Saturday, April 4, 2015

Hidden Mexico

Our first wonderful experience with Vallarta Adventures to Rhythm of The Night was by water in a hug pontoon boat. You can read our previous post about that magical night by clicking here.

Our next excursion we traveled to San Sebastian was in a luxury air conditioned bus. If you click here you can read all about that one.

The next tour we were transported in a Mercedes Benz Unimog which is a great experience just in itself. We really felt like we were on a jungle safari.

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It was awesome! Viewing was incredible with a 360 degree range and being ‘right’ with nature.

Only about 15 minutes out of the city, our first stop on this day was at the very popular Vallarta Botanical Gardens.

I have never seen such an elaborate water garden. Breathtaking!

By now, you should all know that I play around with photography and that I especially love flower shots. Well in these natural  surroundings I suffered severely from sensory overload!

Another highlight is the recently added Orchid Terrarium that held me captive for the duration of our ‘too short’ visit. A return trip on our own is definitely in our future.

Loaded back up again to our next stop in a rural farming area.

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Mexican Stairmaster?

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Our guide explaining some of the meanings of these petroglyphs.

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Then a real treat - an open air bakery serving mouth watering pies and pastries.

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Baked in these outdoor wood fired ovens.

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This tour company always make sure these events are always top-notch. From the start of the day with their small continental breakfast buffet before we head out to the perfectly planned stops along the way. That snack was exactly what we needed. Plus they always have coolers with cold drinks for everyone and today was no different – complete with nice cold beer.

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Our guide jokingly: after all - drinking beer in the back of a truck is just the Mexican way. Hah!

Now, again for any of you that know The Cowboy & I and our roots . . . you just know that this is one tradition we can relate to.

Next stop was a quaint little village . . .

Right from the cow to the table – the whole process was explained to us. This family has 14 cows that are used specifically for the making of this very mild cheese. The baskets are used for draining the liquid before it’s finally packaged for sale. A very small operation that, much like all of the other operations down here, could take you back centuries - right out of the 50’s.

Wherever we go and whatever we do down here always involves a lot of walking and today was no different. We trekked on through this little village until we came to this charming little antique and collectible shop. We picked up a couple of hand crafted souvenirs created by the very friendly artist/owner. She was also handing out little shots of tequila – how can you not love that job? Might also explain why she was so friendly?

Then . . . for another first (for us) we were taken to this amazing piece of paradise . . .

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By this time it’s around 3 o’clock so it’s a good thing we had snacks at our other stops. Here they grow a lot of their own fruits, vegetables and spices and we were served up a beautiful buffet of Mexican specialties.

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While the food was delicious the setting and seating was over the top and more than unique.

These picnic tables were actually sitting in this peaceful shallow river. It was very clean and certainly an experience that we will always remember.

The day wasn’t over yet . . . one more stop . . .

One tequila, Two tequila

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Well, that was another full day with lots of pictures. Remember to view a larger size of the pic – just click on it or to view the whole album Click here.

 

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We had a great time and we’re

happy you could join us.

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