Amidst Sayulita’s abundant and colorful flora and fauna, certain creatures stand out. Green iguanas, for example. These primeval, pre-historic looking reptiles—they can reach a length of four feet plus, and weigh up to 20 pounds–do have the look of small dinosaurs, with spiky backs, green, orange and black leathery skin in stripes and patterns, long, whip-like tales, sharp teeth and claws, and a baleful eye. Though they look a little scary, they’re anything but dangerous to people, being fundamentally placid, gentle creatures, unless threatened (or one falls on your head from a tree). They themselves are threatened as a species, in fact, since their territory is being overrun–by guess who?
Sayulita’s green iguana population will never be what it once was—there are too many people, cars, and dogs around—but still, there are quite a few iguanas in town. One area they’re concentrated in is the Iguana Sanctuary, ensconced for the last few decades in an enormous guamuchil tree next to the Tierra Viva restaurant on the corner of Calle Marlin and the road to Playa Los Muertos. Between this one huge guamuchil, an adjacent tamarindo, and several other nearby trees including a healthy cluster of palms, there are enough tall old trees to sustain a fairly large iguana population. According to Leyla Morris, proprietor of the Stand Up Paddle Sayulita Shop on Calle Marlin, and the Iguana Gardens Café and Bar in the shop’s grassy back yard, there are around 50 iguanas living in and around the sanctuary tree.
When Leyla started looking for a place to open Stand Up Paddle Sayulita, this location particularly intrigued her because of its proximity to the Iguana Sanctuary. In fact, the back yard of the shop is directly behind the sanctuary, and she came up with the idea for the Iguana Gardens Café pretty much as a way to open more access to the iguanas as well as draw more people into the shop.
If you should stop in for a visit, know that is particularly pretty little corner of Sayulita—behind the Iguana Sanctuary on one side and the paddleboard shop on the other—was a garbage and junk-strewn mess until Leyla and her compadres decided to take it in hand and make something of it. Now, whether you enter from the sanctuary side or the paddleboard shop side, you’ll find a pretty, grassy space bordered in back by a small stream, with lawn and lounge chairs, tables, and a café offering coffees, smoothies, shaved ice, and cocktails, beer and wine in the evenings. With the sound of the seasonal stream tumbling over the rocks nearby, it’s a tranquil, restful place—and it comes with something extra—all those iguanas!
Leyla’s beginning to get a reputation. Recently, when someone spotted a baby iguana that had meandered down the creek bed and onto the beach, looking lost, the hue and cry was, “Get the Iguana Lady, she’ll know what to do!” And sure enough, they came to Leyla, she went to the beach, scooped up the lost baby, and brought him to the sanctuary.
The Iguana Lady wants you all to know she loves having people stop on the street (and do stop into the café for a coffee or a cocktail, or who knows, a paddleboard, a bikini or a GoPro camera!) to observe the iguanas. They are usually most active, and visible, between around 11 am and 3 pm, when the sun is overhead and hottest, and these cold-blooded creatures can get warmed up and moving.
Leyla also wants you to know that she has been feeding the iguanas for months now, on their favorite diet of soft fruits and vegetables, and while she sometimes can get stuff that has gotten overripe from the local stores, feeding fifty iguanas on an ongoing basis ain’t cheap. She would appreciate any visitors dropping off their leftover perishable fruits and vegetables before they leave town. Any financial contributions are also welcome—those Mexican coins in your pocket aren’t going to get you even a single shot latte up in LA or Calgary—so why not throw them in the Iguana Sanctuary bucket? Leyla will appreciate it, and so will the iguanas.
