Seeking in Sayulita

Sayulita was a rad little town. It's just touristy enough to be friendly and have stuff to do – but it's also real enough to have little dogs and garbage in the streets. But even the most mangy looking dogs have collars and seem to be well fed. They like to romp around in the ocean and take shade under our beach chairs. In the mornings one rooster will crow and start off a chain reaction of roosters crowing as far as you can hear.

Jeremy and I stayed for a week in a super modern vacation rental with concrete countertops up on a hill. We went to the market daily to stock our place with avocados, mangos, unrefrigerated eggs, and soft Mexican cheeses. We had a salt water dipping pool and every evening a view of the sunset over the ocean. But even our super fancy house began to smell like what will always remind me of Nepal – which is a byproduct of shitty toilet paper in a trash can next to the commode.

The following week we stayed at the Haramara around the corner just outside of town for a week long yoga retreat. We had a beautiful open air casita with no electricity, gas lamps, a mosquito net and open bathroom – the lack of privacy took our relationship to a whole new level. The land was peppered with probably a dozen casitas and two large open pavilions for yoga practice – both overlooking the jungle and the ocean. We watched mama Chachalaca birds feed their babies and even witnessed a migration of thousands upon thousands of crabs try and reach high ground before a rain storm.

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By the end of our trip I became especially homesick and kept thinking about People Who Travel. I especially thought about Zoe – the young Australian we met in the back of Captain Darrin's truck as we ventured out on our sailing adventure. She seemed to be in her mid-twenties and had already traveled a good deal of the world. She liked the small town of San Pancho (right next to Sayulita) and decided that she might be able to stay there for a while. And as I my craving for daily routine back home intensified I kept thinking about Zoe and what her life must look like – not necessarily the grand travels and adventures but the day-to-day in San Pancho. I wondered if the room she rents for $75 / month has air conditioning and how many articles of clothing she has. I wondered if she was mostly happy or bored or content or tired. I wondered if she missed home.

Since our trek through Nepal I've placed unrealistic expectations on my travels. I been demanding revelations, liberation, change, experience, adventure and worldliness on unsuspecting countries. I've been actively seeking out answers across borders but I'm beginning to wonder if the truth lies in quiet questions that have no boundaries. This I know for sure: I'm glad to be home.

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P.S. I've been working hard with my developer to migrate over to www.andkathleen.com which will be my new blog home within the next week or so! I'll keep you updated on how you can follow me via RSS and Bloglovin so that the switch is as easy as possible.