As if that wasn’t enough convincing for me, he also repeatedly pantomimed being stung by wasps – another unfortunate outcome should los serpientes not kill us first.įine. Thankfully, just as we prepared to explore that route, a man (who I assume must live right there in the jungle) stopped us from our second Certain Death Plan and pleaded with us, in Spanish, to not continue on lest we meet a deeply unpleasant fate of “muchas serpientes.” I sure didn’t need a translator for that one. We remembered the fork and definitely remembered the goats, and considering this was (believe it or not) the most detailed set of directions we had gotten so far, we felt confident about our next attempt.Ĭonfidence short-lived, these directions led us to another steep, unruly dirt road that dead-ended at the trees, with a narrow walking path leading deeper into the jungle. He said to turn around, pass the goats, and then turn right at the fork. This guy was the first person we found who actually been to the clay beach (hope rekindled!), but told us that we had missed the road a while back. Pulling up the satellite view on Google Maps (oh, the wonders of modern technology), we could see that Monterrey Beach shouldered another smaller, seemingly uninhabited beach to the south, hidden behind a thick wall of jungle and rock.Īfter some disagreement about whether or not to scale the rocky cliff and do our best to avoid the crashing waves and certain death (or, at least, I was certain about it Brandon was much more optimistic), we were saved when we crossed paths with a local Sayulitan whom Brandon knew from town. It was beautiful, mind you, and still rather isolated and empty save for the few guests staying at the resort, but it wasn’t the elusive clay beach we’d heard about. From here, we continued to drive down an unruly, steep road, making our best guesses when we’d hit unidentified forks, and ultimately ending at beachside Punta Monterrey Resort about half an hour later. Hopping back on the road, we drove south and turned onto a nameless dirt road leading into Las Lomas. Although no one spoke English, we were able to get the name of a different town, Las Lomas, where we should instead begin the search. After a couple of failed attempts to get information from the tourism company in town (the employees of which had never heard of a clay beach in the area), we headed to the beach to chat with the locals. Our journey first started by driving a few towns north of Sayulita into Lo de Marcos which, rumor had it, served as the access point to the clay beach. I dragged Brandon, a Sayulita resident, with me on this “wild goose chase,” and I’d highly recommend bringing a companion if you make the trek yourself because, as this post makes very clear, it’s quite easy to get lost. But I’m here to tell you that it does, in fact, exist, and is even more wonderfully magical than you could imagine, albeit requiring a heavy dose of work to find. There’s almost nothing online about it, and after asking tons of locals, it became apparent that most people living in the area have never even heard of the beach. The clay beach really is something of a myth around Sayulita in the Nayarit region of Mexico's Pacific Coast. And if you are making this trek, and you’re keen to avoid some of the mishaps I faced when trying to find it, I’ve provided all the details about how to get here and tips for the journey in this blog post (read on!). But if you’re willing to make the trek into the jungle to find this clay beach, you probably already value the untouched beauty of the place and will do your best to keep it that way (that means please don’t leave your trash behind). I almost didn’t write this post because A) I sort of hate to deprive you of the adventure of finding the secret clay beach yourself, and B) I deeply hope this spot remains shrouded in a bit of mystery (and out of the eyes of heaps of tourists, resorts, developers. ![]() ![]() It’s the stuff of legends: a path through the jungle to a secret, secluded beach hiding on the shores of Western Mexico mineral-rich clay tucked between the rocks that will return your skin to its youthful, baby-soft glow crystal clear waters to wash the sunbaked mud off your body.
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