Just north west of Australia's Great Ocean Road.

Where are they going next? Ecuador on October 13th.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

San Sebastian del Oeste

We were up at 6:00am yesterday morning, and by 7:00am we headed out on the 2.3 km (1.4 mile) walk into town to catch the bus. We had to catch our second bus at 9:00am, and we arrived there just in time!

The bus from here to Puerto Vallarta was 13 pesos ($1.02) each, and then from Puerto Vallarta to San Sebastian was 65 pesos ($5.07) each.

A: where we are staying
B: where we had to change buses
C: San Sebastian del Ouste

A little closer detail

The bus to San Sebastian only stops on the highway outside of San Sebastian at a little village called La Estancia. There, you have to find your own way another 10 kms (6 miles) to town. There was a taxi sitting there, but he wanted 100 pesos, so we started walking. After about 1 km, a pickup truck stopped for us, and we hopped in the back. When we arrived, I offered the guy 20 pesos, but he wouldn't accept it.

Rather than me telling you about the history of San Sebastian, you can read about it here.

Exploring some of the back alleys.

Ruth on one of the main streets.

We wandered some of the little lanes and alleyways. It was really a quiet place, we only saw one tour group bus of about 15 people.

It's a kind of a neat place, but considering there were 40,000 people living there at one time (and now only 600) I expected to see more ruins.

The church was originally built in the 1600's but was damaged by an earthquake in the 1800's and rebuilt in 1868.

We sat in the quiet central square for a little while, and found a guy who sells homemade paletas (popsicles) for 10 pesos (78 cents). And then it wasn't long before we were going to have to head back to try and get the 3:15pm bus by the side of the highway. We didn't want to miss the bus because we had read that there wasn't another one until 7:30pm.

You could actually drive a motorhome up to the entrance to San Sebastien, the road was in pretty good shape. Then, you could boondock at the wide entranceway to town. 

So we sat at the side of the road near the entrance to town and waited for someone to come along. And waited. And waited. A few cars went by, but just as I thought we were going to have to take a taxi, a guy in a pickup comes along and we flagged him down. No problem, hop in the back! Again, he wouldn't accept any money.

When we got to the highway, we only had to wait five minutes for the bus. Apparently they are a lot more regular than I had read online, and tend to stop every hour and a half or so.

Back in Valle de Banderas we bought a whole roast chicken deal with tortillas and pasta for 80 pesos ($6.24) and walked back to Sherman. It was almost 6:00pm, and the sun was setting. What a long day we had! Spent most of it on the bus, but we're still glad we went.


  1. Indeed a long day. I like the pastels in the church.

  2. Those back alleys look like a fun exploration!

  3. Sounds wonderful a great adventure into the small villages of Mexico, gotta love it!

  4. Looks like another adventure done.Love the small villages.

  5. Would riding your bikes seem too dangerous on Mexican roads? Just curious.

  6. You guys are good! Sounds like a good boondocking place there at the entrance.

  7. CAE...It depends on the road. If it is busy and narrow I wouldn't ride on it but if they are quiet I will and most of the time to ride in the towns isn't a problem. That's just us though, we know people that have biked the highway down the Baja which I'd never do.


