15% discount on taxes and water

This is from Autlan but it goes for most of Mexico including the Municipio of Cihuatlan. Pay your taxes and water bills in January or February and get a 15% discount. Many of the locals don't pay at all and the only tax collecting that will ever take place is during a property transfer at the time of sale.

A GPS trip to Tonala

Glen and I just got back from an enjoyable Melaque - Tonala - Tequila - Melaque trip and were accompanied by his Tom Tom GPS. First time experience for me and generally it was a pretty good guide but it did have it's issues. It talks to you if you didn't know.

Coming up highway 80 Mrs Tom did not know there was an Autlan bypass and wanted to take us thru town. After many "turn around" requests and distracted we ended up in El Grullo which is not close to highway 80.

Further on 'the voice' wanted us to turn left a few miles before Lopez Mateos but the intersection was vague so we continued. On Mateos it wanted us to turn to Jocotepec so Glen obediently drove along the lake to Chapala. Any clues on that one?

Tonala has redone some exits so we couldn't follow directions and ended up paying an exit and entrance toll at the next underpass. It did find the hotel after we got off the freeway.

Our guide did take us to Tequila on the free road and then back towards Ameca and the cross over road to Cocula and highway 80 but we had to ignore a few instructions on the way. Glen says many areas in the country and smaller towns are unmapped and the GPS gets confused.

Part of the problem is he hadn't updated his maps for 3 years. I drive less and less in Mexico but still interesting experience.

Highway 80 with a little rian

Talpa from above

After picking up my new passport in Vallarta last year I drove up highway 70 thru Mascota intending to overnight in Autlan. I came to the Talpa turn off to the south and had to take a look but after a mile or two was presented with this site. Overlooks or viewpoints on Mexican highways are rare but here was a good one.

Anyway it looked too far to just visit and just turn around so I headed back to highway 70 to continue. What I would like to know is if there is only one entrance to Talpa ... or is there another from highway 80.

Talpa Jalisco off highway 70