Hello Candis,

Last year I went on vacation to Puerto Vallarta and had an opportunity to
visit San Sebastian del Oeste. As you mentioned, San Sebastian is a former
mining town and about an hour's drive from Puerto Vallarta. Until two
year's ago the only road leading to it was a narrow dirt road that made
travel difficult because of its location in the Sierra Madre. They have
since started building a paved road and I was able to go on a tour of the
town. In fact, the road was being built as we were driving back. Our bus
had to wait for 20 minutes or so as we were heading back to Puerto Vallarta
as the workers poured gravel and dirt over a section of the road. Here is a
link to a short video of the town:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L86khHh9U0M

In addition to the places you see in the video, our tour included a visit
to the home of a lady named Doña Conchita, who is a member of one of the
first mining families in town. Doña Conchita has been working on her family
tree for several years and has a room full of photographs, documents and
miscellaneous artifacts that belonged to her ancestors. She gave us a
presentation of her oral and documented history. Doña Conchita is in her
80's and a wealth of information about the town's history.

I highly recommend this tour to any genealogist even if you are not
researching ancestry in San Sebastian. Here are some links to a couple of
tour companies: http://www.puertovallartatours.net/san-sebastian-tour.htm and
http://banderasbaytravel.com/esp/san-sebastian.html

Maria Cortez

> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 12
> Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:36:23 -0800
> From: "Candis Carbone"
> Subject: Re: [Nuestros Ranchos] Vasquez in San Sebastian
> To:
> Cc: Ed Plazola
> Message-ID:
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Ann, I too am searching for records in San Sebastian. When I first joined
> this site ten months ago (or longer) I gave a brief synopsis of what my
> friend's family had been told about the birth place of Domingo Plazola (born
> abt 1896), his brother, Luis, perhaps a sister who married a Vasquez, and
> the mother Jacinta Gonzales. I found the birth record of Luis in San
> Sebastian del Orest films. San Sebastian del Oreste is a former mining town
> up near the northern border of Jalisco and up in the mountains east of the
> Sea of Cortez. I am helping the son of Domingo. Although he speaks and
> reads Spanish, he is in his mid 70s, has poor eyesight, and doesn't have a
> clue about of record keeping in Jalisco. Since I speak and read Spanish
> based on a word by word ability, I am frustrated by my lack of skills in
> researching. I can't grasp the difference between ranchos, villages, and
> record depositories. You've given me reason to go back and try again.
> Thanks.
>
> Candis Carbone
> Tacoma, WA
>