Sylvie's Travels Home

We had a lazy morning, sipping coffee. We drove Deidre to her pilates class at 10:30am then we went to….wait for it….La Isla for breakfast! Derrick wanted to try the poached eggs that Deidre had had a few days ago. Pogo and I shared some too with our fruit platter. We just had time to finish eating and it was time to pick Deidre up. She had found out that they had sent her a message on Instagram to tell her that they had had a cancellation and that I could have gone with her. She obviously didn’t see it.

We left from there and drove around all afternoon. We first went to Valle de Banderas. We walked around the square and visited the church.

Next stop was San Juan de Abajo. The local market was going on so we walked through it. It was definitely geared toward locals with lots of kitchenware, toys, repair kits, clothing, etc. We were the only tourists there.

We drove through a little dam called Rio Ameca. Water was going over part of it and covered the road but it was quite shallow. We continued on that dirt road and stopped at Rancho El Encino, a open air restaurant with the most incredible views of the Sierra Madre and of a little river down the valley. The family was having a meal under a canopy. The owner told us that unfortunately the restaurant was closed and would officially open this coming Tuesday only.

We had to go through a river at some point which was a little scary having such a small car but we made it through without problems. Our next stop brought us on really bumpy roads up a mountain to another ranch called Rancho Capomo. We were parched by then and were happy to find out that their restaurant was opened. It was an old ranch which was now offering zip lining, horseback riding and ATVs among other things. We were the only ones there. We sat by a railing with a view of a valley with another small river. We had a few seltzers and beers. We shared guacamole, melted cheese with chorizo and nachos with refried beans and cheese. They also made fresh tortilla for us. It was all very tasty. As we were leaving, we went to see where they had been making the tortillas. The lady and her daughter came over and showed us how they made them, then asked Deidre and I if we wanted to try. Such a fun experience!

One hour later, and hundred of sleeping dogs laying in the shade later, we were back at the condo. We watched the sunset, solved the problems of the world and had a Cobb salad prepared by Deidre and Derrick.

Another good day of discovery.