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Although our means of communication improved dramatically with air service, there were still no roads for traveling by vehicle to major cities other than dirt roads or horse trails.
In 1941 a dirt road was opened to travel to Guadalajara via Compostela through the towns, of Sayulita, La peñita, Las Varas and other villages. The road was suitable for travel in all seasons except of monsoon.
The Cooperativa de Transportes de Compostela, Nayarit estanblished a new route service to Guadalajara with tropical buses called Las Corridas (The Runs). Las Corridas did not have sidewall but draped canvas, which blew away with the wind every time the bus sped. It made the bus look like a flying kite! The canvas walls didn't guard passengers from dust or rain. When we would finally arrive at our destination, we were so covered with dust that felt our windpipes were completely clogged, our eyelashes were white covered with dust, and our hair spiked.
I remember one time I advised my relatives, the Briseño sisters, to visit us in Vallarta. They were my husband's relatives from Mexico city and hated flying by airplane. I advise them to come by bus via Guadalajara and Compostela. The readers can imagine!! When I went to pick them up from the bus terminal, the Briseño sisters looked like the Bandits of Rio frio! I made so much fun of them! They said the bus ride took forever and made them think they felt they were traveling to the end of the world. They were so covered with dust they could no longer breathe.
The first time I traveled this route was in 1943. It took twelve hours to travel just to Compostela and then we had to change buses to go to Guadalajara .
Although the road conditions were far from being ideal, it helped to establish a new freight route benefiting the development of our port. The truck drivers had to suffer through these long and dreadful trips.
Among the people from Vallarta who started the freight business in 1945 were, Manuel Sanchez, who drove a truck La Chula Cristobal Ruelas, owner, of a truck called La Lulú, and Jesus Palacios, who drove a truck called Silvia. Other people from Guadalajara who started a truck business in Vallarta were, Felipe Sotelo, Emilio Rodriguez and brothers, Javier and Ignacio Dávila, Jesús and Antonio Ibarra, and Antonio and Ramón Peña.
The freight businesses reported more losses than profits due to the major mechanical repairs to their vehicles caused by poorly maintained dirt roads.
On the road to Guadalajara there were two dangerous winding grades- La Zeta (Z), and La Tigresa (Tiger's Den). The truck drivers had to be extremely careful when traveling through these windy, narrow and steep roads. Unfortunately, bad accidents often happened. Don Donaciano Prado, a local rental worker, was killed in one of these occurrences. Father Reverent Parra had organized a peregrination to Mexico City in order to visit our Holy Lady of Guadalajara . A lot of local people had signed up for the trip. The group left on a tropical truck from Agapito Medina´s bus company. On the return trip the brakes failed and the driver lost control of the vehicle dangerously heading to the precipice. People screamed and cried calling for help from heaven. Thanks to the ability of the driver, he was able to control the vehicle and saved the life of all passengers except Donaciano's. he through it was safer to jump out the bus and fatally fell off the cliff.
Numerous accidents happened on these roads. The roads. The town was so small that a road accident involving local people was of big concern to all of us. During monsoon season the roads were closed to traffic, freight service from Guadalajara and Tepic was done by sea. On Modesto Güereña owned a freight boat called La Lupita that served all freight trips from Matachen, (which was a wharf) near San Blas to Vallarta. Most of the freight trips were to transport lime and cement. When the vessel was caught by a tropical storm, the merchandise would arrive wet and messy.
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