Last week we drove down to La Ribera and Santa Cruz just to the south of us. Los Barriles is at KM 110 on Rt. #1 and the turn off to these two towns is at the KM 93 back towards Cabo. There is a lot of traffic on both of those roads and we were just one of many.
You first reach Santa Cruz about 9.5 KM down the alternate road, which is paved. We like paved as most roads around here are dirt and sand. Santa Cruz is small but an extremely neat and well cared for town on top of a mesa. There was an old man working the center of the boulevard, trimming and watering all the flowers and plants between the lanes of traffic. They have a grammar school and high school and also what looks like a junior college along the boulevard. To your left and right are wide streets with approximately 10 houses down each side to the end of the mesa. It does not look "Americanized" yet.
Another 2.5 KM down the road you come to La Ribera which is a larger town with a population of close to 2,000 - about the size of Shinnston WV. There are many new vacation/retirement homes on the hillsides. We drove through town and down towards the beach. They have a large marina under construction that currently has two houses with large boats docked behind them. This area has a guard and it was fenced so we didn't go in to explore the area. Back up on the main road, we saw huge hardware store and plumbing supply store along with the typical tendas (small convenience stores). We headed further south hoping to get to Punta Colorado but it was off of a soft dirt road and we turned our little Nissan March around at the dump and headed back towards Los Barriles. We will be taking this trip again.
We found a new place in Los Barriles for breakfast and lunch. It is call El Viejo. They have hibiscus tea! This is a drink we found and enjoyed in Isla Mujeres and were very happy to find it here as well. Their menu is simple but the food is well prepared and plentiful.
Mike's chorizo omelet with hash browns
Hibiscus Tea
We have been checking Yelp and Travel Advisor looking for new places to eat in this area. We did go to check out the menu at the Buena Vista Hotel and Spa and will be heading back there soon. One of the new restaurants in town is La Casita. While the map shows it downtown next to Caleb's we actually found it on the north side of town just before the wash. We were heading to El Gecko, which was closed, for an early dinner at 4 PM and Mike decided to stop at La Casita.
La Casita is an open air restaurant with a mix of tables surrounded by a stick fence. There are tarps for the roof and lots of fans around to keep the humidity down. One reviewer said it was nice to have a restaurant in town with stemmed wine glasses. So we didn't know quite what to expect. As we didn't want a cocktail, the waitress suggested lemonade. Mike's was made with sparkling water and mine with plain, purified water. Both were delicious - quite tart - and served in glass rather than plastic cups. Mike ordered the grilled tuna salad and a Darrell sushi roll. I had a small house salad and coconut grilled shrimp. The food was delicious and well prepared. My shrimp came with a mango jalapeno sauce along with mashed potatoes and grilled veggies. I can't wait to go back and try their seared sea bass. It was my second selection on their menu.
Yesterday I wanted to head north to the mining town we'd seen on our trip to La Paz from 2 years ago. It looked rustic with cobblestone streets and our driver told us it was good for tourists. So we checked road conditions at the front desk at Palmas de Cortez and headed towards San Bartolo.
San Bartolo is quite a surprise. You are driving across dried washes and riverbeds through the desert and look to the west and there is a beautiful green, lush valley. There are mango trees everywhere and roadside shops selling tree ripened mangoes and guayana (guava), along with fresh produce, baked goods, dried fruits, etc. We didn't stop but headed north into no man's land, or so it seemed.
After about 5 miles out of San Bartolo, we cut our explorations short. The farther north we drove, the more Mike and I realized:
- no one knows where we are going
- we don't have a valid map
- we don't have a cell phone
- we are in a clearly marked rental car
Coming back into Los Barriles, we decided to have lunch at La Viejo. The tacos are 24 to 26 pesos each. I had one grilled shrimp taco and one grilled scallop taco. Mike had 2 fish tacos and one scallop taco. There is a condiment bar where you can add just about anything to your order including grilled onion, roasted jalapenos, radishes, lettuce, cheese, fresh chopped salsa and some killer habanero cooked salsa (my lips tingled for about an hour after having that on my tacos!!). Lunch cost us about $9 with our tea.
Last night we ate the last of Mike's tuna he caught on Wednesday with steamed rice and a mango salsa I made when we got home. I think this weekend we will drive north along the cliffs where the ex-pat Americans and Canadians are building their vacation and retirement homes. Sadly, this area is growing super fast and now about 70% of the residents here are from North America. It is becoming more populated and losing the charm of a small Mexican fishing village.
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