Knock, knock, knock by the military

We left San Sebastien just before 10:00am, but we weren't going very far. We had read about the nearby La Hermita waterfall, and it looked different, we just weren't sure if there was going to be much water at this time of year!

We were surprised to find one other car parked up at the trailhead to the waterfall. On a Tuesday morning, we figured it would be pretty quiet.

And, there are no markings or signs anywhere advertising this waterfall. If you didn't do any research in advance, you wouldn't even know it was there.

Such a beautiful area!

It was about a half hour walk to get to the waterfall.

Well, there is some water in the stream.

Our first view of the waterfall.

Don't forget, you can click on any photo to make the photo full screen.

But what's that beside the waterfall?

A girl rock climbing?

We got there to find three girls there.

Wow, it's a very different waterfall.

The rock is basalt.

Looking up!

There was a climbing rope attached the the wall that one of the girls had used to get up to the next ridge. I figured I was still in good enough shape to get up there too! I was a little worried about getting back down though!

It definitely gives you some better views.

Ruth took this shot of me at the top.

Once up there, you can carefully climb even higher. 

You can see one of the girls at the ledge where the rope is located.

Me, climbing back down.

No idea why Ruth's camera missed the focus, but I wanted to give you an idea of the size.

I think she was trying to do an Instagram pose?

The girls did it in bare feet... at least I had shoes on.

They actually went in the water. Brrr!

Ruth and I said goodbye and hiked back out to Igor. We were surprised to bump into another couple heading to the falls. Maybe it actually gets quite busy on weekends.

From there, we drove another 40 kms (24 miles) to the town of Mascota.

We stopped at a lookoff to take a photo.

There was some kind of odd shrine located there.

With a lot of alcohol located inside. Wierd.

Scenery along the way.

We took a little detour because I had read of a scenic viewpoint. But the side road was pretty rough, and it turned into a dusty dirt road, so we turned around and went back to the main road.

There was a bit of a sketchy bridge we had to cross...

But when we saw a full loaded dump truck cross it, we felt better!

Arrived at the outskirts of Mascota (pop 10,000) and parked up and had some lunch before heading out on a walk into town.

This is the third time we have done the old route between Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta. This old two lane road used to be the only logical way to get from one to the other, but of course now that the various toll highways have been built, there is very little traffic. But we like these old roads... much more scenic, and of course we're not in a rush. 

But the previous two times, we had our larger motorhome Sherman. And I was always nervous about bringing him into towns like this where the roads might be narrow. But now with Igor, I am much more comfortable. 

And it turns out that Mascota has lots of available street parking.

Old run down building.

We think this was a private residence, and Ruth was being nosy wanting to see the garden.

We walked to the central plaza.

Pretty restaurant patio.

Side street in Mascota.

The church is a little different.

Unfortunately we couldn't get inside.

From the plaza, we walked about one km down to the Mascota River. I had read of a possible overnight spot at a town park that is located by the river. It was actually quite pretty with a few picnic tables and it was well maintained with very little trash lying about.

Beside the Mascota River.

Back in town, we stopped in at the municipal police station and asked if they thought it was okay for us to overnight at the park, and they said "sure, of course you can!". Nice people, and they welcomed us to their town.

Scenery along the way.

Pretty arches.

From there, we decided to climb to the viewpoint above town.

Notice the little while chapel on the hill, then another cross right at the top of the hill.

Some kind of old grinding wheel?

Trying to talk to the aliens?

That's a big cemetery!

We made it up to the first little chapel.

Ruth outside the second chapel.

It was locked, but I poked my phone through the gate for a photo.

Next, we had to do the approximately 500 steps up to the top.

Nice view of town.

We walked back through town, headed to an unfinished church.

The central plaza. By this time, it was siesta and most businesses are closed between 3-5pm.

Not many people around at that time.

One of the attractions in Mascota is the unfinished church.

Construction of the Templo Inconcluso de La Preciosa Sangre began in 1896, but the money ran out in 1905 and the huge project was never completed.

The gardens are really pretty and the property is now used for weddings and special events.

Ruth with a huge Bougainvillea plant.

Me with the big unfinished church.

It would have been a massive church.

Bird of paradise flower.

Back at Igor, we drove down to our parking spot for the night...

Igor, parked at GPS 20.519577, -104.791063

One or two vehicles came and went until sunset, then around 8:00pm a vehicle with a bunch of young people arrived and played some music. They were fine though, and the music doesn't really bother us. After all, we are in Mexico! If you can't put up with music, roosters crowing, and dogs barking then you shouldn't come to Mexico.

Around 11:00pm we were getting ready to go to bed when we heard a few vehicles pull up. And the music stopped. 

We could hear some voices, and a few minutes later there was a knock, knock, knock on the driver's door. Ruth opened the side door and there were two guys with uniforms and big guns. They simply asked if we were okay, and told us to have a good night!

The music started up again, and we couldn't really see what was going on outside, but we went to bed, and it wasn't long before the music stopped again and it was totally quiet for the rest of the night.

Today, we are off to visit two more small towns in the area.

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Nice deal on TurboTax Deluxe Tax Software for Americans.

And in Canada...

Record low deal on the Bluetti AC7 Portable Power Station.