planetdanika

The remainder of our trip was pretty uneventful. We spent Thursday through Monday doing virtually the same thing. Wed get up, either go for a run or not (we averaged every other day), and have breakfast in the hotel. Then wed make our way to the beach for a few hours, have lunch, read books, play cards, and watch sunset. There was always a late afternoon shower and then wed head out for dinner. It was really very mellow. Friday we decided to deviate (just slightly) from this routine by going to the next town over, Sayulita. Its only about 3 or 4 miles and we decided we could walk it. It wasnt the distance that did us in, but the highway with no shoulder was rather unpleasant. Fortunately, within a mile or so, a VW van took mercy on us and took us the rest of the way to Sayulita.

Much bigger and busier than San Pancho, it lacked all the charm. We were not impressed although the water was calmer and thus you could swim safely. The place we ended up at for lunch was full of Americans. In fact, when a Mexican couple sat down next to us, we overheard the waitress explain to them that she was sorry the menu only comes in English. They assured her that they could read English so it wasnt a problem. Does anyone else think its bizarre that a restaurant in Mexico doesnt even HAVE a Spanish menu? I sure did.

In any case, one of the primary reasons we went to Sayulita was that we were running mighty low on cash. Our town was so small it lacked a bank or ATM. We knew that in advance so it didnt come as a shock. What DID come as a shock was that there was no ATM in Sayulita either. We both stared at each other open-mouthed when we gathered this information. In recent years, weve taken to relying almost exclusively on ATMs for cash when in foreign countries. The exchange rate is very good and its generally no-hassle. Needless to say, this put us in a bit of a bind, exacerbated by the theft earlier in the week.

When we returned to San Pancho we took inventory of all our cash and found ourselves with approximately $100 to last us 3 days. It necessitated some very creative choices for the rest of our stay. It meant, for one thing, that we purchased NO souvenirs for ourselves or anyone else. There was no cash to spare for postcards either, so dont feel bad that you didnt get one! We walked around our little town Friday evening and surveyed the restaurants to see which ones took credit cards and then made our dinner choices around that info. It all worked out in the end, although we had a few moments when we werent so sure!