Tuesday 27 July 2010

how to ruin a town...

Photobucket

I love the city (whichever city that happens to be) but sometimes it's great to get out of it for a weekend, and enjoy some fresh air and a slower pace of life. With that in mind, I flipped through my guidebook to the Guadalajara region and discovered a little place called Mazamitla, described as a small mountain town with pine-scented air, two and a half hours away.

Almost four hours after setting off we arrived (grrr, Mexico) to find a town that has been taken over as a weekend retreat by the middle and upper class of Guadalajara. I've always loved my weekend getaways in Mexico, but this place was just scary! So, for anyone who's interested, here is how you ruin a perfectly lovely little town:

Photobucket
Take a perfectly pretty town square... and then let maniacs on quad bikes tear through it all day and night...

Photobucket
Then, take a pristine mountain forest and fill it with paved-over, orange, american style cabin monstrosities... I'm not kidding!

Photobucket
Oh and get some horses and treat them badly. I wouldn't actually have ridden the horses, as I didn't agree much with their treatment and am, as you can see, quite allergic! But well, it was an hour's walk up hill or twenty minutes of sneezing...

Mazamitla was, to put it nicely, a horrible place and a disaster of tourist development, but we did manage to find a few photogenic angles!

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

For a day of hiking and horse-riding I wore:
denim capris: Winners
embroidered blouse: Desigual
sneakers: Victoria
earrings: Spank in Vancouver
An ancient sleepover bag from Sears with a beaded dancing man from a craft show : )

...And, in exciting news... I have two wonderful sisters, and one of them is coming to visit me for a month! In fact, I've really got to go figure out how to get to the airport by bus now... but here she is, wearing absolutely ridiculous and absolutely fake Versace sunglasses bought on a beach in Mexico last year!

Photobucket

9 comments:

Abi said...

Those are great photos. Looks like you had such a blast. The city is great, but some peace and small town quiet does the body good

Closet Fashionista said...

Aww that stinks! I hate when things get crazy like that. It would be so cute without all that madness, haha
http://aclosetfashionista.blogspot.com/

Rio said...

Aw don't you hate that! I used to go camping with my family at this super cool surf spot in Baja California, but last time we went it was starting to get built up and there were 4X4s and cars all over the beach! So sad! :( Cute outfit, though!
(http://showersofsunflowers.blogspot.com/)

Ashley/ MILK TEETHS said...

Oh no! That's such a shame about how they went about making the place more "tourist friendly"...should have left well enough alone!

xx
MILK TEETHS

Bea said...

Ohh, I love horse back riding and am so jealous of you but those Quad bikes look and sound terrible. Yuck.

B from A plus B

Anthea said...

Wow! I am shocked! I guess the town's authorities were trying to find cheap ways to entertain tourists, but the original state of the town would have been better.

Anthea,
Embracing Style

ChocoDisco said...

that's a shame =( sometimes i wonder why people can't just leave those towns the way they were!

anyways, your outfit looks cute and comfy!

Liza said...

that stinks how they went our attracting tourists. a shame.
you look cute though, especially on the horse! :)

thanks for your comment!
xxL

Emily, Resplendent Tranquility said...

Ah, that's a shame. It is such a disappointment when you get your hopes up for a place and it turns out to be disastrous in so many ways. All the quads and paving aside, it still looks like a picturesque place to visit if you know where to look ;)

That is exciting about your sister coming to visit! Enjoy your time with her!