Say, You'll Love Hippie-Chic Shopping in Sayulita, Mexico Christa Zaro - City Weekly
go to original June 27, 2015

Nora Heilman in a hand-embroidered wedding gown at Pachamama

I'm on vacation on the Right Coast, and my first stop is the Hamptons. This Long Island enclave is synonymous with New York City pretention a la Gwyneth Paltrow. From the first time I visited last year, I was hooked. Although I'm more of a Montauk kind of girl—I like the ruggedness of its beaches and the isolation of the community—I'll take East Hampton for a day of shopping. In the Hamptons, you can see Beyoncé riding her bike down a beach lane, while eating a lobster roll with a retired Long Island firefighter at Duryea's Lobster Deck.

I'm sorry to report that I'm not going to be writing about a Salt Lake City shop today, but I want to leave you with some thoughts about travel to a shopping destination in Mexico called Sayulita. The beaches are tranquil, the vibe is authentic, and the shopping is hippie chic. Delta Airlines offers a direct flight to Puerto Vallarta, and it's an easy 45-minute drive north to the sleepy but stylish jungle surf town of Sayulita.

Ditch your car, put on some flip-flops and hop into your golf cart, because Sayulita is best seen at a slow pace. If you like high-rise resorts or condos, don't bother going. (Better yet, forget I'm writing about this place: surfers and wanderlusters want to keep it their little secret). I'm not embarrassed to say that the main reason I come to Sayulita is for a singular store named Pachamama (@pachamamasayulita). In my lifetime, I have been to only a handful of stores that make my heart swoon, and Pachamama is one of them. Owned by the famed French bohemian Mignot sisters, Nathalie and Marie, Pachamama is named after a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. She is Mother Earth. This store is the epitome of gypset (a portmanteau of jet set + gypsy, "gypset" is a term coined by New York Times columnist Julia Chaplin in her book Gypset Style).

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