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!!)