| | |  Travel & Outdoors | December 2008 
Two Tales of the Riviera Nayarit
 Denise Balkissoon - Metro Canada
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| | Riu Palace Pacifico - Despite its cushy trappings, it is definitely a family spot. (Steve Jenkinson/Metro Canada) | 
| | At Stoners Surf Camp, a low-key hostel and restaurant in San Blas, the affordable overnight rates include the use of charming, rickety old bikes. (Steve Jenkinson/Metro Canada) | |
On Mexico’s Pacific Coast, you can live the high life or go off-grid.
The term “snow squall” is now in regular rotation on the weather report and just about every Canadian is ready to jump on a flight south. But while the desire for more degrees Celsius is widespread, winter travellers have many differences.
Some nine-to-fivers just want a week on the beach, period: This type of vacationer considers doing absolutely nothing the best antidote to the daily grind. Others are trying to inject some adventure and new experiences into a life made grey by routine.
Either way, the stretch of ocean dubbed the Riviera Nayarit offers enticements to every sort of sun worshipper.
Nayarit is a small province in central Mexico, just below the Tropic of Cancer. The southern point of its coastal region is Puerto Vallarta, legendary as a vacation spot ever since Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton made it their love nest in the 1960s.
Once tiny, Puerto Vallarta is now a bustling tourist hot spot, sometimes tacky, sometimes fabulous, full of little art galleries worth an afternoon’s perusal. For those wanting something more chilled out, head 20 minutes north of the airport to Nuevo Vallarta, where a strip of hotels caters to the weary beach bum. Most of these are full-service resorts, but keep in mind that every all-inclusive is not created equal. Even if your holiday itinerary reads only “beach, buffet, beer, repeat,” you don’t want to spend your precious week eating hotdogs on a poorly kept beach.
Check out Riu Palace Pacifico, the latest Mexican mega-resort opened by the Spanish hotel chain. My cohort and I spent four days here indulging our laziest selves. After sleeping through the morning, we’d enjoy chilaquiles at the buffet, an awesome local breakfast of fried tortilla bits, beans, tomatoes and cheese.
Next, it was time to tan, jump into the ocean for a bit and then wile away the afternoon in the pool sipping Red Eyes (a surprisingly delicious blend of Clamato juice and beer). With a total of 110 hotels worldwide, Riu has the resort game down to a science.
Although busy, the Pacifico always feels spacious, with enough lounge chairs, bartenders and à la carte restaurant seats to keep all the guests in the 445 rooms happy. One nice aspect of visiting a resort here (as opposed to an all-inclusive in a country like Cuba or the Dominican Republic) is the chance to mingle with Mexican vacationers.
I lost an embarrassingly bad game of ping-pong to Bernard, a dad from Guadalajara who had made the three-hour drive west to spend a long weekend by the beach with his family. Despite its cushy trappings, the Palace is definitely a family spot, with kids chattering in rapidfire Spanish holding raucous relay races in the humongous pool. Come dark, the children disappear and grownups learn salsa in the flashy lavender ballroom that evokes a Mexican Moulin Rouge.
After half a week of not lifting a finger, it was time for us to slip into backpacker mode. A three-hour drive through winding roads overhung with lush leaves brought us to the northern tip of Riviera Nayarit. Here, in a wee fishing town known as San Blas, our next four days had an entirely different rhythm.
At 8 a.m., we’d have the ocean to ourselves, so he’d practise surfing and I’d take a long swim. Next, a quick bike ride down the road to pick up a breakfast of piping hot banana bread. Ten more minutes of pedalling brought us to the boys peddling Jungle Boat rides through the mangrove swamp, a steamy paradise where blue herons and anhingas fly overhead and vibrant pink orchids sprout from fallen trees; after hunching quietly in our boat for almost an hour, we finally saw a few alligators, too. Satisfied, we’d be ready for lunch at one of the many amazing taquerias, where handmade corn tortillas filled with a pile of meat and toppings cost 15 pesos (about $1.50), max.
Our home base in San Blas was Stoners Surf Camp, a low-key hostel and restaurant run by a former Mexican longboard champion. A cabana with a double bed was just 200 pesos a night (including the use of charming, rickety old bikes). Sleeping just 15 feet from the crashing waves made afternoon siestas especially romantic, and we had front row seats when the local surfers hit the waves just before dusk.
We’d watch them show off their skills, then bike into town to grab dinner and avoid the swarms of tiny mosquitos that appear as the sun sets. The main plaza was good for an hour or two of people watching, its trees full of invisible birds that squawk incessantly at all hours. Since the sidewalks roll up pretty early here, by 10 p.m. we’d be back in our secluded beach hut.
Would I rather have been welcoming the dawn with the partying revellers at the Riu Palace? I’m just glad I got to fit in both.
Riviera Nayarit
• Riu Palace Pacifico, double suites including meals and drinks for two, from $1,800 a week; www.riu.com.
• Stoners Surf Camp, two-person cabanas from 150 pesos a night; www.stonerssurfcamp.com.
• Pan de Plantano Juan Banana, 219 Calle Canalizo Sur, San Blas. Fresh banana bread daily, 40 pesos a loaf.
• La Parrillada, west end of the main plaza, San Blas. Tacos from 10 pesos. Try the asada (steak) and camarones (shrimp), and pile on all six sauces and toppings.
• Mike McDonald, 75 Avenida Benito Juarez, San Blas. A nice restaurant for a sit-down meal. Try the pollo mole (chicken mole) enchiladas. |
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