In 1984 my boyfriend and I decided we needed to get away from our lives in Eugene, Oregon and rethink our personal life journey. We chose Mexico as our destination and a little fishing village Greg had visited twice before named San Blas. It is located on the Pacific Coast of Mexico located between Puerto Vallarta and Matzalan and we decided to drive there. We had an itinerary of driving to San Francisco on to Anaheim, California and from there to Mazatlan until we got to San Blas in about a two week trip. I was aware that once I got there the town had whale
watching, deep sea fishing, surfing, waterfalls and hiking in the jungle and beaches that there were NO
condos there, NO major resort hotels, NO shopping malls, NO freeways NO golf
courses and NO stoplights and a cobblestone street. You don't need a car to get around although it is handy if you want to go visit surrounding towns or take day trips places with taking the sort of scary Mexican Bus, the drivers go a little faster than I would on these sort of old and winding roads. But they will get you there if you are braver that I was. You can walk around town, and buses run everywhere in Mexico. San Blas is a
Mexican town - and traving in Mexico by car all of the way was definitely fraught with a lot of culture shock for me. We went to the beach almost every day and I have to say that as beautiful as it was I did eventually get bored with it, but I guess that is not a bad problem to have. There is a ruins of an old fort that we visited called the "Fort of San Basilio, located on a hill at the northeast side of the
city. A
cobbled road winds uphill (actually most of the roads here are cobbled) through a banana plantation and past a cemetery and
aging mission church, culminating at the fort, which commands a panoramic view
of San Blas and the bay. Massive black cannons and crumbling stone walls, a
monument to the colonial days. There is a deserted beach with a "wow factor" like no other called Matanchen Beach, just outside San Blas that we drove to several times, when we got "bored" with the long sandy beach we could walk to from our apartment we rented for a month. We took the La Tovara Jungle Cruise, which actually ended up at the end
of Matanchen Bay, it was an amazing sight, with the beach going on for what seemed
eternity, with not a soul in sight. Our boat was piloted by a young man named Alfredo, he was a nice kid with very large ears, and we went with a couple we had met in town and had a lot of fun together. We saw a lot of turtles on the trip in to the fresh water estuary as well as some very large iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks. When we made it to the small village destination the water became fresh and there was a bar and a restaurant for us tourists to eat and drink at when we got there We drank a lot of beer and we swam in the warm clear water with the "tropical" fish and took in a lot of sun as well. Ir was very cool to see all of the tropical fish, in their natural environment, that were just like the ones that I am used to seeing in my roommate and I's aquarium that I have back home and then to actually get to swim with them was absoulutely amazing! Our favorite restaurant in San Blas was a place called McDonalds, but it wasn't like the restaurant with the golden arches. It is located a half block from the plaza on Juarez street, which is one of the three main streets in town. It has a nice atmosphere where you can enjoy breakfast, lunch or dinner as you watch the world go by. My favorite meal there quickly became what was called “Brocheta Combinada”, which was a shish-ke-bob with 3 kinds of meat and onions and peppers served with rice. It was always good and was usually prepared fairly quickly. The three meats were pork, beef and chicken, and they did serve fish and shrimp but they never called it "meat". There was also live music there provided by the “McDonald Brothers”. I do not know if they still perform but since it has been quite a few years since I was there it is not too likely, but I do know that "McDonalds" is still in business as a restaurant in San Blas so I imagine it must be keeping up some kind of quality to still be in business. This was a beautiful little town with gorgeous beaches when I visited there and I am willing to bet that no matter what has changed it probably still has the beautiful beaches!
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