Riviera Nayarit – Guadalajara drive (Hwy 70)

 After few days spent in Sayulita and Riviera Nayarit it was time to hit the road again and get closer to the place where we started this journey 15 days ago: Guadalajara.  As tourists with rented car we only take highways if necessary, so we wanted to stay on the small “libra” roads as long as possible and enjoy the scenery and local life.  

A Champagne Vacation On a Beer Budget

Mexican Journey – Part 8.

A Series of Personal Experiences (Nov 28 – Dec 15, 2008)

Off the beaten path in Mexico – Hwy MEX70

Hola!

This time Vera and I are journeying Mexico’s central part, far away from the popular tourist zones; well, kind of. We are visiting the biggest lake in Mexico, Lake Chapala. From the central Mexico we are going to travel to western coast and tourist places like Manzanillo and Puerto Vallarta. We thought that we should investigate this part of Mexico, and unlike most other tourists opt to venture far beyond the all inclusive resorts.

For those of you who still follow our little adventure, we hope you are enjoying reading about it just like we enjoyed it while we were there.

After few days spent in Sayulita and Riviera Nayarit it was time to hit the road again and get closer to the place where we started this journey 15 days ago: Guadalajara.  As tourists with rented car we only take highways if necessary, so we wanted to stay on the small “libra” roads as long as possible and enjoy the scenery and local life.

 When we looked at the map, we could see we had two options. Since we already eliminated cuota road as our option, we could go on libre road MEX15 and follow the toll highway all the way to Guadalajara… or choose even more interesting route following highway MEX70. So from PV we headed towards Ixtapa, La Estancia (MEX70) , Rio de la Plata Mascota, Atenquillo, Ameca, Buenavista, El Refugio, and to Guadalajara. Total distance was just short of 300 km.

This was new scenic highway that was completed last year. It leaves highway 200 just north of PV airport, where you have to make a right turn and head towards Ixtapa. This road passes near the silver mining town of San Sebastian, travels through blue agave fields, sugar cane fields beautiful pine forests… there is little traffic, great views and no toll. It’s a lovely road and, often, it isn’t even slower because of truck traffic on the toll road. It is almost the same time wise as the cuota, about 5 hours to the outskirts of Guadalajara. 

The other thing is that this route has some really brutal topes (speed bumps). Particularly around the town of Las Palmas (near Puerto Vallarta) it’s really easy to scrape the bottom of your car if you aren’t really careful.

In terms of seeing how people live and pretty scenery, it was fantastic scenic route and most importantly we felt very safe at all times. Traffic was low and we had no problems driving and enjoying the scenery. Like I mentioned before, Mexican roads are in very good condition, but you have to get used to the fact, that when going thru the towns and pueblos, most often, you’ll have to slow down because of the bumpy cobble stone streets and very common speed bumps.

By the time we left montains and twisty road behind, it was lunch time, so we decided to stop in Ameca, small town on our road to Guadalajara. They have very interesting church in combination of colors that we have not seen before: blue and white. Very unusual. There were lots of people on the streets celebrating the Virgin of Guadalupe days. We didn’t stay for long, just to get some food from the street vendors that were everywhere.

We reached Guadalajara city in the early afternoon hours, just as the afternoon rush hour began. We had no problem getting into the downtown… until we got lost. Actually we weren’t lost; I just didn’t know how to get to our destination – suburb area of the city, called Tlaquepaque. It is known for it’s artisans and local craftsmen. The problem was it is located on the south-east side of the city and we entered the city from the west side. We were close to the downtown area, when I got “disoriented”. 

And than the most bizarre thing happen. At one of the intersections, when we stopped for the red light, Vera tried to get some help from the driver who stopped next to our car. Carefully picking few Spanish words she knew, she asked for the instructions how to get to Tlaquepaque. The man responded in Spanish, speaking way too fast for us to understand, but by the body language, I understood he wanted us to follow him, as this is where he was going. We couldn’t ask for more luck…

I followed this fellow, trying not to loose him in the traffic, for more than 30 minutes, until he stopped his car, got out of the car and explain that we are in Tlaquepaque. I didn’t know how to thank him for his kindness. If it wasn’t for him, it would take me more than few hours to find my way.

Once our Mexican friend was gone, I started looking where to park my car, so that we can walk around and look for the place to stay. As at other places before, we didn’t have reservations here, but I picked few B&B places that I checked on the internet before our trip. I park the car, and as we turn around first corner, there it was “Quinta Don Jose” B&B hotel. I picked this hotel to be our first choice once we arrive here. So, five minutes later we were in our room and our journey for the day was over!

To be continued…

Hasta Luego!