Thursday, December 12, 2013

Buen Viaje

We just got back from an incredible tour of Mexico.  We spent time with family, saw the metropolitan Guadalajara, small town Santa Cruz, historical Guanajuato, and resort-y Pureto Vallarta.  Quite a multi-faceted trip!  The painful flights and many hours in the car were the only drawbacks, but overall the kids were troopers!


Day 1:  Recovering and exploring the neighborhood in Zapopan, near Guadalajara.  We stayed with Franz's Tia Chany:

Tia Chany's front entrance
 Day 2: Guanajuato:  About a 3 hour drive to get there.  Guanajuato is a splendid place:  it was founded in the 1540s, and is in a valley with impossibly narrow one way streets, many of which are underground in old aqueducts.  One of my favorite memories is a ride in a taxi driving down a very winding, narrow street - like Lombard but inbetween buildings at high speeds.  We went with Franz's cousin Manuel and his wife Monica and daugther Maria Jose, and Chany and cousins Lupita and Paola:


One underground street

















 That night we went on a tour to a few museums - Franz stayed back with the cranky kids...

At the mummy museum

At La Mina - an old mine





Heading down into the mine with Lupita, Paola, Monica

At the inquisition museum with Manuel

La Pipilla




Day 3: To nearby towns Dolores Hidalgo and San Miguel de Allende






The best part of the musem: playing in the water









The view from my bathroom stall at the restaurant.
Just found it amusing.  :)


 That night we were back in Guanajuato and did a late night tour of Callejon de Besos:









 Day 4: Drive back to Guadalajara to an all day BBQ event at Valente's house:


Elliot loved dancing with Manuel

Movie time with cousins Andrea and Maria Jose
 Day 5: A day at Lake Chapala, specifically the town of Ajijic, near Guadalajara.  It was a really nice place - I guess a lot of Americans go there to cheaply retire.  I would consider it....
Isabel and Andrea were best buddies






Day 6:  Lily and Rafa gave us a tour of downtown Guadalajara:




Orozco mural in the government building

Elliot staring at the mural

Isabel contemplating the mural too.







We went to San Juan de Dios market:


 Then to more upscale Tlaquepaque for dinner and shopping:






Days 7 and 8: Puerto Vallarta!  Grandma Esther joined us (along with Chany, Manuel and family), we stayed at the all inclusive Riu Vallarta on the beach.  We ate a lot, had fun at the pools, and enjoyed the nice warm ocean water.







 Isabel keeps getting a little braver - when the tide was out the water was nice and shallow to enjoy the waves in her inner tube.  (Elliot, on the other hand, was not a fan of the waves despite his general love of water).







 Isabel also loved the nightly shows, especially the pre-kids show where she got to perform on stage.


 Days 9 and 10: To small town Santa Cruz, where Franz's parents both grew up, and where many aunts and cousins still live and ranch:
Attempting to play pato, pato, ganzo (duck, duck, goose)




Where Ester grew up



Isabel's favorite part - cute little kittens at Tia
Bellia's


The cemetery - we tried to do some family history.


Meal in Ameca before heading back to Guadalajara and
then going back home!
It was a great trip, and we hope to go back again in a few years (just not with a one year old on the plane!!)