Mexican Riviera

MEXICAN RIVIERA

First stop - Barra deNavidad

The town of Barra de Navidad (Christmas Sandbar) with a population of 7000+ is a small farming and fishing community located on the east end of the Bahía de Navidad, 60 km north of Manzanillo. 

The history of "modern" Barra de Navidad dates back to the mid-16th century when the Spanish used it for ship building, repairs and a jumping off point to the Philippines. A monument has been erected as a memory to these journeys at the end of the jetty.  The large lagoon behind Barra de Navidad is criss-crossed by small fishing boats gathering scallops and transporting visitors and locals from Barra to Isla Navidad and the Grand Bay Hotel, recently voted the Number One hotel/resort in Mexico by the Travel Channel. These boats (panga taxies) also carry passengers to and from the small Colima community of Colimilla where restaurants line the shore. In 2012 many of Barra de Navidad's seaside businesses were left in ruins after hurricane Jova. The businesses recovered despite the wreckage a high tide.

Every morning Emerick, the French Baker, comes by in his panga selling fresh made goodies.  Below we have a loaf of rye bread, almond croissants, spinach quiches and a raisin pastry.......and Paddy's lattes!  Need I say more!

View from our slip at the marina of the Grand Bay Hotel and a few nice yachts.

Harbor master's office.  Not too shabby, huh?

The hotel had decorated the grounds with pinatas and balloon arches for a children's party with live entertainment.

Hard to see, but the ends of this concrete bench are "sand" ashtrays.

Views of the hotel

The Captain caught a fish, but not a good eating one.  Catch and release program.

La Cruz de Huanacaxtle ("The Cross of Huanacaxtle") is a Mexican fishing village situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas in the state of Nayarit. It is situated approximately a 40 minute bus ride from Puerto Vallarta. The town name comes from a cross that is made of Huanacaxtle wood which is located at the town's entrance.  The town was founded in the 1930s by the Chavez family, which still maintains a mango orchard on the outskirts of town.
In 2008, a major renovation of the harbor was completed and now hosts a marina, called Marina Riviera (La Cruz Yacht Club) capable of handling vessels of all sizes up to 400 feet in length, so we were able to get our 42' in just fine.

La Cruz wall art

Central Park

Now to the wordy part..........Puerto Vallarta History

Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bahía de Banderas. The 2010 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 255,725 making it the second largest city in the state of Jalisco.  The city is located at  20°40′N 105°16′W. The municipality has an area of 502.19 square miles.  Puerto Vallarta is named after Ignacio Vallarta, a former governor of Jalisco. In Spanish, Puerto Vallarta is often shortened to "Vallarta", while English speakers call the city P.V. for short.

 Puerto Vallarta's proximity to the Bay of Banderas have given the town a more interesting past than most Mexican tourist destinations. Puerto Vallarta was a thriving Mexican village long before it became an international tourist destination. Tourism was a major economic activity because of the climate, scenery, tropical beaches, and rich cultural history. For a sense of the extent even of the city's modern history, note that Puerto Vallarta and Seattle were founded in the same year 1851. There is archaeological evidence of continuous human habitation from 580 BC, and there is archeological evidence that the area belonged to the Aztatlán culture which dominated Jalisco, Nayarit and Michoacán from approx. 900-1200 AD.
Spanish missionary and conquistador documents chronicle skirmishes between the Spanish colonizers and the local peoples. In 1524, for example, a large battle between Hernán Cortés and an army of 10,000 to 20,000 Indians resulted in Cortés taking control of much of the Ameca valley. The valley was then named Banderas (flags) after the colorful standards carried by the natives.
During the 17th and 18th centuries the Banderas Valley and its beaches along the Bay of Banderas served as supply points for ships seeking refuge in the bay. The area also served as a point where smuggled goods could be sent on to the Sierra towns near Mascota, evading the customs operations.
During the 19th century the history of Puerto Vallarta, then called El Carrizal or Las Peñas, was linked to the history of the Sierra towns of San Sebastian del Oeste, Talpa de Allende and Mascota. While today these towns are considered quaint tourist destinations, during much of the 18th century, Mascota was Jalisco's second largest town, after Guadalajara.  Also during the 18th century Puerto Vallarta grew transforming itself from a small fishing and pearl-diving village into a small beach-landing port serving the Sierra towns.  Puerto Vallarta also became a vacation destination for residents of the Sierra Towns, and by the mid 19th century, the town already had its regularly returning population of vacationers. Most of the early settlers in Puerto Vallarta were families who had left the Sierra towns for one reason or another.
The official founding story of Las Peñas n/k/a Puerto Vallarta is that it was founded by Guadalupe Sánchez Torres, on December 12, 1851 as Las Peñas de Santa María de Guadalupe.  Even as early as 1850 the area was already peopled by fisherman, pearl divers, smugglers and foragers, all of whom had something of a permanent existence in the area.  The year 1859 marks the beginning of Puerto Vallarta as a village.  By 1885, the village comprised about 250 homes and about 800 residents.
The first airplane service arrived in 1932, with electrical service on a small scale arriving about the same time. The first suspension bridge over the Cuale went up in 1933. The city's first plumbing system was started in 1939. In 1942, Puerto Vallarta was finally connected by road to Compostela, Nay. Until then the only access to Puerto Vallarta was by sea, air, or by mule trails to the sierra towns. Also in 1942, in the New York based magazine Modern Mexico the first advertisement for a Puerto Vallarta vacation appeared, sponsored by the Air Transport Company of Jalisco. By 1945, the company was landing DC-3s in Puerto Vallarta (carrying 21 passengers).
By the 1950s, Puerto Vallarta had started to attract Americans, mostly writers and artists in search of a retreat from the USA of the era of Eisenhower and McCarthy. Gringo Gulch began to develop as an expatriate neighborhood on the hill above the Centro. The city also attracted Mexican artists and writers who were willing to trade the comforts of life in the larger cities for its scenic and bucolic advantages.  From the 1960s and early 1970s Puerto Vallarta launched into its trajectory toward becoming a major resort destination.
 American director John Huston filmed his 1963 film The Night of the Iguana in Mismaloya, a small town just south of Puerto Vallarta. At the time of filming, the US media gave extensive coverage to Elizabeth Taylor's extramarital affair with Richard Burton, as well as covering the frequent fighting between Huston and the film's stars. The subsequent publicity helped put Puerto Vallarta on the map for US tourists.
Finally, in 1968 the municipality was elevated to the status of a City.  The town has since also attracted a lively expatriate community from the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Prior to 1973, hotels in the city tended to be modest, and only two large sized luxury hotels existed (the Real and the Posada Vallarta). After 1973, Puerto Vallarta experienced rapid growth in the number of larger luxury hotels, culminating in 1980 with the opening of the Sheraton Buganvilias. In 1982, the peso was devalued and Puerto Vallarta became a bargain destination for US tourists. Consequently, the mid-1980s saw a marked and rapid rise in the tourist volume. This in turn fueled more development, for example the Marina which was started in 1986. By the early 1990s, development of other destinations in Mexico like Ixtapa and Cancún caused a slump in travel to Puerto Vallarta.

On our 40-minute collectivo ride from La Cruz to PV, this young gal entered the bus and began to play the guitar and sing beautifully.  We even had hula hoop entertainment by another gal while stopped at a red light. Of course, we gave them a few pesos.  (Conversion is $11.87 pesos to the US dollar.)

One thing we really wanted to do while in Mexico was to purchase Talavera pottery hand painted sinks for the boat.  While having a nice lunch at San Lucas Restaurant & Bar in El Centro (older part of Puerto Vallarta), the restaurant owner told us the "World of Tiles" was around the corner.  What luck!    Talavera pottery is a type of majolica pottery and the authentic Talavera pottery only comes from the city of Puebla because of the quality of the natural clay found there.  Production dates back to the 16th century when the art was brought to Mexico by the Spanish. The tradition that developed there is called Talavera Poblana to distinguish it from the similarly named Talavera pottery of Spain. It is a mixture of Italian, Spanish and indigenous ceramic techniques.  Here are some pics of the shop which is also where they hand paint the pottery.

I've fallen in love with this pottery!  It is very colorful and as you can see - playful!

Which one do I choose???  Oh, I'm so confused........

Our new sinks...................

Puerto Vallarta's famous arches on the malecon

Oh, then there are the vendors.................everyone has something to sell.  For $1 you can have your photo taken holding an iguana----------no gracias!

We left La Cruz last Monday and after a 2 -1/2 day sail, we are now in Cabo San Lucas.  And doing what we do often............wait for a weather window to go north.

Next blog - The craziness of Cabo - Tourist mecca!