Advertisement
Published: January 13th 2016
Edit Blog Post
Boca de Tomatlan
Tuesday
Today was our day to visit Mismaloya, less than half-way from our hotel to Puerto Vallarta. We waited at the bus stop across the street. The stop, a small thatched roof area with plants, was built by the artist who has lived up the hill from the stop for over forty years. We have talked to him in previous years, and saw him at the stop this morning. Very friendly older gentleman.
Mismaloya Beach and Puerto Vallarta was just a fishing village, known only to locals, until 1963 when John Houston scouted the area for his film Night of the Iguana. The film, the famous director, and the real-life romance between Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor transformed Puerto Vallarta into a Mexican destination The set and crew quarters are up in the hills on the south side of Mismaloya Cove, but are only ruins now.
The old, local part of Mismaloya is on the east side of the main road, away from the ocean. We have been here several times, and each time we have some wonderful grilled chicken at an outdoor grill. We were very disappointed to see the chicken place was
not there. Then we saw some smoke rising up on the road ahead, and found another open grill with six whole chickens cooking. This wasn't a restaurant, no name, no tables, probably just known to the locals for pick-up and delivery to workers in the area. We asked if we could order a chicken; he said it would be ready in five minutes. Went across the street to buy a big bottle of pop, then back to get our chicken. We used the corner of an old plastic table, and pulled up two plastic chairs. He served us each a cut-up half chicken with rice, beans, and salsa. plastic spoons, and a small roll of TP for napkins! Not fancy, but maybe the best chicken (and the largest amount) we've ever eaten. Best of all, $3 each.
Old Mismaloya was brimming with cats, dogs, and roosters. A few restaurants, a few places giving tequila tours, some mini grocery and fruit stores, and many residences. Some homes were fairly nice, others were basically shacks with a cloth for the door. Dishes on many roofs, so they had TV or Internet. Lots of laundry out in the warm sunshine, lots of
brick and stucco. A new church is being constructed. The Puerto Vallarta Zoo is in this area, and you can walk up the hill to El Eden, where the movie Predator (Arnold S) was filmed. We walked along the river on one side, looking for parrots. We saw several big black and yellow birds and one green parrot. Hard to get good photos. We saw there was a path on the other side of the river, and we could cross the river on big rocks, but we elected to go back and cross over the bridge. The path started out as a road, then turned into a horse trail. We could see hoof marks and other indications of horse travel! Walked by a secondary school where the kids were playing basketball. Many horses to rent along the river.
The ocean side of Mismaloya is the tourist side, with many luxury hotels, including the Barcelo. The walk from the main road down to the beach area used to be lined with souvenir stalls. Now there are only a couple of stands selling beach toys, hats, jewelry, etc. One shop rents fishing and snorkeling gear, and life vests. The beach area
is very crowded, many umbrellas and tables. A path along the south side of the cove contains some palapas restaurants, and runs by the old movie ruins. The end of the path contains a tall pole and huge climbing iguana. Beautiful shoreline and pelicans along the way. It is a very attractive location, but now very touristy.
Made our dinner at the hotel. After dark, we could see the Big Dipper, Orion, satellites and many other stars clearly from our balcony. Very little light pollution. Beautiful.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.114s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 60; dbt: 0.0772s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb