El Espino

El Espino is a hamlet in the far south of the municipality of San Blas, Nayarit, among the low wooded hills that rise behind the coast south of Santa Cruz de Miramar. It lies about 3 km south of the village of Jolotemba and some 2 km off the state road from El Llano to Ixtapa de la Concepción, which is the way in. San Blas is about 21 km away in a straight line, roughly 33 km and 40 minutes by road.

It is one of the smaller places in the municipality: the 2020 census counted 75 people living in 25 homes, a clear drop from 116 in 2010 and 110 in 2005. All homes had electricity and piped water in 2020, about half of the residents over twelve had work, and nearly one in ten was born outside Nayarit. Despite its size, El Espino has a community preschool and two small primary schools, named after Gabino Barreda and Nicolás Flores Delgado.

The country around it is hilly: Cerro El Filo, 258 meters high, rises about a kilometer and a half to the north, toward Jolotemba, and Cerro El Toro, 311 meters, about three kilometers away. There are no shops, restaurants or lodging for visitors; the nearest listed eatery is a small restaurant in Jolotemba, and the larger villages of El Llano and Santa Cruz de Miramar, five to seven kilometers north, have food, fuel and rooms. From there the coast road leads on to the oyster restaurants of Aticama and the beaches of Matanchén Bay.