Blessing of the Fleet

1/24/2013

Sunrise from our cockpit.  Another day in paradise.

Today we met up with two other couples and were off to the nearby town of Bucerias to see the blessing of the fleet.  This is an annual event where the local fisherman decorate their boats and all come ashore on the beach in Bucerias to get blessed by the local priest.  We decided to walk on the beach from our boats in La Cruz all the way to Bucerias.  The hike is approximately 3 miles each way, in the sand! The one problem we had on the way was that the tide was a bit high.  We had to hug a couple of sea walls in front of condo projects, and we still got hit by a couple of waves.  Oh well, we dried out by the time we got there, and it was much more pleasant than being on a crowded bus.  Our plan was to sit and have lunch at a local beach restaurant to watch the parade and the boats come in.  However, all the restaurants were charging just to sit down at the table.  You then still had to pay for your lunch and drinks.  Needless to say, even though there were thousands of people there, the beach tables were mostly empty.  Once again, greed backfires in Mexico.  We separated from our group and went exploring the town.  There was a native Mexican dance going on in front of the church in full costume.

After securing a couple of Micheladas (beer, Clamato juice, ice, and hot sauce) we found a nice viewing spot on a wall above the street.  We could see the boats coming in as well as the parade.

Our marina is at the piece of land in the distance.  We walked from there!!

The parade has started.  There were also a couple of local marching bands.

The parade had people from the local ranches.  Some of the horses could dance along with the music.

It was a typical big fiesta, we had no idea what was going on.

Finally the fishing fleet showed up for their blessing.  All the pangas were decorated with balloons and ribbons.  Some of them braved the 4 foot surf to come ashore and drop off passengers and family from La Cruz.

On the way back we stopped at a nice Italian restaurant at the other end of the beach.  Our destination is in the upper left of the picture.  We needed some wine and food to make the trip!

San Sebastian del Oeste

On January 16th, we were finally off to the place that we originally wanted to go when we first contacted April.  The small town of San Sebastian del Oeste is a World Heritage Site in the mountains east of Puerto Vallarta.  The town is located at about 4,000 feet elevation, and was founded in 1605 by the Spanish who operated the silver mines there.  The town has changed little over the centuries.  All the streets are narrow, cobblestone and lined with buildings built of stone and adobe, with all hand made tile roofs.

But first, let's talk about getting there.  It's about a two hour drive straight up hill from Puerto Vallarta.  The first stop was a little known archaeological site near Ixtapa.  Here there were some recently discovered ancient pyramids built of mud and stone.  We stopped at the empty lot full of garbage to see the mound of what was once a sacred pyramid.  It's sad that there is simply not the money or the interest to preserve sites like this in Mexico.  We have seen so many similar situations in this area as well on the Baja peninsula, where government inaction to compensate the land owners properly for ancient sites, has led to the abandonment or  non-reporting of their own history.  It's really a shame to see such amazing sites ignored.  Anyway, off the soapbox.

We crossed this bridge over a gorge on the way up.  The bridge did not look very stable!

The entry to Hacienda Jalisco.

Our next stop on the way up was at Hacienda Jalisco.  This Hacienda was once owned by the director John Huston, and many famous people have stayed here.  The cobblestone bridge is the same as all the roads in the area.  All laid by hand, stone by stone, for miles and miles.  The Hacienda was once a silver processing business for the mines above San Sebastian.  There are the remains of the furnaces used to process the ore, as well as photos and other artifacts inside the house.  The house has changed little over the years, still no electricity, and little plumbing.  You can stay here for the night for a very reasonable price.  But beware, it is supposed to be haunted!

Adobe walls.

Inner courtyard.

After a tour of the property, we were headed back up the hill to our destination.  The first stop in San Sebastian was, of course, lunch!  Yes cruisers like to eat, and April always picks some excellent places for us to stop.  This was a nice family run restaurant that had a fantastic comida corrida, or lunch of the day.  It is basically a multi course meal for a fixed price.  We had cheese quesadillas, machaca ( a dried meat dish) with home made tortillas, rice, beans, pico de gallo, and chicken mole (a spiced chocolate sauce), jamaica and pineapple drinks.  All this for 100 pesos.

Entering town.

Too busy eating to look at the camera!

The town plaza.

Church steeple from plaza.

One of the old bridges.

The old church bell.

Church entrance, and wait for it....

The interior.

We were not through with the tour yet.  Our next activity was a hike up the hill outside of town to the old silver mines.  Most of them are flooded, but there is still one that you can walk into for a few hundred yards or more if you're nuts.  We chose to go in about 100 yards and turn off our flashlights to get a sense of working in the mines.  The air was thick, humid and dusty.  There were giant moths and bats all over the place, and it was not really the kind of place any of us could imagine building a career.  However, a Canadian company has recently acquired the rights to mine the mountain.  In fact while we were there they were drilling test sites.  The town of San Sebastian will likely never be the same again.  We were lucky to see it before it is invaded by thousands of miners.

Keep your head down.  Rich tested how hard the rock was.

This was a fantastic trip for us.  It really showed what the area was like in the time of the Spanish occupation.   On the way down the hill, we stopped at a local coffee producer and bought some coffee that was ground with chocolate and cinnamon.  Wow, great way to wake up in the morning.  Hopefully the traditions of the town will not be spoiled by the introduction of so much equipment and so many workers.

The San Sebastian rose.  Yup, they came from here.

Botanical Gardens of Puerto Vallarta

On January 9th, we decided to take another trip with our friend April the tour guide.  This was a day trip to the botanical gardens of Puerto Vallarta.  They are located in the jungle outside the city.  By bus it could take you over three hours to get here, so an April tour was the way to go.  The first order of business was to have lunch.  You can't hike through the jungle without eating some great Mexican food first.  There is a rule you know.  The restaurant has fabulous views out over the mountains and river valley below.  They actually had couches and recliners in the restaurant overlooking the gardens.  We could easily have spent the whole day hanging out in the restaurant napping and sipping wine.  Not in that order, of course.  

The visitor center and restaurant.

Luckily, April being the good tour guide, tossed us out of the restaurant and set us up with a docent to give us the lay of the land.  There were several bird watchers in our group that like to extra time trying to spot unusual birds.  We did not share this interest, but wanted to hike all the trails within the gardens.  So we split from the group, which was perfectly acceptable to April and headed off on our own.  

There were spectacular plants and flowers everywhere.

Cathy still does not like these swinging bridges!

There was a lot of coffee growing here.  There was a nice explanation about the plant and the processing it goes through to become a grande super mocha no whip latte.  

This is what coffee looks like in the wild.  The coffee bean is inside the red berry.

There was a beautiful free running river at the lowest level of the gardens.  You could take a swim if you wanted, but we opted for a steep hike back up through the jungle.  In retrospect, the swim might have been a better plan.

The trail back up from the river was full of steep switchbacks, but was also full of beautiful jungle plants.  The plants are what we came to see.

The pond outside the restaurant.

They had a beautiful outdoor orchid exhibit.  Hundreds of different kinds of orchids from all over Mexico.

Nice.

Artsy fartsy.

Happy hikers waiting for the rest of the gang to get back.  If you spend to much time here flowers start growing out of your head!

On the way back, we stopped in Puerto Vallarta to see the new tourist pier that cost 80 Million Pesos.  The pier was very nice, but they could have used the money to fix all the car swallowing pot holes throughout Banderas Bay.  The locals are of course upset that their tax money went to something like this.  Infrastructure  is sorely lacking throughout the region, and the money could have been better spent.

The new tourist pier at the end of the street.

The day ended with a tour of the archeological museum on the island in the middle of the Romantic District.  The museum had a lot of interesting artifacts from the local area, along with good explanations of the exhibits in English.  After a quick stop at a local bakery that made surprisingly good French style pastries, we hopped back into the van for the ride home.  Everyone was tired, but satisfied that they had seen another little known part of Mexico.

Christmas for Kids

On January 6, which was known as Kings Day here, there was a potluck party and Christmas gift opening for the kids of the local orphanage that the cruising community bought gifts for.  We picked a boy and a girl orphan from the Christmas tree in the yacht club and read their letters to Santa.  We then looked all over town for the gift that they asked for.  We were to be their secret Santa.  There was lots of great food as well as the traditional Kings Day cakes.  The cakes are baked with little plastic animals inside.  If you get a slice of the cake with an animal, it means good fortune for you, and you are required to throw a party for your friends.  Our friends on Pied de Mer, got a blue elephant in their slice of the cake.  We were looking forward to their party!

Musical chairs determined who would eat first.  The kids did leave the rest of us a little something to eat.  they were very excited over all the salads.  I guess they don't really get salad often.

Two flamenco guitarists entertained us.  They were from Germany?

The little girl we got a doll set for was so excited, but we all had trouble getting it out of the wrapper.

The little boy we got a gift for was so excited, we couldn't get him to stand still.  It was a Japanese toy called a Backogan.  Sort of a transformer type monster game thing?  Anyway, he was really happy.

Both of us could not stop crying while all the kids were opening their toys.  They were all so surprised to get things that they actually asked for.  In this orphanage, no one has their own clothes.  There is a big closet with all the clothes organized by size and they just go there to pick out something to wear that day.  At the end of the evening, all the kids came around and hugged all the cruisers and thanked us for making them very happy.  Hope we can do it again next year.

Hike to the Petroglyphs

1/6/2012

Yesterday we took another adventure trip with April the tour guide.  This time we headed north and inland to an ancient site in the jungle that is still used for ceremonies by the local Indians.  We met at the usual spot near the marina and packed into the van with friends from Galatea and Denise from Vamanos.  Hans could not make the trip as he had some bad food the night before (a common occurrence down here!)  The trip to the site was about an hour drive through some small towns.  We stopped along the way at one of the many roadside stands that all seem to sell exactly the same thing.  There were probably close to 40 stands all selling pineapples, coconuts, and home made candies of various kinds.  Hard to say how they all stay in business selling the same thing.

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It was hard to choose as they all sounded very tasty!

We went for the Guava Roll. Very sweet.

 

The site is located in an ancient river valley that has been used by the local Indians for thousands of years.  To get there, we hiked along a trail through some mango orchards. 

There were hundreds of petroglyphs in the area dating from a few hundred to possibly of few thousand years old.  No one really knows for sure, as this area has never been studied.  They do know that the area was used for human and animal sacrifice and for various religious ceremonies.  The carvings in the rocks depict warriors, seasons, crops, and animals.

The main area is called the Pool of Kings, and is laid out like a giant theatre.  No one knows how much of the layout was natural, and how much was man made.  There is definitely a strange feeling in the air around the pools, almost like you are being watched.  Originally, the carvings were painted with vegetable dies made from plants in the area.  Over the decades, all the paint has worn away.  

On the way back to La Cruz, we stopped at the sea side village of Chacala where we had lunch on the beach.  Great way to end a fun day.

The tour group