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Journey Back in Time
by Josef Kandoll |
On the tour to San Blas and La Tovara, you enter the pages of unwritten history as well as experience the natural waterways of the mangroves The morning of my departure to San Blas was cool, dark and rainy. As I stood on the street waiting for the pickup, I turned on my cell phone, nearly convincing myself that a call would come that the tour had been cancelled. But within minutes of the agreed-upon time, the minibus pulled up and the doors opened to a new experience. I had been to both San Blas and La Tovara before, but on my own in a car. We made a connection with another bus outside of Nuevo Vallarta, then headed north along Highway 200.  As the bus winds through familiar hills and valleys, guide Arturo Magos talks about the blue agave grown for tequila, the red soil and red agave or pineapple, mango trees and more, and then it's time for breakfast at the Decameron in Guayabitos. Both buses unload and we followed each other into the comfortable restaurant where a full buffet with eggs, chilaquiles, fresh fruit and whatever else you might fancy is at your asking as well as eye-opener hot coffee. We continued north to Las Varas, where another road heads toward the coastal towns and Matanchen Bay. Winding through the countryside, Arturo told us more about the area, its history and people. The story is not the colonial one, of the exploration of San Blas by Nuño Beltrán de Guzmán in the 16th century or the later religious evangelizations of Father Kino and Fray Junipero Serra nor the commerce between the port and the Philippines. The focus instead is on the area of San Blas in its prehistory, when it was settled by the Huicholes, or Wirraritari, as they call themselves, from 3,000 BC until about 1,000 BC when they relocated into the mountains. Legend says they eventually migrated to the interior after contact with the Toltecs, later becoming the feared Aztecs of Tenochtitlán.  The first stop is La Tovara, one of the major attractions of the region. Boats take you into the estuaries and waterways of the mangroves, populated by crocodiles, cayman, turtles, various species of birds including the rare boatbill, red dragonflies, countless orchids, bromeliads and lilies, giant ferns and even day-sleeping owls. At the far end, after passing through grasslands with looming mountains framing the view, you arrive at the crocodile farm. In addition to refreshments (on your own), you are taken to see the peccaries, the raccoons, the tejones (coatimundi) and crocodiles in varying stages of growth and sizes. Before you know it, the boat takes you back through the mangroves for a final view before leaving. Just minutes away, San Blas has a complex story of its own. When the view from the fort at Contaduría above town opens before you, immediately the strategic location becomes obvious: the fort was the major protection for the coast against pirate raids and other invaders. The partially restored church of the Virgin of Rosario stands open to the skies, a monument to the dreams of past generations. Below, on the main plaza of San Blas is the new church, still in the process of construction in the last fifty or more years. A plaza stop allows you time to wander around with your camera as well as shop for wares at the stands.By the time you sit down to lunch back in the town of Matanchen, your appetite is restored even if you enjoyed a healthy breakfast. At Oceanside where a broad, flat beach stretches to the sea, you sit in the shade and enjoy your included lunch among your new-found friends. |
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