Sorry everyone that my updates have slowed down. We have had very limited WiFi ever since we left San Blas on February 16 but I am finally getting my posts done from some of the other places we visited.
Leaving San Blas
From San Blas we continued on down the coast on Ruta 16 until it connected with Ruta 200, taking it easy and trying to stay on pavement because of my foot. The drive along the coast was gorgeous but eventually the road took us inland a bit and as we travelled through a couple of small villages we decided to try to find a playa again. In one of the villages, Ixtapa de la Concepcion, Nayarit, we just kept heading west on the roads and lo and behold, before long we were no longer on pavement any longer. Damn!! Loose gravel roads to begin with but eventually as we got further along the way, we began to hit patches of sand which at this time still caused me to hit my brake instinctively. Ended up falling twice on this stretch of road and I have to say I am getting damn good at falling. The learning curve on riding off road is steep for me right now but as Milton keeps reminding me, I will be a really good rider at the end of this journey. We never did reach the playa but on the way back after my last fall, where I had a mini breakdown, Milton made me repeat mantras the entire time. Things like; I love riding on dirt roads, this is fun, I am a good rider, I look ahead at where I want to go, sand is fun. Did not fall once on the way back and even had to navigate around some obstacles. My confidence increased slightly and when we reached Ixtapa de la Concepcion, after buying cold drinks at a little store, we had a wonderful lunch before continuing south.
We stopped at this little store and got drinks right before we ate lunch. This is the store owner and her grandsons.
This is the owner if the little restaurant we ate at. Think he was a little tipsy as he and his friend were trying to get me to stay with them.
The wife at the restaurant. Very nice family.
Us with Louie and Elaine and two of their friends (mother and daughter duo)
Our destination when we started out that morning was Sayulita. A good friend of mine raves about Sayulita and so I was sure that it would be a place that I’d like also and we’d stay there for a couple days. In the early afternoon we pulled into Sayulita and I was completely blown away by the number of tourists everywhere. Many of the signs were in English and the streets were lined with cafes and the types of stores you’d see in upscale tourist areas. Definitely not for us but we did find a nice beach to swim in for a while. While we were swimming in the ocean, we, of course, asked these two women near us where they were from and one said Berkley so we told her we were from Humboldt in Northern California. They said that they were here, at the beach, with some friends from Humboldt. They asked where exactly in Humboldt and we told them Redway and they said their friends were also from Redway. Turns out it was a couple that has known Milton since he was a young boy. We had a great visit with them and I know that Milton really enjoyed talking with someone who could share stories with him about Milton Sr, his father, who passed away a few years back. After we said our goodbyes we quickly left Sayulita without stopping.
Milton and Elaine, turns out she was one of his teachers in elementary school. Small world.
From Sayulita we headed towards Puerta Vallerta and it was getting towards early evening by the time we got close. About 15 kilometers outside of Puerta Vallerta, we saw a Farmacia so we stopped and were able to get some emergency medicine that we can use if Milton has another severe asthma attack and we aren’t near a hospital. Also, while there we were able to buy a steroid that I can give him in injection form which will buy us some more time. Hopefully it will never come to that but it makes me feel a lot better just having it. That night we stayed in Bucerias and had the best meal, wish I could remember what it was called. I’ll have to start writing down the names when I find something I really like.
In the morning we went into Puerta Vallerta where Milton discovered that it has grown tremendously since his last visit so we didn’t stop much. We did stop at the local Walmart hoping they might have WiFi and to buy a coloring book for my Grandson Niko. While there I bought a couple extra children books and Milton bought some little cars that we can give away but never was able to get the coloring book. Oh well, he’d probably color all over my parents wall with it anyways. While in the parking lot we, of course, got to talk to a lot of people because most people are curious of where we’re from and going to. It’s always fun to see the excitement in people’s faces and sometimes people even tell us they’ve been wanting to do something similar but most people say in a van or RV and not on motorcycles.
Milton and Dennis talking guns with the police.
Couple of tourists we met, think they were from Canada. Very nice couple, we talked for quite a while.
Another very nice couple we met, think they are also from Canada.
We also stopped so I could FedEx a birthday gift home to my daughter and a book for Niko. Everything sure takes longer with the language barrier but I have a translator on my phone that helps out some. In the downtown tourist areas, I did notice that the majority of the buildings were white and not colored with bright colors like in the smaller towns. Not sure if this is specifically for the tourists but I definitely like more color. The streets were cobblestone which was fun riding on with all of that traffic and a challenge with the stopping and going because I don’t have much traction on the foot that is wearing the walking boot. The road south, Ruta 200, out of Puerta Vallerta was again beautiful with expensive houses that were amazing to look at. Not long, we got far enough away that we began to see little roadside food stands again, which is our favorite place to eat so what did we do, we stopped to eat.
As we drove further south we finally reached an area where many of the palm trees were broken or severely windswept. As we got closer to towns, we noticed piles of bricks and tiles laying on the ground and houses without walls and roofs. These were the remnants of hurricane Patricia that just hit the area last October. I talked to a local who said there were no casualties reported that he knew of but the one person did drown after going fishing too early after the storm. I wish I had taken more photos of the area but after a long day’s ride sometimes taking photos is the last thing on my mind. As we were riding down the long hill we could see the town of Agua Caliente Nueva at the bottom of the hill. We decided to stop there and see exactly where we were on the map, how far we still needed to go to get to Barre de Navidad, and get something cool to drink. The town was beautiful with colorful buildings exactly how I like it. We had delicious pina popsicles with huge chunks of pineapple in it. It tasted so good after a long hot day of riding. While there we met a couple of local teens who allowed Dennis to take their pictures. 
Us with “G”, he played a crucially important part of our journey.
As we were finishing, a young man (mid 30’s), pulled up in a pickup truck and spoke to us with perfect English and a drawl to his voice. This surprised us, and we discovered he spent many years living in North Carolina. He told us he goes by “G ” in the states because his name is rather difficult for us gringo’s to say, me including, so I only remember him as “G”. He told us that we can’t leave this area until we check out the most beautiful beach which is just down the road and paved all the way. And he said he was just there a couple days ago and there were some campers on the beach so we could camp there.
After leaving him, we found the road we were supposed to turn off on and we drove through groves on palm trees and as we got closer to the coast the damage from Hurricane Patricia became more evident. No one was left untouched and all around was evidence of the community working together to rebuild. Now as if our journey hasn’t already consisted of amazing experiences, on my next post find out how “G” was placed in our path for a reason.
Why do two of the pictures go “up-side-down” when they are clicked on?