THE MALECÓN

Head back down Zaragoza, and let the church belfry be your guide. Named La Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, for the city’s patron saint, the church is relatively new (1951) and undistinguished except for the very unusual huge crown atop the tower. Curiously, it was modeled after the crown of the tragic 19th-century Empress Carlota, who went insane after her husband was executed. On the church steps, a native woman sometimes sells textiles, which she weaves on the spot with a traditional backstrap loom (in Mexican Spanish, tela de otate, loom of bamboo, from the Náhuatl otlatl, bamboo).

  Continue down Zaragoza past the Presidencia Municipal at one side of the central Plaza de Armas, straight toward Los Arcos (The Arches) right at the water’s edge. They have frequently formed a backdrop for free weekend evening music and dance performances. From there, the malecón seawall/walkway stretches north toward the Zona Hotelera, which you can see along the curving beachfront.

 The malecón marks the bay’s innermost point. From there the shoreline stretches westerly many miles on both sides, adorned by dozens of sandy beaches. At its wave-washed extremities you can see Punta Mita on the distant horizon at the northwest extremity and Punta La Iglesia to the far southwest.