Yunuen and I took a trip to the south of Mexico with my uncle Dennis and his girlfriend Beth. We traveled through five States (Sonora, Jalisco, Guanajuanto, Queretero, and Michoacan) and spent time in the cities of Hermosillo, Guadalajara, Guanajuanto, Queretero, and Guaymas.
Dennis and Beth flew in on Saturday and we departed for Hermosillo early Sunday morning. On the way, we stopped in Nogales to have breakfast at Yun’s parent’s house. After breakfast, we drove with her parents to Imuris where we spent a little bit of time at a ranch where Dr. Vargas keeps his roosters.
From Imuris we continued south to Magdalena where we spent a little bit of time touring the town and seeing some sites. Magdalena is a nice little place and only about an hour from the border. We traveled to Hermosillo from Magdalena which was a couple more hours south.
In Hermosillo, we stayed at the Royal Palace Hotel which I had found through tripadvisor.com. It had great reviews and we were pleased that it lived up to those reviews. Also, we were able to park the truck at the hotel for the remainder of our vacation which was significantly less expensive than the airport. We had a nice dinner at Mariachisimo that evening.
Early the next day we took our VivaAerobus flight to Guadalajara. The tickets were about 100 pesos each (roughly $8.80), but with taxes was just over $100 each. Still not bad. We printed our boarding passes at home and so when we arrived at the airport, we only had to go through security. No lines, no waiting. I love this airline (it is co-owned by RyanAir).
When we arrived in Guadalajara, we rented a car from Hertz (~$25/day for the car, and ~$35/day for the insurance). Guadalajara is a bit of a nightmare to drive around. We eventually made our way out of the city and were on our way to Guanajuato. It was a beautiful drive and on the way we found an enormous old hacienda out in the middle of nowhere. We stopped and the owner gave us a tour of the place which included a visit up to the bell tower which had an impressive view.
Guanajuato is an incredible city. It is now my favorite place in Mexico and I believe the most beautiful and interesting. Driving in the city, however, was less than pleasant and make Guadalajara look simple. The roads are extremely narrow and extremely confusing. As such, we hired a taxi cab to lead us to our hotel shortly after our arrival to the city. This probably saved us hours of frustration. Once in the city, we parked the car and traveled around by foot.
When you first arrive to Guanajuato, you are introduced to a complex system of roads both above and BELOW the ground. When we were told about a ‘long tunnel’ we would pass when we arrived, we had no idea.
The highlight of Guanajuato was probably the dinner we had at a restaurant called Las Mercedes. We chose it because of the incredible reviews on tripadvisor. Incredible is understated. The place is run by one family out of their home and it is quite small. The father and daughter served our food and wine while the mother and son cooked our food. They all spent time with us at our table introducing themselves and telling us about the food. The menu was all family recipes. A fusion of ancient recipes with a modern presentation. It was impressive.
A couple days later we departed Guanajuato to travel to Queretero. Queretero is much larger than Guanajuato with many interesting things to see and do. We stayed at a spectacular boutique hotel called La Casa del Atrio. Yun and I did a lot of shopping and purchased some neat things for the house. We spent hours going up and down the streets and saw a few museums. We also had the opportunity to take a trolley tour which gave some history of the city.
We departed Queretero on Friday and drove back to Guadalajara so we could spend the night near the airport before our early departure on Saturday. On the way, we stumbled across some ruins in a small pueblo in the middle of nowhere.
Due to some stellar navigational skills (which he obviously got from me), Dennis was able to find a route into Guadalajara which brought us right to Hertz and our hotel. It was too easy. We spent the night in Guadalajara so as to wake early for our ridiculously early flight to Hermosillo Saturday morning.
We arrived in Hermosillo after a short flight, picked up our truck, and then made our way to the beach in Guaymas. We didn’t have enough time in Guaymas. We never do. I could live there.
All together – this was a great trip and one we would readily do again. I will add photos to the travel link above.
