Fond Memories of Mexico

I just found my iWeb travel blog from my trip to mexico 3.5 years ago.  Reading my adventures reminded me of what a great time i had.  I need to get out of the US more often.  I have a few ideas in the works to bed my wonderlust.  We’ll see which idea pans out (or entices others)

Read Along:  http://web.mac.com/be3n/iWeb/Travel%20Log/

I wrote it in iWeb originally because it easily let you work offline and publish whenever you have internet.  Now i use the wordpress app for iPhone!!  (maybe i’ll migrate the posts here, one day)

UPDATE:  That day has come.  now you can visit those posts here!

Gratos of Tolantongo

We arrived here at dusk last night. Tolantongo is hours away from Mexico City along treacherous roads. Unknown even to most Mexicans, it is a natural hotspring. An underground river of the freshest toastiest water emerges from this mountain at the head of an incredible gorge. There is a hotel at the bottom of the gorge where we bedded down for the night. In the morning we explored the magistry of this place. The photos don’t even begin to show the beauty. The grato sits at the mouth of the river that snakes through the gorge. Behind kira, you can see opening of the grato. It is actually a huge cave with tunnels extending deep into the mountain. Some of the currents from those tunnels are so incredibly strong that ropes are strung along the walls of the cave. I was too chicken to bring my camera too near the water, so you will have to make due with these amazing scenes from a distance. We spent all day exploring both sides of the gorge. High up the far side we found a trail to a another hotspring pool. We had to swim to get there, so there was no hope of bringing a camera, but it was quite possibly the most beautiful place i’ve ever been. Warm currents from under the mountain met the cool waterfall from atop it to provide us with a very comfortable pool. Above us, two cliffs seemed to reach out to each other leaving a crevasse just large enough for the sun to pour through to illuminate each falling drop of the waterfall. Truly amazing. I was speechless. (if you can believe that after this very wordy entry)


Pyramids of Teotiuhuacan

We left this morning for the ancient city of Teotiuhuacan.  Once the largest city in the Americas, it is home to the 3rd largest pyramid in the world.  Much of this ancient city still stands to this day.  We climbed the pyramids and met some Australians at the top.  It was exhausting, but the weather couldn’t have been more perfect.  It seemed to be hazy for much of the climb, but clear up as we the day progressed.  All in all an amazing trip.  We hopped back in the Supra for Tolantongo.



Morelia

We arrived in Morelia very late last night.  A thoroughly modern city despite much of its construction in colonial times.  It is the capital of the Mexican state of Michoacán.  A beautiful city with a very active night life.  We wondered the streets at night to find a hotel and found bars and discotecs brimming with people, even at nearly 2am.  We eventually found a place and bedded down.  In the morning we explored some of the historic architecture that makes this city famous.  A mole torta and we hit the road again.

Tequila!

After passing countless fields of agave we finally arrived in the town of Tequila.  Home of a drink of the same name.  We visited the Jose Cuervo factory.  Tour and tastes for tourists because most of the actual Tequila production and all of the bottling takes place near Guadalajara.  I had a great time, even while I was almost beaned by a falling agave (they can be 50-70 kilos).  I learned much about the making and drinking of Tequila.  We even got to see the private cellar.  It was actually lost for decades, only found when growth and expansion lead to serious remodeling.


After the tour we met up with a friend Eric had made on his previous visit.  We met up for more drinks and wonderful conversation.  A really great guy with a lovely fiancé.  He is building a Tequila factory of his own.  As the day came to an end, we had to pack our car and get back on the road.  The sun was setting on the agave fields as we drove on to Morelia.

Tepic

The journey here was awful.  The 15 was usually a very nice drive, but for this stretch it was one lane each way and there were so many slow moving double trailer semis it took forever.  When we finally arrived at 1am, we discovered it was a hole in the wall town that we only slept in.  The hotel was straight out of the 60s and quite run down.  Rotary phones and no outlets.  What more can i say?  Back on the road!  this time to Tequila!

Culiacan

We arrived in Culican this evening.  An interesting little town with some very confusing streets.  They have a roundabout (i love those).  The only problem is that the signs are quite confusing.  The hotel had the most amazing internet.  I was able to fix my blog and video chat with the parents.  God i love technology.  We snuck out just a few moments ago to grab some grub.  Most everything was closed so we ended up grabbing some dogs from a street vendor.  On the way we found the most amazing cathedral.  Amazing in the night with the neon cross and all.

Sea of Cortez

Beaches of Topolobampo

We drove down the coast to Los Mochis.  Stopping for some sites before we drove on to Topolobampo.  Amazingly beautiful beaches (though eric says the southern beaches are where it’s really at).  You could tell this was a tourist destination, but it was almost completely deserted on a Wednesday afternoon.  The sand was amazingly fine and the surf was warm.  They call this the Sea of Cortez in Mexico and the Gulf of California in USA.  We found a restaurant to grab some seafood and a sangria before playing in the water for a bit.  Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to play, we are still making up the time we lost in Nogales.  We want to make it to Mexico City by Friday