Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Tlaquepaque and Colima

I don't usually post trip reports but since people here were so nice to offer suggestions when I was planning this trip it seems like the least I could do. Even though I ended up going somewhere completely different than I had anticipated. But sometimes things turn out that way and that can be a good thing.

You can also see some photos here: http://suewallace.zenfolio.com/p607972388

Let me post about Comala first because we absolutely loved it. Comala is in Colima state and just outside of the city of Colima. It's a Pueblo Magico which is a designation towns in Mexico can get if they're really cute, clean, and safe. Comala certainly was all three. We stayed at Casa Alvareda (http://casaalvarada.com/day6.html) 850 pesos per night including breakfast. We liked Casa Alvareda and would stay there again.

We had the good timing to be in Mexico on December 12 which is Dia de la Virgen de Guadulupe. Now this is a huge holiday everywhere in Mexico but the celebrations in Comala start the end of November. And they go on every single night through December 12. Celebrations included lots of food stands, some kiddie carnival rides, hanging out on the main plaza, parades, and dance shows in the evening. And plenty of fireworks - but I think that's the case all year long. And one morning it included a car with loudspeakers telling people that they could go to morning mass. At 4 am. Fortunately, that only happened once. I also heard there were rodeos and horse races but have no idea where or when those occurred.

We caught three dance shows. The first was cute - little kids doing traditional dances. Or, in one case, a bunch of 4-year-old boys standing around while their teachers tried to get them to dance. Second night it was a dance troop performing prehispanic dances The third night had two sets. The first set featured salsa dancing - which seemed a bit of an unusual way of celebrating the Virgin of Guadulupe - let me remove some of your clothing while we dance on stage - but the dancing sure was fabulous. For the second set, they performed traditional Mexican dances.

We don't usually do tours but did three while we were in Comala. The first two were with Admire Mexico (http://www.admiremexicotours.com/index.php) an agency owned by the people who also own Casa Alvareda. One tour went to La Campana, ruins from a humungous town (over 100,000 residents) that lasted through several periods of inhabitation. People would move there, build homes, and then the volcano would start erupting and throwing one ton boulders into Comala and the people would decide that it was a good time to move elsewhere. Then after the volcano settled down, another group of people would settle in and build on top of the previous buildings until the volcano started tossing boulders again. There were still a few people living here when the Spanish arrived but it had dwindled down to just a small number.

We also visited the centro historico in Colima, and an old hacienda once owned by Alejandro Rangel Hidalgo. (You may remember his UNICEF Christmas cards back from the 1960s. He also was well known as an artist and furniture designer.) He collected prehispanic pottery which is very nicely exhibited at the hacienda.

Another tour took us to visit a mask maker. His masks are used in some traditional dances - another good time to visit would be Easter when the dancers wear masks and dance from 5am to noon - partly a celebration of Easter, partly to encourage the gods to provide a good harvest that year. My husband announced that he was buying my Christmas present and I am now the proud owner of an owl mask.

That's it for now.