It´s has been almost two years since our last visit to
Tonala, MX.
While in Seattle last fall
we were talking with a good friend who thought that putting together a group of
travelers to come to Mexico with the added idea of exploring local wines,
tequila labels, attend a cooking class and visit one of the foremost centers for
manufacture of beautiful handmade crafts such as silver, blown glass, ceramics,
fine pottery, and paper mache in Mexico.
Our friend would handle the anticipated group from the PNW, we agreed to
handle the local Puerto Vallarta activities through Essence of Cuisine, and we
contacted our good friend, Roberta Valdez of Alegre Tours, to offer her “Shop
´Til You Drop” tours to Tonala.
To make a long story short, the anticipated PNW group didn´t
materialize; however, we were able to interest 4 of our local PV friends (plus
ourselves) in the Tonala trip, and Roberta finally netted 10 additional fellow shopping
persons…the three day “Shop ‘til you
Drop” trip was on!
On the departure day of March 8 we loaded our luggage into
the car at 6:00AM, headed to the Puerto PV Mega complex, boarded the TTur bus with
our friends and headed north out of Puerto Vallarta with a brief stop at the
Nueva Vallarta Mega to pickup the balance of the group. The objective once again – to prowl the
environs of Tonala for special purchases - needed or just desired.
So said, 5 hours later we arrived at our destination hotel
in Tonala. Dolores and I plus one of the
other experienced Tonala travelers had brought several DVD´s of the academy
awards nominated/winning movies which were watched (both going and returning)
making the trip hours pass swiftly.
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| Newest Multi-Lens to our Collection |
Once again - why Tonala?
The shopping
village of Tonala, Jalisco, is probably one of the best places in the
Guadalajara area to find beautiful handmade crafts such as silver, blown glass,
ceramics, fine pottery, and paper maché.
Tonala is more of a big outdoor shopping market and a wonderful one at
that!
The Tiangis is held on Thursdays
and Sundays. Most of the art found in
Tlaquepaque
and Guadalajara is manufactured here. The prices are unbeatable and the high
quality of each handmade product is clearly evident - the number one reason people
flock back for more. A personal example, Dolores had found a colorful ceramic
rendition of fruit at one of our Nordstrom style stores, Liverpool, consisting
of three pieces priced each at $800, $600, and $500 MXN Pesos each ($144USD
total).
We found the set in Tonala at
$420 MXN Pesos total ($31.74 USD).
We
also purchased another self-standing Multi-Lens (Prism-Lens) art piece at a
price of $300 USD which would be approximately $2000 USD + in Puerto Vallarta.
These are the practical reason for shopping
in Tonala.
The Hotel Del Sol where our group stayed is centrally
located and the lobby is setup to focus on groups and their purchases. Most all of the stores deliver to the hotel
several times daily and place the purchases in a space with your or group name.
In this manner you need not worry about carrying around your packages or
returning large items to the hotel yourself – it’s all wrapped and delivered at
no expense to you thereby freeing you to continue your quest for more
treasures.
After check in we regrouped to have lunch and the appropriate
refrescas in order to refuel the “hunter-killer” instinct needed to find the
hidden treasures of Tonala. Most of the
pro-shoppers, those with several trips under the belt, already knew their first
designations and were off immediately while the inexperienced stayed close to
the experienced shopper-travelers in order to familiarize themselves with the physical
layout of the town and variety of treasures.
Once again Dolores and I had committed to take several shoppers to visit
a store in which we buy dishes and place-settings and an Arte Krystal shop that
specializes in manufacturing beautiful hi-end multi-lenses and vases of every
shape and color. After Dolores and I decided
on our purchases we moved on while our friends were happily contemplating their
needs. Our day ended with an impromptu
happy hour with frosty coffee mochas at the hotel and a cheese burger for
dinner. The next day will begin the
famous Tonala Sunday Tiangis with more people/vendors than you could imagine.
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| Our Groups "Goodies" - 1st Day |
The next morning, since Dolores and I had accomplished our
main objectives the day before, we enjoyed a great breakfast - leisurely.
By the time we returned from acquiring some
personal small items the lobby was already filling up with packages.
As the day progressed, the space in the lobby
rapidly filled with packages of every size and shape from our group.
After a short rest in the early afternoon Dolores
went out to explore on her own while I stayed in and worked on my snoozing.
That evening we all joined together in the lobby to travel
to our standard Italian restaurant in downtown Guadalajara – Trattoria de Guadalajara. This was done with our custom motor coach and
driver. What a twist to the popular
phrase – “ride the bus and leave the driving to us.” That extra Martini was wonderful!
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| A Great Meal and Happy Faces |
One the third and final morning we once again enjoyed a
leisure breakfast then got ready for checkout.
The driver had already packed the many large purchases and our luggage. Leaving
Tonala we immediately proceeded a few miles to a glass factory where many of us
added glassware items to our already sizable inventory of purchases. Then we motored to Tlaquepaque to walk the
streets and plaza, finding additional treasures.
The Tlaquepaque area is famous for its pottery and blown
glass (mostly obtained from Tonala).
Tlaquepaque features El Parián, a large plaza flanked by columned
arcades and surrounded by restaurants and bars.
The main walking street is lined with shops and restaurants of every
kind. Many of the shops are housed in
turn of the century houses with wonderful architecture. The prices are very hi-end, still, bargains
can be found.
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| Celebrating Mariachis and Dancers in Bronze |
The restaurant we
chose to gather at and enjoy a late lunch features a wonderful all female Mariachi
group which entertained us royally.
Great food, fine tequila, and the entertainment was the best of the trip
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| The Real Deal |
Finally, we
re-boarded our motor coach and left for Puerto Vallarta arriving at 10:00 PM
after watching two great movies. Loading
our SUV we headed home where Edgar, our maintenance person, told us to go on up
to the condo and he would bring everything up.
He got the
remaining pesos in my possession as a well-deserved propina.
