Jala, Nayarit, a Pueblo Mágico

Jala, Nayarit-A Scenic Pueblo Mágico   

jkh 3-02-2019 

A view of the bizarre, black lava fields on the approaching road to Jala equally serves as a descriptive opening sentence to introduce you to this scenic town. Jala, located in a volcano edged valley in west-central Mexico, awaits your visit.  This old Colonial town, founded by the Spanish Conquistadores in 1530, is well suited for landscape artists and photographers. Its broad, orderly streets and many vistas of enclosing mountains, including the now dormant El Ceboruco volcano peeking over the town-will motivate many artistic explorations. The surrounding region is mostly agricultural, with scattered ranches dotting the mountain slopes and irregular, semi-arid valleys.  The last eruption of looming El Ceburuco was in 1870; it is now dormant.  

Jala’s a sleepy place where you can safely wander the streets, duck into shadowy tiendasand buy produce or crafts from street venders arrayed beneath shady trees in the stately Plaza de Armas. The lovely church, Basilica lateranense; the museum, la Casa de la Cultura, and helpful tourism office, Oficina Turismo-will get you oriented to the history, culture and beauty of this alluring town with pre-Hispanic Aztec history.  

Set in a rural area in the State of Nayarit, roughly half way between the coast and the city of Guadalajara, Jala is easily accessible by bus via the Guadalajara-Ixtlán del Rio-Tepic route.  From Guadalajara, the bus leaves from the Central Viejo (Old Bus Station).  There are several small hotels located within the compact town; a friendly tourism representative located in a space below the red roofed gazebo in the Plaza is there to help you find a room and provide information about places to visit and events to attend.                                                                                    

My first and preliminary visit to Jala was in mid-February 2019, while visiting other scenic towns in the region (La Peñita and Tequila) with a journalist colleague, Barbara Shaw, a talented journalist and travel-writer. Our casual wanderings, chats and tour by a guide from the Oficina de Turismo during a two-day visit revealed Jala to be a pleasant, unhurried place for visual artists and explorers.  As such, I’ve put Jala on my list of towns deserving to be included in a future, “Painting Mexico” book.  First book link:  http://www.blurb.com/b/8596527-painting-mexico-magical-pueblos-in-guanajuato

For Barbara's perspective on Jala, see Barbara’s blog site: 2barbarashaw.blogspot.com  

I also posted a large album of photographs from Jala on my Facebook page, "Jack Hannula".

 Jack Hannula