Today’s post is 2000 words, 61 photos, a 9 minute read. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

This week I’ll take you out of the city of Puerto Vallarta to the interior village of El Tuito. It was a full day with visits to a bakery, a distillery, an adobe brick making enterprise, a sculptor, an art gallery, a church, and other points of interest. Before I get started, if you missed last week’s post on Puerto Vallarta, click here.

Meet Sandra

When planning our trip to Puerto Vallarta, I looked for an interesting tour that would take us outside the city. I came across the website of Sandra Cesca who offered walking tours of Puerto Vallarta and a tour to El Tuito. We corresponded by email and soon had a tour planned for a full day excursion to El Tuito. If you are interested in Sandra’s tours, click here. Sandra is an American who has been living in Mexico for the past 15 years or so. She was one of the first tour guides to offer walking tours of Puerto Vallarta to English speaking visitors. Now there are several businesses providing tours.

Sandra and her driver, Doug, picked us up in a white Suzuki near the condo where we were staying. Along the way Sandra and Doug pointed out points of interests as we traveled through the city into the countryside.

The Trail to El Tuito

The road to El Tuito is on Mexico Highway 200. This two-lane road is part of the Pacific Coastal Highway system that begins at the US/Mexico border and ends at the Mexico/Guatemala border. It’s busy. There is a steady stream of large trucks, buses, taxis, private cars, motorcycles, bicycles and even a few licensed utility vehicles traveling on this road. It took us over an hour to reach El Tuito on the narrow, winding, sometimes bumpy highway with slowdowns because of traffic and the many speed bumps through the small villages along the way.

Our first stop was at a roadside panadería (bakery) known for their flavorful empanadas made in a wood-fired oven. They had 13 choices of ready-made sweet and some fruit-filled empanadas in addition to a couple of meat and cheese flavors. Fortunately, they had pictures of the flavors along with both Spanish and English words. I had a caramel and my Traveling Partner had pineapple. Both were delicious. They had other baked goods including bread and rolls. 

Next to the bakery was a small shop that sold drinks, candy, and chips. Even with all the people milling around, this dog was undisturbed.

Our second stop was within walking distance of the bakery. There we met Rodrigo, the owner of Rancho Mi Pretexto, a local producer of raicilla, a tequila like liquor distilled from a select species of agave plants.

Rodrigo, with Sandra interpreting, explained the process of distilling raicilla. The agave plants are grown on the mountainside land surrounding the distillery.

The agave variety used to make raicilla takes about 8 years to mature. What is harvested is a “pineapple” looking fruit that can weigh up to 40 kilos or about 100 pounds. Below is an example.

Then the “pineapple” is cooked in a pit over a wood coals. This creates the smoky taste in the final result.

The smoked “pineapples” are cut into quarters and distilled twice with the liquid draining into the glass containers.

Here’s the final result. Raicella is clear when aged in glass or a yellowish tint when aged in wood, usually oak barrels. We all had a taste of the 40 proof brew. Rodrigo told us that the first few sips should be like a kiss to enjoy the flavor. He was right. Before leaving we bought a few pints for savoring at a later time and wondered how it would taste in a margarita.

While at the distillery, we checked out the mariachi band ready to play near the tasting room.

The plants and flowers on the grounds were beautifully kept.

Below is a photo of the Mexican white pine. I noticed the similarity to the North American white pine and that we were a couple thousand feet (600 m) above sea level. This tree towered above the surrounding trees and shrubs.

El Tuito – The Brickyard

Up the road from the bakery and distillery, we arrived at El Tuito (pronounced el tweet o), a picturesque village of 3200 people.

At the edge of town, we stopped by an open-air adobe brick making business located in a cow pasture. The 3 brick makers were mining clay from the side of a hill, getting water from a nearby pond, and letting the sun to dry the bricks. They also jimmy-rigged the small truck by jacking up the rear end of the truck and powering the mixer by attaching it to one of the rear wheels. The sun was quite warm by this time, close to 80° F. I didn’t envy the hard work these fellas had to do to make a living. Here’s what it looked like.

Each of the workers made 4 bricks at time by scooping the wet clay out of the wheel-barrow and placing it in the mold. After packing the mud in the mold and removing the excess, the mold is carefully removed, and rinsed in a bucket of water. Repeat.

There was a homemade kiln that is used to cure the bricks so they will last longer.

Meanwhile the cows were chowing down as they moved around the pasture.

El Tuito – A Walkabout the Town

Doug dropped us off at the Plaza de Armas where the nativity scene decorated the elevated bandstand. The date of our visit was January 3, still the Christmas season.

Sandra lead us on a tour of the plaza and the nearby city hall. The town name, El Tuito, means a place of beauty. El Tuito is the municipal center of Cabo Corrientes, the equivalent of a county in the U.S. The main industry is agriculture with crops such as sorghum, corn, and coffee and the raising of livestock, beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats, and horses. There is some tourism in El Tuito, mostly in the form of day trips from Puerto Vallarta. The town is known for its orange and yellow buildings with St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church as a prime example.

We checked out the courtyard of city hall. Most of the offices were closed for the extended holidays. There was some public art in the courtyard. The stairway mural depicted the history of the area and some of the famous individuals that originated from El Tuito.

The mural below was made be some of the local school children to honor some of the natural beauty in the area.

Throughout our travels in Mexico, we noted their fascination with skulls and the Day of Dead, a celebration that occurs the end of October and beginning of November. It’s a remembrance of friends and family who have died. Click here to learn more and maybe join in the fun.

On our way to St. Peter’s church, we stopped to watch this tortilla making operation. The dough, made from white corn, was loaded into the hopper sitting on top of the machine. Small balls of dough were flattened, fried, and spit out the machine. When a stack reached the top, the woman in the photo weighed and wrapped them and sold them to waiting customers. We also saw a fellow with a motorcycle waiting to pickup a delivery order, possibly for a restaurant or school. The proprietor gave each of us a sample of the hot tortilla that came off the end line. Hot but tasty.

St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church is about a block off the main city plaza. It’s hard to miss, the bright yellow color draws you to it, at least for curiosity. While we were standing in the courtyard admiring the church, a young boy about 10, came up to us and shook our hands and said: “Welcome” in English. Then smiled and walked away. At first, we were leery thinking he might ask for money. But was he walked away, we realized it was a gesture of kindness and friendliness. I regret not getting a photo with him. He made my day!

The interior of the church was simple but well-appointed. I was impressed by the nativity scene in the corner and glad to see that chickens were included. Made me think of my mom, the chicken lady.

In the courtyard stood a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Americas. She is widely revered in Mexico since the miracle happened near Mexico City in 1531. More on this in a future post.

We continued our walk around the village. It looks like everything points in the same direction, west towards the Pacific Ocean.

Not too far from the church at the corner of two streets were these houses with beautiful murals of local life. They appeared to be three-dimensional. Nicely done.

We walked to the Rio El Tuito, the main source of water for the region. It’s fed by springs and run-off from the mountains during the rainy season. On our way back into town, a man on a horse rode by. We saw just about all modes of transportation on this excursion.

A little further up the street, clothes were drying in the warm sun. This fence didn’t look like it kept cattle, goats, or sheep confined but did work as a clothesline.

Nearby another fence served a dual-purpose. I think there is a lot to see in this photo. Note the doll, towels, and undies. The wire on the fence and gate looks fairly new indicating it could keep the cattle from wandering too far. One my favorite photos from the day.

Here’s another. It looks like this Chevy van has been sitting by the side of the road for quite awhile.

We were part way into town when Sandra approached a crude garden gate and called out for Lilie. She’s an artist that creates pre-Columbian statues, bowels, and etc. Lilie took us into her workshop under a crowded dilapidated lean-to in her yard. Below is an example of her work. An interesting stop.

Meet Maria, an artist, teacher of English, and the proprietor of Galleria Coppelia, a non-profit art gallery. There were paintings, ceramics, and a variety of flavored artisan raicilla such as coffee, chocolate, and vanilla. It was very, very tasty! She also made us a refreshing drink of juice and filtered water. We purchased a few items for gifts.

Maria also maintains the gallery of her late brother Morgan Santander who at the time of his death lived in Savannah, Georgia. His art was large in size and dark, both in color and subject.

It was a delight to meet Maria and visit her gallery.

It was nearly 2 PM and past time for lunch. Hector took our order at Rosita’s Restaurant and Bar on the main street across from the central plaza.

Sandra helped us with our orders. I selected the Carne asada, the meat was on the tough side but the rest of the dinner was very good. And a bargain at $170 pesos (about $8.50 USD).

After lunch, we desired a sweet something top off our meal. Sandra took us to two places that sold cookies. One was a woman that sold her baked goods out of her front door. She apologized that the cookies were all gone for the day. A few houses down was another bakery that sold cookies but they were closed. To satisfy our sweet craving, we stopped at the roadside bakery on our way back to Puerto Vallarta.

The drive back to Puerto Vallarta took us a while due to traffic. It was nearly 6 PM when Sandra and Doug dropped us off at the condo. It was a good day and an enjoyable tour in nice, interesting place.

Next week, more adventures in Puerto Vallarta.

Until then, happy travels!

Tom

PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM