Restaurants
Recommended:
- Mezzogiorno, Bucerias
- Mariscos y Tostadas, Puerto Vallarta
- El Patron, Puerto Vallarta
- El Barracuda, Puerto Vallarta
Not so much:
- Blue Shrimp, Puerto Vallarta
Bike Ride
The highlight of the trip for me had to be the trip to Tepic to visit George Otis, one of my online bike buddies on the Classic Rendezvous Google Group and the Classic & Vintage forum on bikeforums.net. George has a number of very nice bikes (he rode a lovely restored Motobecane Le Champion) and loaned me a recently acquired mid-70s RIH, for a nice ride through the Nayarit countryside. From one of his pre-ride emails: "The route is a nice mix of mountains, coast, pine forest, tropical jungle, beaches, agricultural lands, etc."
George was extremely hospitable. Aside from the actual ride, he figured out the buses for me (times, locations, costs) and responded to all my questions about the sometimes tenuous situation for Americans in Mexico. (Read the State Department alerts if you're curious.) He also insisted on feeding me breakfast before we set off, complete with local yogurt and homemade passion fruit juice. After breakfast, we spent a few minutes adjusting the bike he loaned me. Then we were off.
George lives just to the east of the dormant San Juan volcano.
Our route out Federal Hwy 76 took us around the volcano (more-or-less northwest then southwest). Tepic is around 3100 ft elevation (3149 according to MapMyRide). The route initially took us up a gradual grade. MMR tells me we topped out at 3727 feet, just before we reached the village of Guayabitos. From there, it was almost all downhill to the coast. We turned off Hwy 76 at Hwy 12, just before reaching Miramar on the coast, at an elevation of 110 feet. Aside from small climbs out of little villages tucked into ravines along the way, that represented almost 21 miles downhill. Boy, were my arms tired at the bottom! Two days later, my triceps were still sore. We did stop in a little village, Jalcocotán, where I bought some dried bananas. They are nothing more than peeled bananas which have been dried in the sun. I liked them, but wasn't able to get Ellen to try them.
Not far from the little village of Playa Platanitos, where we stopped for lunch, we stopped at a
little shrine to the Blessed Virgin, where pictures of our bikes seemed in order. I'm not sure the stop did
us much good, as I got a flat tire a bit further down the road. George mentioned that we didn't get hit by
any cars. Maybe she only worries about the big stuff.
The short street down to Playa Platanitos was steep and heavily cobbled. Staying upright was quite a challenge. Just about the only thing in the village were four little open air restaurants situated side-by-side on the beach. George
told me the only activity they get is on the weekends when farmers from the surrounding area come into "town." We were the only customers in the restaurant he chose. It was quite nice. I had fish, of course. On the way back out, the cobbles got us, and we both wound up walking the last little bit up to the highway.
On the final stretch to Las Varas (about 17 miles) we had a nice tailwind. We rode at a conversational pace though, so I'm sure it took well over an hour. We got to the main intersection (Hwy 12 and Hwy 200) with about 30 minutes of sunlight left. I waited for about five minutes for a bus back to Puerto Vallarta, while George headed up the hill on a bus headed to Tepic with the two bikes stored in the luggage bay.
I had a great time. It was wonderful to meet another Classic Rendezvous contact. George said it was his first opportunity to meet any of his online bike buddies, and aside from a little guided tour on rental bikes in Montreal a few years ago, it was my first opportunity to actually ride a bike outside the USA. I talked up the Dairyland Dare. George is originally from Minnesota (his parents still live there), so perhaps we can twist his arm to take a detour while visiting them next summer. That way he'd be able to meet a few other people from CR and the C&V crowd on bikeforums.net.
George was extremely hospitable. Aside from the actual ride, he figured out the buses for me (times, locations, costs) and responded to all my questions about the sometimes tenuous situation for Americans in Mexico. (Read the State Department alerts if you're curious.) He also insisted on feeding me breakfast before we set off, complete with local yogurt and homemade passion fruit juice. After breakfast, we spent a few minutes adjusting the bike he loaned me. Then we were off.
George lives just to the east of the dormant San Juan volcano.
Not far from the little village of Playa Platanitos, where we stopped for lunch, we stopped at a
The short street down to Playa Platanitos was steep and heavily cobbled. Staying upright was quite a challenge. Just about the only thing in the village were four little open air restaurants situated side-by-side on the beach. George
On the final stretch to Las Varas (about 17 miles) we had a nice tailwind. We rode at a conversational pace though, so I'm sure it took well over an hour. We got to the main intersection (Hwy 12 and Hwy 200) with about 30 minutes of sunlight left. I waited for about five minutes for a bus back to Puerto Vallarta, while George headed up the hill on a bus headed to Tepic with the two bikes stored in the luggage bay.
I had a great time. It was wonderful to meet another Classic Rendezvous contact. George said it was his first opportunity to meet any of his online bike buddies, and aside from a little guided tour on rental bikes in Montreal a few years ago, it was my first opportunity to actually ride a bike outside the USA. I talked up the Dairyland Dare. George is originally from Minnesota (his parents still live there), so perhaps we can twist his arm to take a detour while visiting them next summer. That way he'd be able to meet a few other people from CR and the C&V crowd on bikeforums.net.
