When the Fox is in port for a while (like now), GB and I like to sniff around inland. After all, the cruising lifestyle isn’t only about what you see on the water. We studied a little bit and decided to see Guadalajara – Mexico’s second-largest city at between 5 and 7 million inhabitants, depending on who’s counting – with a side trip to the gringo enclave at Lake Chapala.
The bus line we used was Primera Plus. This is a first class bus trip from Mazatlan to Guadalajara (roughly 260 miles) that takes about 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 hours one way for $399 pesos per person. Equals less than US$40 per person one way. A pretty decent sack lunch, air conditioning, reclining seats and continuous movies are included, and heads and a coffee maker are in the rear of the bus. The bus is BIG – passengers sit much higher than the guys driving semis. Folks, this is the equivalent to business-class or first class on US airlines, without the paranoia, crowding or harassment. Of course, one must tolerate the occasional military checkpoint for contraband drugs, but what the hey. This is a sweet ride. If you were driving by car, you’d (1) have to negotiate speed bumps and potholes; and (2) pay a fair amount of pesos in tolls – assuming you take the toll roads because you want to travel quickly and more safely than the free roads.
The road from Mazatlan to Guadalajara is interesting for its travel through various climate and geological zones. But also because GB gets very sleepy
and is fun to take pictures of because he gets so docile. The sandy estuaries and dry jungle lowlands give way to ancient volcanic 
lava flows and then to higher-elevation scrub areas interspersed with agricultural zones – including the blue agave fields that make the precious tequila we all love. Critters: on this trip I spotted zone-tailed hawks, black hawks, wood storks (possibly – they sure were far away for a definitive sighting), great egrets, snowy egrets and white pelicans. There were others, like turkey vultures, hummingbirds of indeterminate species, and kiskadees. Come south, and see where all the birds come when the weather gets bad further north.
We realized as we were planning the trip that Guadalajara is a big city, and it has all the big-city congestion and density you’d expect – but it also has a history going back to the 16th century so its downtown core has museums, public art and 400-year-old buildings you just don’t find in a city like, say, Denver. Heck; even our hotel dates back to 1610. Check these pics out of the second-floor interior and second-floor courtyard:
We’d intended to travel further beyond Jalisco to the Patzcuaro region, but when GB’s wallet was sacrificed to some pickpockets at a bus stop in Guadalajara (GB’s fault entirely), we chose to cut the trip short and save MS all the driving on Mexican highways and byways. She had enough trauma just getting the rental car from the far side of Gudalajara to Lake Chapala and back. Heh.
m
Leave a Reply