Yelapa is a small community on the pacific coast 15-20 miles south of Puerto Vallarta. It is known for its beach and waterfalls. It's not an island, but it's only accessible by boat. There are no cars or roads. The 30-40 minute boat ride is fun. You see the whole coastline. Yelapa is in a cove with a beautiful beach; super soft brown sand and the warmest water anywhere. July is the low season; extra hot and humid. Our hotel,
Lagunita, was right on the beach. An unusually beautiful pool was steps form our room. The view of the beach and the cove was magnificent. We could hear waves crashing on the beach all night long. But since this place is on the side of the jungle (Arnod Shwarzenegger's Predator was filmed here) we needed to sleep under mosquito nets. Yelapa gets boatloads of day visitors from the Puerto Vallarta hotels and cruise ships. There are several restaurants along the beach and more in the village, but since there were so few visitors staying overnight in July not many stayed open in the evening. There is a small river separating the main beach from the village. There's no bridge so you need to wade across the river. It may reach from below your knees to your upper thighs depending on the tide.
We took a snorkeling trip to the
Marietas Islands. The Marietas are misplaced islands far out in the Bay of Banderas. They served as target paractice for the Mexican navy until it was realized that they were valuable bird breeding grounds and were surrounded by coral reefs. You can see where artillery shells broke some of the rock formations. Playa Escondida was closed when we visited (out of control tourism destroying the reef). We went to another beach instead. We were lucky to have an escort on our trip out to the islands. A pod of perhaps 100 dolphin accompanied us and played all around the boat. It was amazing how high out of the water they could get. Our guide was another Francisco. He has a nice boat and makes a great ceviche. Francisco can also take you to Los Arcos for snorkeling, to other pristine beaches and on fishing trips. We were joined by a family from Mexico City, which kept the prices low for all of us. Each visitor to the Marietas is required to have a wrist band indicating they are taken by a licensed guide and have paid the appropriate fee. There was an environmental police boat checking all visitors.
We didn't spend much time in
Puerto Vallarta, but we passed through it a few times. It's pretty big and it's incredibly hot in July. So humid. Puerto Vallarta is the hottest place I've ever been. There is a sizeable tourist area with lots of bars and restaurants. They are centered around the Malecon, which looked great. There are beautiful beaches all around. We drove by an old church. We took the boat to and from Yelapa from the Los Muertos pier, which is fairly awesome. We saw a kid fishing catch a spiny puffer fish. Puerto Vallarta airport is clean and efficient. The town is probably much nicer to visit when it's not so hot out.
Nuevo Vallarta is 9 miles north of the center of Puerto Vallarta. Not only is it a different town than Puerto Vallarta, it's in a different state (Nayarit/Jalisco). The hotel we stayed in was
Riu Vallarta. It's a nice all-inclusive. The beach is awesome. Deep soft brown sand. Balmy water. No seaweed. Medium surf. The swimming pools are nice; maybe a little too small. One is for kids and families; the other more for adults. It has a big swim up bar. The buffets are very good. The service is excellent. The specialty restaurants are ok. We liked the french one the best. The hotel is in very good condition, The room's are comfortable, maybe a little small, but with a large balcony. There's nothing walkable outside the hotel.
Bus 1: We took a
Vallarta Plus bus from Nuevo Vallarta to Tlaquepaque. It was extremely comfortable. The service was outstanding. Each seat back has a small entertainment system, just like on an international flight. There was wifi too. They have buses leaving to Guadalajara every 30 minutes. There's a stop, but no delay in Zapopan. The trip takes 5 hours.
Tlaquepaque is one of the townships that makes up Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city. It's a fun place to be with many plazas and walking malls. Lots of coffee shops, street vendors, restaurants and bars. There are artisans galore. Guadalajara is known for tequila and mariachi. We didn't go on the well advertised Jose Cuervo Tequila Train. But we did see mariachi bands playing in the square and at restaurants. We found Tlaquepaque a fun place to stay. The climate was far more pleasant than Puerto Vallarta. The temperature was in the mid 80's but there was low humidity. We stayed at the bed and breakfast
Hotel Media Luna. It was a comfortable place run by a nice lady. It's an excellent location right next to El Parian (Guadalajara's Quincy Market).
Bus 2: We took a
Primera Plus bus from Tlaquepaque to Guanajuato. The bus was fine. They had small movie screens every three or four rows. After purchasing our tickets I screwed up the time the bus left and we missed it. They just put us on the next bus leaving 30 or 40 minutes later. Great service. There was a stop and 15 minute delay in Leon. The whole trip took maybe 5 hours.
Guanajuato is an old silver mining town high up in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. It's a really cool place known for it's walkable streets, artisans and .. mummy museum (not kidding). Guanajuato is very hilly and colorful. Somewhere in its history they diverted their rivers into tunnels beneath the city. Then later they re-diverted the rivers someplace else and converted the tunnels into roadways (these guys had lots of mining expertise). Now the above-ground streets are for walking and the traffic flows underneath and around the city. It works. We visited Pipila, a legendary strongman who overlooks the city. We saw the theater, some churches, the university and the mummy museum (awful). We spent two evenings with Francisco's host family, the Saucedos. Extremely nice people. I couldn't have hoped for a better family to care for my son. We even climbed up a mountain with them! Guanajuato's a great place to visit. It sure did feel strange leaving my son there though. We stayed at the
Hotel Mansion del Cantador. It's a nice hotel across from a beautiful park. The downtown area was 2 blocks away. Everything we wanted to see was an easy walk. The hotel had some funny nuances, but the included breakfasts were very good.
Bus 3: We took a
Primera Plus bus from Guanajuato to Mexico City. It was fine, similar to Greyhound. The trip took around 4 hours and 15 minutes. Autobuses del Norte station is the largest bus station I've ever been to. It's like an airport.
Mexico City is really really big (over 20 million people). It's a busy place and there's lots to see. But it's comfortable. The people seem relaxed. The weather is about perfect. We got around by subways and buses; people were extremely helpful giving us directions. We went to the the city center, Zocalo, and saw Templo Mayor, the Palacio Nacional and the Catederal Nacional. The Cathedral is awesome. It's enormous; like six churches in one. And it's ornate. We couldn't even count the number of statues. The organs weren't like anything I've seen. There was some kind of computer exposition going on in the Zocalo main square making it hard to appreciate the size of the place. We enjoyed the nearby walking malls. We saw the mix of old and modern. There was an impressive police presence around each significant building, 20-30 police in riot gear ready to go. We saw the Palacio de Bellas Artes, an impressive building with a lot of space inside. We saw some large murals, but weren't overly impressed. Bosque de Chapultapec is a vast park on the west side of the city (largest city park in the western hemisphere). It's pretty too, with lakes and walking paths lined with vendors. Mariana was happy with a caricature she posed for. Castillo de Chapultapec is a fancy european stye castle with a great view of the city and a long history. It's important that you proceed in the correct direction through the rooms. There are museum police enforcing this rule! We found the Museo Nacional de Antropologia fun and educational. It's a one-stop shop to learn about the different cultures that lived in Mexico. We were impressed by the great statues and monuments at each roundabout along Paseo de la Reforma and all throughout the city. Cuauhtemoc, Diana Cazadora, Angel de la Indepedencia, Cristobal Colon, Why can't we have statues like these? We enjoyed the food too. Everything was available at cheap prices. We stayed in the centrally located
Hotel Astor. It was every bit as modern and comfortable as a Holiday Inn. It's in a convenient if not especially attractive part of the city. We felt safe at all times on the streets, at the attractions and on the subways and buses. The airport was large but easy to navigate. They push the duty free stuff hard. Mexico City is a great place to visit.
Bus 4: We took a
Teotihuacan bus from Mexico City to Teotihuacan and back. (
Here's how you do it). These were older buses, but they were fine. The trip took around 45-50 minutes leaving from Autobuses del Norte station, We took the subway (yellow line) to the bus station (gate 8). There were no other tourists on our early morning bus out to the pyramids and only two others on the afternoon trip back. The bus was about half full. The other passengers were locals coming and going from the city.
Teotihuacan is cool. Really cool. It's big. They say over 100,000 people lived here in it's heyday 1,800 years ago making it the largest city in the Americas. Only a small portion of the original city is preserved today, but it's still a big area. We got here early, just after 7AM. We were the only ones waiting for the gate to open at Gate 1, where our bus left us. And when we got in we pretty much had the place all to ourselves. There were several hot air balloons photographing the pyramids with the sun rising in the background. It was so quiet we could hear the air burners. There weren't even any vendors yet. The Temple of the Sun is ridiculously big. Enormous. We got winded walking up the super steep steps (there is a rail). A couple of people beat us to the top (they must have entered from Gate 3) but it still felt really cool being on top of this enormous pyramid overlooking the great ancient city before the crowds arrived. The Temple of the Moon is a better place to take pictures from because you can get the Avenue of the Dead and the Temple of the Sun in the background. We spent more time there and met a friendly stray dog that followed us around until we left for lunch. Mariana's favorite was the Temple of the Feathered Serpant, which has intricate carvings of snakes. There are dozens of other temples and structures spread about. We climbed up some of them and just looked at others. There's a museum too. They are still uncovering more ruins, but what you can see is impressive. You can walk through what they think may have been people's homes. But they don't know much about the people who built the city and lived here - only what the Aztecs told the Conquistadors a thousand years later. We spent five or six hours at Teotihuacan and took about 100 pictures. Mariana bought a jaguar souvenir that survived the trip home. If you blow into it, it sounds like a jaguar's growl. Teotihuacan is awesome.
Flights: We flew into Puerto Vallarta and got there around mid-day. Immigration took about 45 minutes. We flew out of Mexico City, leaving around 9AM. We flew United Airlines each way, changing planes in Houston both times. All four flights were full, departed and arrived on schedule.
Impressions: We liked Mexico a lot. It's a big place with a lot to see and do. The weather away from the coast is wonderful. The food is great and the people are friendly and helpful. A lot of the people we talked to had been to the US or had an immediate relative currently living in the US. So they are very familiar with the US. They're not in awe of Americans like some people in other countries, but they're generally pro American and very easy to talk to. Whenever we had a question about directions or where to find a restaurant whoever we asked went way out of their way to help us. Nice people. The beaches are great. The sand is a little darker and not quite as powdery as in the Caribbean. There are nice waves, but absolutely zero seaweed. And the water is ridiculously warm (85 degrees). The pacific coast is unpleasantly hot in July. It was fine when we were swimming, but too hot for anything else. Guadalajara, Guanajuato and Mexico City are very pleasant. I think they must have nice weather year round. We enjoyed the food very much. But we were surprised that the dishes were so similar to what we find at our favorite Mexican restaurants in Framingham. Of course in Yelapa there was fresh fish and ceviche. We don't find that here. But we saw tacos, burritos and fajitas on the menus everywhere and they were basically the same. In Guanajuato the Saucedos treated us to pozole, a traditional corn stew with lots of meat. It was very good; the best thing I ate on the trip. We found that in general things cost about one-third to one-half what they might cost in the US. But that could change a lot depending on where you were and what you were buying. Some things were more negotiable than in the US (like a taxi ride or snorkeling trip or tourist trinkets), but not quite so many things as in some other countries. The places we went felt very safe. We were told there there are other parts of the country where safety is an issue. Mexico is a terrific place to visit. And I think it would be a great place to live.
What things cost: July 2018 Exchange rate was 18 Mexican Pesos to 1 US Dollar.
- Round trip plane, 1 person, from Boston to Puerto Vallarta, returning from Mexico City ($500)
- Round trip boat, 1 person, from Puerto Vallarta to Yelapa ($15.50)
- One-way bus, 1 person, from Nuevo Vallarta to Tlaquepaque ($25)
- One-way bus, 1 person, from Tlaquepaque to Guanajauto ($20)
- One-way bus, 1 person, from Guanajuato to Mexico City ($27)
- Round trip bus, 1 person, from Mexico City to Teotihuacan ($6.50)
- Taxi, 3 people, from Puerto Vallarta airport to Los Muertos pier ($20)
- Taxi,3 people, from Los Muertos pier to Nuevo Vallarta ($14)
- Taxi, 2 people, from Reforma to Mexico City airport ($12)
- Yelapa waterfront hotel, 1 adult, 2 teens, 1 night ($75)
- Nuevo Vallarta all-inclusive hotel, 1 adult, 2 teens, 1 night ($190)
- Tlaquepaque hotel, 1 adult, 2 teens, 1 night, breakfast ($40)
- Guanajuato hotel, 1 adult, 1 teen, 1 night, breakfast ($40)
- Mexico City hotel, 1 adult, 1 teen, 1 night ($35)
- Mexico City Metro, 1 person, 1 trip (30¢)
- Mexico City bus, 1 person, 1 trip, peak hours (50¢)
- Dinner, modest restaurant, 1 entree ($6)
- Beer, 1 bottle, domestic, in a restaurant ($1.80)
- Coke, 1 bottle, in a bodega (60¢)
- Charter snorkeling trip, 1 adult, 2 teens, 5 hours, lunch and drinks ($140)
- Laundry, 1 bag assorted, washed/dried/ironed/folded, hotel service ($5.50)
Distances: one-way in miles
- Boston to Puerto Vallarta via Houston 2488 (by air)
- Puerto Vallarta to Yelapa 17 (by boat)
- Yelapa to Islas Marietas 21 (by boat)
- Yelapa to Nuevo Vallarta 26 (by boat and car)\
- Nuevo Vallarta to Tlaquepaque 214 (by car)
- Tlaquepaque to Guanajuato 175 (by car)
- Guanajuato to Mexico City 227 (by car)
- Mexico City to Teohihuacan 30 (by car)
- Total Distance Traveled by air 4976
- Total Distance Traveled by boat 76
- Total Distance Traveled by bus 676
- Total Distance Traveled by taxi 80
- Total Distance Traveled by train 40
- Total Distance Traveled by foot 132
- Altogether Distance Traveled 6000
6000 Miles !!
