Sayulita is a small town in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
along the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
at the south end of the state of
Nayarit
Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...
and north of
Banderas Bay Banderas may refer to:
People
*Alberto Del Rio (Alberto Banderas), Mexican professional wrestler
* Antonio Banderas (born 1960), Spanish actor
*Josh Banderas (born 1995), American football player
*Julie Banderas, American television news correspond ...
. It has a population of approximately 2,300 inhabitants.
Name
Don Lauro González Guerra, born on June 2, 1887, son of Basilia Jiménez and Lauro González, named it after
Sayula, Jalisco
Sayula is a town and municipality in the Mexican state of Jalisco, approximately 100 kilometers south of Guadalajara. It is surrounded by smaller towns, such as Usmajac, San Andres, El Reparo, and Amacueca.
Sayula is the birthplace of influent ...
, Mexico.
History
In early Sayulita, only six or seven little houses existed, built of palm and lit with oil hookahs that were manufactured with tin leaf. All the inhabitants of the community and the neighboring coconut palm ranches (Pátzcuaro, La Higuera, Los Caomiles, Pantoqui, San Francisco, Lo de Marcos, etc.) worked at the Jaltemba farm, owned by Ximena Plascencia Rojas, where coconut oil was extracted of spice oil Attalea Cohune. In this southern Nayarit region, coconut palm trees proliferated; the workers collected coconuts and split them in half with stones to extract oil from the nuts. During the coconut oil boom, many people died of lung diseases caused by the inhalation of the dust that coconuts give off when split.
Every week, Rojas arrived at the small port of Sayulita "El Salvatierra", where the farm's oil production was shipped. The first owner was Don Marcial Nuño, but in 1927 the Cristeros expelled him from the region and he was forced to sell the property to the Camarena family.
The farm grew, and in addition to oil production, it became an important livestock emporium initiated by Mrs. Camarena's son, Don Santiago. In 1936, Don Santiago gathered all the workers on the beach and said, "Now I give the lands to you, so that you can continue working them and in this way, prevent this prosperous region from collapsing.”
By that time, the Camarena had sold all their cattle and the government expropriated the farm land. Then Sayulita's
ejido
An ''ejido'' (, from Latin ''exitum'') is an area of communal land used for agriculture in which community members have usufruct rights rather than ownership rights to land, which in Mexico is held by the Mexican state. People awarded ejidos in ...
was born.
In the 1940s, coconut production declined considerably and the locals resorted to agriculture and fishing, which to this day is varied although less abundant. Fished sea life includes: red snapper, snapper, horse mackerel, sierra, grouper, oyster, crab, shrimp and lobster.
In 1965, the Varas-Vallarta highway was built, paving the way for an important regional activity: tourism. A few years later, a government expansion and tourism development project began; in Sayulita, the streets were paved, and its plaza square, kiosk, market and sidewalks were built.
According to local lore, Sayulita was formed more than 5,000 years ago by the gods of the waves who specifically created Sayulita as a place where the waves were perfect. According to legend, one of the gods was the god of waves, Oz.
Tourism
Tourism in Sayulita is highest during the winter season. The beach has been visited by surfers since the 1960s. Other tourists are attracted to the beach, culture, fashions, and the laid-back living. The city is also very popular with
digital nomad
Digital nomads are people who travel freely while working remotely using technology and the internet. Such people generally have minimal material possessions and work remotely in temporary housing, hotels, cafes, public libraries, co-working spac ...
s. Every year, thousands of tourists visit the town on the way to and from
Puerto Vallarta
Puerto Vallarta ( or simply Vallarta) is a Mexican beach resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the Mexican state of Jalisco.
Puerto Vallarta is the second largest urban agglomeration in the state after the Guadala ...
and
Banderas Bay Banderas may refer to:
People
*Alberto Del Rio (Alberto Banderas), Mexican professional wrestler
* Antonio Banderas (born 1960), Spanish actor
*Josh Banderas (born 1995), American football player
*Julie Banderas, American television news correspond ...
.
Fishing
Locals fish for dorado, tuna, sierra, mahi mahi, marlin,
guachinango (snapper), juriel, sierra fish, grouper or cherna, shrimp, lobster and oyster, sailfish, and fish rooster.
Access
Sayulita is located northwest of the
Puerto Vallarta International Airport
Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to:
Places
* El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain
*Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines
* Puerto Colombia, Colombia
* Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela
* Puerto Galera, O ...
and is accessible by public or private transport.
The route to Sayulita is via Mexican federal highway 200 Tepic-Vallarta north to kilometer marker 123, where a paved road turnoff leads to the town.
References
{{Authority control
Populated places in Nayarit