Overnight in San Blas

If you've heard of San-Blas, you've probably heard about the bugs. The mosquitos aren't too bad, but the jejenes, sand flies or no-see-ums, can be brutal for some people. I tend to be the bug magnet for the group, but there is no way that a trip to this buggy place was going to deter me. San Blas has a wonderful reputation for the birds that live there (because of the bugs) and the river tour sounded wonderful.

The good news is the bugs generally hang out down at the beach and are usually not too bad in the afternoons. They don't come out if there's a breeze. They come out mostly in the mornings, and late afternoons.

So, having taken Vitamin B for a week and armed with bug spray, we caught the 11:30 Nayar bus from Las Varas to San Blas. Anticipating wiggly roads, I took a 1/4 of a gravol and was happy that I did that. Gail and Chris felt a little queasy and we were all happy when we arrived in San Blas.

San Blas is a small fishing village of about 12,000 people on the Pacific Coast of Mexico located between Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlan. There are no condos here, no major resort hotels, no shopping malls, no freeways, no golf courses and no stoplights. You don't need a car to get around. It is flat, so you can walk or take a bike around town, and buses run everywhere in Mexico.

For such a small town, San Blas has really left a mark. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem about it called The Bells of San Blas. There is brass plaque with one of the verses on the very old church in the centro.
“But to me, a dreamer of dreams,
To whom what is and what seems
Are often one and the same,
The Bells of San Blas to me
Have a strange, wild melody,
And are something more than a name.”

We heard that was a movie filmed in San Blas - Cabeza de Vaca - and we saw a part of the set in the river. There is also a hit song from the rock group Mana called El Muelle de San Blas.

San Blas has also been in the international news several times. In 2002 San Blas was hit head on with Hurricane Keena, a category 5 hurricane. Much of the town was damaged or destroyed. We didn’t notice any evidence of the damage.

In 2006, three fishermen from this area were rescued on a boat near the Marshall Islands after 9 months lost as sea. There was even an article in the New Yorker about them entitled The Castaways.

We had done a little research regarding small clean hotels and immediately found Hotel Familia, about two blocks from the square. It had been a large house in the 1890’s, and the same family owns it but they have renovated it and now rent out the bedrooms. They also have a little restaurant in the front. Old world charm with a lush courtyard garden.

Being pretty hungry, we flagged down a taxi and went to a beachside restaurant for some fresh seafood. It was a nice breezy spot with a musician who occasionally played some traditional music. Vendors casually sold beaded jewellery and coconut figures. They weren’t aggressive.

The music encouraged Pat and Gail to waltz and some other Mexican women to easily coax an elderly chiclet vendor to dance with them. Well, he turned out to be quite the dancer. He even led a Congo line around the tables. He looked like a sailor to me and we learned that he was 100 years old!

Little did we know, but an International bird festival was being held in San Blas during this week and lots of activities had been planned. Bird artwork was on display, daily afternoon children’s programs were offered and evening concerts were being held in the square.

We walked around town but it was hot . No bugs though. Yay! We stopped in for refreshing drinks at the McDonalds bar. (Our friends’ last name is MacDonald. Close. As we were relaxing, two young boys came by with a big bag. We were not sure if they wanted us to buy what was in the bag or if they were joking. They opened it up carefully and there was a really big snake in the bag - a python! They actually said that it could be a pet or it could be eaten... They fed it mice.

Dinner was a few tasty tacos on the square before the concert began. The staff in the restaurant used a gel bug repellent that they recommended. They sold us a few containers (Stanhope Healthy Care) and it really seemed to work for me.

Tonight, a Rap Battle was on the agenda. Chris and I plopped ourselves down in the audience and totally enjoyed the skill that the young men had as they ‘battled’ against different opponents, with different background music and themes pulled from the audience. One theme that came up was about chocolate milk and another was about guacamole!!! People were laughing out loud. It was too hard for us to understand even though we got the gist of the battles. The audience as well as two judges declared the winners of each battle.

We returned to the hotel and noticed an old man on a 4 wheel drive vehicle playing classical music. He would stop occasionally and play his violin to the music and then move on. Was it a statement or just something he liked to share with others...

It was a fun day full of interesting experiences. And best of all, no bites!Read more