One of the best things about El Encanto is the whimsical artistic sensibility that Jim brings to the hotel and the gardens that surround it. Take this bench, for example.
Of course, I am a soft touch for any canine, and Jim has some wonderful dogs, all rescued. I am here with Sugar, a Pit Bull and Dalmatian mix.
Our second adventure here in Nayarit was a little bit nostalgic for John and me. We had come to this part of Mexico about 25 years ago with John’s dad. We were staying at a friend’s house in Puerto Vallarta, and we came north in a roofless Volkswagen bug to look at the towns on the Bahia de Banderas and along the Nayarit coast. I am not sure how we knew that you could take a boat through the mangrove swamps just south of San Blas, but we did so. I think there were only a couple boats there and we just parked along the side of the road.
How things have changed. Today that wide spot in the road boats a couple dozen shops and restaurants and there is a boatman’s cooperative that operate the rides through the jungle. There is a upside to all of this: we had a fight with our boatman twenty five years ago when he tried to tell us at the end of the ride that the price was five times more than we had agreed on. Today we just went to the office and bought a ticket and climbed into the boat.
I am not sure if this was here when we were here last, but I think it dates from the early nineties. It is the remains of a movie set build here for what I think was a Sylvester Stallone film. Maybe one of you gentle readers has actually watched one of those films and might remember which one it was.
They promised us on our ticket that we would see “cocodrilos” and sure enough we spotted an alligator about five minutes into the ride.
We also spotted a number of birds, but the boat operator did not slow down enough for me to get a photograph of any of them. After riding for about twenty minutes we came to a small zoo in the middle of the estuary. There were a number of somewhat depressing pens there, particularly a smallish one where a lynx was pacing back and forth. The ones with the alligators seemed to have the most contented inhabitants. I suspect alligators are content to do nothing if they are not having to hunt for themselves.
There was also a little swimming area, happily caged off from the rest of the estuary. Miles enjoyed the warm water. He is such a happy little baby.
On the way back, Josephine took charge, as she often does, placing herself in the bow.
After the boat ride, we went into San Blas for a bit. John knew a small hotel there which supposedly had the “best burgers in San Blas.” As it turned out, the restaurant did not open for about 45 minutes, but they were kind enough to let us use the pool.
When they finally did begin to serve lunch, some of our party, the ones in the wet swim trunks ate outside while others of us ate indoors. I am not sure about the burgers, but the comida mexicana was quite good. We had a really absurd conversation about how you could say “I have a ham on my head” in a variety of different languages. I think we figured it out in eleven! At the end of the meal, they surprised Jill with a birthday cupcake.
Back at the hotel most everybody rested until dinner. I did a little work on this blog.
Today was Jill’s birthday, and Jim provided a carrot cake for the occasion.
Ellen surprised her with a small gift: a ceramic pig to put on her head. Oh, how did I forget to take a picture of that!
