Guadalajara

We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in Guadalajara, the capitol and largest city in the Mexican state of Jalisco. This city is really large with a population of over 1.4 million plus visitors. Multiple bus companies run luxury busses between Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara every hour almost round the clock. Check out the schedule.

Vallarta Plus Bus Schedule

On the surface it doesn’t seem too strange until you realize it is a four hour bus ride. It was a lovely ride through the mountains until we got to the sections where there are continuous ’S’ turns that last for 10-15 minutes. Some civil engineer must have spent many a year after that chuckling at all the people he made sick driving that road.

Some beautiful scenery on the bus ride

Guadalajara is broken into Zona’s and we picked Zona Minerva (also referred to as Zona Rosa) to stay in based on Fodors description as the pulse of the city with trendy restaurants, galleries, mansions and tree lined boulevards. We think it had all that but it was just as busy as the rest of the city. Rereading the description, the word quiet is missing LOL. We loved the place we stayed at, Villa Ganz. This is a boutique hotel in a historic 1930’s mansion with only 10 rooms, a lush garden, great breakfast and an honor bar in the evenings.

Entrance to Hotel Villa Ganz

The grand staircase at Villa Ganz

The outdoor garden at Villa Ganz

The outdoor patio in the evening. There was a warm fire burning.

The Christmas lights at Villa Ganz

So you might ask what is the draw to Guadalajara? One word, shopping. Apparently this is an international destination for shopping. I’m sure part of the draw is the history and the architecture. We spent one afternoon walking through Zona Centro where the historic Guadalajara Cathedral and other historic buildings are located.

A selfie at the Guadalajara Cathedral

We did do our share of shopping. We walked into one 4 store building that sold only jewelry. Too overwhelming for me. We really enjoyed looking at the artist work in Tlaquepaque. We wondered though who would actually buy the large pieces of furniture and artwork we saw.

Tlaquepaque

Bar and chairs made entirely of wood. This was one of the smaller pieces. Some dinning room tables were the width of our boat.

The streets of Tlaquepaque

Tlaquepaque

Tlaquepaque

Tlaquepaque

We enjoyed great food and drinks even though things may have gotten mixed up in the translation a bit. Gary ordered a Martini one night and got a Manhattan instead. When he did get a martini he thought it was the best martini he ever had. Paco, chilled the glass with ice, vermouth and club soda. He shook the copious amount of gin and then poured it into the emptied glass but not before smelling the glass to see if the proper amount of vermouth was left in the glass. Mucho Bueno!! We also were in craft beer heaven since none is sold where we are now.

A local bar

And the fruit was unbelievable. Vendors sold containers of cut fruit on the street throughout the city. More healthy than the Starbucks or McDonalds which we have on every corner in the states.

A fresh fruit plate for breakfast

We had 48 hours and we did our best to see the highlights. With a city this size we probably missed the best parts. The elevation there is around 5,100 feet. Even with the temperatures hovering in the 70’s, people were dressed in long pants, coats and even some scarves. Clearly they were all yearning for a change of wardrobe from the summer heat.

We are back at La Cruz and ready for some exploring. Surfer town, beach town both describe Sayulita, Mexico. We threw some clothes in a backpack, hopped in a taxi and set off to have some fun hoping to find a hotel with a vacancy so we could enjoy as much food and nightlife as possible. We were dropped off right at the town plaza in the middle of all the vendors and crafts people. A totally different atmosphere than quiet La Cruz. We had read about a funky hotel on the internet and lucky for us they had a vacancy. We dropped off our backpack and climbed the rock stairs to the roof deck where a complimentary bottle of tequila and some shot glasses were waiting. The USA does wine and the caribbean does rum but here in Mexico, complimentary tequila. We managed to make a very small dent in the bottle while taking in the view then headed out to explore.

Our room at Petit Hotel d’Hafa

Roof top deck

With no breakfast the first order of business was street tacos and a few Cerveza’s. The fish, chicken and beef were cooked on a wood grill to perfection. We had at least 8 condiments delivered to our table. The grilled onions with chopped up habinero peppers was not for the faint of heart LOL. All fed we were ready for beach time and a siesta!

Many dinner places to choose from but first on the list was a tequila tasting for happy hour. I think we split 4 or 5 shots all for less than $15.00 US. Never could have done that many on my own and still make it to dinner.

Tequila Bar with 350 different tequila’s

We chose a dinner place that turned out to be just ok which served the worse Margarita we have ever tasted. Seriously, straight lime juice. Next time we will stick to street food like we had for lunch. Walking around later we could see those were the places that were packed. The shops were opened late so we got to see some different Christmas decorations. Really the first stores we’ve been in since leaving San Diego. A cup of Joe in the morning and we were back in a taxi heading to our home. Definitely on our list of places to take Austin while he is here for Christmas.

Sayulita

With the Baja Ha Ha over it was time for Greg to leave.  Since Gary, Richard and I were continuing on to Puerto Vallarta, we decided to drop Greg off at the fuel dock so we could get diesel and be on our way.  “then as suddenly as he’d come into our lives… he was gone…” (for you Captain Ron fans).  Or so we thought.

We were halfway out of the bay when Gary came up in the cockpit to ask Richard if his cell phone was charging on the nav desk.  Yup, Greg forgot his cell phone!  I knew he really wanted to come with us 🙂  We did a quick u-turn and made some contacts on the radio.   Greg caught his ‘life line’ as we did a ‘float by’.  We had a few laughs at his expense since the phone was in his hands looking for a signal any time land was in sight!

Greg

So back through the busy marina and out into the bay for our second attempt at leaving.  There was a cruise ship anchored in the middle of the bay and just as we were passing it the engine started to sputter.  Since we had just taken on fuel, Gary decided the fuel filter needed changing.  So up with the sails and off with the engine while he quickly changed the filter.  We fired the engine back up, pointed ourselves in the right direction then the engine dies completely. Back to the engine Gary goes to troubleshoot the problem while Richard and I slowly sail Sereno II back and forth across the bay while watching the San Francisco 49r game on the big screen TV on the top of the cruise ship.

Under 600 hours and clean as a whistle. What could be wrong with Betty Lou? Just a little dirty fuel, no worries!

It turned out that crap in the fuel line clogged up the fuel intake.  Gary gave the engine a blow job and cleared the blockage.  We started her back up and for the third time that day we headed out to sea only this time we made it.  Our destination was Marina Puerto Los Cabos in San Jose three hours away to wait out some weather.  Though in the back of our minds we knew we had crap in the fuel tank………

As the Captain, Gary got the honors.

We arrived safe and sound and three days later the weather cleared so we were on our way.  As we were clearing the breakwater, the engine died.  With rocks on either side of us, no wind to sail with and a dinghy that could not pull the boat with an outgoing tide, we dropped anchor.  Gary gave the engine another blow job and we motored to a nearby boat yard just barely making it to the dock.  They were not happy with us taking up dock space but were willing to remove the diesel from our tank so we could clean the tank ourselves.  But once the diesel was removed, they wanted us gone off their dock.  With no wind this presented a challenge, but no problemo.  We carry extra diesel on the deck in jerry cans.  Gary rigged the fuel lines so the engine was fed from a jerry can.  The couple who helped push us off the dock were shaking their heads sure we were not going to make it over to the marina.  The engine ran perfectly and once at the marina we cleaned the inside of the fuel tank using a Shop Vac.  The next day we refueled and after a sea trial determined the problem was fixed.  We were finally on our way.  It isn’t always Mai Tai’s and beach time here LOL.

After 48 hours we arrived in the Bay of Banderas arriving in time for breakfast.  Our first stop was Marina Riviera Nayarit or better known as La Cruz Marina.  The marina is located in a small fishing village north of Puerto Vallarta.  While listening to music in a bar one night I ran into Lynn Morse who I worked with for many years.  What a small world.  And without all those delays, we probably would not have been at the same bar on the same night.

‘Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine’ (Casablanca)

Our next stop was Paradise Village Marina just outside of Puerto Vallarta.  A beach with drink service, three pools, a spa and small shopping mall.  What more could you ask for?  It was also time to say goodbye to Richard.  It was an awesome trip. Gary and I agree, Richard and Greg were the perfect crew members!

Good food, a large Margarita made for a very happy sailor! Richard in La Cruz

Let the cruising begin!