I went up to Vallarta a few weeks ago to get my renewed passport with the plans of making a loop thru Mascota and beyond and returning to Melaque via highway 80. I stayed one night in Bucieras before picking up the passport and another night in Autlan on the way back.
Highway 70 leaves Vallarta just south of the Nayarit border, north of the airport and next to the new Vallarta Home Depot. It's about 40 kilometers of small towns and farmland before you start into the mountains. The road is actually very good except they have cut thru some impossible hillsides making yearly roadwork a necessity. Right now (November 2007) they are working on about five major sections both east and west of Mascota. Most of the work is on the west side.
After crossing the bridge below it mostly flat land until you drop back down into Mascota. Mascota is very Colonial in a non-fancy way with one church in ruins looking as if it was a religious center for the area many years ago. Lots of classic construction and cobble stone streets.
After crossing the bridge below it mostly flat land until you drop back down into Mascota. Mascota is very Colonial in a non-fancy way with one church in ruins looking as if it was a religious center for the area many years ago. Lots of classic construction and cobble stone streets.
Mascota from above
Mascota church
Mascota plaza
Highway 70 bridgeMascota trip webpage with more fotos
