This week, with holidays on hand and the town filling up with visitors, live music has kicked in to gear around town: concerts and gigs are going down all over the place.

We caught a few last week. First, at the always rocking late night Don Pato’s (322-150-6350) on Friday night, a Mexican world beat/ska band called Destartalados played a few sets, and when the musica kicked in the dancers had a blast. > Read more

Along with everything else the week of Christmas brings lots of partying, and partying means eating and drinking to your heart’s content, and then some. In keeping with this tradition, my family indulged in a couple of wonderful restaurant meals this past week.

First, a few days before Christmas, we finally found the time to go to the restaurant at the Playa Escondida Resort, and let me tell you, the food was fabulous! Sonoran Steak with Pacific Lobster, Shrimp Scampi, Seafood Pasta, Grilled Tuna; those main courses followed the best appetizers this side of Guadalajara: tuna carpaccio, Caesar Salad, Rocket salad with stuffed chiles, and fried calamari. > Read more

In the plaza, meanwhile, we had a visit from a well-known character who doesn’t usually get this far south. That would be Mr. Claus, aka Santa, who showed up in his red suit with two assistant Santas to greet the kids of Sayulita and hand out some candy canes. Santa came courtesy of a couple of generous benefactors, Ian and Kerry Hodge, who paid for reindeer maintenance and Santa’s sunscreen; we hope that Senor Claus will find time on his increasingly busy schedule to make it to Sayulita again next year, and for many years to come. > Read more

Christmas in Sayulita arrived early, when a fine swell hit on Christmas Eve and every surfer in town hit the water to get the best waves we’ve had in a while. The swell worked all that day and into Christmas Day as well. Burros and La Lancha, over on the Punta Mita side, were both head-high plus, offshore wind, with the usual crowds but not to the point of overload. In town, the shifting sands on the bottom on both sides of the river mouth has changed the waves somewhat, so that now there are lefts to be had on the south side of the river—an unusual set up at this traditional right break—and if you moved past the left on the north side, there were some right-breaking barrels as well. > Read more

Sayulita resident Anne Menke, locally known as a co-founder and board member of the Costa Verde International School (CVIS) and internationally known as a fashion photographer, held a book signing and show opening this week for her new photography book SEE THE WORLD BEAUTIFUL. > Read more

For many people, the sunset hour is the magical hour in Sayulita; the balmy evening breezes cool things down, and over the sea and Punta Sayulita, the setting sun paints the clouds in a hundred vivid shades of red and gold; on a cloudless evening, there might be a flash of green. It’s a wonderful moment to be in the water or on the beach, drenched in sensation. > Read more

12/12/12 Daytime

This was a big day here in Sayulita and everywhere else for those who believe in convergences, numerology, magical thinking, and the universal woo woo. This was the last day in many years that the three numbers—day, month, year—will all be the same. > Read more

Another week in Sayulita. Another high season week that brought another sweetly surprising, utterly entertaining series of events. This being the week of the Celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe, there is naturally, the usual kerfuffle, starting with the 5 o’clock in the morning ka-booming of the cannon, waking the town up so people will get to church on time, on time being 6 a.m. Mass. > Read more

Everybody is familiar with the restaurants in downtown Sayulita, crowded around the plaza and on Avenida Revolucion both coming and going; and on the streets leading down to the beach. And even on Revolucion on the north side of the bridge. We are talking tacos on every street. > Read more

Sayulita’s beautiful waves—not spectacular, not epic, but super-fun and challenging when the swell hits—have grown a bit, well, thorny of late. We have a lot of good surfers in town, more every year, and they occupy a fair amount of space out there in the water. So those of us who are not shortboard “shredders”, as it were, find our waves on the edges, at times, when there is a swell. And there is a swell RIGHT NOW, this week, in Sayulita. > Read more