Rest day and visit to Talpa

Wedneday we all agreed to take a rest day in and around the condo, with Thursday the long trip to Talpa.

Eileen and Marianne went to the nearby shopping center, Eileen had her hair cut, Marianne bought a dress.

In the evening, we went to the membership party for the condo association, and then we went back to Arrayans for another good meal.

Thursday we got up early and hit the road around 7AM. It took a while to get out of the outskirts of Puerto Vallarta, but we eventually got out into the country. The road through the mountains was very twisty. We stopped at Mascota in the market for breakfast. Mascota is a sleepy valley town with cobblestone streets, perhaps best known for being the birthplace of St. Jose Maria Robles Hurtado. St. Hurtado was a priest executed during the Christero wars; he was canonized recently along with several other Mexican saints from the same era. The exvoto below is someone giving thanks to St. Hurtado for returning safely to his family, probably from the USA.

We pressed on to Talpa, going over a short but steep mountain pass. Talpa is another sleepy town with cobblestone streets. On the road into town there were statues of various apparations of the virgin, including Lourdes and Fatima. The church was not as remarkable as we had hoped; there were few exvotos in view.

We then went up to the house of Jenny and Howard M. Richard knew Jenny through her writings. She used to be a consular agent in Puerto Vallarta. She knew all about Fernando, the developer of the condo we are staying at. They were very hospitable, and we chatted for quite some time. Their home overlooks the town.

Back in the car, over the short pass outside Talpa, through the valley, and then back over the long and twisty mountain pass. We were keeping an eye on the clock, as we wanted to be back to Puerto Vallarta before dark. We decided to make a dinner stop in San Sebastian, a very pretty old mining town. Our dinner at El Fortin was not that great.

We headed back, and arrived on the edge of Puerto Vallarta around dark. It took a long time to get through rush hour traffic to our condo. A very long day, we were all tired.