Taxco - Mexico´s silver mecca

How could I forget to mention Taxco? I have wanted to go there since I saw a picture of the cathedral sitting dramatically on the hillside in a travel book many years ago. In person it wasn’t perched as dramatically as I remember from the photo, but it was still quite beautiful. The city of Taxco was a slight detour from our Cuernavaca to Acapulco route and, unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to enjoy much of the city. Luckily there was a nice pull off with a gorgeous view of the city where we could snap a few pictures. Most of the buildings are white with red tile roofs, a style I once thought of as Mexican but now realize it really is not common here at all. The cathedral towers above the stores and homes and has amazing paintings and gold leaf sculptures inside. It is difficult to capture it all without the use of a flash. Very dramatic and intricate compared to what we have seen so far and very European. Most of the gold leaf had thick layers of dust and they are in the middle of a multi-million dollar restoration process for the entire cathedral but, from my interpretation of the signs, they have run out of money so are currently on hold.

The city is famous for silver production and you can’t walk more than a dozen steps without stumbling upon a silver shop. Actually, you can’t walk more than a dozen steps without somebody coming up to you and trying to “guide” you into certain shops. I don’t know if it was the combination of two gringas walking around with Felipe (whom the assumed spoke some Spanish) that drew the guides to him like bears to honey, but they were relentlessly following us everywhere. We would walk out of one store and they would immediately try to guide us to another.

The city seems to be entirely uphill with cobblestone streets that are so narrow in some places I felt like the three of us couldn’t even walk side by side. Somehow, little green and white slug bug taxis relentlessly zip up and down like mice in a maze. However, if you drive, I definitely recommend stopping at the very first parking lot you see and taking a taxi into town. There are many one way streets and it is a very old city with very old roads! If you are in Acapulco, Cuernavaca or Mexico City, you could easily do Taxco as a daytrip on the bus. Just make sure to take the air-conditioned first class bus if you’re here during the hot months!
After at least 20 silver shops which either had nothing we liked or what we liked was too out of our price range, we ascended about 5 flights of stairs to eat on a rooftop café with a view of the cathedral and plaza. Even though we were walking towards the staircase on our own a guide still managed to come up to Felipe and had us follow him up the stairs to the restaurant. I’m not sure what the point is in all that but it seems to be the way they work. After a somewhat expensive and not very good lunch we grabbed a taxi back to our car. The view from the restaurant was almost worth the price. People had laundry hanging on lines on their rooftops just like I remember in Jerusalem. I guess when you have no yard and no dryers you find the only space available. On the way we saw a street a block from the zocalo which we should have walked down but didn’t that had some very nice non-silver crafts. We’ll save those for next time… and maybe some silver too.

A day or so in Cuernavaca

For us, that was enough... Cuernavaca is called the ´city of eternal spring´ and has been the weekend getaway for wealthy Mexico Citians since the time of the Aztecs and Mayans. However, in my mind, 95 degrees is NOT spring weather! It feels like Las Vegas in July but you can´t run into a casino to get the fresh air-conditioned feeling. They say the water has been disappearing from the city and the temperature has been rising but no one really uses the term global warming like in the US.

The drive to Cuernavaca was mountainous but luckily we figured out how to take the toll road this time so we avoided the topes (speedbumps) that plagued us on the way through to his town the first time. In many spots the road was lined with trees that were covered in purple flowers, Jacarandas they are called. Completely gorgeous and strange because they have hardly any leaves. We found our bed and breakfast after not too many wrong turns (the link is on the side if you want to see pics). It was on a side street about 3 blocks from a main road higher up the hills in the city so it remained somewhat cool there with a fresh breeze in the morning and evening. Our host, who spoke no English, told Felipe it was only a 20 minute walk to the zocalo (downtown plaza) but I had read in my travel book it was at least 3 km (1.5 miles) so after walking a few blocks the three of us decided to hop in a taxi. I don´t know how fast of a walker our host is but the taxi alone took 20 minutes so I cannot believe there is any way to walk it in that time.

We got out at the zocalo in front of the Cortez castle at about 5pm and saw some bus tours there so we decided to hop on and sat on top of the double decker bus in the open air. Unfortunately the tour guide talked non-stop so it was difficult for Felipe to translate for us. It was fine since we had to keep our eyes open for tree branches, traffic lights, and electric wires which would have scraped the heads of people not much taller than us. We got off the bus at a park that had a small canyon in it. There are apparently 50 or so of these canyons all around the city... After interrupting a huge number of couple enjoying ´cuddle time´our tour group went down about 70 steps to a platform and looked around. Sadly, there was not much water in the canyon and it smelled a little bit awful. We took some very, very steep steps back up and returned to the bus to finish the tour which went past the cathedral complex and some huge hacienda where they film a soap opera. I didn´t really pick up much else from the tour and didn´t enjoy it as much as the one in Aguascalientes because we were stuck in traffic most of the time.

After that we walked around the zocalo which was crowded with people and actually not that impressive because it doesn´t have a cathedral on it. It is actually the only main plaza in all of Mexico without a cathedral. The three of us walked about 4 blocks to where the main cathedral and a few others are. There are 2 churches inside a big brick wall and 3 more nearby. Then we made our way back to the zocalo to have dinner.

On Tuesday (25th) we got up and tried to go to the Feria which is like their version of the State Fair. We arrived at 10:30 only to discover it didn´t open until 12:30. Since it was a 30 minute taxi ride just to get there we decided to walk down the road to the flower show which opened at 11. We were probably the only ones there so it was fun to walk through all the gardens and enjoy the green. There are very, very little spots in this entire country that we have found to be green. It was welcoming to see grass and little ponds loaded with the biggest coy fish we´ve ever seen. There were even some bonsai plants and a flower fountain. It was nice and relaxing and not too hot.

At about 1 we started to walk back over to the Feria, thinking the action had started for sure by now. Oh no... there were maybe 20 people besides us there that weren´t employees. The rides weren´t running and only a handful of the craft booths were even open. After walking around and buying some water and habas (the fried lima beans with chili and lemon that I love) we decided to leave. The security guards tried to convince us to come back after 4 when the palenque (cockfights) and other action starts and it supposedly fills with people but we had enough by then.

Tired and sun beated we took another long taxi ride to the zocalo and went into the Cortes castle which is actually somewhat of a Mexican history museum. It was difficult because there was very little in English and even though my reading in Spanish is better than my speaking, museums don´t hold my attention for very long. At the end of the musuem there was a mural by Diego Rivera which was interesting since Felipe just studied his wife, painter Frida Kahlo, this January for school. It was amazing to see the size and detail and story that is wrapped up in one of his murals.

Finally, we decided to have a splurge for dinner and went to the world famous Las Mañanitas restaurant (it´s a hotel also). If you ever go to Cuernavaca we would all highly recommend it and they have delicious pastas starting at about $14 so it doesn´t have to be a big splurge. Even though it is on a busy street, once you walk through the entrance you feel like you are miles away from the city and can hear absolutely no noise but peacocks calling. Luckily, we got there before it was dark which is a total MUST in order to wander the gardens and see the birds. We sat in the bar first and enjoyed drinks while we watched the birds. The waiters (which there must be 2 or 3 for every 1 guest) bring a little snack tray of pepitas (pumpkin seeds), peanuts and chips for you to snack on in the lovely open air patio with bulky-cushioned lounge chairs. The peacocks walk right up to the table and try to eat your snacks however, which freaked me out a little. When one flew into the tree directly over our heads I made Maren and Felipe move because I did not want to be in his ´line of fire´for relieving himself.

Our menu recommendations are the salad that has goat cheese on it. The one with crab in the parmesan cup sounds good but is nothing special for the price. For dinner, if there are two of you that like seafood you must get the seafood platter to share. It is absolutely incredible! Even the mussels which I don´t think I´ve ever tried before but they weren´t chewy at all. Great atmosphere and fabulous food.

Overall, our impression of Cuernavaca was ´big city.´It is definitely somewhere I am not interested in living or visiting very many times. The plaza seemed crowded, traffic was horrible and it was just too busy. Everything was very expensive by Mexican standards also.

Our friend Maren´s arrival

We are a little behind on the blog but hope to get caught up soon. Pictures will take a little longer since we are back to using an internet cafe and I need to copy them onto a CD first and then put them on the internet. Luckily for all of you that means I´ll have to be more choosy so you will have less pictures to page through.

Last Sunday (23rd), our friend Maren arrived. We had a small bus crisis getting to the Mexico City airport but after 2 extra bus rides we managed to get there about 5 minutes before she made it through customs. Perfect timing for everyone. Just in case any of you ever come here to visit us I´m going to type myself a reminder that the bus from Cuautla to the MC airport only leaves at 5:30am, 7:00 am and 2pm. It goes from the airport to Cuautla at 3pm and I can´t remember what other time. I´m sure that means nothing to you guys but it will be helpful to remember and I keep forgetting to write it down.

After we met her at about 12 we grabbed some slices of pizza (I know, I know...) and got on the bus to Cuernavaca. Then we took a taxi to another bus to Cuautla. Unfortunately, we just missed the direct first class bus (which I will ALWAYS recommend taking, especially in the heat of spring here in Central southern Mexico). We ended up taking the second class bus that was not air conditioned, quite a bit dirty and anything but direct. The trip that took us 35 minutes on the way there took almost 2 hours back and we crossed dozens of topes (speedbumps) along that route. Maren declared she was tired of them after about 30 minutes and Felipe and I just laughed. It is one very significant part of rural Mexico and definitely is doing a number on our car and our patience.

After another bus ride from Cuautla to Jonacatepec we finally reached our car and drove the 10 minutes back to Felipe´s house in Tetelilla. His family was very welcoming and wonderful (as always) to Maren. Since Maren remembers very little of her years of Spanish classes Felipe and even I translated for her. I did feel like my Spanish had improved when I was able to pull that off so that was a nice little boost for me to help with the frustration of not understanding everything.

After dinner we walked to his other two sisters homes and visited for a little while and had tours. The next morning we had breakfast with his sisters and they pulled out all the stops... Sweet rolls, corn on the cob and even fresh grilled fish (the entire thing) to accompany our usual eggs and green beans. As a side note, one thing that I thought was weird when I got here but now really appreciate is the pan tostado. The actually sell bread already toasted since no one has toasters. It´s actually really good and we eat it all the time.

Maren was taking pictures like crazy of his dad´s house and the kitchen in the morning light and I am going to plagerize some of her pictures and post them as soon as I can because they really captured some of the charm of the place beautifully. I packed our bags while Felipe chatted with his sisters and then we loaded up the car about noon to leave for Cuernavaca which is the capital of his state, Morelos.

Good Friday Procession

On Good Friday (21st?) we participated in a procession around his town. (there is a movie on the web album of it). Felipe had only done it once before so it wasn't really a tradition for him but I wanted to see it. It was very hot so we only lasted for 2 of the about 5 hours it takes in from 10am to about 3pm. The people from town line the streets and hold lit candles and march while in the middle of the street walks a guy ("Jesus") with no shoes and a crown of thorns carrying a cross. In front of him walk 5 men, 3 of which hold candles on tall gold poles, 1 a cross, and 1 a cross with Jesus on it. Then "Jesus" is followed by men carrying a very large statue of Jesus in purple robes kneeling down while carrying the cross. There are other men who carry a tent like thing to shade the statue. The guy carrying the cross gets no shade however... At the end of the procession is women carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary with her equally shaded.

It seems like almost the whole town was participating. They set up different "stations" around town that are shaded, have red carpet laid down and are decorated with streamers and an altar. The procession goes from station to station, putting all the statues under the shade at each on while everyone sings hymns and prays. They all end up at the church but Felipe and I did not last that long. We stopped because it was incredibly hot and there was no shade at all. I felt so sorry for the guy carrying the 80 pound cross with bare feet but I guess that was kind of the point...

There is also a procession at night but that one is silent where no one is allowed to talk. We did not go to that one because Felipe started to feel sick and we were still quite exhausted from they morning. They heat here is very intense but at least when the sun goes down around 7 every thing does cool off very well. The breeze is fresh and it makes you want to sit outside all evening long. We usually spend about 2 hours every night sitting in his family's open air kitchen sipping hot chocolate or tea, having a snack and getting caught up on 13 years of stories. I stay focused for the first 4o minutes or so but then my brain starts to hurt and I start to stare a little at all the fun pots on the wall. His family is wonderful and I am loving the opportunity to meet them and get to know them. They are all so nice and welcoming. It will be hard to leave but it is reassuring to know that soon we will be able to come back and visit whenever we want too!

Natural water park

On Thursday (20th?) we went to Las Estacas which is a water park about an hour from Felipe's town. I did put a link to it on the left hand side since my pictures don't do it justice. (Also, I updated the web album with all our pictures through Saturday so you can take a look. I haven't added captions to them yet but at least I got them online.

The water park was awesome and unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was tropical with 120 foot or higher palms and green grass. There weren't really pools but instead a river with crystal clear spring fed water that was slightly on the cool side but definitely tolerable and refreshing. There were places to dive off, places to swing like Tarzan into the water, a walking area, mini golf, an outdoor pool table... tons of stuff. We got there around noon and swam for a while then went to where the head spring is where it is really deep and you can dive from this 15 foot high rock. It was awesome. The path was covered in palms and banana trees and you felt like you were walking through a jungle. You could float down the river too in parts because there was a very slight current.

Right as we were leaving they were starting this contest and Felipe, his nephews Jaime and Ernesto, his brother in law Leonardo and Leonardo's nephew Candido made a team. They competed against 2 other teams and had to do a bunch of activities like tying all there legs together and running, diving for rock things in the river, swinging into the river, and finally a jump from the diving rock. They did end up winning the contest even though their averge age was about 40 and the other teams were teenagers or early 20's. They won thanks to Jaime's backwards summersault dive into the water where he got the most applause from the audience. It was a very fun but exhausting day. Absolutely beautiful and amazing to know such natural places exist. Even the kiddie pool was fed by natural spring water only. There is a small hotel on the grounds and lots of people camping. We totally recommend going here if you are ever in the Cuernavaca area. It is about $24 for a day pass so go early and bring enough pesos because they don't take credit cards! Great fun!

Tlaxcala and the Feria (week in Tete)

Last Monday (17th) we took a side trip to Tlaxcala state to a small town called Ayometla where his brother in law is from (Sofia's husband). We had to drive thru Puebla city and had some great views of the volcanoes Popocatepel and Ixtaciapan (or something like that). The drive was only a little over an hour on the toll road and the city of Puebla seems like the nicest large city we've in. All the roads were well marked and the areas we saw on the south side were very clean. There are lots of modern malls there. We did not have time to go downtown and see the plaza (zocalo as they call any city's central plaza) so we plan on doing that next week when we are at his family's house for another week since it makes a good day trip.

We had lunch with his brother in law Jose's family and it was very good. Lots of authentic Mexican food like these gordita looking things that had a very hard name I can never remember and some bean tamales and wonderful green salsa. They had this sauna type thing that looked like a cement igloo. We did not go inside but I can't imagine the need to add extra heat to yourself here. Although I must say that Tlaxcala state is higher in the mountains than Felipe's town and it was probably at least 10 degrees cooler there. A very welcome relief since Saturday and Sunday (15th & 16th) were at least 95.

After lunch we drove about 45 minutes north to Tlaxcala City which is fairly small for "big city" standards at around 90,000 people. Most of the city is in a valley and very near the volcano La Malinche. There was a nice church and some very interesting buildings around the zocalo, very European architecture. We were there with our nephew Ernesto, Felipe's sister Sofia and her sister in law, Carmella. After a short walk around the craft market we walked past an ancient church and an out of use bull ring and then winded through the streets a little ways and had to climb the 300 stairs back up to the car. There are fountains all the way down the center of the stair case but unfortunately they were turned off for cleaning.

After a quick stop at a market we made our way back to Ayometla where they generously fed us another meal before our trip home. Unfortunately we got a little lost going through Puebla city but we ended up getting out of the city limits before dark. Sadly we had to drive the hour back to his town in the dark but we made it all right.

On Tuesday we went to a nearby town for a Feria which is basically a street market. They had all kinds of wonderful things there. Felipe bought some things to send home with our friend Maren for his brothers. We bought a mortar and pestal that is shaped like a turtle and some little coffee cups that look like miniature Mexican jars. There was lots of candy and people selling fruit on a stick. I tried sugar cane for the first time. I liked the flavor but I didn't like the fact that you chew it and then end up spitting most of it out again. We tried to go early in the day and were there by 10am but by 1pm when we were leaving it was very, very crowded. Sometime in the last hour I ended up getting my purse slashed. I was lucky nothing was stolen. Mexico is infamous for purse slashings and I should have listed to Felipe better and kept my purse in front of me but my hands were loaded with stuff and I forgot and let it fall behind me. I never really took the threat seriously in a small town like we were in. I thought it was mainly a concern in bigger towns but I guess you need to watch out all over. So far that's been the only bad thing that's happened to us on the trip. I was very sad since it was a special "travel" purse from the AAA store that was supposed to be more secure but they must use really sharp knives because it went through all 5 layers. Felipe's sister Filogonia had her purse slashed in Mexico City and they actually slashed her hip too so at least I'm fortunate that didn't happen!

Family photos

This is Ernesto, Felipe's sister Filogonia's son. He is 19 and going to college studying plant biology (from what I can gather from the Spanish). He lives in the house where we are staying and has gone with us to the Feria (street market) and to Tlaxcala. He's very quiet most of the time but has a great laugh.


Gabriela (Gaby) is Filogonia's daughter and she is 16 or 17, I can't remember. She lives in the house we are staying in too. Deysi is on the right and she is our niece who came to MN to our wedding. She is the daugher of Felipe's sister Hilaria (Macrena) who died this past December.


This is a picture of Felipe's mom and dad that is hanging on the wall in his dad's room. I tried at least 30 times to get a picture and this is the best I could do. Felipe's mother, Constancia, died when he was 14 of a heart problem.


Felipe's sister Andrea (Abelina is her nickname) and his brother-in-law Santos. This picture is taken in front of the house of their son, Jorge (which is right next door to their house). There are 4 homes on their lot... theirs and 1 that each of their 3 sons has built. Felipe calls it a 'hotelria.'


Felipe with his dad, Hilario, who his family said has been smiling for the last month since he heard Felipe was coming. He was waiting outside the gate of Felipe's house when we showed up at 8 at night. He doesn't speak much but he always laughs and smiles and you can see how happy he is to have one of his sons home (all of the 4 live in MN).

This is Felipe with the 4 sisters that live in Tetelilla - one lives in a town an hour away. From Left to right is, Elizabeth who is my age, Sofia, Andrea, and Filogonia. Elizabeth and Filogonia live with his dad and that is who we are staying with.

Week in Tetelilla

So my battery is about to die but I thought I needed to publish something so everyone knew we were alive and kicking (and sweating buckets!). The place we are in has wireless internet so hopefully I'll be able to totally update everything from this past week including pictures by the end of the day tomorrow.

Here is a summary of our activities which I will expand on tomorrow when I have a fully charged battery.

Friday the 14th- Miserable day of driving in big cities and topes (speedbumps bigger than elephants laying in the road). We arrived in Tetelilla after dark much to our dismay and Felipe was totally lost but his dad was sitting outside his house waiting for him. It was very emotional for Felipe after 13 years to see his town and dad and sisters but very wonderful also.

Saturday the 15th- We spent the day at his sister Sofia's house and visited his brother Alejandro's wife, Rosa.

Sunday the 16th- Tried to get money again which didn't work. Went to a market in a nearby town - Jonacatepec

Monday the 17th- trip to Tlaxcala - a city about 2 hours away.

Tuesday the 18th - Feria (big street market) in a town about 20 minutes away. We bought some cute things and my purse got slashed (nothing stolen except a tampon and pen... that'll teach 'em). We visited his sister Andrea in the afternoon.

Wednesday the 19th - Lunch with his sister-in-law Rosa

Thursday the 20th - We went to Las Estacas which is a totally awesome natural water park. All spring fed with huge palm trees.

Friday the 21st - Participated in a Good Friday procession.

Saturday the 22nd - Felipe had a nasty stomach bug so we rested the whole day.

Sunday the 23rd - We took a long sequence of buses from his town to Mexico City airport to pick up Maren.

Patzcuaro

UPDATE at 8:30 pm. We had a mini crisis this afternoon when we tried to buy our souveniers and realized we didn't have enough cash and the cash machine wasn't taking either of our cards. Luckily my mom was able to talk to the credit card company while i was on the phone from Mexico on the other line. Unfortunately it costs about $1 a minute for me to call (at least I hope that's all it is!) but it was worth the $10 so we could get some money since hardly anywhere takes credit cards. This afternoon we sat in a cafe on the patio overlooking the plaza having cappuccino and cheesecake... Where are we again?

This city has such a huge holy week celebration that it started today. So we got to see a procession of young girls in traditional dress with paper flowers in their hair and painted plates and a little band. We did take a video that we will put on our web album when I can upload my pictures. We ate at the same restaurant again because we aren't very adventerous since my stomach is just off. Of course it was the most beautiful plate of food and I totally forgot to take a picture. We are trying to keep taking pictures of food as research for our future restaurant. =)

There are sooooo many wonderful things to buy here! If you want Mexican crafts I would definitely come here. There are wood carvings, straw sculptures, copper, pottery, lacquer, everything under the sun. It was very nice. I wish we had more room in the car (and more money!)

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OK... for those of you who have read the previous entries (Copper Canyon, Driving, and Aguascalientes) I have added some more stories to them now that I feel better so go back and read them again. I will probably add captions to the pictures on the web album once I have more time in Felipe's town. I thought the file names would copy over and be used as captions but sadly it does not work that way. I will keep putting all of our pictures (even the not so good ones) on there in case I lose either the camera or the computer. Whenever you see a new picture on the blog it means I've gotten to a computer to update my photos so check the side link too.

We drove from Aguascalientes to Patzcuaro yesterday which took about 5 hours, only because it took almost an hour to navigate through Morelia (we are in the state of Michioacan). As we drove through the state of Guanajuato there were at least a hundred roadside stands selling strawberrys and strawberry products. Keep that in mind if you ever drive in Mexico! Patzcuaro is a little town near a lake that is one of the most famous in the world for it's celebration of the Day of the Dead. Apparently some hotels are full up to a year in advance. It also has a huge Holy Week celebration which starts on Sunday. They are already putting tents up in the plaza and the whole town seems busy. This town dates to pre-hispanic times and the thing that makes it stand out for us is the trees. The street into town and all the plazas are lined with 200 year old oak and elm trees and it is absolutely picturesque. Then the plazas are lined with 400 year old haciendas that are now shops and restaurants and hotels (one of which we are staying in).

It is a town of about only 50,000 compared to the 400,000 in Aguascalientes and has a totally different feel to it. We are really high in elevation again. about 8000 feet. We got here about 3 yesterday and walked around, took a nap, walked around some more... I really love Mexico! As we were walking around at night we finally found some crafts that we really want to buy. There are absolutely gorgeous handmade wood carvings and woven baskets here. And lots of the skull masks but I'm not really in to that. We ate in a nice restaurant last night that had the best guacamole! Felipe had lake trout that was fabulous and I had great enchiladas.

This morning we took a little bus over the the famous lake and looked across at Isla Janitizio where the famous celebrations take place. We did decide not to actually go ove there though. I tried to take a picture but it was pretty hazy and I cannot zoom in or my camera gets spots on it. We did take it to a repair shop but they said it can't be fixed. In 2 weeks our friend Maren is coming to visit and my mother generously is going to send her camera with so we don't have to buy another one. I have to just strategically position the things in the picture to cover up the spots.

We walked through a market today and the amount of vegetables and herbs and clothes and sandles and just about everything you want to buy is amazing. Just blocks of stalls selling all you can think of. We did buy some mangoes and oranges to try. Now after an hour of typing my hand is cramping so we are going to walk around and look in some more stalls and find some souveniers, have a little lunch, probably get more cash since we are running out and then walk around some more and people watch in the plaza. Tomorrow we are going to drive to Felipe's town. We were going to stay here another day and take the bus to Morelia because that is supposed to be a nice city but he is getting excited to see his family so we are going to leave a day early instead. We still have 5 weeks left and plan on seeing quite a few more places. I tried to mark with pictures on the web album on the left where we have been. I will keep trying to accurately place the photos along the road so you can see. they won't be good photos though since they are taken from the car at 70 mph.

Thanks for reading and checking in on us! Don't forget to email us with what's going on in your life at my gmail account or post a comment!

We are In "Hot Water"

Here we are in Aguascalientes City (Hot water). Our hotel is on a very nice pedestrian plaza (that's where I am standing) so we were able to walk around a lot. Unfortunately I was very sick yesterday (Monday) when we got here so we only walked around a little while. However, we liked the city so much we decided to stay an extra day. Today we took a tour of the city on a trolley which Felipe narrated for me.



This is the main cathedral in the historic downtown area. There are at least 5 cathedrals in the central area but this is the biggest one. The inside had gold leaf all over the ceiling and paintings everywhere. There is a very elaborate altar to the Virgen of Guadalupe in all of the churches here. That is really the only main difference from cathedrals I have seen in Europe. This is all pretty new to Felipe too since his family are not really strong Catholics. I felt too guilty to snap a picture of the inside of this cathedral since there were so many people kneeling and praying and there was even a priest taking confessions.


This is the old train station we saw on our bus tour. It is actually not as old as I thought for the city being 400 some years old. I think it was built in 1910 or something like that. There is a park area and museum around here but we did not go in since it was far from where our hotel was and we did not want to take any taxis.

We walked around more this morning and sat at a cafe by the plaza having smoothies and watching people walk by.


This is Felipe inside the Palacio Federal. It was very pretty. We found very nice buildings here and the city seems very safe. The streets are very skinny and tough to drive through but all has been well so far. No crashes! Most of the buildings here have open plaza areas with some cloth or plastic streched over the roof like giant skylights. There is tons of natural light everywhere and bright colors. We saw a tortilleria where they were making the tortillas from scratch and a nice bakery too near where we had lunch. We also walked around at night a little on Tuesday and got some Elotes... For those of you who have gone with to 5 de Mayo in St. Paul you know what those are.... Sweet corn grilled with either cream or mayo smeared on it then sprinkled with cheese and you can add salt and chile powder to it. YUMMY! Then we walked over to the Cathedral of San Marcos which is at the end of our plaza at the hotel and it was like a carnival with food vendors and a little lawn mower pulling train cars for the kids to ride it and fountains that weren't going during the day. It was fun to see all the people out. None of the food stalls had any meat except pork or tripe (cow stomach) so Felipe got a huge wedge of Jicama on a stick (and I mean HUGE) and I got an entire mango sprinkled with lime and salt. It was the perfect ripeness and very delicious. Then of course we had to finish off with some churros. The were stuffed churros though which I had never seen before so I got a chocolate one and Felipe got a strawberry one. Fabulous! We are looking forward to more street corn but usually won't buy the fruit. We only bought it from that vendor because she put the stick in it before peeling it so it was cleaner.

One very interesting story we learned on our bus tour seems very typical of the "legendary Mexican passion". It is the story of how Aguascalientes became a state (it is a state AND a city). In 1853 there was a party for the "rich and famous" of Aguascalientes city and the president of Mexico was in attendance. Apparently there was a woman there who was very rich and powerful and also very, very beautiful. The president was asking her for a kiss and she kept refusing saying that her husband was watching her. Then he asked her to dance and she accepted. While they were dancing he kept asking her for one kiss and she said that she would give him a kiss on his cheek only if he gave her what she wanted... for Aguascalientes to become a state of its own. He finally said yes and she stopped the music and announced that she was now going to give the president a kiss on his cheek because he agreed to make Aguascalientes a state. She then kissed him and everyone cheered and within months a new Mexican state was born. Seriously? for a kiss on the cheek? She must have been incredibly beautiful! I tried to convince Felipe that our life should work that way... One kiss on the cheek and he will do whatever I want... Sadly, he said things do not work that way any more.

Cross country

Felipe was a champ today (Sunday). He drove entirely from Cuahtemoc in the north of Mexico to Fresnillo in Zacatecas state for a grand total of over 10 hours and over 500 miles behind the wheel.

The roads are surpisingly good here. We have stayed almost completely on the toll roads however. We met a couple on the train ride who has been RVing from Conneticut to Mexico for the last 10 years. He advised us that the free roads are usually curvy and in bad condition. He also gave us some great tips for driving in the colonial heartland cities which we plan to see on our way back north. It was very good for us to run in to that couple because we were really uncomfortable and paranoid about all things after spending 6 days in Juarez and being careful and feeling unsafe most of the time.

I have discovered it is very necessary to have your own ziploc bag full of toilet paper and hand sanitizer because most bathrooms do not have any at all! Even the ones you have to pay for!

The only semi-scary thing was on the free road where the road is really only 1 and a half lanes wide so you can be passing the big trucks and meet another person passing head on. Not really any close calls though. The toll roads are quite expensive. We spent about $50 yesterday for maybe 200 miles of toll roads.

The scenery has been pretty desertish... A little bit of green trees and pecan groves about an hour south of Chihuahua city but then it went back to desert. For most of the time in Durango and Zacatecas states we were driving with mountains on both sides but not actually through the mountains. There are tons of roadside stands selling food. Some of the stands look like they were just thrown up with some old scrapwood and I cannot imagine how desperately hungry I would need to be to stop at one. Felipe and I both just shudder a little at some of them. We have been in some restaurants that look a little rough on the outside but are clean inside.

We stayed in a Auto hotel in Fresnillo which was a row of garages and you pull in and then there is a pretty big room and bathroom inside. It was nice because we felt like the car was secure and you only pay $25 for 12 hours which was nice since we were just staying there for the night. It was fairly clean - I found a few miscellaneous hairs but I've found those in nice hotels as well. Unfortunately we ordered dinner from there and from about 5am to 10am on Monday I was very, very sick. I had eaten a hamburger so since I have gotten sick both times I have eaten beef I am only going to eat what Felipe eats. I guess that will be bad if we both eat something bad and we are both miserably sick!

I did become very thankful for the toll roads though since each time you pay a toll there is a bathroom which usually does have paper and handsoap! That is why we only drove about 3 hours to Aguascalientes. Oh well! We did have to skip Tequila but there will be other visits!

We have seen hardly any police which is interesting. I am glad of it since we were even told by the older couple we met that they do sometimes expect bribes. Oh well... We have had a new attitude since we met the older couple and are really enjoying the time on the road a bit more. The signs in southern Mexico are very obvious and we can usually completely avoid large cities with the highways. We have discussed that if this trip goes well our new retirement plan may just be to RV around the country in the winters instead of buying a home in one spot. We will see since I cannot even park my dads truck yet I guess driving something the size of a small bus is not in the near future!

Copper Canyon

Here is Felipe at the 200 year old hacienda we stayed overnight in El Fuerte.
We got on the train in Cuahtemoc and took it through the canyon for 11 hours to El Fuerte. We met lots of really nice people. Mainly Americans in their 60s and 70s on tour groups.


Here is the view at Divisadero. This is the only train stop on the track. We got to get off for 15 minutes.
Overall the trainride was very, very scenic. It went through a lot of very little towns and farm fields. There are tons of apple orchards around Cuahtemoc but most of them have these black fences that unroll over the top of them to prevent them from being scorched from the sun. We saw barely any clouds the entire time. The first stop of the train where a lot of people get on is this town called Creel. It turns out we could have driven there if we wanted to because the road is very good. That is where we got off on the way back through. That is the town were all the backpackers get off and you can hire guides and go on treks in the canyon or take a little bus down 4500 feet to this little mining town called Batopilas
at the bottom of the canyon that is on a river. There are quite a
few hostel type hotels and all the "young" people seemed to congregate here. On the second day on our way back through the canyon we did get off here and went into the canyon to a hotel called the Copper Canyon Sierra Lodge in Cusasare. It had no electricity and was lit by Kerosine lamps and heated by a little woodstove which was definitely not powerful enough. Luckily the bed had about 10 blankets. All our meals were included and since the train was late we did not get down in the canyon until about 6 and 6:30 was "margarita time." There was a group of mountain biker guys there who unfortunately had gotten some local moonshine from down in the canyon that they shared with us. They were super friendly and fun to chat with. Needless to say, a little moonshine and a few margaritas later I had my head in the toilet for about 3 hours. We were at about 7000 feet and I guess I miscalculated the elevation. Although Felipe had almost as much as me and felt nothing so it may have been the beef I ate that he skipped. It was very sad because that meant I felt like crap the next morning when we had a chance to hike to the nearby waterfall. Felipe was very wonderful and not upset at all. He did get to try out some of the bikers multi thousand dollar bikes which he had fun doing. We then got back up to Creel about 2 and ended up taking the bus back to Cuahutemoc because it was earlier than the train.


In Divisadero we grabbed some food from one of the vendors. It was so very good! They cook it on this oil drum stoves and it is hot and yummy (and very greasy). Neither one of us seemed to get sick from this but who knows. It could be the start of why my stomach has been a little off since the train ride. There were also many, many Tarahumara indian women selling beautiful baskets. You can see a little example of the women and baskets if you watch the movie on our web album (the picture link at the side). I must say they were not too pushy and none of them just begged. They were always offering baskets which truly are beautiful. We bought a hand made tortilla basket and wish we could have found more of them.

Here is a picture of the train going over one of the many bridges. I think it goes over 80 some bridges and almost 40 tunnels. It really is an amazing train ride. The first class train is very nice with a lot of room and there is the spot in between cars where you can take pictures through open windows (although you have to fight for a spot at the best parts). There are many tour packages that leave from the US or that you can fly in to Chihuahua City and leave from there. We would definitely recommend it and advise stopping in the canyon at least one day. Early March was a nice time to go for the weather. They say the summer is really, really hot in the canyon. Another time that is supposed to be nice is in October or November because it is after the rainy season and there is a little more greenery and wild flowers. I took lots of notes on where the best scenery is and asked people about their hotels so if you every want any tips let us know!


TO SEE ALL THE PICTURES CLICK ON THE NEW LINK ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE BLOG SITE (ABOVE THE LIST OF BLOG ENTRIES)

Update - Cuauhtemoc

We made it out of Juarez and through the Chihuahuan Dessert. There is not wireless at our hotel so I will not be able to load any pictures or Skype. Traffic was not really bad and the roads were all in very good condition actually. I know Chihuahua is one of the richest states so that might change as we go farther south. The tolls really killed us... about $22 to go 5.5 hours... That does not sound too bad except probably only 1.5 hours were actually ON a toll road! We did put gas in. It was $0.80 a liter and there are 3.8 liters in a gallon... I am not sure what that works out too but it seemed expensive. $30 to put in a little over 1/2 tank.

Felipe and I had a few communication breakdowns due to the stress of not knowing what we were doing but we have calmed down now. This hotel is not as nice as our last one but seems pretty clean and has secure parking which is important. This town is mid-sized (about 90,000 people) so driving in it was a little better. There are about 50,000 German descended Mennonites in this area. It is very strange to be walking down the street and then see these white men in overalls and white women in their homemade dresses and bonnets. Very out of place. It is about 3pm and we walked around town a little. Felipe feels a little ill so we are going to relax and get ready for our Copper Canyon trip tomorrow.

NEW at 9pm - We just finished dinner at the restaurant in our hotel. Finally some authentic Mexican food! We both had shrimp but with different sauces and it was great. Felipe´s stomach has not gotten any better. He is having major cramps but nothing else and we cannot figure out why since we both have eaten exactly the same thing today. My guess is it is the stress of my driving. If you notice that I am missing contractions or some punctuation it is because I am typing on a Mexican keyboard which is amazingly impossible to figure out the extra buttons. We are both glad to not be driving for a few days more and think we may be biting off more than we can chew to go all the way over to Tequila. Especially since we do not have the best of tempers in stressful situations. Thank goodness mom and dad drove us down to El Paso (dad really did all the driving) or we would probably both have ditched the car by now and gotten on a plane. I am starting to miss everybody. More now than when I was stuck in the hotel which is odd. I am getting very excited to meet his sisters and dad and nieces and nephews and see his town. About 9 or 10 days left though until we get there. Have a good night everyone. I wish I could Skype you!

Last day in Juarez

Here is a picture of the Mexican pesos. The coins make a lot more sense than US coins because the largest ones are the most valuable. It is roughly a 10 to 1 value (about 10.65) so you are looking at a $10, $20, $5 and $2 roughly.


Here is my experiment at a video before we go on our Copper Canyon tour. Hopefully I don't sound like too much of a dork on the narration!

By the way- His actual interview was incredibly short. They only asked 3 questions! One of them was if we planned on having kids. I thought that was a little odd. He actually had his interview "on time" at around 8am but then he had to wait until about noon for them to give him the paper with the results. Pretty dumb since we already know he has the second interview and already have it scheduled but oh well.

I was totally excited that he came back by 12:30. We went to the mall for a little while and bought some bread for our road trip tomorrow. We are sooooooooooooo excited to leave this place and see some of this beautiful country!

Beaurocracy

I don't know if that's how you spell Beaurocracy or not and I'm not sure the exact meaning of the word but Felipe's experience today seems to sum it up... He waited for over 8 hours just to turn in his medical exam results! EIGHT HOURS! We won't rant about it any more than that because who knows... the gov probably scans blogs and websites for certain keywords and I don't want to tick anyone off before tomorrow or April 17th when he has the most important interview. Needless to say it was a terrible day for both of us - him of waiting and me of worrying - but at least I know not to expect him back to the hotel tomorrow until 5pm. We are planning on leaving Juarez (FINALLY!) at 6:30 or 7am on Wednesday morning. Internet may be spotty over the few days after that but I should have some gorgeous pictures to post this weekend from our Copper Canyon trip!

Wind storm

That's all to report for today. Seriously strong winds are howling outside of our hotel room today. It's insane! I would swear we are in the middle of a tornado. The curtains are blowing even though the window is shut tight. We had dinner in our hotel tonight and talked with the waiter a little while. He's from Puebla state which is the one right next to Felipe's state of Morelos. He said he came to Juarez to work because there was no money in Puebla so he's trying to make some money here and then move back home. He also told us that since he's been in Juarez he's been robbed by the POLICE twice. They ask to see his identification and then take his whole wallet and pull the money out. Great =( He's also been robbed by other people a couple times. In my opinion (and Felipe's) things back home would have to be pretty desperate to move to this town. It was very sad for both of us to hear his story... Just one of millions and millions of stories in this country.

Seriously, I don't know how we are going to sleep with this wind howling! We can't even hear the TV over the wind!

Lazy day

So today was pretty uneventful here. We decided to stick close to the hotel since we will have plenty of opportunity to see Mexican markets in other towns. Our hotel has an awesome breakfast buffet and it's the first time we've seen anyone in the restaurant. Here is a dish called chilaquiles that we had for breakfast. Totally yummy but incredibly unhealthy I'm sure. It's basically fried tortillas cut into wedges, soaked in green or red sauce until they are soft again and then sprinkled with cheese. Of course we also had omelettes and french toast (really, really good)!
After that we walked a block down the road to a big mall. Seriously, sometimes it feels like we haven't really left yet. The mall was complete with department stores carrying Tommy Hilfiger and al kinds of perfume that you could want. There were even sunglasses huts and cell phone huts down the middle of the mall. We saw this super cool bungee thing for kids that looked like a blast.

Felipe got a little tired so he took a break and had a massage for 5 pesos (about 50 cents) in this chair in the middle of the mall. We went back and tried to swim in the pool but it was absolutely frigid. Then we tried to go in the hot tub but the water smelled really, really bad. So we ended up just sitting and enjoying the nice weather. For dinner we walked down the block and had Dominoe's pizza. Exactly, like in the States! That's all for today!