The CLO (Community Liaison Officer) here at post recently organized a tour to Tonola, which is a town known for it’s artisans and it is a great place to go to shop for ceramics, glassware and artwork. We were able to visit a couple of family operations that make ceramics and were guided through town by workers from the tourist board. We were even able to end the tour with a visit to city hall where we met the mayor and learned a bit more about the history of the city.
A great find and activity for keeping the kids entertained (and keeping our sanity) was the El Charco del Ingenio botanical gardens, a short cab ride on the outskirts of town. We expected something small that would not occupy the kids for very long, but there were nice trails to explore and enough to keep us all busy.
A few more pictures from our wanderings around San Miguel.
San Miguel de Allende was still on our list before leaving Mexico, so when we decided a bit late in the game that we should visit after Christmas, we were pleased when we managed to find a place to stay that was still relatively close to the city center. It made for a great time and three nights was a good amount of time to see most things while only partially maxing out the kids.
It’s a new year, so time to play a bit of catch-up. Back in October some friends let us use their condo in Punta Mita, so we certainly figured we shouldn’t pass up on another opportunity to head to the beach. Plus we had not been to Punta Mita yet, so off we went.
So, way behind on getting these up, but better late than never. Over Memorial Day weekend, we headed back to the beach with some friends, this time back to the coast north of Puerto Vallarta, an area we had not visited since shortly after we first arrived at post.
We rented a house at Playa San Pancho in the quiet little beach town of San Francisco. This was a great location as it meant an hour less driving than if we had gone all the way to Puerto Vallarta. And with more of the toll road completed, this meant a less than four hour drive, a big plus for returning to the area in the future.
When it came time to head to the beach, we headed down the highway about another 15 minutes to the town of Sayulita, which has become quite the hipster surfing location for many American tourists. We needed a quiet and calm beach and a co-worker had recommended Playa de los Muertos, whose name became apparent as we finally managed to find our way through the narrow streets and then noticed the cemetery as we were looking for a place to park.
We enjoyed a late lunch in Sayulita and enjoyed exploring the town a bit. We definitely look forward to a return visit.
The Piedrotas are a large rock formation outside of Tapalpa. They are right off of the road and make for a fun time exploring. The kids had a blast, especially DiploGirl, who was eager to stay well after we had had our fill.
We enjoyed our January trip to Tapalpa so much that we headed back in the middle of February for another visit, this time staying for a night in a house outside of town. It was a beautiful and very big house, but what we actually rented was just the bottom level, which had two bedrooms, a dining/living room and a kitchen.
The house had beautiful views, a trampoline for the kids (and possibly me) and plenty of pine cones to gather.
DiploDad 