Stage 11: Mazatlan to San Blas, Nayarit
May 7-13, 2013
7.5 hours, Cuota MX$890

As I’m reviewing my Facebook posts and journal entries, I found myself baffled as to why I was so obsessed with getting to the beach. Then I went back and reread my journal for the month leading up to my departure and the lightbulb lit up like a siren. I had pushed myself so hard, and for so many years, I was beyond exhausted. I had the full body and brain fatigue that was probably worse than my worst Lyme flare days today. Driving into San Blas Centro and out the other side to the beautiful Playa del Borrego I figured I had found my perfect beach escape. This San Blas beach seemed to have it all – a gorgeous beach lined with fun and funky restaurants, lots of cool artwork, quiet roads and trails to hike with Luna, and a couple interesting local sights.

Consulting my guide book and wandering in and out of the different restaurants, I came upon the perfect beachfront cabaña. It was a nearly new two bed abode with good matresses and new mosquito nets. It also had a great deck where I could rest my weary bones, relaxing with a good book and  taking in the surf and sand. I loved the place so much that when they offered me seven days for the price of six I jumped on it! But as the owners where heading off on a week-long surf trip down the coast they told me they had to move me into the one bed cabaña, the bastard stepchild next door, with wonky floors that were more uneven than my old warehouses, had spaces between the slats that allowed easy entry for biting bugs, there was dirt and grime everywhere, the mosquito net was more hole than mesh, the messed up bed listed to the right and had springs poking through. They did change the mattress, but they refused to let me stay in the nicer cabaña. I traveled with heavy duty Deet insect repellent, but that did nothing for the jenjenes (no-see-ums) and I was being eaten alive! Why did I even stay? The town was dirty and run down, with little charm and not much to see. I was enamored of my beachside digs and I had paid for the week. Once I gave them my credit card the owners left and the manager wasn’t “authorized” to give me a refund, until I raised holy hell! I should have declined the special week rate immediately when they moved me into the new place.

If that wasn’t enough trauma, I caught my first case of Montezuma’s revenge, an affliction that would hit at least once a week, every week, until I settled in San Cristobal de las Casas. I’m cool with having bad butt, but it is not great when you have to tight cheek it through a busy restaurant to the bathrooms at the non-beach side entrance. That was embarrassing! But the worst was when it hit in the middle of the night and I burst in on the security guard sitting on the pot in the women’s lavatory having his own private moment. I couldn’t wait and went to the boy’s room – and then I understood why he was in the girl’s lav. Pee-Yoo!

Obviously, I have a lot to learn about being a world traveler and so far the lessons I have learned had not been easy.

The heaven part of San Blas was relaxing on the patio with a good book, sea breeze, beautiful sunsets, and the beach cabaña life. The hell part were the miserable bites over 75% of my body despite liberal layers of Off! and mosquito netting, bratty kids who taunted Luna (akin to poking a grizzly bear), music and parties all night long, and most of all getting the stink eye from the restaurant employees because I wanted them to either change my cabaña or give me a refund.

After five days of alternating between hell and heaven in San Blas, I was able to get a refund for my sixth night and get the hell out of there. More than one week later I was still licking my wounds, recovering, and discovering new, jenjene bites. I thought at the time, and now know, I will be scarred for life, and I will never return to San Blas. I have since learned that I’m fine with mosquito bites, but I must be crazy-allergic to the jenjenes because the bites stay forever and hurt like hell! But before I move on to our next location I want to tell you about a couple of interesting places in San Blas.

One thing I did learn, and that surprised me, is that Mother’s Day is not the second Sunday in May every year. It falls on May 10th every year and it is always a huge party, as it should be.