One of the advantages of working in Mexico is being able to travel to different parts of the country during vacation. Mexico is a real tourist bonanza, there is so much to see. For my wife and me, Easter vacation (the week before and after Easter, when schools are not in session) is a convenient time to travel, and we have taken some good trips during those breaks..
In April of 2003, during Easter vacation, my family and I visited Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. None of us had ever been to either city before. For a general idea of where these cities are, check out the Mexico map here:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/north_america/mexico/mexico.htm
(My family consists of my wife Lilia, myself, and our two sons David – 3 years old – and Raphael – 8 months old at the time of this trip. Click here for their Christmas picture http://www.vdare.com/awall/two_sons_pic.htm )
Mexico is known for its beach resorts, each with its own special flavor, and Puerto Vallarta (also known as PV) is definitely worth seeing. (See photo 031) It’s the second-most visited Mexican resort (after Cancun).
Puerto Vallarta is located on Banderas Bay, Mexico’s largest natural bay and the world’s third largest. (It’s 13 miles across and 47 miles around). The foothills of the Sierra Madre which descend to the shore provide a nice contrast to the beach. (see map http://www.allaboutpuertovallarta.com/banderasbaymap.htm see photo 017)
All the typical beach activities are to be had at PV. As a person who has spent most of his life, both in the U.S. and in Mexico, living in landlocked areas from from the ocean, just being on a coast is a great experience for me. Our hotel room was right on the water’s edge . Lilia, the photographer of the family , took a great photograph of the view from our hotel balcony (See photo 001). (That view now covers the viewscreen of our computer.) She also took some great photos of Puerto Vallarta’s beautiful Pacific sunsets, here’s one (see photo 036).
Puerto Vallarta includes all the typical beach resort activities for tourists, most of which we didn’t take in, but we did take in a cruise on the Marigalante, which was certainly worth the money.
The Marigalante is a replica of Columbus´ Santa Maria , albeit with a hidden engine. Day trippers board the Marigalante at PV’s marina (see map, see photo 015), and are taken southwest, across the bay diagonally, to a secluded beach called Mahajuitas.
All the way across the bay, passengers are treated to a “pirate show” which I found more annoying than entertaining, but it’s part of the package. (The “pirates” are dressed in 18th-century garb despite the fact that the Santa Maria was a 15-century vessel.) For me though, riding a ship on the bay was sufficient entertainment, and in the waters below I spied a multitude of jellyfish. We arrived to the beach, stayed a few hours, and were then brought back.(Here’s a photo of the Marigalante taken from the beach , photo 022).
On the return voyage I was able to speak to the actual captain of the Marigalante, steering the vessel with a genuine captain’s wheel. He provided me with some useful background information – the Marigalante has actually sailed around the world, he informed me, which is impressive.
Attrractions in Puerto Vallarta include a Malecón alongside the water, and plenty of restaurants of various sorts. There were gringo tourists in abundance – in a shrimp restaurant where we dined, my wife appeared to be the only Mexican customer! Here are a few beach shots: Lilia and the boys (photo 012) and my 8-month old son Raphael playing in the sand (photo 008).
After bidding farewell to Puerto Vallarta we headed to Guadalajara. Enroute we stopped to visit an archaeological zone at a place called Ixtlan del Rio. I’ve visited pre-Hispanic ruins in other parts of Mexico and found them quite impressive. They ‘re especially impressive when you consider that most of them were built with stone tools (bronze tools only came into use a few centuries before the Spaniards arrived) and without the use of draft animals. Ixtlan de Rio is considered representative of Mexico’s western archaeological region, and includes a round ceremonial structure (rare in Mesoamerica, see photo 065). This region was unique for its “shaft tombs” – they’d dig a shaft straight down, and then dig a horizontal hole to inter the body. Conveniently for archaeologists, they also buried a lot of material samples of their culture along with the loved one.
Eventually we arrived to Guadalajara, and checked into our hotel, conveniently located downtown with a fine view from the window. (see photo 107) The “centro”, or downtown, is the center of the city and includes centuries’ old Spanish colonial buidings, some still in use as government buildings or museums.
Guadalajara is Mexico’s second largest metropolitan area, with a population of about 6 million. . It’s worth pointing out too that Guadalajara boasts one of Mexico’s high-tech industrial areas, including what IBM considers as one of its 5 most efficient plants in the world. The city is also considered by some as Mexicos “most typical city”. That is, many of the stereotypical Mexican customs, such as mariachi music and the “Mexican Hat Dance” are from Guadalajara, and the tequila beverage is from the area.
Guadalajara was founded in 1542 by Spanish conquistador Nuño de Guzman, who wanted to name a city after his hometown of Guadalajara, Spain. As elsewhere in Latin America, the Spaniards of that era imbued colonial cities with the ambience of old Spain.
You can still admire their monumental yet still functional architecture in Guadalajara and other colonial cities in Mexico. For example both the Guadalajara City Hall and the Jalisco state capitol building are old Spanish government buildings still in use. This type of structure has a big square patio in the middle and seems to function well as both a government building and a museum.
As in any typical Spanish downtown, the heart of the city is a plaza, government building and a cathedral. The Guadalajara cathedral, like other colonial cathedrals, was built in colonial times yet still functions as a church, containing a wealth of historical and artistic items which qualifies the cathedral as a museum in its own right. The Guadalajara cathedral has Photos: Museo Regional de Guadalajara (photo 077) Jalisco state capitol (photo 086) Guadalajara cathedral (photo 092) and David and me in the plaza in front of the cathedral (photo 075).
We also visited the local zoo, which is worth seeing, and took a sidetrip on a train called the “Tequila Express” to a tequila-processing plant.
Guadalajara and its suburbs are also known for some good shopping, so my wife got to do some of that as well. It’s known for the sale of jewelry, footwear, rustic furniture, blown glass and other forms of artisanship.
There is so much to see in Guadalajara, we left so much undone. Well, maybe someday, we can go back....
For more information about Puerto Vallarta, click here:
http://www.allaboutpuertovallarta.com//
For more about Guadalajara, click here:
http://www.allaboutguadalajara.com//
Allan Wall is an American who lives and works in Mexico, and can be contacted on the home page of this website. All photos were taken by Allan’s wife Lilia, except of course the one with Lilia in it!