Santa Maria de Oro

February 10, 2009 Tuesday martes
We took off this morning on the 8:00am bus for Tepic. It was 88 pesos for both of us one way. We were able to catch the combi to Santa Maria del Oro.
This is a smaller community than San Blas. The community was not our final destination as we were headed for the Crater Lake Santa Maria de Oro or also known as Laguna Santa Maria which is tucked into an ancient volcanic caldera.

Another combi took us from the town to the lake. We got off at the first stop the combi made on the lake as we were going to the Koala Bungalows and Trailer Park. I wish we had ridden on the combi to his last stop on the lake so we could have seen more of it.

As we walked to the Koala Park we noted how quite it was. The weather was cooler but very pleasant. The Park looks like it is will kept, but we couldn’t find anyone to talk to about rates for a bungalow. So walked back to where the combi dropped us off.

We decided it was time for lunch and found a place that had tables that were right next to the lake.
We ordered Chicharrón Pescado, this was a fish that is cooked like pork rinds, and one order was more than we could eat. The price for the fish was 80 pesos.
While eating we were joined for lunch by two different types of ducks.

We caught the combi back to town, the driver stopped at the top of the mountain so I could get a picture of the lake. When we arrived in town another combi was ready to leave for Tepic so we went back to Tepic.

When we arrived in Tepic we decided we were tired, so we caught the next bus back to San Blas.
Cost for the day Bus 176 pesos, Combi 140 pesos, Lunch (fish) 80 pesos (drinks) 25 pesos = 421 pesos or less than $42.10US.