San Miguel de Allende, Teotihuacan, Puebla, Montepio

I'm in Paraiso Tabasco tonight. I had a longish ride to get here and after the first 45 min was not all that interesting a ride. The Hotel I'm in tonight is a nice modern hotel which allowed me to do my laundry. I know, not too exciting but you gotta get the stink off now and then.  ;-)  Below is the summary of the last handful of days...

Friday March 14^th, San Miguel de Allende: It was a short ride from Guanajuato to San Miguel de Allende, only about 60 miles and took less than 2 hours. Both cities are at pretty high elevation ~6000ft. As I left Guanajuato the road climbed steadily into the mountains and topped out over 8500ft; it was a nice twisty bit of asphalt. Shot a couple more video clips: leaving Guanajuato, weaving through the mountains and entering San Miguel de Allende. This is a pretty city and it’s almost entirely warm colors: yellow ochre, burnt sienna, raw umber, brick red. It was where the wealthy came to get away from the hustle and bustle of Guanajuato and still is really. This is another city that is full of retired gringos on vacation from the cold and why not... The weather is awesome, the city is beautiful and it’s full of nice restaurants, shops, art galleries, music, the Allende Institute School of Art, and a quieter pace than Guanajuato; lovely, really.

I’m feeling a little home sick... I've noticed I’m seeking out little comforts of home. Yesterday I was so stoked to find a Starbucks, that I went twice. Today I had an espresso and was really pleased when I found the little restaurant had craft beers brewed right here in San Miguel de Allende, I had a stout and a Belgian triple, Yum! What is it with Mexico and their weak coffee and weak beer? Maybe I just wasn't looking in the right places. There are quite a few Italian restaurants here too and that sounds good and pizza.  On the other hand, I was disappointed when the waiter brought bread instead of tortillas; I had to ask for them specifically 

SatMarch 15^th, to Teotihuacan. Today I had a hectic ride. My route took me very close to Mexico City and there was a lot of traffic. About half of the route was on multi-lane highways and the speeds were quite high. The last part of the ride was through suburbs of Mexico City and there were so many topes, (Mexican speed bumps) miles and miles of topes, hundreds and hundreds of topes. I arrived at my hotel in the late afternoon and had a really nice time talking with Pepe and Elizabeth. They made me feel just like family. Pepe and I talked a long time and drank too much tequila. :-)

www.hotelquetzalcalli.com

PosadaQuetzalcalli@hotmail.com

info@hotelQuetzalcalli.com

Sun March 16^th Visiting Teotihuacan: Teotihuacan is the largest Aztec archaeological site and the scale is incredible. The pyramid of the sun is a massive structure. It’s the weekend and the crowds were quite large so there were long lines of people waiting to climb the sun pyramid and to enter the museum. So I just climbed the pyramid of the moon and walked around to explore the site and take photos. Only a small percentage of the site has been excavated, so all around, you see little hills covered with cactus and trees but if you look at the roots of the plants, you can see that the hills are actually stacked stones and are actually structures that haven’t been unearthed.

One of the unique features of Hotel Quetzacalli is a Temazcal. So this afternoon, me and Pepe and some other guests (now new friends: Juan-Carlos, Karla & Delila) all participated in an ancient sweat lodge ritual, a tradition of the Nahuatl-Teotihuacana culture. The Temazcal is like a Navajo Sweat Lodge, a low round room with a pit in the center. Outside there is a very hot fire where stones are heated until they are glowing hot. The stones are placed in the pit in the center of the room and then water infused with curative herbs is poured over the stones to create the steam. The room was very hot and very humid and the purpose was to sweat a lot, to cleanse the body and purify the spirit. It was a really great experience. Many thanks to Pacito for being our spiritual guide. One of the participants Karla, is a famous singer in the band Kira Y Las Indominables. Karla is Kira. She has a fantastic voice and it was great to hear her sing in the Temazcal. In fact, we all shared songs and after we shared a meal. My stay here at Hotel Quetzalcalli has been great; I’m so glad I had the chance to meet such welcoming people and make some new friends and I can't say enough good things about Elizabeth and Pepe, !Compadre!

from Hotel Quetzalcalli you can see the Pyramid of the Sun

Climbing the pyramids is tough because they are very steep

(descending is especially tough with a tequila hangover)

The view from the Pyramid of the Moon

Another structure that was not unearthed

the entry of the Temazcal

Standing: Elizabeth & Pepe, Seated: Delila, Karla & Juan-Carlos. I had such a wonderful time with them. I'm so glad they talked me into spending an hour in the Temezcal.

Hot air balloons overhead in the morning

Monday March 17^th, Puebla: Happy St Patrick’s day. I didn't have a Guinness :-/ I left Teotihuacan late in the morning but I had a short drive today. I wound through some rural communities and saw a nopale farm and some more Agave fields. Then climbed up again over a high pass at nearly 9500ft. the city of Puebla is situated between 3 huge Volcanoes Popocatepetl & Iztaccihuatl on the west and Malintzin to the Northeast. The tallest Popocatepetl is very nearly 18,000ft tall and still had snow on its peak. Puebla is a Spanish colonial city and it has retained its Spanish feel with beautiful architecture and full of dramatic cathedrals and brightly colored buildings. the city center was very active and full of shops especially along Calle 5 de Mayo.

Construccion y Reparacion de Guitarras

the view from "Frenchies Cafe"

Tuesday March 18^th, Montepio: Today is Mom’s birthday and I miss her a lot. My heart and thoughts are with Dad and Tim and the rest of our family and with all the Hubbards. I was looking for an interesting spot to stop for the night while looking over my maps last night and stumbled across this little town on the gulf coast called Montepio. I found that there were a couple little hotels so I thought I’d give it a go. This is another incredibly beautiful part of Mexico (it’s getting a little redundant, I know, but it’s true) I drove through fields and fields of sugar cane on the way and it’s definitely off of the beaten path. They don’t get many English speaking tourists here and the communities are predominantly agricultural so it’s not posh in any sense of the term; this is Mexico, and it’s on a spectacular little beach with lush green volcanic hills behind.  I dropped my stuff off in my hotel room and sent my spot check in (No cell, and no internet) then walked towards the beach. I noticed a little group of folks doing ? school work? Yep, turns out the young woman was teaching Ingles to some of the community. Hannah is another Canadian and her husband is from Holland. They bicycled J here from Canada and liked this location so much they just didn't leave. They have lived here for a couple of years now.  Why so many Canadians in Mexico? Because they’re smart! I got some veggie chips and Tamales from a couple walking by and that was dinner. The first part of the ride today was all “cuotas” and I dropped from 7000ft to sea level. I drove by another huge volcano, Pico de Orizaba 18,850ft, with snow and an observatory. Tomorrow, on to Paraiso, Tabasco…

March 19th: Lago Catemaco