Some New Photos of Casa PŌNO Sayulita

 These shots of our house were taken by our friend, Tony, who came to visit recently.  He took the photos with his iPhone 11 and are amazing!!

Alex Is One Step Closer To Mexico's National Junior Olympic Games

Back in March, the kids were invited to go to the Juegos Estatales de Surf in Jalisco held in Barra de Navidad.  It was our first SUP racing competition since August of 2019.  We thought that one event may be the only race either of the kids would see until perhaps later in the summer.  That was until we were contacted by the Team Manager for the Jalisco State Team a few weeks ago.

After some information gathering by the Team Manager it turns out that both our kids could qualify for Mexico's SUP Nationals since they are "permanent residents" of Mexico.  They did not need to be Mexico passport holding "citizens" to compete and qualify for future junior Team positions representing the State of Jalisco.  We live in the State of Nayarit but since they had never been Nayarit Surf and SUP Federation members they were allowed to be associated with the State of Jalisco Federation in which they won their age categories back in March.  The Nayarit Surf and SUP Federation never really looked to recruit the kids either so Jalisco is our Federation now. Very cool!

Alex begins the distance race.

Then there was a twist to all of this. The Jalisco Sports Federation that governs all the State supported sporting activities is called "CODE Jalisco". Alex was asked by the Jalisco Team manager if she would be interested in competing to qualify for an event that is called Juegos Nacionales Conade. The event is basically Mexico's Junior Olympics where the States would send their Junior Champions to compete in sports of all kinds like track and field, gymnastics and archery. Trace would unfortunately be one year too young to qualify. If Alex qualified she would be invited to travel with the CODE Jalisco Surf and SUP Teams and go to the Junior National games. The State of Jalisco sports federation would pick up the travel and lodging expenses. Fortunately, the qualifying event was in Puerto Vallarta so off we went both Saturday and Sunday mornings last weekend.

We knew it was going to be a smallish event but when we arrived the first morning there was a good sized group of teenagers on the beach with coaches and several were in sports uniforms.  They were all tall, super fit and they immediately wondered who the blonde girl was with blue eyes as she set her bag and paddle down on the beach.  Turns out that the Code Jalisco Canoe Team was invited to participate over the weekend to see if there was potential in their ranks to race stand up paddle boards.  Once the Team Manager arrived and told everyone the schedule for that morning she introduced Alex to the larger group speaking specifically about her winning the Jalisco State event in March and having paddled at several large events in the States.  Alex immediately felt like she had a target on her back now that she was labeled as the most experienced and accomplished paddler in the field.  The time had come to make sure her race performance matched her paddling resume.

Alex on the water doing a Sprint race demo.

The girls were in the water first and it was immediately clear that no matter what size you are, how strong you are or how accomplished in another water sport you are having SUP paddling and racing experience is the most important factor.  Alex had 5+ years of experience to pull from and it showed.  The girls on the water began seeking out Alex and asking for some advice for the race starting in a few minutes.  The girls could certainly paddle but did not know how to paddle equally on both sides of the board, turn or feel comfortable on the board in a standing position.  Their canoe expertise did not help much in this racing format.

We did see some of the kids that competed in the event in March.  It was good to see those folks again and keep those SUP friendships going.  The two strongest girls Alex raced in March were here paddling as well and are getting better each time we see them.  One of them is even a CODE Jalisco member of the track and field team and cross trains racing on her paddle board.

All the canoe Team members were really friendly and were happy to have Alex join their group conversations and some of the boys wanted snapshots with Alex before the weekend was over.  By the end of the weekend, Alex won the distance and sprint races for her age thus punching her pass to compete in the Conade Nacional Games as a member of Code Jalisco.  The event was pushed back from June to October or November this fall.  How this might overlap other events like the separately run Surf and SUP Nationals in the second half if the year is anyone's guess right now.  That event will include Trace. This kind of thing is pretty exciting since we thought SUP racing in Mexico this year was a one and done kind of thing back in March.  Looking forward to training leading up to this event later this year.

More Murals Decorate Sayulita - Xochi

There is a new restaurant in town called Xochi.  They have remodeled what was the Calypso space just off the Plaza and given pretty much everything a new look inside, front and back.  The huge mural sits a couple levels up from the street and should you raise your gaze towards the back of the restaurant you will see this amazing piece of work.  Love this kind of thing but we have yet to try dining there just yet!

The view of the front of Xochi.