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while uncle bodie was visiting we finally got off our lazy bums and went on a road trip. sayulita has this way of sucking us in and keeping us content in its warm, occasionally scorching embrace, but we managed to break out of orbit and see some more of this amazing country.

our first stop was to san blas. we’ve visited san blas before, and we had so much fun it was worth a return visit. our main goal was to go and do the tour through the mangrove forest, which was a real highlight of our previous stay in mexico.

we fanged it up north in about three hours and parked ourselves back at stoner’s surf camp, at exactly the same table we were three years ago. it felt a bit like we swapped sayulita’s beach for san blas’, but you can never have a bad time watching the waves go by!

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our friend risa hooked us up with a big comfy room at casa roxanna bungalows, so we had a good night’s sleep before heading out to the mangroves in the morning. on the way we saw a cute dog with some amazing teeth.

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i have a soft spot in my heart for canines with underbites, and that doggie had one for the guinness book of wold records!

the tour of the mangrove area was fun. we basically sat in a boat while our guide motored us through this beautiful ecosystem. a tough way to spend an hour. we saw lots of birds, a handful of crocodiles and some turtles.

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the tour ends at this freshwater lagoon where you can swim around with a bunch of fish. its fenced off from the crocs of course!

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after the tour was done, it was time to hop back into our trusty nissan tiida and head inland for amatlan de cañas. which will be the subject of another post because its getting late and i need to get to bed!

 

 

people, we are moving to vancouver. i got an offer to work at sony pictures imageworks, and we’re packing up our bags and heading north in about a week! its going to be a shock trading this bohemian lifestyle in mexico for the bustle of a big city (and a full time job), but all three of us are excited.

the gig is for two years, so for the first time in a while we will be parking ourselves somewhere for a decent amount of time. after speaking with the people at imageworks, i am excited to be working there – it sounds like they have a great team and are developing some very cool technology. vancouver also sounds like a fun place to be, so its a win-win situation all around.

i really am so grateful to be able to live in so many different countries and cultures. being able to experience different modes of living has truly made me appreciate the good and bad in all walks of life.

here are some things we are looking forward to in vancouver:

  • a functioning postal service.
  • a huge variety of foods, both for cooking at home and eating out. i’m ready to put a hurting on some pad thai right about now. brenda is jonesing for sushi, and nayou will inhale whatever we put in front of him.
  • biking everywhere. this is the perfect time for nayou to learn how to ride a bike!
  • access to museums, galleries and other cultural things that aren’t as easily available in sayulita.
  • easy access to the mountains (and snow!).

and some things we’re going to miss about sayulita:

  • spending lots of time together as a family. this is hands down the best thing about being here. i calculated the other day that out of nayou’s five and half years of existence on this planet, i’ve been around full-time for just about three of them.
  • not having to wear very many clothes, and shoes (really just flip flops) being completely optional. when it rains though, nayou likes to create makeshift ponchos out of two plastic bags. so cute!
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  • eating as many mangoes, watermelons, pineapples and other tropical fruits as we like, for almost no money.
  • the three minute walk to the beach.
  • surfing. at least when there are waves. haven’t been that impressed with the swells this time around. still, a wave is a wave, and when you’re on one its just sublime. i feel like i really stepped up my surfing skills this year, and its going to be a shame to be on a hiatus from it.
  • doing two hour yoga practices if i feel like it. and at any time of the day.
  • just the general lazy pace of life. case in point – here is a quickie video of one of our lazy breakfasts in our front patio. definitely going to miss these!
  • rock lover and saphira:
    IMG_0373i‘m trying to resist turning into another blog with loads of cat photos, but its oh so hard to resist. i never understood why people obsess over their cats so much, but now i know. i catch myself talking to them all the time these days.

now that our departure has been confirmed, i’m determined to enjoy the lazy pace of life here while it lasts. there were days when i felt a bit trapped and claustrophobic here, especially during the sometimes frustrating job search, but really that was just the stress talking. all thats left to do now is to kick back and smile (and pack up the house, find temporary accommodation, settle up all the bills about a gazillion other things). as they say in mexico, animooooo!

 

so we are back from our amazing road trip. it was a week of fun, laughter and happy times. i’ll be posting a proper update very soon with all the gory details.

one exciting thing that happened – nayou got another visit from the tooth fairy! i was brushing his teeth during our first night on the road, and it just fell out.

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following our all day splash in los arroyos verdes, nayou and i came down with something weird. nayou had a pretty high fever, and i had a weird feeling deep in my sinuses. the water in the pool wasn’t that clean and both of us spent a lot of time in it so i suspect there was something in there that our bodies did not like very much. poor nayou was wrapped up in blankets on the couch and kept on dozing off. you know something is wrong with the poor guy when he falls asleep spontaneously!

20130828_02 20130828_03luckily we recovered just in time for our dear friend bodie to come down for a visit. he’s here for a whole two weeks, which is amazing! we are planning all kinds of adventures, including a week long road trip starting next monday 🙂

20130828_05bodie was a gracious mule, and hauled over a kilo of chocolate (thanks aunty aya!), an unexpectedly large ergonomic keyboard, a star wars lunchbox and a toy lightsaber (thanks again aunty aya!). we are all in seventh heaven right now with our new toys. nayou has packed all of his fishing gear into the lunchbox, which he refers to as his “fish pack”. he is one happy (and healthy) camper indeed!

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its birthday season here in sayulita. there are an awful lot of people born in late august, including yours truly who will be turning the ripe old age of 35 in a week. yesterday nayou’s friends maximo and costa both celebrated their 5th birthday with a party at los arroyos verdes. los arroyos verdes is a super chill area with a pool and cabins where you can set yourself up for the day, or even spend the night. its been on our radar for a while now but we never made it down there until now.

the party was pirate themed, which made it the perfect chance to use up our leftover tattoos from christmas and get crafty with some eye patches and bandannas. arrrr!

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for presents, we made the birthday boys some “sea anemones” filled with treasure (marbles, coins, shells and coral), along with a story about how we came into their possession. we thought it was a cool gift although i think maxxi and costa were more excited about the lego sets that kept on streaming in.

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the party itself was really fun. of course it wouldn’t have been complete without a pinata, which nayou took down with a couple of blows!

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we spent lots of time in the water, ate too much cake, and came home tired and content… except for nayou, whose stomach felt a bit queasy after all that sugar!

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nayou has been obsessed with fishing lately. ever since he went fishing for the first time, he has developed a big love for the sport. usually we go once a day, sometimes two. we’ve made some fishing lines out of plastic bottles which have proven to be very sturdy and efficient.

our favourite place to go fishing is off the rocks at playa de los muertos. muertos, as the locals call it, is a small beach just around the point from sayulita. we never spent much time there during our first stay here, but this time its our go-to beach. its small, tranquil, and has a good amount of fish.

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today we spent most of the day fishing and swimming at meurtos. we being our beach umbrella for shade onto the rocks, although it keeps on getting blown away by the wind and i have to jump in and get it. at least we got another photo for my sexy man calendar i’m putting together.

IMG_0407we also had a picnic! nothing like tostadas, salsa, avocado and watermelon on a hot sunny day.

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we bought some shrimp from the local fish shop to use as bait, but the cunning fish ate them all up without getting hooked.

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then some fishermen came by on their boat to catch some sardines for bait. brenda got their attention and they happily shared some of them with us. shortly after, brenda hooked a big fish! we don’t know what kind it is, but it has a lot of dense meat on it. its fish taco night at our house tonight (except for me… i’m sticking with the vegetarian options :))!

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yesterday we spent the morning at tierra luz, an eco-community just outside sayulita. our friends jess and alyssa plus their son atticus are the managers of the community. they invited us to come and pick some cucumbers they had planted as part of their food forest. we found some gigantic ones hiding under the vines – and they only planted the seeds a month ago! everything thrives with the rain and the heat!

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after our cucumber plundering, we all went back to our house where alyssa made nayou this palm frond crown. nayou kind of looks like a young jesus…

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the partay continued with dinner at another friend’s house. miranda is house sitting a gorgeous place on the outskirts of town, and we got to hang out in the jungle for a little bit. its so nice to be out in nature because everything is so lush!

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