03/07/2003 - 03/14/2003
When we arrived in Puerto Vallarta, Marianne and Richard (from MR Destiny) were at the dock to help with our lines. After a welcome greeting and quick discussion, we learned they were going to head inland in a couple of days, and asked us if we were interested in going too.
We hop the first class ETN bus and head to Guadalajara. ETN busses have a first class section similar to an airliner.
Since we arrived at the marina ahead of schedule and our friends Todd & Lara would not arrive until the 18th, we decided we did have time for a 7-10 day tour inland.
The first class ETN bus has three wide seats in each row and a small aisle leading to a small restroom and chemical toilet. Foot rests and individual headsets allow passengers to kick back and watch one or two movies or listen to music on the 5-hour ride.
Our first ride on ETN was in the back row, which we learned was too close to the chemical toilet. In subsequent trips we requested seats further forward. Other than that, these rides were truly first-class. A U.S. Greyhound bus could only be compared to the "budget-category" Mexican buses.
The mountainous, dry, central highlands. Blue Agave (for Tequila) and livestock are the primary residents.
The ride to Guadalajara was scenic and uneventful as we climbed the Sierra Madre and headed up to the dry, high plains. Guadalajara is over a mile above sea-level. Jokingly, Duncan asked the others to "remind him to breath" to help him adapt to the increased altitude.
The dry, cactus-strewn landscape supported the primary crop of blue agave and the occasional sugar cane field. Sauza tequila advertised their presence by spelling out "SAUZA" with the blue agave plants on the hill-sides.
The rocky, volcanic soil appeared very hard to till -- mixed with the black remains of several large black lava-flows. Goats, cattle, and horses roamed everywhere. A few genuine vaqueros (cowboys) tended to small cattle herds.
Richard, Marianne, and Robin in front of the Hotel San Francisco in downtown Guadalajara.
Guadalajara
We arrived in Guadalajara on Friday afternoon the 7th of March and took a cab to the Hotel San Francisco downtown. Other cruisers have stayed at this hotel before and recommended it for its proximity to old town (Centro Histórico).
We walked the shopping areas of town, explored the Government Palace of Jalisco State and the main Cathedral. We also hired a horse drawn carriage to take us on a "clippity-clop" ride through Centro Histórico and some of the older residential areas. This was a nice 45 minute tour and left us with the feeling like we had seen many of the highlights of Guadalajara's Centro Histórico.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for "tapas" at La Maestranza Cantina -- a "bullfight" theme bar near the hotel. Several bulls heads were mounted on the walls, and a few pictures of gored-dead matadors adorned the walls. Nice touch. Duncan went out on a culinary limb by ordering Cueritos and Chicharrón without a clear translation from our waiter. We recognized the "pork-rinds" immediately, but only after several tastes and follow-up questions did we discover that some Mexicans consider pig cartilage edible!
The Government Palace for the State of Jalisco in Guadalajara. The baroque facade was completed in 1774.
The towers of the main cathedral appear behind the upper balcony and inner courtyard of the government palace.
Robin, Richard, and Marianne under the center section of J.C. Orozco's impressive mural.
Above: The altar of the main cathedral in the center of Guadalajara's Centro Histórico.
Left: The center section of J.C. Orozco's mural features the torch wielding Miguel Hidalgo de Costilla -- the father of Mexican Independence. The mural is on one of the stairwell ceilings in the Government Palace, the entire mural covers 400 square meters.
Richard, Marianne, and Robin, with the famous Guadalajara cathedral in the background.
Entire malls of "poofy" dresses lined the streets in one area of the shopping district.
Mystery foods -- pork rinds and bone-cartilage with a little hot sauce -- yummy!
On the carriage ride, Marianne gives her travel-worn Lonely Planet Mexico another referential scan.
After having a decent night rest at the Hotel San Francisco, we awakened at 7 AM and headed for the bus station. Since our return trip would bring us back through Guadalajara, we believed we might spend more time there on the flip-side.
It was approaching Richard's 40th birthday -- so Richard got to select where he wanted to spend his 40th. San Miguel de Allende was his pick, so we headed there the next morning on the first class ETN bus. After a 6-hour bus ride further east and north we arrived in San Miguel de Allende.
San Miguel de Allende
Our arrival in San Miguel was punctuated by the friendliness of all the people we encountered. The Hotel Posada Carmina was gorgeous, and the rooms were clean, quaint, and comfortable. We settled in to the hotel and proceeded to explore the nearby main square -- Plaza Principal or Jardín. The hotel is literally in the shadow of the town's old cathedral, and was surrounded by several great restaurants.
One of these restaurants -- La Fragua, next door to the Hotel Carmina, made us feel immediately welcome. Fernando Padilla, the owner and head chef, not only helped us select another itinerary for next year's inland highlands tour, he also helped us select our dinner! His recommendations were great. Robin's dish contained a "mystery veggie", which we later confirmed to be an edible cactus flower from the region. Fresh asparagus and artichokes were also abundant local ingredients.
San Miguel de Allende is chock-full of retired gringos and friendly locals. It is a 450 year old town with a European feel -- narrow cobblestone streets, colorful stucco buildings, flat garden rooftops, and lush courtyards behind walled facades. The entire town is peppered with great restaurants, internet cafes, and shops. We found the best bagel shop we've been to in years! It is easy to see why gringos flock here for the winter or stay year-round in the full-time retirement community.
The lookout across San Miguel de Allende. Colorful homes, cobblestone streets, picturesque windows and ancient doors.
The quaint hotel Posada Carmina.
Duncan and Robin on the upstairs balcony over the inner courtyard of the Hotel Posada Carmina. Rooms on the west side have great views, but get toasty in the afternoon sun (no AC).
An anti-war protest brews in San Miguel de Allende -- 10 days before Bush's deadline. Although attended by many locals, the gringo retirees and college population pitched in as well. No sign anywhere of a pro-war rally.
The old gothic-style cathedral rising over the main plaza.
San Miguel Home Tour
We decided that it would be fun to go on a local home tour. The home tour happens each Sunday morning, and all proceeds ($15 US per person) go to the public library.
The three homes on the tour were very nice, but it occurred to us that one of the homes was a bed-and-breakfast and the other was for sale -- a clear incentive for the owners to include their homes in the tour. We wondered who would voluntarily open their home to 150 gringos on a Sunday morning!
Some of the local galleries did not allow us to photograph their local and Huichol Indian art, but this restriction did not apply during the home tour, so we took advantage. Each home had very nice Mexican art collections.
Boisterous, funky, "Tuna Normalista" plays traditional Mexican tunes for the assembled "Home Tour" crowd. 100% gringo group (about 150 people) heading off to see 3 gringo homes.
One of the homes made ample use of their outdoor living space.
Huichol Indian owl. A wood carving is coated with beeswax, then thousands of individually applied plastic "indian" beads are inlaid on the beeswax (by hand!).
Another Huichol production -- colorful strands of yarn are inlaid on a thin layer of beeswax. This 2ft X 2ft work of yarn art was quite impressive.
Another colorful, 30" high artwork/sculpture (origin unknown) depicts Eden and Biblical creation.
In the Casa Puesta del Sol (a bed & breakfast on the tour), this leaded-glass window adorns the honeymoon suite.
Stone-cased doorways, iron railings, and lots of bougainvillea adorn many homes.
The simplest buildings in San Miguel de Allende are picturesque. They deliberately use a "translucent color wash over white primer" painting process to give the buildings a pre-worn character. Opaque color latex paint is too "consistent" and character-free.
The main cathedral and nearby Inglesia de San Rafael light up the Plaza Principal (Jardín) at night. More funky Mexican bands play in the square for tips. One band poured red-wine for its listeners.
More Narrow cobbled streets in charming San Miguel de Allende.
Most of the parks in San Miguel de Allende had trash receptacles advertising Coca Cola. We guess this means the fancy trash cans were provided by the Coca Cola Company.
A wedding reception begins in the street outside our hotel. Although a gringo wedding, they are celebrating in traditional Mexican style.
The "carnival giants" danced with the bride and groom and anyone that came along. Mariachi's played, spectators clapped -- a very fun and festive scene.
Guanajuato
On our way back to Guadalajara, we wanted to stop for at least one night at Guanajuato. Guanajuato turned out to be a great surprise so we gladly spent two nights there. It was a quaint mountain town, nestled in an impressive valley that used to be a huge mining community for the Spanish.
In the late 1980's, with traffic congestion a major concern, the engineers (retired miners?) proceeded to bore tunnels through every surrounding mountain and under the town to get the cars off the surface streets. Everywhere through the town a road pops out of a hillside or disappears underground -- or under a building. Drivers may have only a brief glimpse of sunlight before plunging again into darkness. This has worked quite well to alleviate traffic, but the result would be terrifying for a tourist in a rental car! We were thankful for our experienced taxi driver.
This colonial town shows its wealth from the past and is still affluent with the influx of tourists, college students, and ex-patriot gringos. Although the town still has some active and producing mines (gold, silver, other metals and crystals), the new economy seems wrapped around tourism and education. This is one of the great locations in Mexico to obtain Spanish language "immersion" training.
While in Guanajuato, we visited the Don Quixote (Quijote en Español) art museum, Diego Rivera's childhood home (now an art museum), and enjoyed several local cafes, restaurants, and ice cream shops. This was one of the first towns where we have been able to find great coffee drinks -- and it has not been too hot to enjoy them.
The great panorama of Guanajuato from the top of the funicular (mountain-side cable railway).
Our hotel looked out over this beautiful plaza/park. This park had a great tiled walkway. Unfortunately, the boisterous Mariachi's and cafe festivities continued until 3 AM. Tough sleeping conditions for early-to-bed cruisers!
Robin on the porch of the gorgeous Hotel Luna. The panoramic look-out point and funicular station (top-left) can be seen on the mountain-top in the distance. The park and cafe's below stay active most of the night.
Next Career: Hotel Reviewers?
During our stay in Guanajuato, we decided we needed to invent a better criteria to gauge, measure, and recommend the Mexican Hotels we stay in. The most beautiful hotels can have the least comfortable accommodations and the most homely can offer the best night's rest and the cleanest facilities. We have also discovered that "location" -- close to the action -- is not always a good thing.
Although we discussed this criteria during breakfast on both days, we never came to a concrete algorithm, but we decided no amount of quaint decor and antique furniture can replace a lost night's sleep. Next time we head to Guanajuato, we will either party until 3 AM with the rest of the town or stay AWAY from the main square!
Burros with their full loads still walk the streets of Guanajuato.
The BOCAMINA, Guanajuato
We visited the site of the still working "Valencia Mine" on the top of a nearby mountain. While there, the tour guide we hired for a few pesos indicated there was a mine tourists could visit and enter. Since Boca mine is no longer an active mine, they make the first 180 ft down accessible to tourists and school kids.
Boca mine is blocked off from the labyrinth of Guanajuato mines -- some reaching 1500 feet down and thousands of feet horizontally under the nearby mountains.
Boca Mine San Ramón. Included a photo-gallery of old photos, a small museum, and an extensive "map" of the network of mines.
Marianne and Robin make their hard-hat descent into the Boca Mine San Ramón.
Hundreds of workers have died in these mines in the last 450 years. Over 250 died in just one flood in the mid-1800's. This 180 ft deep "safe zone" is set aside for tourists and school children.
Tlaquepaque
After two nights in Guanajuato, we were getting antsy to get back to the boats, so we decided to head back to the Guadalajara area the next day. Our plan was to stay in Tlaquepaque -- a suburb of Guadalajara -- to see the shops and galleries of both Tlaquepaque and Tonalá. We were interested in the Artisans communities of both towns and the large Market that operated in Tonalá on Thursdays (and Sundays).
Tlaquepaque was a nice surprise, but Tonalá was a bit of a let-down. If you like to bargain and you enjoy flea-market atmospheres -- you will love Tonalá. If you like quaint shops and nice restaurants -- Tlaquepaque will be more to your liking. Since Duncan is not much of a shopper, he endured both -- but reminisced over the museums and cafe's of Guanajuato.
The next morning (Friday, March 14th), we checked out of our nice B&B Casa Campos, and headed to the bus station for our final 5-hour trek "home" and back to the boats in Paradise Village, Nuevo Vallarta.
We realized in our short eight days inland that we had seen only a small fraction of the beauty and culture of the central and western highlands of Mexico. Next year, we will probably again tour these areas by bus -- covering some of old Colonial cities we missed. Maybe in our "real" retirement, we'll find our way back to this area for an entire season?
Back in time for guests!
We got back to the boat with plenty of time to prepare for a visit by friends Todd and Lara. Todd Rickard of Sound Rigging and Yacht Services -- and his wife Lara -- have been good friends since we started Whisper's commissioning and outfitting in late 1999. We have seen them several times since Whisper left Seattle, but would now get to enjoy the Puerto Vallarta area of Mexico together.