Week #11: Limoncito, Tequila y Guadalajara

We've spent a good part of the past week un poco enfermo (a little sick) which presents its own challenges when you live in a van. There's no curling up on the couch with a bag of Funyuns watching Netflix with a full service bathroom at your beck and call, for instance. The good news is that we're almost recovered and feeling much better. On the topic of feeling under the weather, Mexicans appear to take Covid much more seriously than most of the US. Almost everyone wears a mask (even outside), people take your temperature whenever you enter a building and I even got a text the other day from the state of Jalisco offering notifications of potential Covid hotspots based upon my location via cellular data.   

After being in Mexico for over two weeks now, we're definitely starting to feel more comfortable and less like we're being taken advantage of - at least I don't, I won't speak for Ginny. My Spanish is improving (as is Ginny's) so communication is getting much easier. All of our driving has been seamless so our fears of banditos, corrupt cops, cartels and gas station scams have eased considerably. Many of the roads in Mexico are very poor so we do have to be very alert and we never drive at night as we've been strongly advised against that - mostly for risk of hitting a tope (speed bump), large pothole or roving cow. Mostly we've just been loving Mexico and feel very fortunate to be able to travel in such a beautiful country with such friendly people. 

We didn't spend much time in Mazatlan as we knew we'd be back there in April for my dental work, plus it was easily the most touristic city we'd visited which isn't really our cup of tea. So we drove south into the state of Nayarit with intentions of getting to a more secluded beach where we could really relax and take it easy for a couple days. We had read about a super low-key campground at a beach called Limoncito which is south of San Blas. It turned out to be our favorite beach so far as it was a mile-long beautiful crescent beach surrounded by jungle and hardly a soul around. There was one other couple (a Swiss couple in their early 70s who have been traveling for the past 25 years!!!) camping there but otherwise we had the run of the place. The only downside was that they had these no-see-um biting insects that drove us crazy when the wind died down. When we were leaving the beach, we saw a Mexican raccoon or coatimundi crossing the road which was very cool! Also, if you're wondering what those fruit are on the trees in one of the photos below, so were we! They're called jack fruit!

Having been mostly along the coast since entering Mexico, we decided that it was time to head inland and what better place to visit than the pueblo magico of Tequila! We found a great camping spot at the end of a dirt road surrounded by blue agave fields. The following day, we wove through a network of cobblestone streets for what felt like ages to find parking so we could go on a tequila tour at one of the oldest distilleries in town - Casa Sauza. We learned how they grow the blue agave, harvest it and process it to make tequila. And of course the best part - we got to taste the tequila blanca (also sometimes called silver or claro) which is not aged in barrels at all, tequila reposado which is aged in barrels for 2-12 months and tequila anejo which is aged in barrels for at least one year. We also got to make a local cocktail called a Cantarito which consists of lime, orange, grapefruit, salt, tequila and Squirt (lemon lime soda). It's served in a ceramic mug coated with a spicy savory powder around the rim - yum yum!!! We left Tequila happy campers to say the least. It's actually a very beautiful area - picture Napa Valley but replace the vineyards with agave fields.    

After Tequila, we made an overnight stop at the Bosque de Primavera which is a big forest just to the west of Guadalajara sometimes referred to as the lungs of Guadalajara. We stopped there to camp and visit the rio caliente which is a natural hot spring that makes most of the river really hot! Great spot to soak sore muscles and enjoy the forest. 

Yesterday we left the forest and made our way to Guadalajara which was only about a 30 minute drive. We had booked an AirBnB in the Colonia Americana neighborhood just to get out of the van for a few days, do some laundry and enjoy some hot showers! While we've only been in Guadalajara for just over 24 hours now, we've done a lot and have been super impressed with the city. It's a great city to walk around with old churches seemingly on every other block and lots of other great architecture to admire. We lucked out to be here on a Sunday as they do a ciclovia every Sunday where many of the city streets are closed to cars from 8am to 2pm to allow bicyclists, runners, roller skaters and other human powered folks to take to the streets. The food has also been amazing and we seem intent on eating our way through the city before we leave! Stay tuned for more on Guadalajara in my next post as we'll still be here a number of days.