Sunday, October 5th, Erin and I rented a Nissan Tzuru and drove north along the coast, stopping in Punta de Mita, Sayulita and finally San Blas. It was really fun to have the car and sight-see on our own. Here’s a corny video we made along the way:

We didn’t find much in Punta de Mita except for a small, dirty village so we just drove around for a short time and then got back on the highway. Sayulita was a really great little village. It is a little touristy, but it’s far enough away from Puerto Vallarta that there aren’t throngs of tourists. It is well known for surfing.

We stopped at the world-famous Choco-banana and had, what else, a Choco-banana. It’s a delicious frozen banana dipped in chocolate and served on a stick. Yummy!

We wandered the beach and shops for about an hour, ate lunch at a burrito shop and then continued our drive north.

When we arrived in San Blas, we asked around about a boat to take us through the mangroves. Fortunately for me Erin speaks fairly fluent (rusty) Spanish, since most people we met there spoke as much English as I speak Spanish. We hired a boat to drive us through up the river through the mangroves.

Our guide was very friendly and pointed out wildlife for us to photograph. We stopped at an island restaurant (barely) and had a beer and visit with a crocodile.