mexican Cowboys decked to the max, complete with giant sombrero and saddles with supersized horn (similar to those blocking the main entry into the town on sunday), tonnes of food, toys, balloons, marching bands, singing, dancing, and parades! It was quite a show, and since I forgot about the time change (1 hr behind) I missed my haircut appointment and we spent some time in the plaza sipping frosti choco’s and nibbling banana muffins from the chocobanana stand, while listening to the authentic Mexican tunes. We were also priveledged enough to witness the Mexican national anthem, and the salute to the flag. Let’s not forget the dancing horses and the parade princesses too. It was definitely a different atmosphere than the already enjoyable Sayulita-ness, and a great addition for Jami & Bob, our visitors for the week.

I also must mention the mini-market, containing similar items as the Buerias market, minus the food, but in addition to some winky circus games, like shooting figurines off the shelf to WIN, or the popular coIn toss. The “circus” was also in town, with rides like the ferris wheel, double high trampoline (oh so safe i’m sure), and spinning carts. Nothing big like rollercoasters or drops of doom, and if there were I’m not sure I’d be testing them out. Safe?? Hmmm… I wouldn’t even ride rides withe a travelling mini-circus at home.

I am currently saving up some photos and ideas for a blog called “only in Mexico” with a nice selection of pictures that would illustrate questionable, if not illegal, activies at home in Canada due to safety. There are things that don’t seem unusual to us anymore, like a lack of railings, helmets, seatbelts or safety gear in general, or several people piled in the back of a pickup truck careening down a windy road. Sometimes people get hurt or even die, but I guess not enough to enforce safety to the extent that we do in Canada. With that said, they (highway signs) do “encourage seat belts and headlights on your vehicle at night, but that’s not to say those are abided by. Then, on the other side, at times I’m willing to think tht people here still might possess that little bit of common sense and freedom (especially when taking care of their kids) that no longer exists at home due to over emphsis on rules, regulations, and safety restrictions that are often quite necessary. It seems, they watch their kids, or they trust that their kids have the abillity to look out for themselves, and each other.

Anyway, today we went hunting for waves in Punta de Mita, and as we soon found out, our projected 3-4 foot waves were no where in sight. We took off down the highway to try our hand at La Lancha, (another seemingly well-known surfing location), where you park across the highway, and hike down a small gravel road to the beach. Just as we were parking and getting out of the car a huge camo-colored truck loaded with semi-automatic weapon holding army guys drove down the road, in pursuit of who-knows-what. At this point, we hopped back in the car, and crossed surfing off our to do list for the day. There is a gorgeous beach a minute down the road that opened its gates to the public fairly recently (this year we noticed it), so we parked in the field and walked down the short path to the picturesque and empty whitesand beach and plopped ourselves on the sand for some R & R time. Josh took the waterproof camera for a swim (or should I say a pummelling) to catch some wave curls photos, which he will be blogging about himself.