From flush to lush

Our lunch stop

We left our gross hotel as soon as humanly possible this morning and plotted a route for the coast. Initially we followed the Carterra International which transitioned from large commercial farms to small farms and orange groves surrounded by beautiful lush mountainsides and valleys. A shiver worked its way through my spine with each dip into the pooled crisp air in the valleys, soon to be replaced by a blast of warm humid air over each small pass.

The need for gasoline forced us to take an unlikely exit into a beautiful town were turistas were definitely not common. Although there were many automobiles it seemed impossible to find a gas station. We began a wild goose chase through narrow streets paved with small rounded stones that must have taken kneeling workers thousands of hours to place. While Jamal was asking yet another person for directions The quintessential big moustache having, sombrero wearing, Mexican cowboy trotted past trailing a mule behind. He startled me when he slowed and yelled in near perfect English “where are you going?”. I shouted back in my lousy Spanish “donde es gasolina” still not registering that he spoke to me in English. “Three blocks up, two over” and he turned and rode off. Is in these moments that I realize the it is in the culture of these beautiful people to go out of there way to help someone else. Something about their simple non-commercialized world creates a sense of community unusual in the US. Cars and trucks (sometimes semis) pull over, random dudes on horses slow their pace, motorcycles pull alongside, everywhere there is someone who is interested in going out of their way to help a stranger. We found the gas. Apparently gas is of high value in this town since it was guarded by a man in uniform carrying a shotgun. I can see why since it took us so long to find the only gas station that seemed to be in existence for miles.

After stopping for lunch at a roadside café we pointed our wheels for puerto Vallarta. The orange groves gave way to twisty roads through a lush tropical landscape. White egrets dotted the marshes along the side of the road while vultures still circled in the thermals rising high above the land. The typical roadside markets selling carne asada and pollo slowly transformed into venders selling 4 bags of shrimp for 100 pesos and coconuts from the abundant trees rising from the hillsides. A few hours later we arrived in Puerto Vallarta searching for the cheaper local hotels less frequented by tourists. My level of comfort and confidence along with the temperature rises with each mile registered on the odometer.