El Tuito, Costalegre, Jalisco Mexico
Monday, November 03, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
El Tuito
Located south of Puerto Vallarta lies the municipality of Cabo Corrientes, marking the southernmost point of Banderas Bay. El Tuito, its capital, is a small town (population less than 4,000) located approximately 1,085 meters above sea level. Its name derives from the ancient Náhuatla language spoken by the Aztecs and means “little beautiful valley.” As you drive into town, you will be immediately taken by the uniformity of its buildings, painted with a mixture of local clays that gives their walls a unique orange tinge. Cottage industries abound, from organic coffee and artisan cheese to raicilla, the local moonshine, not available legally until very recently.
Just barely considered part of the Costalegre, this inland town near Tomatlan lies along Highway 200. It's easy to miss and one that I have missed until our trip to Tehuamixtle out on the coast. I will definately make time for a few hours in El Tuito on my next Vallarta trip.
Just barely considered part of the Costalegre, this inland town near Tomatlan lies along Highway 200. It's easy to miss and one that I have missed until our trip to Tehuamixtle out on the coast. I will definately make time for a few hours in El Tuito on my next Vallarta trip.
Buildings around the plaza
Buildings around the plaza
Activities on the Plaza
A building on the plazaEl Tuito, Jalisco, Costalegre, Mexico
Monday, June 09, 2008
Majahuas to Tehuamixtle
A very long day trip from Melaque - Costalegre, Jalisco, Mexico
We had never been out to the coast in this area - mainly because the beaches are a long way from the highway. Had no idea of road conditions of distances between towns. We started with Majahuas and worked our way north.
The Majahuas turn off is the first road just north of the bridge north of Tomatlan. The fisherman's Coop "Roca Negra" is there that manages the Majahuas Biological Station and turtle sanctuary. A little inland is a new Aquaculture facility raising shrimp, pargo and puffer fish. This facility is government funded in conjunction with the Spanish government. Scientists from both countries are working there.
To continue north from Majahuas we had to return to the highway and take the La Gloria exit about 5 miles further north. La Gloria also has a Sea Turtle Research Station but we continued north to La Cruz de Loreto and up the coast from there. Very easy to feel lost on the criss-cross roads just north of La Gloria as they follow irrigation ditches and farm fields.
Las Penitas is the next landmark north but is only a small lighthouse and a few seldom used palapas. It's a pretty beach. The next thing north of note is Villa del Mar with a few vacation accomodations and two stores before we reached Tehuamixtle.
Tehuamixtle is very cute at the bottom of a valley on a beautiful little bay. We ate at one of the two not inexpensive beach restaurants. The land to expand the town is minimal due to the steep terrain but the realtors have it all sectioned off and forsale. A one time experience that I won't do again but I'm sure it will fit into other gringos dreams. The road out to El Tuito and the highway is very rough and takes over an hour
We had never been out to the coast in this area - mainly because the beaches are a long way from the highway. Had no idea of road conditions of distances between towns. We started with Majahuas and worked our way north.
The Majahuas turn off is the first road just north of the bridge north of Tomatlan. The fisherman's Coop "Roca Negra" is there that manages the Majahuas Biological Station and turtle sanctuary. A little inland is a new Aquaculture facility raising shrimp, pargo and puffer fish. This facility is government funded in conjunction with the Spanish government. Scientists from both countries are working there.
To continue north from Majahuas we had to return to the highway and take the La Gloria exit about 5 miles further north. La Gloria also has a Sea Turtle Research Station but we continued north to La Cruz de Loreto and up the coast from there. Very easy to feel lost on the criss-cross roads just north of La Gloria as they follow irrigation ditches and farm fields.
Las Penitas is the next landmark north but is only a small lighthouse and a few seldom used palapas. It's a pretty beach. The next thing north of note is Villa del Mar with a few vacation accomodations and two stores before we reached Tehuamixtle.
Tehuamixtle is very cute at the bottom of a valley on a beautiful little bay. We ate at one of the two not inexpensive beach restaurants. The land to expand the town is minimal due to the steep terrain but the realtors have it all sectioned off and forsale. A one time experience that I won't do again but I'm sure it will fit into other gringos dreams. The road out to El Tuito and the highway is very rough and takes over an hour
Majahuas
Las Penitas
Villas del Mar
TehuamixtleMajahuas to Tehuamixtle web page
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Agua Caliente
We went up the coast yesterday looking for the SPA I've heard advertised and we did and didn't find it. Agua Caliente is located just beyond the Tenacatita turnoff along Highway 200. Infact if you use the back road out of the town you towards the coast you will come out on the Tenacatita road. We went East under the bridge to the public area, found the hot springs and noticed a tent and a few people up the river. I thought they were camping so didn't bother with a foto - but it turns out that was the SPA. It was confirmed when I found another travel-log website with pictures.
The public area would work just as well (and save you $60) but you need a shovel to dig out a hole you can sit or lie in. Some spots are hot enough to burn and there is a strong sulphur smell.
Link to the SPA website (notice no fotos but some Info)
Puresa Spa
The public area would work just as well (and save you $60) but you need a shovel to dig out a hole you can sit or lie in. Some spots are hot enough to burn and there is a strong sulphur smell.
Link to the SPA website (notice no fotos but some Info)
Puresa Spa
The river with hot springs along the bank
Looking up the river towards the Spa
Some of the discoloration from the sulfur waters
Agua Caliente, Costalegre, Jalisco
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Update on Calechosa Bay
I was just over there today to see if the surf was up and it was. It had been over a year since my last visit and I hadn't seen Roy's house or the new development called Calechosa Bay. This beach is also known as Ranchito and is located behind the small community of the same name.
It looks like the road is slightly improved but will need 4-5 bridges to access the area in the summer during the rains unless you have a large 4WD vehicle. So far 3 structures are started, two houses and the "model home / sales office". All have a very long way to go. The picture also shows what the hillside looks like from Febuary thru June with no rain for many months. A dry jungle is pretty much the ecology we live in here.
I did include a picture of the beach which is beautiful but not for swimming, really only surfers use it and it's difficult for them to enter and exit the water. Many jump off the rocks on the far right to avoid the shoreline.
It looks like the road is slightly improved but will need 4-5 bridges to access the area in the summer during the rains unless you have a large 4WD vehicle. So far 3 structures are started, two houses and the "model home / sales office". All have a very long way to go. The picture also shows what the hillside looks like from Febuary thru June with no rain for many months. A dry jungle is pretty much the ecology we live in here.
I did include a picture of the beach which is beautiful but not for swimming, really only surfers use it and it's difficult for them to enter and exit the water. Many jump off the rocks on the far right to avoid the shoreline.
Costalegre Jalisco Mexico
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Ecotourism for Villa Purificacion
Villa PURIFICACION, Jalisco
There arrives an excellent option for ecotourism
Drafting of the South
buzon-AT-periodicoelsur.com
Monday February 4, 2008
Villar PURIFICACION, Jalisco (BI) .- With an investment of one million 737 thousand pesos, funded by the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples for the infrastructure of 10 huts, two canteens, a suspension bridge, walkways and signs indicating where services will be offered accommodation, meals, boat ride, guided tours and horseback riding. The State Governor, Emilio Gonzalez Marquez, opened this area near the dam Jocotlán, municipal delegation Purification Villa, a new ecotourism project, which will certainly attract thousands to this point and will generate significant income and make a large regional impact.
"We come here to verify what was done, we believe it is possible to improve the area, without assaulting culture, without assaulting the environment, without assaulting the customs of the people, but to help their own people to be the beneficiary of what can be done here, "said state Representative, in the presence of at least 20 people in indigenous communities of Villa Purification and personalities of the three levels of government and the three branches of government.
In addition, they announced that the most important thing now is involving the Government in conjunction with them in promoting the visit of people who want to have different experiences, unmatched, to live with the culture of the natives, as well as of landscapes and diverse activities to develop the place.
He took advantage to tell that the State Government is working on projects for such areas and communities, ranging from training for aquaculture, construction of a wharf at the dam, in addition to roads, education and more infrastructure: "In all this we will be working in the coming times, always with a view to better conditions for you and for their families," he concluded.
For its part, also presiding over the inauguration, the Director General of the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples, Mr Luis Hector Alvarez, welcomed the implementation of this project ecotourism, given that native peoples have historically had the brunt historic growth of our country.
Villa Purification is located in the southwest of Jalisco, near the coast, the indigenous community occupies 36 thousand hectares recognized and 20 thousand hectares more are in the process of restitution. Jocotlán lies within the area surrounded by jungle forest streams.
Sur de Jalisco Article
There arrives an excellent option for ecotourism
Drafting of the South
buzon-AT-periodicoelsur.com
Monday February 4, 2008
Villar PURIFICACION, Jalisco (BI) .- With an investment of one million 737 thousand pesos, funded by the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples for the infrastructure of 10 huts, two canteens, a suspension bridge, walkways and signs indicating where services will be offered accommodation, meals, boat ride, guided tours and horseback riding. The State Governor, Emilio Gonzalez Marquez, opened this area near the dam Jocotlán, municipal delegation Purification Villa, a new ecotourism project, which will certainly attract thousands to this point and will generate significant income and make a large regional impact.
"We come here to verify what was done, we believe it is possible to improve the area, without assaulting culture, without assaulting the environment, without assaulting the customs of the people, but to help their own people to be the beneficiary of what can be done here, "said state Representative, in the presence of at least 20 people in indigenous communities of Villa Purification and personalities of the three levels of government and the three branches of government.
In addition, they announced that the most important thing now is involving the Government in conjunction with them in promoting the visit of people who want to have different experiences, unmatched, to live with the culture of the natives, as well as of landscapes and diverse activities to develop the place.
He took advantage to tell that the State Government is working on projects for such areas and communities, ranging from training for aquaculture, construction of a wharf at the dam, in addition to roads, education and more infrastructure: "In all this we will be working in the coming times, always with a view to better conditions for you and for their families," he concluded.
For its part, also presiding over the inauguration, the Director General of the National Commission for Development of Indigenous Peoples, Mr Luis Hector Alvarez, welcomed the implementation of this project ecotourism, given that native peoples have historically had the brunt historic growth of our country.
Villa Purification is located in the southwest of Jalisco, near the coast, the indigenous community occupies 36 thousand hectares recognized and 20 thousand hectares more are in the process of restitution. Jocotlán lies within the area surrounded by jungle forest streams.
Sur de Jalisco Article
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Investors Receive Alert About Mexican Firms
Cassandra Kyle - The StarPhoenix
A Mexican-based company under investigation by the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission (SFSC) has contacted its Canadian investors with an admission it did not register to do business in Canada, according to the commission.
Correspondence from Sierra Madre MX, S.A. de C.V., to its 1,400 investors - the majority of whom are Canadian - says the company did not intend to conduct business in Canada and may have inadvertently, and with no malicious intent, made some mistakes, according to SFSC data. The document goes on to offer further investment opportunities with its "new company" Sierra Madre Holdings MX, the commission said in a news release.
"This is the same company operated by the same people, and is one of many name changes that this company and this group has done over the past number of years," stated Ed Rodonets, head of the SFSC enforcement branch.
Once estimated to number about 150, the SFSC now believes several hundred Saskatchewan residents have invested in the company, which is suspected of selling illegal shares.
A cease trade order was extended this week against Sierra Madre MX, S.A. de C.V., its representatives and its partner companies. Named in the order are Brian J. Wolf Zacarias, senior officer and major owner of Sierra Madre, Roger Ayuso, president of Landbankers International, Alan Hemingway, CEO of Sierra Madre and sales representatives Jason Rogers, Dave Urrutia and Ed and Kim Moore, all of whom are based in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
In an earlier interview, Rodonets said the operators of Landbankers International, Sierra Madre and L&B Landbanking Trust are one and the same.
In December 2007, a cease trade order was extended against Landbankers International MX, S.A. de C.V. and its representative Kelly Friesen of Warman. In January, a cease trade order was placed against Sonja McAdam of Christopher Lake, a representative of Landbankers International. In March, cease trade orders were placed against Sierra Madre and its representatives.
The orders direct the companies and their officers to cease trading in securities and exchange contracts and removes the right to use exemptions in Saskatchewan securities laws.
Saskatchewan residents who may have been contacted by Sierra Madre, its representatives or any related companies are asked to call Rodonets at 306-787-5936 to assist with the SFSC investigation.
ckyle(at)sp.canwest.com
Mexico’s real estate market is booming! With over one million Americans already living in Mexico and seventy nine million Baby Boomers that have reached a stage in their lives where they have the time, financial means and desire for a second home, Mexico’s real estate market is poised for exponential growth.
Costalegre property
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Tierralegre - Costalegre Mexico
I originally thought this was only a non-profit to protect the mangroves and wildlife on the Costalegre ... but it looks to be a business as well. They have to have some operating capital and anything they can do to slow the rape of this beautiful coastline is OK by me.
About Tierralegre
This expedition seamlessly combines conservation, culture and adventure along one of the planet´s most diverse, beautiful and wild coastlines Mexico´s Costalegre. It represents a unique opportunity to contribute to conservation for generations to come while reaping the adventure of a lifetime.
Tierralegre Website
Friday, February 15, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Cuzalapa Organic Coffee Cooperative
Cuzalapa is the site of a very old shade grown coffee plantation that grows organic Arabica beans. Cuzalapa is a little over an hour from Melaque off highway 80 to the south-east of La Huerta on the northern edge of the Manantlan Biosphere Reserve.
The coffee is grown under the shade of a large variety of other trees and the women of the Cooperative offer an hour long walking tour. They will tell you about the many plants, trees, herbs and even some of the human stories related to the area and their ancestors that lived there. Take some repellant for the tour.
The coffee crop is late this year due to colder temperatures but they did have a few kilos for us. It's a good idea to call first if your are going for coffee and not just to visit the area. Later in the year there will be plenty after the gringos leave and there is less of a market. The season can run from December through May/June. The women also sell clothing, honey, Jamica and preserves.
Coffee on the tree
Walking thru the shade
Drying coffee on the roof
Coming into CuzapalaWeb page with more fotos of Cuzapala
Costalegre, Jalisco Mexico
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