Prices for lodging run the gamut in Sayulita, but they are exponentially less than most beach-side prices stateside and the resort prices up the road in Puerto Vallarta. There are a few hotels and hostels in Sayulita, but the majority of lodging options are privately owned bungalows, condos and houses with prices for every budget.

The beachfront hotel Playa Escondida overlooking the bay offers an array of rooms, from beachfront cabanas to more traditional hotel rooms. Costs vary from $100 a night in the summer to $475 a night in the high season for a Mayan-themed, two-story bungalow overlooking the beach (playaescondida.com).

The private palatial spreads - with multiple bedrooms, private pools, cooks, housekeepers and rarely needed air-conditioning - up Gringo Hill rent for as little as $200 a night in the summertime low-season. High season - February through May - sees rents for the best climb to $400 a night or more. Smaller, one-bedroom bungalows up Gringo Hill, a decent stroll to the beach but more apt to snare ocean breezes, rent for as little as $45 a night.

Prices increase the closer to the water. A bedroom in the surfside hostel at Papas Palapas (805-481-7260) rents for $35 a night in low season and double that in the peak season. Lodging at Punta Mita, home to a Four Seasons and Jack Nicklaus golf course, are similar to those found in Sayulita. But lodging in San Francisco/San Pancho is cheaper.

A campground in Sayulita, right in the middle of the beach next to Papas Palapas, offers tent sites and trailer hookups for about $20 a night, which includes the town's rowdiest and most colorful camaraderie.

Yes, Puerto Vallarta has a more varied supply of eateries. But no, they are not any better than those at Sayulita. And with more than 30 places to eat in Sayulita - ranging from white linen and fresh-pressed waiters to roadside tables and shoeless servers - it's hard to run out of options.

you'll get handed a wave in the local lineup. For a truly rich buzz, order Alberto's Slater 7 cocktail, a heady mix of seven liquors. Check out Alberto's live webcam at sayulitafishtaco.com.

Choco Banana, (14 Calle Delfin) also on the square, kicks out fresh fruit smoothies and tasty coffee that obliterates post-surf-session salty tongue and fuels the second session. Choco's signature drink - espresso, milk, chocolate and a frozen banana all blended and topped with whipped cream - is highly addictive.

The Café Economica behind the taxi stand on the square doesn't have a sign. No menus, either. You get what they're cooking, and it's always fantastic and ridiculously cheap. It's where the locals eat, so visitors shouldn't expect attentive service.

Sayulita Café on Av. Revolucìon is small and cramped, but the food is extravagant. The Molcajete Azteca dish is a fiery bowl of goodness like no other. The dish of giant prawns swimming in a papaya sauce is equally unique. And get ready to swing when Mexico's own Elvis - really more of a Donny Osmond - comes by for a dinnertime serenade.

Every night, streetside vendors roll out the grill and serve up some of the tastiest vittles in town. Four can gorge at one of Sayulita's many nameless taco stands for less than $10, all while watching fresh-off-the-clock locals liven up the town square. The best are the most crowded, like the red-tented cafe by the bridge over the Rio Sayulita and the exceedingly modest chicken-on-a-spit shack on Av. Revolucìon coming into town.

Be careful of the salsas the taco makers push. Twisted in little baggies and covertly stowed with the tacos like some sort of illicit drug, the combustible concoctions can punish even the most callous-tongued tourist. Those salsa pushers seem to get a twisted pleasure from watching gringos boil and sob. Take advantage of the town's well-stocked trio of paleterias for dousing oral flames. The frozen bananas wage a chilling battle against the painful Tepìn salsa most vendors slyly promise you will love.

In the afternoons, shortly after booty-laden panga skiffs motor up onto the beach between startled sunbathers, tired trucks crawl through Sayulita with rooftop speakers blaring. The voice may be distorted, but the trucks are full of treasure. The shrimp, dorado, snapper and, on good days, tuna packed inside were blissfully swimming not an hour earlier. Save a few pesos by skipping the truck-toting middlemen and catching the fishermen as they ram their pangas up on the sand between 10 a.m. and noon every day. It's not difficult to find a local chef to prepare a meal in your private home. Ask around at the local taquerias. Most charge about $5 a person plus the cost of groceries.

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