One Month in Mexico

 We are back in San Pancho now, after 2 weeks in Lo De Marcos.  These two towns have a very different feel. San Pancho now is a hopping place with younger clientele and a more active after dark scene. It is a holiday town rather unlike the “escape the cold for the winter” laidback retiree community, that is evident in Lo De Marcos.

San Pancho is a more developed tourist town. There is much more Gringo driven development in San Pancho.  Lo de Marcos is still the older, relatively poorer, oceanside village, but development is on the horizon. My initial thought is that it won’t take long for the beach front campgrounds (of which there are several) to be swallowed up by hotel development.  Shortly after that someone told me that a beachside development had been turned down because there are insufficient sewer and water service to support high density development.   It is just a rumour but it makes sense. The water and sewage systems in Lo de Marcos are old and government assistance for improvements are slow arriving.

The beach in Lo de Marcos is friendlier that the San Pacho beach.  Lo de Marcos has a nice swimming beach and better surfing at the south end, when the conditions are right.  The beach in San Pancho has an unfriendly shore break it’s full length.  Most of the time it is not a good swimming beach, especially for children. 

There are some great restaurants in both towns.  Lo de Marcos has several excellent family run restaurants whereas San Pancho has a mix of family run and more commercial ones.   If you are going to Lo de Marcos you will have to ask around to find the restaurants that are hidden gems.  Most are simply named after the owner and hardly any have any signage.  Why? I don’t know.

This secluded little beach is located about 3k north of San Pancho

Sunset on the beach in San Pancho.  It’s a popular spot at sunset.

Couple of friends chatting on Saturday morning

A trail through the woods to the end of the beach.

We have spent most of our time walking, exploring and relaxing.  

A couple of days ago we walked the jungle trail to Sayulita. The trail is accessible though the property of the villa at the south end of the beach. The guards let us through no problem but sometimes they don’t.  We walked up the driveway toward the highway until we intercepted the trail head. The trail is in excellent condition for walking or mountain biking. A bike club has done a lot of trail maintenance recently.  The trail is about 5k in length.

Yesterday we made a day trip to Puerto Vallarta by bus.  It was a long bumpy, noisy trip.  The road to PV is very busy and not in very good shape. The ride in took about an hour and a half. More on the way back.   Unless there is something that you specifically need to get in PV, I wouldn’t suggest the trip. There is nothing very special about Vallarta, in my opinion.

On Tuesday we are moving to Sayulita for one week before flying to Europe for the rest of the winter.  Looking forward to a change of scenery.

San Pancho is quite an artsy  community. Below is a series of photos of the artwork in town. Some are from along a lane to the beach and other various locations in San Pancho. They are all pretty cool.