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We left La Placita in the Jeep on Wednesday morning Nov. 26th leaving the pups in the care of Cynthia
and Sandy. Our route took us north on Highway 200 and past the Dancing Dogs statue north of La Placita and to the intersection
going into Tecoman where the large metal "Lemon Tree" statue is located.
We used our Garmin GPS but it didn't recognize the by-pass going from the Dancing dogs to the Lemon Tree
and thought we were driving off road.
| Dancing Dogs Traffic Circle north of La Placita |
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| Lemon Tree Traffic Circle at Tecoman |
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The road from Tecoman north to Manzanillo is a 4 lane toll road and we made good time. Manzanillo would
be a much more attractive coastside city if it wasn't for the large power plant located there that generates mucho air pollution
that covers the whole basin the city sits in.
From Manzanillo north to Puerto Vallarta the road is twisty, and windy going up one mountain and down
the other. Some of the little towns are on the map while others are not. The scenery is nice if you're a passenger in
the car but the driver (me) had to keep his eyes on the road or would end up missing a curve and end up in the ditch.
Puerto Vallarta appears to be going through a building boom with a number of new high rise condos going
up along with a variety of new shopping centers and businesses.
The GPS was having more problems in Puerto Vallarta, wanting me to go the wrong way on one way streets but
having driven through the city before we didn't have any problems getting lost.
The Puerto Vallarta marina also looked like it was enlarged as we saw 4 large cruise ships in port
when we drove past.
We decided to stay in Ricon de Guayabitos just south of La Penita as we knew there's a lot of motels/hotels
located there. We chose the Don Pepe Motel as it had a pool and secure parking in the rear. For 400 pesos per night
we had a king size bed and air conditioning.
| Don Pepe Motel, in Ricon de Guayabitos |
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| Pool at Don Pepe Motel |
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| Me in Pool at Don Pepe Motel |
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After 8 hours of driving and stopping only for gas we arrived in Ricon de Guayabitos at 4:00pm. We were
a little hungry so after getting our things in the motel room we walked across the road to a beach-side restaurant where
I was able to order one of my favorite Mexican fish dinners.
| Favorite Fish Dinner |
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On Thursday morning we drove south to the town of Sayulita to have breakfast at Rollie's, a locally famous
restaurant. Rollie is a local celebrity who's a retired teacher from California who opened a restaurant in Sayulita several
years ago. He serves a wide variety of breakfast selections and serving are large. If you're still hungry when your
finished, you'll find a plate of pancakes in front of you. No body leaves hungry.
I had stopped at Rollie's last year about the same date and at that time most of the tables were full with
customers. Today only a couple others had people sitting at them. We asked Rollie and his wife if they thought the current
economic situation was going to have any effect on the number of people heading south this winter and they hoped it wouldn't
but it was kind of early to tell.
| Rollie's Restaurant in Sayulita |
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| Rollie and his Restaurant staff |
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After breakfast at Rollie's we headed north to La Penita where our first stop was the Occidente Cafe where
we bought 25 kilos of freshly roasted coffee for ourselves, and friends at home and at Rancho B. park.
This is a family owned coffee plantation and store that does all the picking, and roasting the beans themselves.
The owner, Senor Villasenor had just brought out a large bin of coffee beans that were just roasted. He had me stick my hand
in the beans to see how hot they still were. From this bin Senor Villasenor bagged my order in 25 one kilo bags. The
coffee beans could not be any fresher.
| Occidente Cafe in La Penita |
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| Senor Villasenor and Wife of Occidente Cafe |
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After loading up on coffee, we headed for the weekly Thursday market in La Penita. (stopping off at the
local ATM first)
We had a few things on our shopping list and we were able to find the blankets we wanted, hats, t-shirts
and a new pair of sandals for Diane.
It was kind of hot and humid in La Penita so after shopping we stopped for a drink at a local cafe and then
headed back to the motel and pool.
| Indian Vendor at La Penita Market |
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| Hat Vendor at La Penita Market |
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| Silver Jewelry at La Penita Market |
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| Sandal Maker and wife in La Penita |
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We decided to return to La Placita by a different route and headed inland to highway 15 that would take
us through Tequila and Guadalajara.
This route is a little longer but is mainly 4 lane toll roads where we could make better time.
We stoppped at the same vendor in Tequila where last year we bought our supplies and again loaded up with
tequila and coco-tequila.
The main street of Tequila has lots of tequila stores on both sides but after making our purchase,
Diane and I wanted to find a restaurant for lunch. After driving from one end of town to the other, we finally found a small
cafe beside a Pemex in the center of town. We had a late breakfast and when after asking for two coffees, we were brought
cups of hot water and a jar of instant coffee. We chuckled at thinking we had 25 kilos of the best coffee sitting outside
in the Jeep.
| Tequila Store in Tequila |
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| Agave plants and Tequila sign outside Tequila |
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I was glad we were in the car and not the motorhome when we drove through Guadalajara as we arrived there
mid-day on Friday. Traffic was about as busy as it could be but we found our way through with the aid of the GPS and relying
on our experiences of driving through the city previously.
The drive from Guadalajara down through Colima and home was uneventful and I was glad we were waived through the
military checkpoint outside Tecoman. I didn't feel like explaining why the back of the Jeep was full of coffee and tequila.
We arrived back at Rancho B. about 4:30pm. The pups were glad to see us and were well taken care of by Cynthia
and Sandy while we were gone.
We promised the pups we would take them to the beach the next morning.
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