My Happy-Fun Trip To Sayulita Beach In Mexico (with photos)

Thanks to Meagan Burns of Art Leap Adventures for arranging this opportunity!

I am a 63-year-old single lady who retired and moved to Mexico about seven years ago. I live full-time now in San Miguel de Allende, which is a town in the middle of Mexico with a vibrant art scene and a large ex-pat population. I like living here so much that I rarely leave. However, this week I went on a beach trip with a group of artist ladies, arranged by Meagan Burns of Art Leap Adventures.

This was my first time visiting Sayulita, and it has been a great experience. Sayulita is on the west coast of Mexico, and about a 45-minute drive north of Puerto Vallarta.

This town is very popular with surfers and people who enjoy activities like hiking and experiencing nature. When you look on the internet for things to do in Sayulita, you see things like party boat tours, food tours, yoga on the beach, and whale-watching tours.

I met some of the ladies who I would be traveling with on the ride from the Puerto Vallarta airport to Sayulita. I have been on many tours organized by Meagan Burns, and the ladies are usually in their sixties and are active artistic types. I rode with Leslie and Carly in the taxi on the 45-minute ride to Sayulita.

We met Meagan and the other ladies at the Central Hotel, just a few yards from the beach and all of the action. We were right in the middle of the tourist activity, consisting of lots of people selling stuff such as jewelry and clothing. The town has a definite hippy vibe and style. Dogs appear to run freely here, and they are the happiest dogs in the world. I heard that a lot of them belong to people who are working in the shops nearby.

Meagan is all about sketching and continuous line drawing. We kicked off the week with an introduction to each other and to continuous line drawing. Continuous line drawing is a technique often taught in art school as an exercise. However, Meagan has developed a career out of it. Continuous line drawing is her life. She started drawing as therapy after she broke up with a guy. Meagan started leading artist ladies on tours when she was the leader of the Urban Sketchers group in San Miguel de Allende. That’s where I met her about six years ago. Now she makes a living leading sketching tours.

After an introduction to sketching and the week’s activities, I went out with my new friends on a taco tour of the town. A young Mexican man, who is also a surfer, led us on the tour. We stopped by his office at the beginning of the tour, where he handed all of us a can of beer. We were surprised to learn that it was legal to walk around town with a beer can in your hand. The town definitely has a young and free-spirited vibe. I felt like I was back on spring break again. We walked to several restaurants within a very small area, where our guide had arranged for us to try various types of tacos. I’ve never been that much of a taco aficionado, but they were all quite tasty.

The next morning we met on the beach for another bit of instruction and practice doing continuous line drawing. The beach was very busy and crowded all day. One of the things that were somewhat annoying was that we were approached by people selling stuff, approximately every two minutes. Food, drinks, clothing jewelry, you name it and someone was selling it. We said “no, gracias” about a million times. I actually bought a necklace and some silver hoop earrings. I think a couple of the other ladies may have also bought a few things. It made us a little bit sad to think about how privileged our lives are, compared to theirs.

One of the highlights of the trip was the whale-watching tour on the third day. I probably would have never chosen to do this on my own, but I am so glad I went. It’s very difficult to tell how exciting it was just from looking at a picture. However, when you are out in a boat that’s rocking on the waves and the wind is blowing, it’s a very exciting experience. We were told by our guide that the day we went was one of the better days they had seen recently. We started to see whales very early in the tour and continued to see many more in the next few hours. Most of the time you could only see their backs or their tales. They also blew water and it turned into little rainbows in the sun.

At one point, our guide put a microphone into the water and we got to hear the male whales “singing.” It sounded like “whoot.” Our guide said that they all sing the same song and the song changes every few days. The organization that runs the whale tours is also a conservation organization, run by biologists who study the whales.

That night we went out for some food and sketching. On the way back to the hotel, there was a large crowd near our hotel sitting at tables eating, drinking, and listening to a live band. We decided to get some ice cream and sit for a few minutes to watch the show. I thought it was sad that nobody was dancing, so we all decided to get the party started. We danced to a few songs before the singer came over and asked some of us to get up and dance with him. A couple of us got out and danced for the crowd. It was really fun and everyone was sad when we left.

Friday was Carly’s birthday. She wore a tiara that said “Happy Birthday” while the rest of us wore colorful pom-poms on our hats and around our necks. Some people on the streets waved to us and yelled that they had seen us dancing the night before.

Unfortunately, two of the ladies in the group got intestinal infections from something they ate. In Mexico, you have to be very careful about eating raw fruits or vegetables. They have to be disinfected before you eat them and some restaurants may not do a very good job with this. I try to only eat cooked foods and drinks if possible when I go out to restaurants. In the past few years, I have had intestinal infections that went on for several weeks and it was not fun at all. Because of this, I try to eat at home more.

Fortunately, there was a doctor just a few doors down from the hotel and a pharmacy attached to his office. I went for a non-related medical issue and my bill for two medicines and the doctor consultation was only about $30 US dollars. No need to bother with insurance or co-pays.

Every night, and sometimes during the day, there were lots of street performers. Some of them were very professional. We saw a guy walking around in just a bathing suit, with a sign saying that he was a “pretty good poet.” I talked to him a little bit and asked him about his life as a street poet. He said that he is able to make a living doing this in Sayulita. He also said that he had studied acting at the Second City school in Chicago. He recited a poem by memory about all the stuff he does on his cell phone. It was really clever and funny. I gave him a tip of about $2 US dollars and thanked him for talking with me.

There were lots of other street performers, including musicians, singers, dancers, and jugglers. Here are some pictures of them.

My trip to Sayulita was a great experience. There are lots of other places in the world that I would like to see, but I would be interested in coming here again if the opportunity arises. Hopefully, Meagan will bring another group here. If she does, I would love to see the same group of ladies and have another fun week with them.