Mayto

Riley’s machete skills are improving exponentially. Liz has a date to learn how to make tortillas from scratch with our neighbor Estrella.

Mayto is unbelievably beautiful. We were rather overwhelmed at first, moving into our new house up on a hill in the jungle-- about a mile from the beach, but we’re settling in nicely. It’s a crazy change from life as we’ve known it for the last 23 years, but we think this new lifestyle is going to suit us rather nicely. It feels like your own private paradise, about 45 minutes down a rugged dirt road through the mountains, you’re rewarded with an incredible beach and quite simply, the most friendly people you’d ever want to meet. It’s obvious that it’s only a matter of time before the miles of untouched beach are lined with hotels and/or houses and we feel very lucky experience Mayto as it is now.

Our house is very modest, but we already love it as if it were our own. We start each morning by sweeping the floor and wiping down the dust that falls from the ceiling and we make breakfast and do some work around the house. There are so many geckos on our walls that they ought to be paying rent, but we don’t mind, as they feed on scorpions, cockroaches and they’re also pretty cute. When we feel overwhelmed or just plain HOT we walk down to what is probably the most beautiful beach we’ve ever seen and float on our backs for a while. So far, the 4 solar panels are holding up really well, providing enough energy for light, a ceiling fan, and some music (even though yesterday was rather cloudy). We’re learning to conserve, doing things like using dish water to water plants, taking short showers, etc. Our water comes from a cistern, to which we’ll pump more water to when it’s empty. Plenty of time for reading in the hammock and playing mando on the porch.

The property is MASSIVE and we still have a lot of exploring to do. Today, Efren stopped by to borrow a ladder and showed us where we’ll be clearing space for a low-impact campground (probably one of our first projects) and Riley already has ideas for how to spruce up the entrance to the property a bit.

So far we’ve gotten more and more comfortable each night and each morning. There is an amazing peace and tranquility that permeates the entire town really, but especially our little abode.

We stopped down at El Rinconcito (the little corner) yesterday, which is one of the two hotels down the street from us, and Fernando immediately insisted that we return in an hour or so for dinner.

“Oh, you made it!” he exclaimed, having obviously heard of our difficult trip down.

We sat around for a while, talking with some of the younger people of Mayto (Joel, Victor, Veronica, Janae, Angeles, and Brenda) and Riley played a game of pool with Victor before sitting down for a great dinner of salad, tortillas, rice and chicken. We watched the sunset from the beach, and returned for another hour of conversation before bed. Our Spanish is better than we realized, and improving with each day. We talked about music (they love Reggae and tried to talk Riley out of cutting his hair), school, and life in general. Everyone was incredibly nice and welcoming and told us we were now “part of the family”-- like Dan, Holly, and anyone else who comes to Mayto with good intentions.

We feel incredibly lucky and blessed to have connected with Dan y Holly and to have this opportunity. We know we will not emerge from this experience the same people as when we entered, and that’s exactly what we wanted.

We can’t wait to have some visitors stop by, so check out flights into Puerto Vallarta ya’ll! El Rinconcito and Hotel Mayto are great, cheap places to stay just a stones’ throw away.. but we’re warning you-- you may never leave. Love to you all.