Los Ayala, Nayarit

Los Ayala is a very small town near Rincón de Guayabitos on the Jaltemba Bay. It is quiet during the week but suddenly very busy on weekends. It is the favorite destination for Mexican families and it is also one of our favorite. It is a safe place even at night. The town is quite charming with the hills all around, the lush vegetation, the dusty streets, the sandy beach and the transparent water of the ocean, even if there are too many empty hotels and bungalows and too many new ones under construction.

We rent a "bungalow" at the El Marquéz. It is set at the back of the town on calle Cangrejera. It is a small place, very clean, very, beautiful. We have met the managers Gerardo, karina and their 4 children 3 years ago and became almost a part of the family. They are generous, intelligent, very friendly and they work hard. Gerardo's brother Hector who manages a big hotel in Rincón de Guayabitos, often says to Gerardo that he does not have to treat his customers as friends. But really, it is because of Gerardo's personality that his customers keep returning. We are one of them.
To reach Gerardo :
geryhuizar@hotmail.com

There is a good trail system in Los Ayala starting at the little playa Freidaras but also called playa del beso, kissing beach. The real playa del beso is on the other side of Los Ayala but unfortunately not accessible anymore because the people who own the land built a wall. No, it is not Donald Trump.

We got up early enough yesterday morning thinking of exploring the trails. We did not have a map but some Canadians who work on maintaining the trails explained to us where to go. We did not find the entrance of the trail which was just in front of the steps going down playa Freideras. We had to go under the barb wire but we did not see anything. I am not very good listening for directions but with a map I can go anywhere. We went on the beach and climbed the rocks around the point and that was quite easy. On the other side is playa Freideritas. Then we found a path going up in the jungle and finally we were on the trail. It was beautiful and so lush. At the beginning I was a bit concerned about snakes and scorpions, there were lots of leaves and organic matter covering the soil and I stomped my feet hard on the ground to chase them if there were any. I forgot about it after a while just happy to discover and explore new ground. We went up and down, crossed many paths and ended in a meadow with cows patties scattered here and there. We saw a gate and a fence then we went back not knowing we could have go through the gate and close it behind us. It is the way to reach the next village more inland, El Montéon. At cross path, we did not know where to go but continue on a new path. After a while walking feeling a bit lost, we could hear the waves crashing, then the kids screaming in the distance and we knew we were probably above Los Ayala. We jumped a ditch then going down hill we arrived at a barricaded gate. We saw that we could just squeeze between the post and the gate to go through to the other side, it is one of the advantages of being slim, we heard later that the other ones more plump than us had to crawl under the gate. We arrive very close to the beach and went right away to buy a map of the trail at the bungalows Delphin. We were set up for new adventures for the weeks to go.