A vacation from our vacation?
On February 18th we left Mazatlan to go on an adventurous 5 day and 4 night road trip with our dear friends, Bob and Bev. We stayed 2 nights in San Blas, 1 night in La Cruz, then on the way back another night in Chacala, all in the state of Nayarit. We had a great time! In San Blas we went to the La Tovara National Park, where we went on their 8 mile round trip Jungle boat tour. We saw lots of birds, turtles and crocodiles/alligators in their natural environment. Part of the boat ride included a tour of the wild life refuge and crocodile sanctuary. It was absolutely amazing to get a close-up view of many of the larger crocodiles. The sanctuary helps to preserve the species that is currently endangered. There are approximately 50 adults and 250 young crocodiles in captivity, which will later be released into their natural habitat. The jungle tour was pretty cool and a highlight of our trip.
San Blas
San Blas is a port and a popular tourist destination, located about 160 km north of Puerto Vallarta, and 64 km west of the state capital Tepic. The town has a population of about 9,000 people.
It is referred to as 'the city of mosquitos' as it's surrounded by thousands of water canals and swamps with mangrove trees and crocodiles ... and mosquitos. We took bug repellent and used it but Kim still ended up with loads of bites on his arms, chest, stomach, legs and feet. San Blas has an old central square where most restaurants, cafes and cheap to middle range hotels are found. Our hotel in San Blas was middle range and cost 700 pesos per night ($54 Canadian) and it included coffee and breakfast.
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| Bob, Bev, Douglas and Jan in front of our Hotel in San Blas |
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| Kim and Bob enjoying some pool time at our Hotel in San Blas |
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| Bob, Douglas and Jan on the rooftop of our Hotel in San Blas enjoying a cold beer (or two) |
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| Bob giving Douglas some well deserved attention on the rooftop of our Hotel in San Blas |
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| Sunset in San Blas - taken from the rooftop of our Hotel |
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| Yes, a McDonalds in tiny San Blas ... but not THE McDonalds |
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| Bev, Bob and Kim checking out Marina Fonatur in San Blas |
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| Douglas and Jan saying 'hello' to a stabled horse just one block away from our Hotel in San Blas |
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| The old Church in the square at San Blas. It's been condemned and a new Church was built right next door to it. Notice the bell tower on the left is leaning to the right. |
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| Night shot of the Town Square in San Blas |
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| Jan and Douglas enjoying the town square at night in San Blas |
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| Municipal Hall in the town square in San Blas |
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| There was no plaque to explain this 'broken' plane but it looked pretty interesting |
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| Kim and Douglas checking out the plane ruins |
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| Bob and Kim taking a closer look at the plane |
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| Jan and Douglas on a boat ride through the mangroves in La Tovara National Park |
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| Jan, Douglas, Bob and Bev on the boat ride through the mangroves |
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| A turtle just taking it easy on a small branch in the mangroves |
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| Can you see the Crocodile? It was one of many we saw in the mangroves |
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| This was the largest Crocodile we saw that wasn't in captivity - just roaming freely in the mangrove |
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| Coatimundi in the wild life refuge |
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| Tiger in the wild life refuge |
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| Crocodile in the wild life refuge |
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| Crocodile in the wild life refuge - look at that jaw and those teeth! |
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| Kim and Bob enjoying a swim in the fresh water spring at La Tovara - only a chain link fence prevents the crocodiles roaming freely in the mangrove from entering this area |
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| Bev watching Kim, Douglas and Bob have a swim in the fresh water spring. Douglas is laying on Kim's chest |
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| Douglas on Kim's chest in the fresh water spring - he didn't enjoy the swim but he really needed to cool down as it was hot |
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| Jan and Douglas grabbing a tea in San Blas before heading to our next destination |
Rincon de Guayabitos
We stopped for lunch at Rincon de Guayabitos (also known simply as Guayabitos). It is a popular beach resort area as it occupies about 2 km of beautiful beachfront. It is about 98 km from the state capital of Tepic and 220 km from Guadalajara. Hotels in this town fill up months in advance and it was packed with people when we stopped there for lunch. It has one of the highest hotel occupancy rates in Mexico, just behind Manzanillo and Isla Mujeres. It was beautiful but way too busy for us to consider staying overnight there.
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| Beach at Rincon de Guayabitos |
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| Bev, Bob, Kim and Douglas at a beach front restaurant in Guayabitos |
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| The view was beautiful and the beer was ice cold |
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| Beautiful sandy beach |
La Cruz de Huanacaxtle
Mostly referred to as 'La Cruz'. It is a very popular boating destination. In 2008 the harbour of La Cruz was renovated and is now called Marin Riviera Nayarit, a modern marina with 340 boat slips. It is a tranquil town just 20 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta, which was founded in the 1930's. It is a rustic but picturesque fishing village with all of the ingredients for a peaceful, relaxing vacation. I understand the population is just 1600 people. Our hotel room cost $1000 pesos per night ($77 Canadian) but it wasn't at all nice, or clean. It was on the beach and the pool area was beautiful though. We had dinner on Saturday night at Philo's Bar (a popular Bar in La Cruz) then watched a live band perform there. On Sunday morning we went to the weekly Farmer's Market at the Marina. At one time it was a small local Farmer's Market but it has grown significantly. Vendors come from all over the state of Jalisco and Nayarit now to sell their wares. There were hundreds of buyers there too and it was jam packed full with people! We talked to people who said they'd paid a tour company to bus them in from Puerto Vallarta, and other places too. It was pretty interesting to see all the homemade breads, jams and jellies, cookies and sweet treats like brownies and cakes, local organic coffee, smoked fish, yogurts, pickles, farm fresh eggs, local organic honey along with a giant selection of Artisan art work, metal art, hand made leather goods, wooden bowls and on ... and on ... and on.
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| Our Hotel Pool - it was beautiful but the room was not |
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| La Paz Hotel Pool was maintained beautifully |
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| Jan and Douglas on the beach - in front of our Hotel |
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| Kim, Douglas, Bob and Bev at Philo's Bar in La Cruz |
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| Live entertainment at Philo's Bar in La Cruz |
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| Outside Philo's Bar - cobblestone streets that were well lit |
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| Marina in La Cruz |
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| Bev, Bob, Jan and Douglas by the Marina in La Cruz |
Chacala
We spent our last day and night in Chacala, which is a beach-town set in a small cove on the Pacific coast of Mexico. It is located about 100 km north of Puerto Vallarta. The population consists of approximately 300 full-time residents, but can increase to over 1000 during Mexico's most popular vacation periods such as Semana Santa (Easter Week) and Christmas. Chacala is known for its physical beauty and unhurried lifestyle. Our Hotel cost just 400 pesos per room per night ($31 Canadian). Kim and Bob got into a little trouble from Bev and I for choosing it as the rooms were not clean (Bob parked the truck then he and Kim went to look at it and decided it was good to stay there). Hmmmmmmm. No big deal as we didn't spend much time in the room but when we got up the next morning, we learned we couldn't leave the hotel complex until someone unlocked the gate. Bob started up the truck, and a fellow came out of one of the rooms fairly promptly to let us out.
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| Our Hotel - we were locked in overnight |
