San Sebastian del Oeste

Last weekend we had yet another five day weekend so I thought it would be fun to get out of town, in Mexico, with my family.  On the pacific side of Mexico the mountains come right to the sea, so even though we live on the beach every time we drive to Puerto Vallarta we see beautiful huge mountains  which always remind me of Utah.  We have been wanting to explore those mountains but we were either lazy, didn't have enough time or we had Dillon to think of.  As much as we miss Dillon and wish he were here we do have a bit more freedom these days.

 I met a Delta pilot in line at customs here in Puerto Vallarta about 2 years ago who owns a casita in San Sebastian that he rents out and after a quick email learned that the casita was available.  Yeah, we are finally going to the mountains!  And it is only a two hour drive from here.

Casita Alicia

San Sebastian used to be a thriving mining town in the 1800's  with a population of 20,000.  Today, there is no more mining and the population is about 600.  The town itself is small, we wondered how 20,000 people actually fit in it.  All of the streets are cobble stone and most are super skinny.  The houses and structures are right on the street.  Very European and actually the town adopted the Spanish style in that its colors are basic white and red with tile roofs.

As in every town, San Sebastian had its plaza and local church.  We picked a great weekend as they were having their annual Racilla and Cafe' celebration in the plaza.  Racilla is tequila's lesser known sibling and is often called "Mexican moonshine".  It is also made from the agave plant as tequila but real "Tequila" has to also be made in the town of Tequilla to take on it's name.  There was also free local food and Mexican entertainment and an orchestra on Saturday night.

The local church

Inside the church.  Alex was a bit frieked out and would only stand at the entrance.

Tourist season had pretty much ended so we found that we were the only Gringos in town.  We also learned the true meaning of "siesta".  Being from the States and Sayulita, both of which do not have time for siestas, we ventured out at around 4:00 to look around and get an early dinner.  HAHA.  It was as if the evacuation horns had gone off but we didn't hear them.   Ah, so this is "siesta".  Virtually all the windows and doors were closed in town so we went home and ventured out later.

 We also learned that theft is a non issue there considering the one key we used to lock our casita.  Unlike Sayulita, almost no homes had bars on the windows.

We figured that if we got mugged we could beat them with our key.

We loved waking up in the morning and sitting on the porch with a beautiful view, crisp air,  listening to the leaves clapp and wearing our fleece.  It was so quiet without the ocean waves in the background.

Our beautiful view

Ozzy enjoying the peace and quiet in the sun with his morning coffee

Everybody's day is better when Trace wakes up on the right side of the bed

We took a couple hours and drove down the road, through and old gate and found Hacienda Jalisco.  The structure was originally built by the Spanish 200+ years ago as a secure place for ore transfers but is now a B&B of sorts.  The remains of the ore smelters, stables and grounds can be toured as well.  We had a private tour with the son of the caretaker who was on a school holiday.  Worth the 40 pesos.

Hacienda Jalisco

On Sunday we drove 40 minutes up to La Bufa, a local mountain peak, and hiked to the summit which sits at about 7000 feet above sea level.  It felt like hiking in our neighborhood in Park City with the coolness, air and smell of evergreens until you came upon a huge agave plant and we were reminded that we were not in Utah anymore.  I couldn't help but think how much Dillon would have loved it up there. 

Giant agave

The view from La Bufa.  San Sebastian is in the lower right corner.

San Sebastian from above

I am so happy to be back in the mountains but I wonder if there are any waves back home.

This trip marks our first real Mexico adventure that was not surf or friends related.  It was close and easy to get to.  For a short weekend it was totally worth the effort to explore a very, very small part of this area of Mexico's history.  Hopefully, this is just the beginning of our trips here in Mexico.