On Friday, June 2, we again got up early to catch a taxi to Marina Vallarta, this time to go to Vallarta Adventures, to take their Hidden Mexico tour. The people going on that tour were divided into two groups. Our group of seven--Mary Joy and I, plus a mother and her two sons in their twenties, from New England, and a couple from Mississippi--was led by our guide, Aaron, to a big, open, yellow, four-wheel-drive truck, where we met our driver, Neri, a former boxer. If he was as good a boxer as he was a driver, he must have been a champion. Aaron had spent the great majority of his 27 years in the United States, mostly in Denver, so his English was perfect.
We buckled ourselves in on the facing seats and headed toward the south end of Banderas Bay. We passed through Mismaloya and Boca de Tomatlán before heading inland. Our first stop was a field where there were a number of ancient petroglyphs--rock carvings of owls, snakes, etc. It isn't clear exactly when they were carved, or for what purpose.
Then we spent some time at the very nice botanical gardens. After that, it was time for lunch, at a place way out in the country. On site were a vacation home for a city-dweller, a small chapel and an outdoor kitchen. We took off our shoes and socks and waded into a small stream, in the middle of which were large picnic tables, set across the current. Our feet were in the water, and, at first it felt cold, but we quickly got used to it. The lunch, cooked on-site, was very good, as was the guacamole made then and there by one of our group under Aaron's supervision.
We then drove to a distillery, where we tasted various liqueurs, as well as their raicilla (agave moonshine) and what was called tequila, though they weren't allowed to use that term on the label, since it was made right there and not in Tequila.
We visited the town of El Tuito, where our young New Englanders tossed a frisbee with little kids in the square, giving it to them at the end. We weren't able to get into the church.
We visited the workshop of a man whose family has a license to carve rare rosewood that he finds dead in the forest. We bought a small mortar and pestle.
We stopped at a roadside bakery and got some baked goods and a bunch of little, sweet bananas. There are many varieties of banana in the world, other than the kind you can get in U.S. supermarkets. We had seen a number of them in India.
That evening, we saw the first hour of a folkloric dance performance by a troupe of young people, in Lazaro Cardenas Park, south of the river. Then we had dinner at what is supposed to be the best restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Café des Artistes. It was one of the best meals we've ever had. The grouper was cooked perfectly, as was everything else. The dessert was fun--served to look like a potted plant.
We buckled ourselves in on the facing seats and headed toward the south end of Banderas Bay. We passed through Mismaloya and Boca de Tomatlán before heading inland. Our first stop was a field where there were a number of ancient petroglyphs--rock carvings of owls, snakes, etc. It isn't clear exactly when they were carved, or for what purpose.
Then we spent some time at the very nice botanical gardens. After that, it was time for lunch, at a place way out in the country. On site were a vacation home for a city-dweller, a small chapel and an outdoor kitchen. We took off our shoes and socks and waded into a small stream, in the middle of which were large picnic tables, set across the current. Our feet were in the water, and, at first it felt cold, but we quickly got used to it. The lunch, cooked on-site, was very good, as was the guacamole made then and there by one of our group under Aaron's supervision.
We then drove to a distillery, where we tasted various liqueurs, as well as their raicilla (agave moonshine) and what was called tequila, though they weren't allowed to use that term on the label, since it was made right there and not in Tequila.
We visited the town of El Tuito, where our young New Englanders tossed a frisbee with little kids in the square, giving it to them at the end. We weren't able to get into the church.
We visited the workshop of a man whose family has a license to carve rare rosewood that he finds dead in the forest. We bought a small mortar and pestle.
We stopped at a roadside bakery and got some baked goods and a bunch of little, sweet bananas. There are many varieties of banana in the world, other than the kind you can get in U.S. supermarkets. We had seen a number of them in India.
That evening, we saw the first hour of a folkloric dance performance by a troupe of young people, in Lazaro Cardenas Park, south of the river. Then we had dinner at what is supposed to be the best restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Café des Artistes. It was one of the best meals we've ever had. The grouper was cooked perfectly, as was everything else. The dessert was fun--served to look like a potted plant.
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