Fri-Sat, Oct 25-26 - A Day on our Own and the Drive back to Puerto Vallerta

Filiberto is driving Thomas back to Puerto Vallerta so he can return to Santa Barbara today;  Valori is hoping to go horse back riding, so Bob and I decided to explore the area some more by ourselves and do some birding.  There is a 27- mile circular route that goes into the mountains and by several villages to a lake so we took off to explore.  We drove to Yerba Buena and wound up and up, by lovely villages on a good road consisting of two concrete tracks set over ancient cobblestones.

Great wild flowers, waterfalls and miles of uncut forest!  We stopped and walked a way, spotting a lovely Montezuma Quail among other birds.

Montezuma Quail

After about 10 miles, at 7000’ elevation, the road suddenly deteriorated into dirt and then we reached a steep patch of mud and thought we’d better turn around.  We drove back to Mascota and tried the track from the other end.  It wasn’t quite as scenic and the road was very narrow with side ruts.  After a while we decided to turn around – there is a $600/night resort on this road which we were interested in seeing as it’s quite a trip from PV for most tourists! But we didn't make it and returned to Mascota at 3 PM. 

I walked around the town…siesta lasts until 4:30...so everything was shut up tight!  We didn’t hear from Valori or Patty – WhatsApp is the easiest way to communicate, but only if you’re within wifi range – so at 7 Bob and I went out to Café Napoli, Trip Advisor’s best in town, and had a pretty good pizza and beer.  At 9 PM  I finally heard from Valori who was at a bar with Patty!

It was half a mile away so I wandered out and met Patty who took me to a tiny bar full of cowboys and locals, all of whom knew her, of course!  I had some beers and met most of the patrons, and eventually Valori and I walked back to the Santa Elena and were greeted by Alfonso, the nice night watchman who had been so helpful our first evening in Mascota. 

Saturday – We had breakfast early at 8AM, packed up and bid a sad farewell to lovely Mascota!  Bob drove down the potholed highway, stopping briefly to drive into the tiny village of San Sabastian, another lovely place to stay.
  It took us 2 hours to get to Puerto Vallerta; Bob and I had rehearsed the complex directions for approaching the airport and finding Thrifty Car Rental.  He had written down all the highway signs that I was to look for….and None of them was there!!…we had to make U-turns and fly by instinct….and amazingly found Thrifty!    

San Sabastian

Tucson

They delivered us to the airport where we said goodbye to Valori as she was taking another flight, grabbed a hamburger, and got on our plane to Phoenix.  We flew up the sunny coast, into the mountains and crossed the border, flying right over my sister, Hilary’s, old house in Tucson!!  We passed through the very easy and fast Immigration and Customs, stopped for a delicious Ruben sandwich and Old Fashioned, and got onto our flight to Santa Barbara, landing at 7:30 and home!    A wonderful and very different trip!