Rincon de Guayabitos.....nook of the little guava trees.....Guayabitos for short. Say whut? Never heard of it. Where in Baja is that?
Well, it's not in Baja, but on the mainland. Nayarit is a state of Mexico, just like Baja California Norte and Baja California Sur are. Then why in tarnations is this page on the Baja Website you might ask. Hey, it's in Mexico and that's close enough for me. Guayabitos lies on the Pacific coast, about 40 miles, an hour's drive north, and a world away from Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco (another Mexican state).
This trip represented my return to the mainland after a long hiatus. The last time I was down in these parts was 1982. I in fact visited these very parts not only in 1982, but in 1981 and 1978 as well. Things change in 22 years and Puerto Vallarta is certainly no exception. In the years when I was last there, PV had already been discovered by the masses, but still retained at least a vestige of its charm. Forget that now! There's nothing charming left about PV. I think Amigo Freddie Gonzalez, instigator of this trip and gracious host, put it best, "the Mexicans have this idea of what Americans want, and even though it's not really what they want, they're going to get it anyway whether they like it or not." PV is certainly a manifest example of that philosophy. I've been telling people that it's Disneyland, Los Angeles and Tijuana, thrown into a meat grinder and turned into sausage. And we all know there's two things you never want to see in the makin'....laws and sausage. Down PV way, they got your Subway, MacDonald's, Burger King, Wal-Mart, Domino's, and heck, they even got a Hooter's (right, Al!). Just like home. Toss in the homegrown and overdone Carlos O'Brian's, with prices about the same as in the U.S. to boot, and you've got PV. Except for tequila that is. Tequila's quite a bit cheaper at Costco here in the US these days. Enough of that. As you might have suspected, I spent little time there. One night was enough for me.
Even back in the "old" days, I spent little time in PV, preferring rather to explore the countryside and see the "real" Mexico. This trip was pretty much the same, except we were removed from PV from the get-go and real Mexico was only a short jaunt away.....in Guayabitos and its twin city, La Peñita de Jaltemba, La Peñita for short. Well, almost anyway. Guayabitos still caters to tourists, but mostly to Mexican and Canadian tourists. I had visited La Peñita before, in 1981 with Marian. We stayed at an RV park north of town that's still there. This time, Freddie, Pandro, Al and I stayed at Casa Gonzalez, appropriately named after Freddie's family, as they own it. The house, with three bedrooms, two baths, living room, laundry room, and kitchen, is available to rent by the way. The beach is about a block away. The cost is $100 a night, which is downright cheap compared to a crappy hotel room. Get a hold of me here if you or anyone you know is interested. It's a great place for a family vacation. Pardon the pictures. I took a lot of them, and in order to get them all up here, I had to compress them more than usual. If you want a high resolution view, e-mail me and ask.
Down the street from Freddie's were some small hotels right on the beach.
This is the inside of the house.
Guayabitos is quite a contrast to Baja, especially the part of Baja that we frequent. Situated at 20° N. Latitude, about the same as the Big Island of Hawaii, you're in the humid tropics. January is the dry season and the weather is heavenly. Normally, January has only a couple rainy days and the average rainfall is less than an inch. This January was neither normal nor average. Rain had fallen for several days prior to our arrival and hit our plane just south of the Islas Tres Marias. I was anticipating it though, so Pandro and I had brought our Gore-Tex coats. We drove north from PVR airport and had dinner at Los Tulipanes in Guayabitos, before settling in for the night.
I took a short walk on the beach before breakfast the next day. The clouds tell it all. This view is looking south.
And this one is looking north.
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