Haha yah, I'm sure the t-shirts had little to do with the locals. Cabo San Lucas did seem a lot more deplorable heavy, although PV does have their share of Boomers who I'm sure are more right-leaning. But ZR being a GLBT-friendly area, the general sentiment is more progressive.
Yah, I'm quite skeptical about the food claim as well, but we've tried 3 of their recs so far, and all have been excellent. Our landlord told us he thought one of the restaurants we tried was just "meh" and gave us a list of 8 places that are even better (in his opinion). So we're excited to try all these places out.
Today we ate brunch at a place called Mi Café. $7.50 for each plate, very filling, and quite good:
Yes, we're for sure planning to visit Sayulita soon. One of the big advantages of PV is the seemingly endless # of cool beaches nearby as well as some Pueblos Mágicos up in the mountains only an hour or 2 away to visit. That's one of the big negatives of Mazatlán is that it's super isolated from the rest of México, there isn't really an interesting city within about a 6 hour drive.
Re: the apartment. We negotiated it down to $1k/month b/c we're mostly staying here during low tourist season. If we were to stay in the Winter months, I think it would be $1300/month. We're very pleased with the place though, great location for us, 8 minute walk to the beach, 5 minute walk to the touristy zone, but relatively quiet and in an area w/slightly more locals and great restaurants. The apartment is 2BR, and about 750 sq. ft. I believe.