The Coast Road Trip – Michoacan to Puerto Vallarta

Guadalajara to Colima

We hired a rental car in Guadalajara and drove west for the surf rich Pacific Coast of Colima.

On the way south there was a Pueblo Magico (magic town) called Tapalpa. Mexico has over 100 magic towns. These are towns with special qualities or uniqueness, and Tapalpa certainly lived up to this. It is unique because the whole town is pretty much built out of timber and it felt like stepping into a old western movie set. With its cobbled stone roads and rustic timber sidewalks it felt like we had gone back in time. We vowed to drop into lots more of the Pueblo Magicos, they really are something special.

Surf Time!

Boca de Pescuales is known for its big challenging surf, and when we got to the beach it was HUGE! Like the size of a two-story house, and about as heavy, way out of Glens league. We talked to Edgar from the Hotel Real and he told us of a spot 1.5hrs down the coast which would be much better in these conditions. We jumped back into the car and went straight there crossing into Michoacan and arriving at La Ticla right on dark. We drove into a small hotel right on the beach front and everything was dark, no lights or people anywhere. We wandered around for 20 minutes then finally found a lady who could rent us a room for the night….phew! The power was out so the locals fired up the generator and we had light, food and beer, life was good again!

After a hot nights sleep (no a/c, no fan, 30deg C, 99% humidity) Glen stepped outside pre dawn as he was frothing for a surf. On the beach there was 300 local people running up the beach yelling and laughing. There was a big tide and they were catching bucket loads of small smelt like fish. Pretty much the whole village was down on the beach catching breakfast and dinner. It was a really festive family atmosphere with big smiles all around at 5am in the morning!

After glen filled up his surf quota we headed south down the lush Michoacan coast for a few hours drive, exploring the many stunning beaches along the way. Then we drove back to Boca Pescuales for the night to see what the surf was doing . The only real reason to come to Boca Pescuales is for the surf, and this time it was big and perfect. Glen was surfing at his limit, but still got a couple of screamers and came in wide eyed and stoked.

The next 4 days we worked our way up the coast staying in Barra de Navidad and Perula. We drove down many dirt roads to find pristine deserted beaches, really good surf, and friendly people. It is somewhere we would like to return to with more time and a camper van to sleep in.

After four fabulous days we were back in Puerto Vallarta, and ready to spend some time volunteering at Las Animas Dog Rescue.