Our trip to see the Petroglyphs

Last Sunday, February 17th we took an hour and half drive north of Mazatlan to the fishing village of Barras de Piaxtla with our good friends, Dick and Jan. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at a local restaurant and also enjoyed the beautiful view of the ocean from there. There was also a beach front retreat in this area. Here is the website if you ever feel the need to really get away. We thought it might we fun to stay a couple of nights but not much longer. As you will notice in the pictures below, those nets above the beds in the pictures are because they have a few mesquitos. http://www.larosadelasbarras.com/

As we were leaving the restaurant, a group of 5 Mazatlan Universidad students arrived and wanted to take our picture. We guessed they thought we were interesting looking gringos. One of the students spoke very good english and was studying Tourism at the Universidad. We posed for the picture and headed up a very rough dirt road to the Las Labradas petroglyphs near the town of Chilacayota. These are the only petroglyphs in a beachside location in the Americas. The pictures and writings chiseled in rock on the beach date back as far as 1,500 years ago and depict the visions and beliefs of the native people many centuries past. You will see pictures in this post of many of the petroglyphs we saw on the beach.

As we were leaving the petroglyphs to head back down the rough dirt road, we again ran into the students. They were concerned about the road and if it was worth the trip to the site. We assured them it was and we headed for the highway. As we drove a few miles down the toll highway back to Mazatlan, an unexpected rock was sitting in the middle of the road - blended right in with the pavement. Dick couldn't miss it in time and ran right over it and got a flat tire. Just as Dick and Greg were getting out to inspect the flat, a truck drove up on the other side of the highway to help. He had something to do with the highway patrol and told Dick that if he could find the rock they would pay for a new tire because that would show it was the government/state, whatever, at fault. Greg walked back down the highway and did find the rock. The man from the truck told us it would be 20-23 minutes, no more than 30 minutes and someone would be back to take pictures and not to change the tire. Well, he left and the "Green Angels" arrived. The “Green Angels,” are a fleet of radio dispatched trucks with bilingual crews, however this one wasn't bilingual. Services include protection, medical first aid, mechanical aid for your car, and basic supplies. You will not be charged for services, only for parts, gas, and oil. The Green Angels patrol daily, from dawn until sunset. There is a number to call them but if you are unable to call, you are susposed to pull off the road and lift the hood of your car; chances are good they will find you. They patrol all the toll roads, which is what we were on. We had paid $100 pesos or $10 US going out and $100 pesos coming back to use the road. The patrol assured us someone would be by with the camera soon and he too left. Well those were definetly "Mexican minutes" as it was going on 1 hour and guess who stops to help us - the students! We were very happy to see them and they placed a call for us to the Green Angels. We had failed to get any numbers from the others that had stopped. The student found out the insurance guy with the camera was just 5 minutes away. We thanked them for stopping and they were on their way probably telling stories of those crazy gringos. The insurance man did arrive in about 5 minutes - took pictures of the flat tire, filled out some paperwork instructing Dick where to take his car for the new tire and as it turned out rim also. When Dick and Greg took the tire off to change it, they discovered the rim on the backside was badly bent. So after about a 2 hour ordeal we were back on the road driving slowly back to Maz on the spare tire. All in all, we felt the assistance we received was very good.

Anyway, it was an interesting trip to see the petroglyphs and we learned alot about how the toll roads and the Green Angels work too. Our adventures here in Mexico just keep going.

View of the beach from the restaurant.

Entrance to the restaurant.

Having lunch with Dick and Jan.

Dick is 6 foot tall.

Rooms to rent at the beach front retreat.


This is the english translation of the sign at the entrance to the beach where the petroglyphs were.
Welcome
Beach Las Labradas
Visting a place with important traces of old cultures.
With your payment of rights you contribute to maintain.
Enjoy it and conserve it.
Area protected for plant and animal.
Plateau of Cacaxtla


There was also a museum at the site and this was part of it.

Some of the drawings.

The "Green Angels" truck.