The geography of this country is mind-boggling. To someone who grew up in the relative urbanity of the Pacific Northwest, much of this is Jurassic. Where we live, the altitude is just about 4,300 feet. We are surrounded by hills, so it is comfortingly like home. Our recent trip to the coast showed us a multitude of variety, all within 800 miles.
The main crop here is corn. You see fields everywhere. It is field corn, used for animal feed and meal. After wondering why the crop was being left to die, we realized that they get more ground corn for tortillas and such out of dry ears than ripe ones. Once the harvest is in, the stalks are cut and shocked in the fields. We are waiting now to see what will become of those shocks. After the fields are plowed under, something else has been planted, but I don’t as yet know what.
A little northwest of Guadalajara is the small town of Tequila. Surrounding it, you find thousands and thousands and thousands of hectares of blue agave, growing to be harvested and fermented into my favorite liquor! It is a beautiful plant. As with corn, it is planted on every available patch of land; some of it on hillsides you simply cannot fathom ever being able to walk. Inconvenience is not in the language, things simply are.
One note: trees in Mexico belong to the country of Mexico. You may not cut a tree down, even on your own land, without permission from a certain government official. As you pass crop fields, you find trees growing. People just plant around them and let them grow.
Past Tequila, heading west is a little Magdalena, an opal mining town. The hills are a pink color where the rock is carved away. We haven’t spent much time there, just long enough to visit a lovely little shop and buy a couple of gorgeous pendants. The opals are all colors, and I found a beautiful yellow fire butterfly and a small blue-green fire turtle. We will make a separate day trip to Magdalena to learn more about the actual mining, and see if I can mine my own!
After Magdalena, we drove four and a half hours over mountain roads to Puerto Vallarta. I don’t know what the highest summits were, but I would have to guess about 7,800 feet, like Mazamitla. We traveled through pine forests at the highest points. Oak and other majestic trees made up the forests a little lower. We traveled toll roads, at a cost of about $28 USD. The free road may have taken us two hours longer and we would have had more slow truck traffic. There were several small villages along the way, but what was most interesting were the random people you would come across along the side of the road. There wouldn’t be a house or village for kilometers, but there would be someone …where did they come from?
Puerto Vallarta is a tourist town with thousands of stores, restaurants, hotels, time-share condos, and people. We went only for the zoo at Mismaloya, but since we were there, we strolled around a small part of town. Unfortunately, many people working in town are connected to a time share spiel. Many of them speak enough English to engage you in conversation, but it invariably turns to how you can do them a big favor by listening to a spiel, and earn money for yourself. It really leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The only place we bought, the store owner wasn’t the least bit interested in selling anything, other than what we chose to buy. We needed to return something to Wal-Mart, so we stopped in at the one across from where two cruise ships were docked. I have never seen so many people in one store! I could not believe the number who were leaving the parking lot and returning to their ship! Who goes on a cruise and spends their shore time in Wal-Mart?
We stayed in the Northern Hotel Zone at a Hacienda Hotel and Spa. They have reasonable rates for a nice room in a fairly quiet area. It is a four star hotel and the staff and restaurant were very nice. I would stay there again.
We drove south to Mismaloya to see the zoo It is undergoing some major renovations, a good thing, because it is less than wonderful. The exhibits are small and shabby. On the upside, it is a true jungle setting and the animals are used to human interaction. Scenes from the movie Predator were shot at this site, and you can certainly understand why. It is beautiful and a little intimidating!
A side note; the weather at the coast is about ten degrees warmer than in Chapala and it is humid enough for even a thirsty houseplant!
Entering the zoo, you have the opportunity to buy a bag of various foods to feed the animals. Then you climb into the area of the exhibits. First you come to a cage with a family of White-faced Capuchin monkeys. Dad is pretty stand-offish, mom and the baby are more curious about you. Baby launches from mom, or whatever else he can, and entertains himself. They appreciate the peanuts you offer. Next, you come to a chain link enclosure which houses Pancho the lion and his two female companions. When we got there, Pancho was lounging against the fence. There was a zoo worker there and he talked to us about Pancho and the other cats at the zoo, while I took a picture. Apparently he said something controversial, because Pancho began to rumble…it may have been a purr, but I prefer to think it was a warning. Continuing to climb, you come to a pond, where black swans and flamingoes eat corn and pellets from your hand. Next, you come to a pair of grey wolves. She was quite happy to eat biscuits, he wasn’t the least bit interested…she is in heat. We eventually came to the star of the show: the babies! There were several wildcat cubs born this year, and each day a different pair is available for viewing, playing with and pictures. The day we were there, the panther cubs were out. They are four months old and adorable! I got into the pen with them and held each for pictures and play. Later, the keeper invited us to go to where the adults were to meet them as well! For someone who grew up wishing to be a lion tamer, this was a real thrill! We went down to where the cats were inside while their exhibits were being cared for. We were able to meet Bengal Tigers, and a White Tiger (whose brother appears in Las Vegas), two of which were very human oriented. The first Bengal stood up to greet us, chuffled at us and sniffed our hands. We were able to pet her nose through the fence. The White tiger did the same thing, allowing us to get much closer than I would have ever dreamed possible! After the cat visit, we were nearly finished. The last exhibit was a black bear, who neatly polished off the rest of the peanuts and biscuits we had in the bag. He will take them very gently from your fingers or your lips. I do not know where these animals have been acquired from, but they are almost all docile and used to being handled by humans. I think that this zoo has a long way to go, but it was a highlight of my life to get so close!
Puerto Vallarta to Manzanillo is a three hour drive through more mountains! One thing we noticed was the difference in crops at sea level. Instead of corn, we found uncounted hectares of coconut palms and bananas. The whole area reminded us of Hawaii.
In Manzanillo, we stayed at the lovely Hotel La Posada. It is at the very edge of town, and while it is considered a top end hotel. What it has going for it is being on the beach, literally twenty feet from water. Inexpensive and delightful, it is run in the most laid back way you can imagine. We have found our new getaway! We didn’t spend much time exploring Manzanillo, as we were only there two nights. We spent one day in Colima, about an hour away, at the pyramids that were uncovered in 1944. There are not many artifacts there, just the structures, but to see them and to see the volcano in the background is pretty thought-provoking. We should have gone to the museum where the artifacts are housed, but the day was getting long. Another time we will drive to the volcano, and a museum or two.
The drive back home was about thee hours, through truly beautiful, and relatively undisturbed mountains and valleys.
