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| One of the many beautiful buildings in Guadalajara. |
Yes, we really did visit all of the above mentioned towns and cities, including others too numerous to mention... Leif and I joined our friends Ed and Connie in their trusty Isuzu Rodeo to experience the interior of Mexico. We packed up and left La Cruz on a Tuesday morning for an eight day excursion that will not be forgotten.
Our first stop was the city of Tequila, as it was lunch time and who wouldn't want to stop in a place called "Tequila"? We had a great platter of tacos followed by a visit to the gift shop at the Cuervo distillery. Back on the road quickly, well sort of, as it is never easy to find your way into or out of any Mexican town. Road signs are lacking, and Leif and I had our GPS on our phones to help guide us, but the little blue dot seemed to always go in the wrong direction. Let alone the endless "topes" or speed bumps that are EVERYWHERE in Mexico. Thank heavens Ed's car has excellent shocks... Just as you get going on any road, there will be speed bumps to slow you down. They are VERY effective as if you don't, those of us in the rear seat will be hitting the ceiling.
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| Orchestra music in the town square in Guadalajara. |
We arrived in Guadalajara and miraculously found our hotel, Hotel Morales. It was a beautiful old home that had been turned into a hotel a hundred years ago, then abandoned, then renovated and now is quite up to date with a swimming pool on the roof! The rooms were exquisite, and surrounded large enclosed patios and sitting areas with fountains and lush vegetation. All this for about $80.00 a night. We decided on this trip to keep the room rates under $100.00, and I thought that would mean skimping, not so. Most, if not all, were equal to 5 star rooms in the states. Not that I'm a snob, but this is our one big trip this time around.
In order to see the city, which was quite extensive, we jumped on a double-decker bus and checked out the sights. We were staying in the old town area, filled with churches, government buildings, and beautiful town squares with gazebo's filled with musicians. It was pretty amazing. The history of the area seeps from it's pores as the buildings are filled with statues and murals telling the tales of the people as time progresses.
A side trip to Tlaquepaque was necessary for Connie and I as it was listed as an artist colony nearby. We wandered the streets taking in all of the pottery, glass, carved wood, and textiles, while the men sampled what turned out to be a fruity concoction called a margarita, but in fact was nothing near. One goal while on this trip was to try to find the best margarita in Mexico. It turned out to be quite the challenge. One would think that a simple margarita would be easy to find, but alas, most are made with sprite! And, we discovered that limes are expensive, and in short supply due to the cartels charging fees for shipping out of Mexico. That is another story altogether, the Knights Templar. Perhaps later.
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| Hotel Chocolate, on the hillside in Guanajuato, below El Pipila. |
Guanajuato is a small town in the hills a couple of hours outside of Guadalajara.
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| This is showing one of the tunnels headed under the city. |
It originally was a mining town, and second in the world for silver production during it's heyday. The truly amazing thing about this town is that most of the roads on which one would drive are all underground! And I mean not tunnels in the sense that we know, with light at the end of the tunnel, but truly dark one way tunnels with signs on the walls going in all directions. It was a miracle that we ever found our way out, and then to our hotel, Hotel Chocolat. Our hotel was beautiful once again, but alas, it required walking up and up and up and up to get to the hotel, at which point we walked up and up again to our rooms! The car was parked across town, probably 5 miles away as there is no parking in the town. Poor Ed had to walk back and then up the millions of stairs to get to the balcony for refreshment. We were not anywhere near the town center where the church bells rang all day and night, or the discos and cacaphonous groups of students who partied loudly until 4 a.m. No kidding. But, it didn't matter. For some reason the sound echoed throughout the streets, or callejones which are streets too small for cars. It really is a unique town, with lots to see, among which were: the mummies, the mines, the purgatory museo, the Juarez Theatre ( second most respected in Mexico) and the Callejon de beso. We moved on to another hotel, Hotel San Diego which was in the town square... need I say more? Bells on the quarter hour 14 times, tours of tourists escorted by students dressed as minstrels playing instruments and singing and clapping ( 7-12 pm), disco music and loud groups partying until 4a.m.... Ok, I feel old, or tired.
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| Ed, Connie, Lisa and Leif atop the hillside near El Pipila. |
San Miguel de Allende was a refreshing stop on the way to Morelia. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed the town square once again, visited the church, as they are the center of all towns in Mexico, and bought the obligatory straw hats.
On to Morelia. I was a bit apprehensive as this is in Michoacan, the state that has the Nights of Templar cartel which has been quite active in the past few months. Leif and I read about the various news alerts and thought it sounded ok, as long as we stayed in town or on the main roads. Which we did not. Morelia I thought was the area where the Monarch butterflies migrate to each year. Well, that's true, but it's more like the state of Morelia, and they migrate to an area near Anganguao, which is a 3-4 hour drive through the mountains from the city of Morelia. So, off we went. We arrived, and discovered that it was now a 1-2 hour hike up 700+ stairs (1000') to get to the habitat area. Leif and I were all over it, but poor Connie and Ed didn't sign up for a high altitude stair adventure. They were troopers and made it with us up to the top. As we walked up there were a few butterflies and we thought it was good enough and tried to stop and turn back. Our guide told us in Spanish that there were many more ahead and we should persevere. We were skeptical to say the least. We had been told that they had migrated already and there weren't too many around. But, we hung in there and walked up and then down into a valley below where, lo and behold there were truly millions or billions of Monarch butterflies! It was amazing, the highlight of my trip. They hung in clumps from the trees, lay dead on the ground and flew all around when the wind gusted. I've never seen so many in my life.
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| Gee, it's a Monarch! We thought we'd better take pic's of the few on the branches on the way up, not knowing there would be billions up higher. |
I have been to Santa Barbara where they also migrate to, and a place in HB where there are Eucalyptus trees that they like. Here, they like the pines, and a certain flowered tree, of which we couldn't figure out the name. Well worth the trip.
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| Monarch butterflies at the preserve near Morelia, well sort of near Morelia! |
Ok, back to Morelia and our wonderful Hotel Mansion, once again in the town square.
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| Thick bunches hanging from the pine trees. |
The next morning we left for Patzquaro and Lake Chapala. Patzquaro was supposed to be a gringo community on a lake, with lots to see and do. This turned out to be not true, at least not for us. We may have taken a wrong turn, but it was a shallow muddy lake with small houses nearby and not much else. On to Lake Chapala.
Lake Chapala did have a large gringo community, and seemed more welcoming than Patzquaro. It apparently has the best climate in the world according to National Geographic. And it was very nice, dry, warm but not hot. We chose the Hotel San Francisco which was right across from the lakefront. It was a large home that had been transformed into a hotel, basically a bed and breakfast. Lovely rooms with balconies, quiet, yes, quiet! Thank heavens, I needed some sleep. However once again the church happened to be less than a block away and bright and early in the morning there were the 12-14 gongs on each quarter hour. And we are talking real bells, not the small recorded things from So. Cal. These things would wake the dead, which I was. Oh yes, and the squeals of little ones in the nearby preschool. Ok, I'm a bit tired. I have to admit that I'm longing for our boat and the peace and quiet of Marina La Cruz.
After a healthy breakfast we headed out to see the small towns which surrounded the lake and were on our way towards home. Ajijic was the next town over and was truly a gringo area, homes surrounded by electric wires, guard gates, and English on the tienda signs. Sort of weird. Lots of Canadians here, as they can spend 6 months away each year and still have their health care in Canada. We drove on, looking for a lunch spot.
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| Lake Patzquaro, in many ways ,not as picturesque as we had heard. On the other hand, unique and beautiful in a rural sense. |
Mascota looked promising, so we bounced on into town on the cobble streets and topes. There was a large town square, but not a restaurant to be found! So we asked, and were directed to a side street where we found a local place. We stuck out like the tourists we were, and received some really unfriendly stares from the locals at the nearby tables. This was the first place where we felt uncomfortable. Ed is fluent in Spanish, and Leif isn't half bad either, but we were obviously not welcome here. We ate and moved on.
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| The Hotel San Francisco, near Lake Chapala. Lovely, quieter rooms with garden views. |
After driving most of the day, we arrived home at the marina around 6p.m. and headed to our boats to unpack and see what shape they were in after being left for a week. All was well on our boat, and we met for some tacos and beer up at the marina "yacht club" and to rehash the trip. A fun time was had by all, and we learned a great deal about some of the inland areas of Mexico. It is interesting to learn the differences in each locality. Glad to be back on our little barco.
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| Ever resourceful, we purchased hats from this mound of merchandise. |
