Driving to El Tuito

A short trip south of Puerto Vallarta was in order as my friend had a few days off and I felt we needed to get away from the hub hub of PV and find a tranquil quite place to retreat.  I have been to El Tuito for day trips several times before but this was my first overnight.  That means El Tuito where many Vallartans escape and spend time to relax, paint, draw, or write.  El Tuito is a quiet ranch town that happens to be the district area for many Mexican government offices and lies about halfway between PV and Tomatlan. 
We arrive after a 45 minute drive on a lazy Saturday afternoon and a few blocks from the main square is a quaint French B&B  El Jardin Del Tuito that provides just 3 guest rooms in a very nice setting with large rooms overlooking their own private backyard garden with large pool, flowers, animals, and a manicured lawn. www.jardindeltuito.com/  I do believe it is really the only place to stay in El Tuito and with breakfast included it is a great option.  Very peaceful, tranquil, and quiet....No TVs.
After we stopped at the Church to watch the entrance of wedding, we found a place for a late Mexican lunch of Chicken Enchiladas and Chicken Pasole at El Patio del Mario right next to the main plaza.  Very good and great prices!
Walking some more up the main street provides you a couple of restaurants, hardware store, grocery stores, etc. but not really any souvenir or arts & crafts places.  I was a little surprised to see the lack of souvenir shops, as I heard El Tuito has some great pottery creators. So back to El Jardin and an afternoon nap.....what else is there to do?  It was a pleasant day and I relaxed by the pool reading a book.
We decided to go back out around sunset to see if things might be happening on a Saturday night at the main square, but after sitting round watching the people.....nothing was happening.  A quick stop a taco stand for a dinner snack, we decided to go back to El Jardin.  If you are looking for a happening place, it is not El Tuito!  But we wanted a quiet relaxing place and that is what we got!
Tomorrow we go to Mayto Beach and I'm sure it will be a great place......

First Show at Teatro Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta

I finally made it to the Teatro Vallarta for my first show in February.  It was the ballet Romeo & and Juliet performed by a Russian traveling troupe.  Purchasing tickets can be very easy as you have the option of purchasing them online (ticketing fee) or in person at the box office.  I decided to purchase them at the box office as I like to see exactly where the seats are and that was not possible online.  Due to a friends recommendation I decided to purchase the tickets in the 2nd tier of pricing which puts you about 1/2 way up the theater seating from the stage.  Since the theater is relatively small with only about 2000 seats you get a good view from there without breaking the bank.
Arrived the night of the performance via cab, but noticed that they do have valet parking available and the lobby has a full bar/snack shop for you purchase items which you CAN bring into the theater.  As a matter of fact the seats have cup holders....very convenient. 
The unique feature of this theater is that entrance is only from the bottom, so if you have some who is handicapped there is quite a climb to your seats from down below....so be aware.  The seats were comfortable and movie theater quality with each step up a new row, so that big person in front of you is never an issue by blocking your view.  The stage was of nice size, but certainly not as large as I am accustomed to in the theaters in the US.  Emergency exits are only at the bottom of the stage and at the top of the last row.
The show was almost sold out, so it was nice to see that large of a crowd, but at least 75% were Gringos.  So it was nice to see the support from the expat and "snow bunnies" crowd.  The show was excellent and with a 15 minute intermission it was about 2 hours total.
A nice experience in a nice theater made we want to go home and see what else they might have coming up.  A great symphony performance will probably be my next choice, however they have their own weekly inhouse show "Fandango" which is features a historical dance performance of Mexico. I have heard it is very good.  For tickets and more information:  http://www.teatrovallarta.com/

Driving to Tonala and Guadalajara

After about 5 hours we end up directly into Tonala the shopping mecca on Sundays in Guadalajara.  This was my 2nd visit so I was not going into sensory overload this time!!  It is Sunday Flea Market day and for miles the vendors are out in full force displaying their wares for all to see.  Of course I had to do some more purchasing of Mexican handicrafts including a new plate for my wall, some small flower pots, and usual things I like to buy there for 10% of the price in Puerto Vallarta!
We head to my favorite hotel from there about 20 minutes away Gran Hotel de Reyes  http://www.granhotellosreyes.com/.  It seems to be the best deal and I like being across the street from Plaza Los Mariachias and the inside Guadalajara Flea Market San Juan de Dios.  After a bit of a rest from the 3-4 hours of walking in Tonala we head over to a restaurant I have come to love called Birrieria las Nueve Esquinas www.las9esquinas.com/ingles/index.html  with their special recipes of Goat and Lamb.  Homemade corn tortillas, homemade salsas, homemade beans, etc. it has won many awards for providing authentic traditional Mexican recipes and preparation methods.  Once again it was fantastic!  Located at a plaza that has 9 street corners because many streets come together here......that is the origin of their name.  After dinner a walk around the sights of the main square, cathedral and many other plazas finds us back near the hotel at Plaza Los Mariachis for some dessert!
I love this city and tomorrow we make the 5-6 drive back to PV......and work!

Driving to San Miguel de Allende

After leaving Guanajuato our drive to San Miguel de Allende was only about 1 and 1/2 hours.  Arriving by early afternoon and a quick drive around town we found a public parking lot to leave the car and get to know the city on foot....probably the best way as parking is very limited.  So we began our walking tour of the city and my first impression is that the look and the feel of the city was very uniform and the city codes must prevent the building owners from making any major changes to their street side appearances.  The beautifully handcrafted doors and bright paint colors make for a pleasurable image of a well kept city.  The shops along the way provided many handicrafts, furniture, and design ideas for furnishing homes.  San Miguel de Allende is the birthplace of one of the main revolutionarys when Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1810 and therefore his namesake.
There are numerous beautiful churches in the city including the main cathedral the Parroquia, the pseudogothic church in the heart of San Miguel de Allende.  We took some great photos of the church during sunset and later that evening witnessed a spectacular light and sound show displayed on the exterior of the church depicting the Mexican Revolution.
With a great late lunch at an Italian Restaurant, we once again we decided to take the 'cheap' around the city tour bus and it provided us with a great around town trip of many of the places to be seen including the birthplace of the water aqueducts and a drive to the upper roads with a fantastic sunset overlooking the city.    It seemed that the expensive ones were located around the main square of the cathedral so we started to walk back to our car parking lot and noticed many smaller inns along the side streets.  We had not previously arranged a hotel as we were unsure of where we were going to overnight and many of the hotels around the main plaza seemed a bit expenseive, so we ventured back toward our car along the side streets and found a great place with only 6 rooms for 450 pesos each.  We decided to make that our overnight!
We arose fairly early as our plan was to make it to Tonala near Guadalajara for the Sunday Flea Market shopping experience that I have done once before and wanted to do it again!

Driving to Guanajuato The City of Tunnels and Beyond

Since living in Mexico as of December 2009, I wanted to go and see a bit of the country that I now call home!  So this past December my Mexican friend Alvaro and I decided to make a whirlwind 4 day trip to areas beyond Guadalajara which I had been too a few times already.
So off we went at 6am and about 7 hours later arrived in Guanajuato, Mexico without any incident...not even a military or police checkpoint.  Mainly took the toll roads because of our need for speed to get to our destination.  We had pre-arranged our stay at the Hacienda D'Cobos Motel the GPS guided us there quite easily.  After a quick checkin we decided to find some lunch and explore this fantastic city before our planned city tour began around 3pm.  I find that taking the tour buses on the first visit to a town helps you get a feel of the entire place without missing some great and important sites.  Guantajuato literally means "Hill of Frogs" and was founded in 1548 as a silver mining town.  Since Guanajuato is such a difficult city to maneuver around, it was really the best choice.  The city is composed of 3 "levels"; the lower tunnels, the main streets, and the upper roads along the hill sides.  Due to the constriction of buildings, roads and the increase in cars the city had to build tunnels underneath itself to handle the traffic flow around town!  These are amazing places with entrances, exits, and underground parking.  The entrances and exits to the tunnets were scattered in cul de sacs and even with them getting around trafficd on the main streets took a long time.  The longest tunnel is about 1 mile long and our tour took us through many of them.  The design of the city was very European with many houses entrances only accessible via walkways and sidewalks.  We also had stops at the very upper street level to see the whole city from above, a great sunset spot, a working mine, a Torture Museum and of course the Mummy Museum.   All in all worth the price of 10.00 USD to see so much in about 3-4 hours! After returning to the hotel it was time to once again venture out and find dinner.  Since the city is a bit of tourist place restaurants were not cheap, so we found a reasonably priced one inside a hotel and had a great meal.  The next day we would get back up to the upper roads via taxi and take some more great photos of this picturesque and wonderful city during daylight.  We located the cable car and rode down back to the hotel that way.  And we are off to our next city of San Miguel de Allende!

Shopping Trip to Tlaquepaque & Tonala

At last a shopping trip to Tonala was in order.  My fellow coworker Heriberto decided he as going to go to Guadalajara (GDL) and so I jumped on board and said......."let's go shopping".   With a planned Friday afternoon departure, we drove to the 4-5 hours to GDL.  I had prearranged my hotel again at the Gran Hotel los Reyes as it was the perfect location and the right price, and we headed directly there.  Hery was staying with a friend so we parted ways with plans to meet the next day for some shopping on Saturday in Tlaquepaque.  A friend of mine from Mexico City met me at the hotel and we had a nice evening with drinks, dinner, and Mariachis at Plaza Los Mariachis across the street.
The next day was they day for "real" shopping as it will be my first trip to the Sunday flea market in Tonala!  Many of my Mexican friends from PV have told me about this overwhelming experience, so e prepared........ but I was not!!  Miles of vendors combined with multitudes of people all squeezed into a 5 foot wide aisle, combined with the sights and sounds of wares, food, and trinkets being sold from makeshift stalls and in the small ailse, make this a total sensory overload!
I was on a mission however, so I persevered.  I had a list of things to buy that  had been looking for and of course several things I did not have the list..........but a buyer I was.  It was just too irrestiable to find so many Mexican goods at these prices.   I bought two very large flower pots that I paid about $40 USD for BOTH that would have cost me about $100 USD  EACH in PV.  I bought a wall mask, I bought a wall plate, I bought other small flower pots, I bought a painting, I bought, I bought........  Now how do we get all this stuff back to the car?  After carrying and making my friends help carry, Hery pointed out these cart people who do the hauling for for free.....only a propina "tip".  So they will follow you around for as long as you want carrying all of your purchases in their cart?  "Of course, he replied"  What more can you ask for?
After about a couple hours of this madness we decided to get more money!!  Why not?  So conveniently across the street are several bank ATMs in the area and a row of great restaurants.  After more cash withdrawal and full bellies we venture back into the madness for what?   More shopping of course!
But time was running short and we wanted to back in PV by dark, so we had leave the shopping tasks somewhat incomplete.  After dropping my friend from Mexico City at the bus depot a few miles away we head back on the road to PV with happy "shopping" faces.  I begin to visualize where to put all my newly purchased items at my place in PV and I begin to make new plans to go back as soon as I can!

Rincon de Guayabitos, Nayarit

A short drive north of Puerto Vallarta about 1 and 1/4 hours takes you to the coastal town of Ricon de Guayabitos.  I have passed it many times on my drive down and up from the US or to Guadalajara over the past few years and thought it was time to check it out.  A planned to find a hotel on the beach and it took some time to find a value as most of the places were in the 2000-3000 peso range, which I thought was too expensive!  I finally found a place called Las Cabanas del Capitan on the beach with a very nice pool and hot tub. http://www.bungalowselcapitan.com/ It was cheaper at 950 pesos as it did not offer the full services like TV in the room....but who needs that for a 1 night stay?
Arrived in the evening and since it was rainy season, the rains came, and boy did they come that night!  Finding the hotel was a little tricky as I had forgotten to bring along the address and name!  Little hard to find a place when you forget the name!  Decided to grab a bite to eat on the main street while I worked on my memory bank to remember what it was called.
Anyway, found it after a few searches around as there is really only the main entrance street and a parallel street along the ocean.  Check-in was simple even in the torrential rains and we were escorted to a simple room near the front entrance with a King size bed, bathroom, ceiling fan, AC, etc.....just right for a 1 night stay.  The rains let up a bit, so we decided to venture out and explore the property and ended up in the hot tub for a few minutes before they closed the area.
The next day with clear sunny skies, we went back out to main street and found a place for breakfast and a tour operator asked us about a bay cruise to show all the beaches and the island we could see from shore.  Why not?  I like to do a tour the first time I am at a new place as it gives you the real feel for the area.   The main street of Rincon de Guayamitos seemed to just be loaded with shops and restaurants like many Mexican tourist towns.
About 2 hours later we were met on the beach and took the small ponga to the main boat out in the bay as there is not dock in this small bay.  It was a bit of a "party" cruise with some Mexican entertainment onboard, loud music, and a free drink....but indeed it took us to at least 6 private beaches in the area and it was very interesting.  Unfortunately for me, about 1/2 way through the cruise, I discovered I had misplaced my car key and was worried about where it was and therefore did not enjoy the whole cruise, because I had no idea where the key was! 
Upon return to the beach area my panic continued as the key was not any where I thought it could have been; beach, boat, ponga, room, car, grounds, etc.  It must have come out of my pocket while on the Bay cruise into the ocean.   Now what to do?   I know I had a spare at home that maybe my neighbor could bring...but so far away?   I remember I had an emergency one in the car glovebox, but how do I get it?  Only solution was to break the smallest window I could to get inside and open the door....but guess what?  No way to open the door from inside....damm BMW security systems!
Then I remembered that I had seen a Mexican boy who was very skinny and could probably crawl in through that small vent window and get the spare key out of the glovebox for me?  A search on the beach and we located him.  In he went, located the key, and was able to start the car to allow us to unlock it from inside.  Found some plastic to cover the broken window as I knew the rains were going to be a for sure occurence and we were on our way back to PV. 
While I knew we had major rains in Rincon de Guayabitos, it was the night that the main bridge washed out between Puerto Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta!  So the drive back to PV found us detoured not only at the bridge through Neuvo Vallarta.......we had to detour the back way from Sayulito to Punta de Mita to Puerto Vallarta too!  The bridge to San Pancho had also dissappeared that last night!
Rincon de Guayabitos seemed to be a popular Mexican weekend destination and vacation spot as I did not see many Gringos, but I thoroughly enjoyed the town, the beach, and area and recommend it for a short getaway!!