Introducing Cassandra Shaw
“My love for Vallarta has always been huge and I never want to leave here – ever”

A few short blocks of Basillio Badillo, bordering the rather lyrically named “Romantic Zone” of the old town, is home to some of Puerto Vallarta’s most beautiful shops. One of them is the eponymous shop of jeweller Cassandra Shaw. I pass by several times a week on the way to my favourite coffee shop or to watch the sun set while sipping Margaritas at La Palapa. I often pop in – just to inhale. Beauty has a distinct aroma and Cassandra Shaw’s has the added whiff of magic. Surrounded by the pretty little Mexican items in beachside market stalls, her pieces stand out as big and bold and beautiful. Think “Resort takes New York”.

Like many of her fellow ex-patriots, her story is a serendipitous one. Her sister Candace paved the way, moving to Vallarta in 1983. After the birth of her niece Savannah, Shaw was making repeated visits, sometimes as often as four times a year. When the neighbourhood pub where she worked was sold she found herself footloose and seeking adventure. In 1999, she rented out her Vancouver home, packed her belongings into a few small suitcases and headed to Mexico on a one-way ticket to “roam around”. The gravitational force pulled her towards Vallarta where she found work at a high-end silver shop. Quickly becoming a partner, Shaw soon realized there was a gap in the market and a need for more unique and individualistic designs. She began to “re-design” existing pieces in an effort to achieve the look she was aiming for, before giving full reign to her creative talents by designing her own work. Her own original designs now account for approximately 60% of the items at Casandra Shaw.

Casandra Shaw looks like a happy person. She is an iconic figure around PV with a broad white smile beaming out of a suntanned face, her platinum hair cut short to frame her face. She is often seen engaging in a favourite Vallarta pastime – walking, rarely without her two little Chihuahua’s Leonardo and his daughter MJ Bean, (standing for Mexican Jumping).

Pyramids along the free road

Are you driving to Guadalajara?  Planning your trip?  I’ve done the drive 3 times in the past month and each time I fall more in love with the landscape. It is a spectacular array of nature from jungle to fertile valleys to desert highlands all set against the red cliffs of the Sierra Madres.

This past weekend I drove to Ajijic, Jalisco on the shores of Lake Chapala, taking Hwy 15 all the way. But there are two highway 15′s. The Cuota or toll-road (about $350 pesos to Guadalajara) with wide lanes, fresh asphalt and free emergency services but you drive it at 100km (or 140km if you’re like me)  and everything goes by in a flash. You miss the jungle and the  low valleys, you miss the wild flowers and pine trees, the cactus trees and all the little towns along the way. Or you can take the Libre road where you go a little slower behind the pick-ups with kids, chickens and the occasional donkey jammed in the back but you also pass through villages and working fields. Great photo ops around every corner. Assuming you packed a memory card for your camera…

Feeling adventurous and enjoying the drive I took the Libre and now think we should all take the free road. Despite being told that things are never free in life, this road choose to give me more than I paid for it that day. I drove through fields with sugar cane and corn 10 feet tall, through small towns selling their wares along the highway, with charm and authenticity you get a taste of every day life in rural Mexico.

After passing through another small town I came upon a sign for pyramids (YEAH PYRAMIDS!!) in 1km. So excited because I have been thwarted by many a pyramid sighting before. I was finally going to see my first ever pyramids. Pulling into a dusty, empty parking lot I was skeptical that there was much to see but following the path over the railway tracks leads you to a friendly senor who will charge you 37 pesos to tour the site. For $3 you get 90 structures, some of which stand 15-20 feet tall. You can climb up on them and survey the valley that the native people would have surveyed two thousand years earlier. It’s a lush green valley surrounded by little volcano peaks and the rugged red cliffs of the Sierra Madre Mountains. It’s estimated that the pyramids dates back to 100-300 AD and it’s not difficult to imagine the power that the fertility of the valley and the active volcano peaks would have had over these people. HERE IS MORE INFORMATION. I would share my photos with you but it was about right at this moment that realized I had removed the memory card from a previous road trip and hadn’t replaced it… oops.

So take it from me, the pyramids are a great place to stop, the sense of time and history here is so different from the resorts of Vallarta. Even the lava fields you pass through next are stark reminders of the natural environment and just how much more to Mexico there is than the glossy brochures tell you.  If you’re planning your trip and you have a couple extra hours in your day, take the free road it’s worth it.

~Madeline Milne
Editor, Mexi-Go! Magazine

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