Exploring the Pacific Coast of Mexico

In the next several articles we will explore beyond the confines of Puerto Vallarta. In these articles you will find destinations to discover in and around the Bay of Banderas. The first one is San Blass, one of the most historical cities on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.

San Blass

San Blass is a city of not only rich historical and indigenous religious significance, it is also a unique ecological area which makes it a perfect destination for travelers interested in more than suntan lotion and swim-up bars. Less than 90 miles north of Puerto Vallarta lay the town of San Blass. This tranquil seaside city has a history that dates back to the early 1500's. At one time, it was the headquarters for Mexico's Pacific military and a thriving international port with a population of 30,000. Ships from Spain's Pacific-rim colonies would bring silk and gold to be recorded at its counting houses.

In 1530, the greedy Spaniard conquistador, Nuno de Guzman, scouted San Blass's protected anchorages in the bay and the estuary (Estero El Pozo). During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish galleons, as well as the pirate ships that lay in wait for them, would anchor there. The town was officially founded in 1768, but the war of independence against Spain in the early 1800's saw its ruin and the city was closed to foreign trade in 1872. About this same time, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the famous American poet, visited San Blass. Noting the stillness of the city with the ships and population gone he was moved to pen one of his most well known poems, "The Bells of San Blass." The poem was to be his last as he hastened to finish it from his deathbed, ten years after his visit.

Today San Blass is a quiet town of 6,000. It's "mosquito" fleet leave each day to fish the waters beyond the estuaries and the Isla del Rey. This island is an important pilgrimage site for the Huichol Indians who make the trip each spring from their remote mountain villages. For centuries, they have been assembling there to pay homage to Aramara, their goddess of the sea. They arrive by the hundreds to perform their rituals, feasts, elaborate marriage ceremonies and to make their offering to the sea goddess of little boats full of bounty and arrows to ensure healthy children, good hunting, and fruitful crops.

Walking around town is a photographer's dream. Besides the fishing boats docked on the cannel along the estuary with the lighthouse of Cerro de la Vigia in the background there is also the huge dilapidating brick colonnade of the 19th century, the former Aduana customhouse. Now just a reminder of the cities once-booming commerce.

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