Highway 70 leaves Vallarta just south of the Nayarit border, north of the airport and next to the new Vallarta Home Depot.  It's about 40 kilometers of small towns and farmland before you start into the mountains.  The road is actually very good except they have cut thru some impossible hillsides making yearly roadwork a necessity.  Right now (November 2007) they are working on about five major sections both east and west of Mascota.  Most of the work is on the west side.

After crossing the bridge below it mostly flat land until you drop back down into Mascota.  Mascota is very Colonial in a non-fancy way with one church in ruins looking as if it was a religious center for the area many years ago.  Lots of classic construction and cobble stone streets.

The last few fotos are from one of the very few scenic lookouts along the road after leaving Mascota and heading toward Talpa and Ameca.