Tapalpa/Our last few days in Mexico

With our time (and money!) in Mexico quickly running out, we decided to make one final trip with some friends to the nearby Pueblo Magico: Tapalpa. The Mexican Tourism Bureau has complied a list (here) of particularly charming towns throughout the country that are considered worth a visit and Tapalpa made the cut. Another one close to Guadalajara is the town of Tequila, which I guess we will be saving for our next visit to Mexico (hopefully soon!) because we ran out of time (and money). We left the city Saturday afternoon with Moises and his girlfriend Alba, and made the hour and a half trip up into the hills. We lucked out when Moises's sister, Edith (who knew that was a popular Mexican name?!) offered her boyfriend's family's (whoa) vacation home for us to spend the night. Moy also mentioned that he might want to stop in nearby Sayula on the way back to visit an old friend who owns a boutique hotel there, so we were able to kill two birds with one stone. After traveling up a very curvy road (and several donkey sightings!), we arrived in the small town in the late afternoon and unpacked our things. When I say small, I mean that it's the kind of town where people stare at anyone who drives by, mostly out of curiousity/boredom, but also because it's REALLY likely they might know them.

Donkey sighting

The house was adorable and decorated in what Alba called "a very traditional Mexican style". It seemed like no one had visited in the last couple weeks so we dusted and swept a little before grabbing a jacket (the air was quite cool even at this time of day) and setting out to check out "Los Piedrotas".

view down into the living room from the top of the spiral staircase

upstairs loft

Los Piedrotas are basically enormous rocks plopped down in the middle of a valley. I'm still unsure of how or why they're there, but it made for some decent entertainment, since Moises and Danny treated it like they're personal jungle gym.

Los Piedrotas

We explored the area a bit and took in the view.

The terrain looked a little dry (due to it being dry season and all), but the view was still pretty great.

I even found a cactus tree to play with

After jumping around on the rocks, we'd worked up quite an appetite, so we headed back in to town for food and to pick up some groceries.

The small town is quite charming, especially at night and because it was a Saturday, lots of people were walking around. There was even a large inflatable screen in the square showing, what appeared to be, some sort of promotional film (some might call it propaganda) for a local politician.

We walked around for a bit, and bought tamales from a street vendor. They had tons of meat-filled options, but since I've been doing the vegetarian thing for about a month now, I opted for the Tamales con Acelgas, which Alba told me was pretty similar to spinach. The woman selling tamales took two out of the warmer, covered them in sour cream and queso cotija (crumbly goat cheese that ALWAYS comes on refried beans) and we ate them while we sat in the square.

Moises with his tamales

We went into a nearby bakery and Alba bought some cookies to take back to her family. We sat for awhile outside of a restaurant and listened to the mariachis play while Alba sang along. We talked about what a strange feeling it was, to be sitting in the small town in Mexico, listening to authentic mariachis, knowing that in two days we would be back in the States with our families and friends.

As it started to cool down even more, we headed back to the house to light a fire and enjoy some red wine and s'mores.

I even played a little guitar

We finally let the fire die down and we all headed to bed, agreeing we would have breakfast in the morning and then make the hike to the waterfalls outside of town.

We woke up, packed our things and cleaned up a bit. We ate breakfast in town overlooking the square. Danny ordered Carne a la Mexicana, Moy got the Chilaquiles (note the queso cotija atop his beans):

Alba ordered Molletes con Chorizo. Pretty diverse and typical Mexican breakfast food. I would include a photo of my Huevos a la Mexicana (eggs with tomato and serrano chiles mixed in), buuuuut I MIGHT have eaten it too quickly to document.

Molletes

After breakfast, we all got into the car and headed out to the waterfalls, stopping to ask about 11 times if we were heading in the right direction. The locals were EXTREMELY helpful, sometimes even repeating the directions several times just to make sure we understood. We took the dusty road up into the hills, seeing several interesting sights along the way

like these guys

and more donkeys. this one seemed to be just sort of wandering around unattended

Did I mention it was really dusty???

We finally arrived at the spot where you park and begun the hike down to the falls. I felt pretty hydrated so I ignored the people at the top selling water and fresh fruit (mistake) and we plunged forward. The steep and rocky incline was pretty tough, and we made our way down slowly and carefully like little billygoats.

 It was fairly warm out and I'd packed my bathing suit, so I was really looking forward to a refreshing dip in the falls after braving the 90 degree heat (also a mistake). We arrived at the first set of falls and took it all in.

Notice no one swimming? Not a great sign

Alba had been to this spot before, and she told us there was an even bigger waterfall not far from where we were so we walked over to check it out.

Impressive.

The photo above is me testing the waters to see if it was fit for swimming. Short answer: it wasn't. Somehow, the water was so cold that when you put your feet in for longer than a few seconds it actually HURT. However, we still gave it a try and sat on the rocks to sun ourselves like iguanas and rest before the hike back up the mountain. 

You know it's gonna be a rough hike up when on the way DOWN you keep saying, "Man the trip up is gonna be TERRIBLE." And it was. Danny and I, being the competitive Americans that we are powered up the hills ahead of Moy and Alba. At one point we passed a doubled-over woman who sounded like she was either dying, or throwing up, or both. It looked like she was seriously regretting her chilaquiles. With what I like to think of as an amazingly tiny amount of whining on my part we finally reached the top and I proceeded to buy one very large, VERY reasonably priced, bottle of water. Danny enjoyed a bag of potato chips doused in hot sauce and i woofed down some fresh watermelon while we waited for the rest of our group.

Youuuuu might be a redneck...

We grabbed a quick dinner in town and then drove down the mountain to Sayula, which is basically located directly below Tapalpa at the base of the hill. Moy's friend opened Gran Casa Sayula, a small boutique hotel, about a year ago and has been asking him to come check it out ever since. We pulled up and all of our jaws dropped. The place was GORGEOUS. Honestly, it's one of the nicest and most charming hotels I've ever seen and if you or someone you know is within a 200 mile radius, GO THERE. Here's the website: http://www.grancasasayula.com/

After a brief tour and history of the building, we sat and enjoyed some cocktails by the pool, regretting that we'd already eaten because the menu looked terrific and we were offered whatever we'd like. 

Downtown Sayula, getting a tour of the grounds

Cocktail hour: a Sayula Sunset

We even got to try some Raicilla, which no one, including Moy and Alba had ever heard of. It's similar to tequila but the flavor is much more smokey and instead of coming from the typical agave plant, it's made from lechugilla which grows wild. It sounded pretty similar to moonshine, but tasted MUCH better.

We reluctantly left after we realized it was already 10pm and we had a long journey back. We got back to Guadalajara and dropped Alba off at her place, saying our final goodbyes in case we don't see her again before we leave tomorrow morning. 

Speaking of leaving, I've been pretty much packed for about five days now. Danny just started this morning and we have to leave for the airport by 6:30 am tomorrow morning. As we speak, he is about 3/4 of the way finished with the packing process and it's looking like it might be possible. We REALLY want to avoid checking/paying for a third bag if at all possible. When we arrived in Mexico, Danny's bags were pretty much at capacity and we have both since done quite a bit of shopping, so we will see how it all goes. We're having our last meal tonight at Pig's Pearls with some friends and then maybe having one last tequila in El Centro at a famous cantina called La Fuente. We've both had an awesome time here, but we are ready for the next adventure. This will be our last post from Mexico...at least for awhile...Sallie in a Sombrero signing off!