MEXICO CENTER

Nayarit, Jalisco & Michoacan

By Foreign Natives

February 29^th, 2016

After three weeks in Baja California, we decided to cross to the other side to México. We crossed the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortés) with a ferry that departs from La Paz. It takes around 13 hours to cross to the other side. We unloaded in Mazatlan (Sinaloa), and since this is not the safest state in México, we decided to drive south fast, with no stops.

Once you cross, landscape changes abruptly. No more dry lands, no more cactus and no more isolation. Instead, everything is absolutely green, with lots of fruits and trees. We crossed so many cars and trucks along the roads, and villages were crowded too.

sayulita, nayarit

Our first stop was Sayulita, in Nayarit, and we stayed there for two nights. Although it is quite touristic (mainly american young people), we found good vibes and surfing there. It was a good way to get a small dosis of social life.

barranca de huentitan, JALISCO

After Sayulita, we went to Guadalajara, but we made an stop in Barranca de Huentitan because Víctor had a 27k running race. Surprisingly, he won!

GUADALAJARA, JALISCO

We went to Guadalajara for one day and we ended up staying three days, we were surprised on how much we liked it. There's a lot of cultural events happening there, and no tourism, so it's a relaxed stop. We took the advantage of staying in a hostel and working hard.

During the whole trip, we wrote more than 50 postcards for our friends. We sent them from all over México. Eva painted our Dodge van the last Christmas, and wanted to use it as our best memory.

michoacan

We stayed one night in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan. This state is not really safe nowadays, but you can visit Morelia with no problem. In fact, it's a beautiful city. We left the van in a garage, because every car needs a check every once in a while... but fortunately, everything was in pretty good shape.

Once you cross Michoacan from side to side, you will realize there's a lot of military presence over the roads and cities.

During the next days we had stormy days, with a lot of wind and rain. The roads were snowed, and we couldn't visit some of the places that we had in mind because most of the roads were closed. I guess this is part of the adventure.

PUEBLA

We stopped in Puebla in order to get some handicrafts. Talavera is the traditional pottery from this area, which is very colored.

LA MALINCHE

At 4460m (14632ft), La Malinche is the 6th highest mountain in México. It was named after the native interpreter that betrayed her people and helped Hernan Cortés to conquer the aztecas. We made a summit attempt but we failed by only 40m because the amount of ice on the rocks. The view was amazing, and the satisfaction of climbing such a big mountain made it all worth it.