Treasure of the Sierra Madres part dos...

Continuing on our Journey to the little town of San Sebastian...

At 4,500 feet the terrain changes quite a bit from the tropical feel by the coast.

Tall pine trees grow here instead of coconut and date, rivers are akin

to those back home with boulders worn and smoothed by

centuries of running water...

When we arrived within 10 minutes of the town, the bus parked on the road

and we walked the rest of the way, enjoying the quiet of this sleepy town...

Founded in 1605, San Sebastian was one of the gold and

silver centers of Mexico.

At one time there were reportedly 30,000 people living here

but now it is a sleepy population of about 600.

The mines were what created the town of Puerto Vallarta and

after being mined and smelted, it was taken by mule train

to Guadalajara and Mexico City then to Veracruz where

once a year it was sent by ship to Spain.

This town has basically stayed unchanged since then.

Before we arrived in the town, our guide warned us NOT to touch any dogs.

Mostly because if you do, they'll follow you around all day and if they're

not friendly, they could bite and could have rabies.

Well, this was the first dog we met, who lived in front of the funeral home...

I think his breed was Chihuaha-bacca... for all you Star Wars fans.

The next 'dangerous' dog was this girl...

 Yeah, I think she could love you to death!

We visited one woman's little museum where her family has lived for over 300 years.

Her family history was like a million piece jigsaw puzzle!

Cousins marrying uncles who are brothers and sisters aunts who become your wifes daughter.

 Swallows making their home here under her porch roof on the 300 year old beams.

Her friendly kitty.

It was a beautiful day to wander about and check out the historical buildings.

One of the most beautiful was the church built in the 1600s

and then rebuilt after an earthquake in the 1860s...

I loved the colours of the interior...a lovely, soft robins egg blue and custard cream...

Like the translation of this sign...

We visited the local jail cell, which is still in use and tried to act the part of condemned prisoners...

I wasn't sure how much the girls would like this tour compared to all the beach stuff,

but they all agreed it was one of their favorite things we did.

I always believe you should find out the story of a place and people and culture when you go there

and the trip to San Sebastian didn't disappoint one bit.