San Blas, Nayarit

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San Blas is both a municipality and municipal seat located on the Pacific coast of Mexico in the state of Nayarit. It is a port and a popular tourist destination. It is located about 100 miles north of Puerto Vallarta, and 40 miles west of the state capital Tepic. It had a population of 37,478 in 2005, with 8,707 living in the municipal seat.^[1] Islas Marías, site of an infamous prison colony, are part of the municipality.

The town is known among birders for its abundance of migratory birds in the surrounding estuaries and lowland palm forests, attracting significant numbers of bird-watchers. The town is also gateway, along with the nearby village of Matanchen, to the La Tovara national park, an extensive mangrove forest and federally-protected nature preserve accessed by small boats. A boat tour can be taken up the estuary, where a freshwater spring provides the local drinking water as well as a natural swimming hole used by both locals and tourists.

San Blas is known as the port where the Spanish priest Junipero Serra, 'Father' of the California Missions, embarked on his journey north. The area is also noted for its fine surfing.

The town was devastated by the Pacific Hurricane Kenna in October 2002, but has since been rebuilt. The town was mentioned by the Mexican rock group Maná in its song El Muelle de San Blas or The Pier of San Blas. It was immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's final poem, "The Bells of San Blas" written on March 12, 1882. Interestingly, Longfellow never actually visited San Blas.^[2]

The economy is based on agriculture, fishing, and the tourist industry. The main crops are beans, sorghum, tobacco, corn, watermelon, and citrus fruits. There is a substantial cattle herd and the raising of shrimp in the extensive marshlands has become a recent economic windfall despite the environmental damage.

San Blas boasts several attractive beaches, which have been kept safe from large-scale development by the area's notorious population of sand-flies. San Blas sits between two estuaries, the Pozo and El Rey, which are the main entries into a vast wetlands system. The many rivers that flow through the mangrove forests serve as the breeding grounds for fish. The wetlands also serve to buffer the land from storms and prevent erosion.

Recent incursions by shrimp farms have threatened the balance in this very fecund ecosystem. A local environmental movement has helped to mitigate the loss of substantial mangroves and diversion of waters. While claims that San Blas has suffered a loss of fish and wildlife due to development may be true, this area remains abundant in birds, bugs and crocodiles.

For downmarket vacationers (San Blas has only one luxury hotel) looking to get away from the more common tourist-filled Mexican beaches, San Blas is a popular choice.