005689 Visit since March 14, 2001

Last week I received a telephone call from my friend Gerry. He had remembered along overdue appointed we had to go to San Blas, a port town about three hours north of Puerto Vallarta, in the neighbor state of Nayarit. Gerry and I have a lot in common, and this invitation to visit the Estuary of San Cristóbal was simply irresistible. We agreed that we would go to San Blas a couple of days later, along with our common friend Jesús de Avila. We left very early, at 5:00 a.m. The road trip was filled with lively conversation about themes the three of us are interested about, like history, geography and humor. Jesús is a well informed former teacher, and I enjoyed the conversation. By the time we got to Zacualpan, past Las Varas, the sun was beginning to rise, and we could admire the landscape. That region is a valley, now occupied by farms. Tobacco and grains are the main crops there. Further down the road we would find some orchards, where papaya and mango trees abound.

The air was cool, almost on the chilly side. Past the valley we reached a little sierra. I was surprised to see that, as opposed to the mountains here, the hillsides there were absolutely green and lush. Maybe it is due to humid air coming from the ocean, or some micro climate, but the result was a beautiful jungle. We perceived some minor differences in the vegetation from one spot to the next. By the time we past Platanitos, we witnessed a gorgeous sunrise over the mountains, which painted the whole landscape of gold, and turned the sky fire-red. It was almost magic.

We contacted don Manuel Lomelí via cell phone, to let him know we were approaching our rendezvous at the place known as La Aguada. I later learned that the name comes from this spot being a source of fresh water for the ships that sailed for California in the late 18th century.

At La Aguada, we boarded a boat, (of the kind locally known as "pangas") the boat is adapted to accommodate 10 o 12 passengers, so we had lots of room for ourselves, and we were able to operate the binoculars and the cameras. I compared pictures with Gerry today and we both did pretty well, but his pictures of birds were still better than mine. I'll catch up with you Gerry, you'll see.

This is where marvel began. The channels that meander in the estuary. The lead to two springs. La Tovara and the Cocodrilario, that originate the estuary. The water in the estuary was calm, and the boat motored at slow speed, not to disturb the peace of the beautiful morning. We were, at this point, at the southern most end of an estuary region that stretch all the way to the south of Sinaloa. There was humid vegetal smell as we started odd into the channels roofed with the vegetation was unbelievable. There were mangrove patch - four kinds of mangrove: red, white, black and another whose name I forgot Majahua, Carrizo, and giant ferns, such abundance was overwhelming.

Don Manuel deserves a whole article for himself. He is a very special man. Very kind and gentle, he is a true expert on the estuary. He knows almost every plant and tree, scientific name and all. He knows the animals that inhabit the region. And he knows the birds. He is actually one of the few experts in this field recommended by the Audubon societies in all Mexico. He is a fountain of knowledge. Taking this tour with him was a blessing. We went to the crocodile farm, and found such an abundance of wildlife that was almost difficult to assimilate. There were sea crows, or cormorants; there were female tilapias cleaning and guarding their nest in the shallow pond. There were a couple of black hawks, which I had never seen before in my life. Huge birds, probably measuring two meter in width from wing tip. All in the wild. Only the crocodiles live in captivity. Through a government program, about 50 young crocodiles are re-introduced to the estuary every year.

We continued to the other spring, La Tovara. Here, a restaurant was built around the spring, and we learned that there is crocodile named Felipe, which has become accustomed to being around people and he unexpectedly emerges among swimmers, creating confusion and getting everyone out of the water at full speed. We saw Felipe floating near the shore. There is yet another crocodile that allows people to pet him. This one was not around this time. Don Manuel explained that this friendly attitude of the crocodiles is due to the abundance of food they find in the estuary, and would only change if food became scarce.

The return to La Aguada was a little faster. We then headed for the hill where the ruins of La Contaduría are located. After the port of San Blas was founded in the late 1760's the commander of the military post feared the sea level would rise and flood the village, so he suggested to move the location of the village to a higher point. At the hill of San Basilio, they built a fort and a church, all in stone, and the village was moved here. The hill dominates the view on three sides. Don Manuel proved his knowledge of the local history, and told us the facts around the foundation and development of San Blas, and the missions in California. The conversation about the history of San Blas and the history of California continued as we headed into town. We took a little tour of the downtown. I was amazed: there are no city buses, everything is between walking distance! Beautiful girls rode bicycles on the quiet streets and we rode to the beach to have some lunch. It was all so exciting that we forgot that we had not had any breakfast ! It was past noon already, so we decide we should have something to eat. We took a table at one of the ramadas on El Borrego beach. Although heat had risen at the Contaduría ruins, at the beach, under the shade of the ramada and in the cool ocean breeze, it felt so delicious. I mean, the world seemed such a far away place... The waves gently splashed the shore, and to top it all, I had a beer and ordered a whole fish. Gerry and Don Manuel had cold coconuts. Jesús did not have anything to drink at first, but he later had a soda. We all had fried fish for lunch. Good size pargos (snappers).

Time went by ...slowly. We decided to head back for Vallarta and started enjoying the gorgeous, lush scenery of the jungle on the hills, and we went across villages and farms, feeling enriched, delighted, as we leisurely rode south along the coast, in the golden shades of the sunset