The Amazing Hostel Sayulita

I love The Amazing Race show so when I discovered a hostel named The Amazing Hostel in Sayulita I knew I had to stay there.  I booked my stay through HostelBookers (not intentional but my review is on the front page for the hostel at the time of writing this post).  Although my hostel experience is limited, The Amazing Hostel is exactly that its amazing.  Further hostels will be compared to this hostel.  I loved it and the area so much I added an additional 2 nights to my week-long stay.

My pictures are horribly bad.  Goal for 2015: get better at photography.  The above pictures are from the girls 10 bed dorm.  The beds were comfortable and linen is included with your fee.  No blanket though but its beach town Mexico, blanket not needed.  The lockers were big enough for my stuff.  Bring your own lock.  The dorm room itself was large, exceptionally clean and quiet.  There is a bathroom as part of the dorm room but it is small (see shower photo below).  I preferred the ones available outside the rooms.  Shower is separate from toilet with a sink in the open.  Very convenient.

The last photo is looking through the common sitting area through the open air kitchen out towards the pool area. The stairs will take you up to another sun area and the outdoor handwash laundry area with clothes lines.  The very top photo shows the main sun deck with tiny pool and climbing wall.  There is a bbq spot and outdoor pool shower behind the photo op fake van. 

The kitchen is stocked with equipment if you choose to cook (microwave, toaster and stove top, no oven). Restaurant food is so reasonably priced that I found it difficult to homecook.  I did buy a few snacks and drinks for when I didn't feel like leaving the hostel; otherwise, I went out to eat.  I like how they kept the refrigerator.  Each guest is assigned a small plastic box to store their food in refrigerator with one shelf reserved for large bottles and shared food.  They have a filtered water machine to fill up your bottles so you can stay hydrated for free.

The hostel offers towel rental (20 pesos), Spanish lessons ($50US) and a friendly cat to pet (free).

Little did I know, since I'm not Canadian, among my fellow hostel guests were Mickey and Pete, winners of The Amazing Race Canada.  You can read about their adventures at their aptly named website, Mickey and Pete.  They really are just as nice in person as their print and video reviews say.

Best Features: clean, clean, clean! Spacious, close to center of town, friendly and helpful staff who speak English as well as other languages, plenty of outdoor relax chairs and lounges

Improvements: more hot water for showers, availability of blanket for chilly nights (not that those happened often)

Would I stay here again: ABSOLUTELY

Sayulita Transportation

Check out below the modes of transportation in Sayulita.  It's kind of an anything goes beach town.

 The typical resort town golf cart is very popular in Sayulita.  There are rental places and some of the hotels rent their own as well as the resident owned golf carts.  There are fancy decked out 4 seaters, 2 seater wagon-looking carts and stripped down "at least I have a cart" versions.

 The four wheeler and motor bike are the most aggressively driven vehicles in town.  They zoom around everywhere.  Watch out.  The drivers will get close to you; however, I was never run down.  When you consider the town roads (cobblestone) and the side roads (shown below), four wheelers make perfect sense.  The dirt road I had to traverse from hostel to town is pot-hole heaven, getting worse with every rainfall.  It is a wonder cars did not break their axles.  Luckily, drivers are cautious when driving down that road.  They go slow and seriously attempt to not splash you.  There is also a consideration given to right of way.  I'm not sure who has the actual right of way but people are generous in waiting.

This picture shows a mild version of this road after it had started to dry up a little. Then we got another rainfall and that puddle went from side to side.  You had to walk on the rock wall or around the other side of that big dirt pile.  The day I was leaving town, workers were filling in the holes with that pile.  Rain season was "officially" over.  I wish I had taken more photos of this crazy road.

See the corner with the tangle of pickup trucks.  It seemed to be the place to park however you felt like.  Every day there was a different configuration of trucks and cars.  Pickups were another popular mode of transportation.  And of course, boats.  Fresh fish and boat tours are commodities in this town as I'm sure they are in every oceanside town.  Thank goodness, the boats were delegated to one end of the main beach.

My choice of transportation:  walking.  Sayulita is a very walkable town.  You can get to everything by walking.

The Color of Beach Town Mexico

As a newcomer to foreign travel, there are so many things to first notice when you arrive in Mexico.  I'm going to start with my favorite thing - the beautiful color.  In my world, Mexico has long been known for it's colorful clothes, blankets and decorations.  To see it firsthand and the extent to which color is displayed is amazing.  I fell in love and had to stop myself from photographing everything.

Color is not restricted to just formal artwork.  It covers buildings, textiles, walkways, piers, furniture, you name it.

Puerto Vallarta

 Puerto Vallarta artwork is fantastic.  Restraint stopped me from buying multiple paintings from the street artists.  How would I take it home?  They offered several ways; however, I don't have a permanent home to display which would be sad.

 

 Punta de Mita

A group of us took a day trip to Punta de Mita, a small beach town north of Puerto Vallarta. This mural is huge and jazzes up a crappy looking parking lot.  I wish now that I had gotten more and better photos.

Sayulita

Sayulita is a small beach town about an hour's drive north of Puerto Vallarta.  It is a beautiful sleepy town with a punch.  It has a little bit of everything but with a slowness expected from a beach vacation spot.  I spent 9 days lounging on it's beaches and enjoying every minute of it. 

I was amazed at the elaborate cemetery. I don't think there was one grave that did not have colorful decorations and flowers.

Time for a New Place

It has been forever since I wrote on this blog.  Much to my shame as I like writing.  I have so many posts to write: stuff about Portland, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and many many things about Chicago and Alaska.

But for now, I'm heading off on my next adventure.  From this gorgeous place:

To this gorgeous place:

Hola Mexico!  I will be spending the next 2 weeks at the sunny beach town of Sayulita and the city of Puerto Vallarta.  I can't wait.  I've never had a burning desire to go to Mexico until a coworker recommended the town she's been going to for years.  I've held the stereotypical belief of "unsafe Mexico" in my head.  She's convinced me she feels completely safe there.  Plus numerous blogs I read love Mexico too (Globetrotter Girls, Hecktic Travels, Married with Luggage etc.)  Bad things happen everywhere.

So...my first foreign solo trip in about to start.  November 3.  Mexico, here I come, after a brief stop in Barrow, Alaska.  I have got to try and fulfill my Bucket List item of seeing polar bears in the wild.  Going to Barrow is what drove me to Alaska.  More on that later.

P.S  I've been trying the language method invented by Benny at Fluent in 3 Months with some added advice from Mish at Making It Anywhere in order to learn some Spanish.  I think its working.  I've only been at it for three days.  Already I understood some of the words on Jane the Virgin tv show and in the novel I'm reading.  I'm also thinking in Spanish.  When I look at something or say something that I know the word for in Spanish, my brain repeats it in Spanish.  Woohoo.