Nayarit

Sayulita by Robert Richter Pull up a comfortable chair and allow yourself to be transported back to another Mexico, to a small seaside village before the arrival of condominiums, time share vendors, polluters and exploiters, and the all-inclusive resorts with herds of tourists spilling into downtown areas where they shop for trinkets and souvenirs of […]

Nayarit is still one of Mexico’s best kept secrets. Here you will find rich traditions, beautiful beaches, and “secret places” to discover for yourself. If you are planning a trip to explore Nayarit, you will want to consider doing it by car and taking the time to visit some of the places listed below. Formerly […]

Sayulita beach is stunningly beautiful, and most visitors are completely captivated by its charm. The two-mile long beach boasts soft fine sand, warm blue waters, perfect surfing waves and is adorned by rich tropical foliage and swaying palms, fulfilling most people’s fantasy of a tropical oasis. Indeed Sayulita is commonly referred to as “The Jewel […]

The Huichol Indians, whose pre-Hispanic culture still survives in the remote Sierra Madres ranges, live a life woven of magic and sacred mythology. Believing themselves to be that part of creation which entertains the Gods, Huichols are sustained by their earthly representatives – corn, peyote and the deer – thus symbolically renewing their divinity daily. […]

The fog of hallucination that occasionally seems to envelop Mexico hovers over San Blas most of the time. The amiable residents talk of their future as the next Puerto Vallarta while they wave towels to keep off the abundant mosquitoes, and inquire if you don’t find their town tranquilo while you yawn, stupefied from a night clamorous with the […]

The mangrove swamps of Mexico’s Pacific Coast shelter a seldom-visited jewel of a day-trip destination. Legend has it that the man-made island city of Mexcaltitan, was Aztlan, the ancient home of the Aztecs, and that it was here a priest had a vision of an eagle perched on a nopal cactus, eating a serpent, which he interpreted […]

Cogan’s Reviews I’m not sure why I haven’t reviewed this book, currently in its 3rd edition, sooner. It’s been around since 1993 and it was one of the first books my wife and I read when we arrived here in Ajijic eight years ago. And – heaven knows! – I’ve reviewed more than 60 books […]

Cogan’s Reviews In a Village Far From Home: My Life Among the Cora Indians of the Sierra Madre By Catherine Palmer Finerty University of Arizona Press Paperback, 2000 Available from Amazon Books: Paperback I borrowed this book from a friend who borrowed it from a friend. And when I was finished I immediately started recommending it […]

Edd Bissell, 64, almost retired as a Tennessee pharmacist and gentleman farmer, has found a new home, at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, on the Bay of Banderas, on the left bank of Mexico, in the edge of Nayarit, not far north of Puerto Vallarta, between the last range of the Sierra Madres and the Pacific […]

Artist James Vitale, owner and operator of El Encanto, a boutique eco-hotel or maybe a healing place or perhaps a vibrant retreat for creativity and education, came onto his verandah to say “Good morning, Mexico.” Living in peace and tranquility in the pueblo of Santa Cruz de Miramar, between San Blas and Tepic in the […]

After many downhill twists and turns, at the very end of a road built for Nayarit royalty, is a little lake that could have spilled from a book of fairy tales. La laguna Santa Maria del Oro, in the crater of a long-ago volcano, is near enough to perfect to forever please Christopher French. He’s been […]

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow waxed poetic about the bronze bells of San Blas without seeing or hearing them. These less eloquent westwords are about the bugs of San Blas, a very up-close and much too-personal accounting with scars as proof of participation. From a distance, San Blas is just another beach town, in the state of Nayarit, on […]

Larry Herman never expected to live this long. He made no financial provisions for old age. At 69, he and his best friend Lynda, 65, escaped subsidized senior housing in Savannah, Ga., by going back to work. They got away from wheelchairs, walkers and the sadness of people waiting to die. Alas, they soon discovered […]

Here is a gift for you, good news, a mid-term report from my favorite little Mexican school. Several years ago I told you about Edd Bissell, pharmacist from New Market, Tennessee, who retired to the high-rent district, Punta Pelicanos, in the town of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, on the beautiful Bay of Banderas, in the […]

Three Mexican fishermen, lost at sea for nine months and nine days, were world news for a few minutes in 2006. Their survival was a miracle of faith and fierce determination, or the biggest fish tale ever told. As you may recall, shark hunters Salvador Ordonez, 37, Jesus Vidaña and Lucio Rendon, both 27, ran […]

Really good things keep happening for San Quintin Escuela. How this very rural elementary school has risen from nothing to something special is a stunning success story. The small Nayarit village in the foothills of the Sierra de Vallejo mountains, just 40 kilometers from downtown Puerto Vallarta, is a different world. It is not distinctive […]

This story starts on the evening of September 9, 1991 at the National Guard Armory in Knoxville, Tennessee. Stan Brock, an unusual Englishman made semi-famous by his role in the TV series Wild Kingdom, had founded something called Remote Area Medical and was soliciting volunteers for a three-week mission to one of the Tuxpans somewhere in the […]

How did Robert Mulligan find himself, in August, in a Mexican jungle, running a small flat-bottomed boat up a sleepy little river into the steamy interior, pointing out tiny alligators to the wives of two retired telephone executives from Detroit, Michigan? Three years ago when he left his tenured position teaching literature at a small […]

Something for Nothing By Robert Richter Publisher: Dark Oak Mystery Series, 2015 Paper: $14.95 US Kindle: $2.99 US Robert Richter’s new novel, Something for Nothing, is his third featuring Cotton Walters, ‘not your ordinary roving gringo’, who is called Algo by his Mexican buddies, shortened from the Spanish word for Cotton, algodón. Although Cotton prefers ‘a […]

Something Like a Dream By Robert Richter www.oaktreebooks.com Available from Amazon Books: Paperback Also on Kindle and other electronic formats Robert Richter’s remarkable novel, Something Like a Dream, begins like this: “I am outside myself again and watching the charred body of Cullen Bryant Springfield, slung on the back of a burro, coming down the mountain toward us […]

“An earlier article on the easy-going beachside town of Guayabitos focused on the services the town offers and on activities within easy walking distance. Most people staying more than a few days begin to get itchy feet and wonder if there is anywhere worth visiting a little further afield. This article suggests some possible side-trips […]

“There is a sensitive filament in our beings, which responds to Mexican music…. To the sight of a horse well ridden, to the spectacle of a bull skillfully lassoed…. All of us, absolutely all of us, share the national feeling for horsemanship.” José Alvarez del Villar Bill, my husband, answered the phone and handed it […]

How well can a person understand a culture not their own? Can experiences be understood without full command of the Spanish language; a language in which civility is interwoven like lace? With these questions I return again and again to Mexico. Invited to sit “down at the table,” I’m gradually getting to know the people […]

Gold-colored walls line the main street through Santa María del Oro, Nayarit. Bumping along the cobblestones in our camper-van, we are following in the footsteps of the Spanish conquistadors. In 1504, the nephew of Hernán Cortés, Franciso Cortés de San Buenaventura came here, in search of gold. In 1530, the renegade conquistador, Nuño Beltrán de […]

The inviting, and genuinely Mexican town of Lo De Marcos, still to be discovered by foreign tourists, is located just 20 minutes north of the San Pancho. It is a popular spot with affluent Mexican families who vacation here on weekends and holidays, spending the entire day, from dawn to dusk, frolicking at the beach. […]

Punta Raza is an incredibly beautiful and pristine beach in a spectacular setting. Its two miles of unspoiled beach are a prime example of the incredible beauty of Nayarit beaches where the jungle meets the sea. Punta Raza is set amid the Vallejo Mountains with its tropical foliage, mahogany trees, waterfalls, and estuaries filled with […]

Rincon de Guayabitos, which means translates to “Corner of Little Guava Trees” is five minutes north of Los Ayala, and truly a delightful and picturesque beach. The beach offers shallow safe swimming waters, gentle waves that are perfect to play in, and three miles of fine, velvety sand to walk along. The surrounding majestic mountains […]

Another splendid tropical beach, Chacala is located about forty minutes north of La Peñita and just a few minutes south of the town of Las Varas. You know you are heading somewhere very special indeed as you drive along the windy road set amidst yet another, lost jungle leading to the town, whose name means, […]

The beaches of San Blas are extravagantly beautiful and beckon the adventurer with several palm lined pristine secluded beaches, and hundreds of migratory birds. For Indiana Joe and Jane, San Blas’s coast boasts numerous virgin beaches, where the sand is every colour. Los Cocos and Platanitos are some of the most beautiful. The only down […]

In Part One, we looked briefly at the origins of Huichol religious and commercial art, in particular the yarn or bead paintings. The Norwegian explorer and ethnographer Carl Lumholtz left us detailed descriptions of Huichol art as he found it between 1890 and 1898. We are thus able to compare original Huichol symbolic and decorative […]

In Parts One and Two, we looked at certain aspects of Huichol art as it is found on the market today, especially the question of its “authenticity” and the commercialization of traditional Huichol religious symbolism and decorative art. We touched on some of the better known artistic creations, such as the colourful yarn or bead paintings and the Huichol cross […]

Huichol art has come a long way since Carl Lumholtz first recorded it in the late 19th century. In previous articles, we looked at some of the changes that have taken place over the years in the form and function of Huichol art, particularly the transformation from a strictly religious function to a commercialized folk […]

Some years ago, Huichol art became very popular and was being sold at fabulous prices at exclusive boutiques around the world. On one occasion I helped my Huichol friends Nacho and his son-in-law Juventino sell some large yarn paintings. Shortly afterwards I was invited to attend the annual peyote fiesta at Las Guayabas, Nacho’s home […]

The Huichol Peyote Fiesta takes place around the end of May or the beginning of June, the start of the traditional rainy season in Mexico. The main purpose is to assure that the rain gods return to refresh the earth and nourish the newly-sown crops of beans and maize. The Huichols are located in large […]

I don’t like flying; or rather it’s the going up and the coming down that bothers me most. Once I’m in the air and realize there is nothing I can do about it, I become quite philosophical about it all and try to forget my good friend John Hindmarsh, a skilled pilot, who for no […]

Stories about the creation of the universe are found in many places in the world throughout history. We have our own creation stories: Creationism, Intelligent Design, and Darwinian Evolution. Whichever one and for whatever reason you choose, all are attempts to explain who we are, why we are here, and is there any real purpose […]

I began reading about Indians when I was a boy and my sympathies were always with the underdog, so I warn you that what follows is not a scholarly objective study of the Huichol Indians (probably one of the most studied and least understood peoples on earth) but simply my personal opinions based on my […]

The Huichol Indians of Jalisco and Nayarit have accomplished the almost incredible feat of maintaining their independence and most of their traditional values well into the 21st century. Thanks to the rugged terrain of the Sierra Madre mountains the Huichols were able to escape the brunt of the Spanish invasion. They continue to celebrate their […]

Jaltemba Bay is a quaint, friendly and welcoming vacation destination comprised of four charismatic beach towns on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. It’s located on Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit; just a little off the beaten path, but worlds away from the movie star glamour of other Nayarit beach towns like Punta Mita, where Lady Gaga was recently spotted […]

Isla Isabel is located 34 kilometers (21 miles) off Mexico’s west coast. It is a National Park and wildlife refuge with a population of some 42,000 birds and, in 2003, was named a World Heritage Site. On top of that, Isabel Island is a Ramsar site (wetlands of international importance). Because the birds and iguanas […]

Let the adventure begin! The children were understandably excited as we exited Puerto Vallarta airport after flying from Seattle via Los Angeles. They were going to revisit some of their favorite haunts for the first time in several years. Smiling immigration officers were quick to deal with the sudden influx of passengers disembarking from the […]

La Peñita de Jaltemba means “Place on the sandy shore, across from the cliff.” Its beach is not the most beautiful in this area. One might say it is a little rough around the edges, being frequented by fisherman at the main entrance, and with a crumbling cemetery on the far north end. That said, […]

Playa San Francisco is a beautiful wide, sandy beach, fierce and riotous, set in the artsy town commonly referred to as “San Pancho.” Like most towns along the Nayarit coast, San Pancho was once a fishing village and mango processing town. It is now an up and coming small Mexican town bejewelled with the striking […]

This charming little beach town located on Pacific Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit, is only a forty-minute drive north of Puerto Vallarta. Sayulita has exploded in popularity as an alternative beach vacation destination during the past few years and celebrity sightings are becoming rather common place. You just know that Sayulita is special, even before arriving, because […]

Are you looking for a unique and affordable vacation experience far from the world of all-inclusive resorts? Would you like to experience authentic Mexico at the same time? Then head right on down to the Riviera Nayarit! Here you can enjoy exploring gorgeous tropical beaches, dine on fresh seafood, and satiate yourself with papayas and […]

The eclipse has special meaning for the Huichol, because it represents the eclipse of July 11 1991 at 10:21 A.M. Pacific Coast time. This is the sixth sun according to the ancient Meso-American Calendars of the Maya. When Cortez arrived it was the begining of the fifth sun. As we all know, Cortez changed their […]

The spectacular images in these photo galleries show the Huichol people at home (taken by Robert Otey) and of Robert Otey’s collection of beaded jaguar heads and other artwork.

North of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico’s Nayarit Riviera coast has a wealth of beaches to discover and enjoy. Their cool blue waters, warm sand and exuberant vegetation invite the explorer to linger a while. Each beach is truly a hidden gem set amid the green jungle vegetation. Playa del Naranjo, a picture-perfect, escapist beach on the Nayarit Riviera awaits […]

The following is a quick guide to the cuisine of Nayarit. This guide was discovered by Conner and adapted from the original Spanish version by Camille. There are several foods listed for which there are no translation as they are native to the region. The Nayar Mesa is famous for its chiles and, as such, […]

Interactive map of Pacific Coast beaches in the states of Jalisco, Nayarit, Colima and Michoacán, Mexico The interactive map shows the coasts of the states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán. These states all have some great beaches, and tourism is an important activity in many of the towns shown on the map. Some of […]

Interactive Map of Nayarit, Mexico The state of Nayarit is in Mexico’s Central Pacific Region, along with the states of Colima, Jalisco and Michoacán. The state has an area of about 27,800 square kilometers and a population of 1.2 million (2017). The capital city of the state of Nayarit is Tepic. Tourism is important to […]

Are you looking for a unique and affordable vacation experience far from the world of all-inclusive resorts? Would you like to experience authentic Mexico at the same time? Then head right on down to the Riviera Nayarit! The following articles will help you to do just that. – Living year-round in tropical Mexico: The dream […]

The author of the famous poem “The Bells of San Blas” had never ever visited the town. The San Blas that the poem refers to is in the state of Nayarit, on the Pacific coast. Today, it is a small town, with several good hotels and restaurants. Close to the town are a variety of […]

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When tourists visit tropical Mexico, they are sometimes invited to visit a coffee plantation. My invitation came when I was camping with my family near Aticama, a small village on the Nayarit coast, 10 miles south of the pleasant sea-side resort of San Blas and approximately 100 miles north of Puerto Vallarta. Beyond the village […]

Felipe Avila handed me his burning candle, converting me from spectator to pilgrim in the Fiesta de Guadalupe! My arrival in Puerto Vallarta coincided with the beginning of the weeklong Fiesta de Guadalupe, Reina (queen) de México. From December 6 until December 12th, Mexicans celebrate the miracle of her appearance in 1531. On a barren hill, a beautiful […]

Internet Access: Above “Doc’s Restaurant”. Fast, satellite connection, friendly service. English spoken. Laundry: At the Bungalows” or 1 block toward town from the river and 1 block toward beach from main street. Groceries: Largest selection at grocery across from town plaza. Public telephone: Next to Argentine restaurant near town plaza and across from grocery store. […]

Mexico Notes– part 6 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. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Bells of San Blas San Blas squats at […]

On Mexico’s west coast, few cities lie between Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. Looking at a map of Mexico, San Blas sits halfway between the two. Its location is indicated by a red dot as opposed to a blue dot, meaning it is a city of some consequence. It holds its own as far as population, […]

The real estate market can be divided into five distinct zones. The most northern zone, in the STATE OF NAYARIT, is approximately 45 minutes from central downtown Puerto Vallarta. The mega-resort in Punta de Mita is under way and this area will become one of exclusivity, anchored by the Four Seasons Hotel. Returning toward Puerto Vallarta […]