Mexico Wrap-Up, Part I

There’s something about flying off to a new country that leaves me nostalgic. It doesn’t quite seem normal that my mind would be focused on the past as opposed to the new adventure that lies ahead. But, for me, flights are like pretty little bows typing up a period of time passed. So here I am, preparing for a flight to Florida and France and reflecting on our four-and-a-half months in Mexico.

Because we had my parents following us in an RV; a Christmas family reunion; and seven weeks renting a villa in Cuernavaca, we didn’t clock as many miles or see as many things as many might in almost five months in Mexico. As I’ve mentioned before, baby Phoenix has made us travel even slower than usual, and a lot of our time in Mexico has been focused on family life more than tourism.

The thing I love about living in a home-on-wheels is that, without even trying, you are exposed to new places and things. You merely need to drive a short while, park in a new spot, and step outside your home to encounter new language, food, architecture, history, and nature. As such, while being focused on family life these last several months, we still experienced a lot of amazing Mexican highlights.

We traveled into Mexico from Texas and drove, for a couple thousand kilometers, through the very untouristy central desert. We didn’t see another non-Mexican tourist until we reached Mexico City! What we did experience a lot of was nature. Once we reached the central highlands, the haven for pre-hispanic and Aztec ruins, our tourism focus switched to pyramids. Those things, then – nature and pyramids – characterized our time here in Mexico.

Northern Mexico Nature Highlights

Our first stop after crossing the Mexican border was Cuatro Cienegas. This place is incredible – a crystal clear river in the middle of the desert that is the home for a multitude of endemic fish. Bruno had been here a decade earlier in Totoyaya, and wanted to show his young family a place that he recalled fondly.

Though you could no longer camp overnight at the edge of its cool waters, we were still able to visit for the day. We parked ourselves at one of the many palapas, a shaded picnic table along the river’s edge, and admired the clear water, the faraway mountains, and the peaceful landscape. A unique species of turtle came to visit and we all jumped into the very refreshing water for an afternoon swim.

It happened to be Bruno and my 5^th wedding anniversary, and I couldn’t have imagined a better way to spend our anniversary – nor a better introduction to Mexico.

After a short transit through the Monterrey region, we reached Huateca Potosina, a remote subregion of San Luis Potosi famous for its caves and waterfalls. It’s a hot, tropical region, and seemed especially lush after the stark, beige desert further north. We visited two waterfalls – cascadas de Minas Viejas and Los Micos. I loved those visits, not only because the water was an unreal shade of turquoise but because we were able to camp overnight at both waterfalls. That way, we could hike down to the falls, have picnics and swims there, and make it back to the bus in time for baby naps. Mama loves it when we can do tourism and keep to a normal baby routine!

Another highlight of the Huasteca region was Las Pozas, an absolutely psychedelic sculpture garden in the middle of the jungle near the town of Xilitla. A wealthy, eccentric Englishman named Edward James built it back in the 40s, in the style of his beloved Salvador Dali. You can now walk through the seemingly unfinished labyrinthine art exhibit slowly being swallowed up by the jungle, hiking up paths and unfinished staircases, admiring water holes, and contemplating pagodas and temples.

After traveling what seemed like endless miles on the mountainous highway 85, we met up with my brother and his partner and hit up a couple nice spots north of Mexico City. My favourite spot by far was the Grutas de Tolantongo. I almost don’t want to write about this place because it’s not known at all by foreign tourists, but since it’s infamous for Mexicans, I suppose it’s not that well-kept of a secret. This place is unbelievable – another turquoise river in the middle of the desert, but this time with absolutely perfect warm water being sourced by a waterfall that crashes over a mind-blowing cavern.

It’s hard to know what to visit first in the gigantic private complex. We opted for a lovely swim in the shallow turquoise hot springs. Then we followed the river to the cave, where we waded through the waterfall into a gigantic opening with stalactites and stalagmites. Holding onto a rope to fight the strong current, we entered a further, very dark cavern which housed hundreds of bats. All this in warm water up to our chests!

Because it was the Christmas holidays, we had to jostle for space in the water. Bruno and I hate sharing our tourism with big crowds, so it’s a testament to how amazing this place is that we loved it so much. I hope to return here again one day, but not on a weekend or holiday!

Much later in our trip, we enjoyed one final, very special nature experience – a hike up to visit the monarch butterflies in the Mariposa Sanctuary west of Mexico City. Every year, millions of monarch butterflies make the journey from Canada to this area of Mexico. The journey in itself is an incredibly feat of nature – I mean, they make it here faster than we do in our bus! – and several generations are born and die during the journey. The monarchs winter in these highland forests, feasting and sunning themselves, before making the return journey north in the spring.

On sunny afternoons in January and February, you can hike up to a few choice summits in the sanctuary and witness millions of butterflies dancing overhead. We were all mesmerized by the butterflies – even Phoenix couldn’t stop staring! It was even more special to know that the summer before, while Phoenix was growing in my tummy, Bruno and I had spent many afternoons watching the grandparents of these very monarchs flitting from plant to plant in my parents’ New Brunswick garden.

Central Highland Pyramid Highlights

With our arrival to the central highlands, our tourism switched gears from nature to pyramids. I still have yet to truly make sense of the pre-hispanic and Aztec cultures and beliefs (they are super complex, and, well, I have mama brain!), but even without that knowledge, visiting the pyramids is fun. The first we saw was Piramide de Tepozteco in Tepoztlan, a pueblo magico south of Mexico City. This tiny pyramid, built 1000 years ago for the god of harvest, isn’t that impressive in scale. But, because it involves an intense 90-minute hike up a mountain and offers a sweeping view of the valley below, it’s a memorable visit.

Next we visited the Aztec Temples in Malinalco, which is, in itself, a very attractive little pueblo magico. It was a much easier hike and a much more extensive archaeological area, with English panels explaining a bit about the gory sacrifices and rituals that happened here. There is even one temple that is positioned to allow the first rays of sunlight into its main room, which hints at sun-worshipping and makes me think of that Mel Gibson movie, Apocalypto.

In Cholula, near Puebla, we visited one of the widest pyramids in the entire world – including Egypt! From afar, the pyramid looks like a big hill with a church sitting atop it, but that’s because most of the pyramid hasn’t been excavated. After wandering through eerie underground tunnels, you emerge onto an archaeological area mostly sunken into the ground. There is a single piece of the Piramide Tepanapa jutting out of the hill. It’s not much, but what is impressive is knowing that, under that hill, is a 1500 year-old pyramid as-of-yet hidden away from the world. And the Catholic Church sitting atop that hill-pyramid? That was put there by Spain when they discovered the ancient site 500 years ago, of course!

Our final stop on our Pyramid Path was to the mighty Teotihuacan, northeast of Mexico City. This ancient city, built over 2000 years ago, was once the capital of Mexico’s largest pre-hispanic empire. It’s a gigantic site that would take a very full, very hot day to visit thoroughly, so we concentrated on its two largest pyramids – the Piramide del Sol and the Piramide de la Luna, the pyramids of the sun and moon.

We started our visit as soon as the place opened so as not to have to share the pyramids with too many tourists. This is one of the most highly-visited sites in all of Mexico, after all. It’s a steep hike up to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun (it’s the third-largest pyramid in the world), and the 248 stairs are narrow and uneven, but at least when we made it to the top, we didn’t have to share the view with too many other tourists. The sweeping vistas of this high valley, complete with a birds’ eye view of the massive site and all its excavation was definitely worth the hike, and was an excellent conclusion to our time in Mexico.

Even though sometimes it seemed like we weren’t doing much, looking back on our four-and-a-half months in Mexico as a whole makes me realize that we actually did experience quite a few beautiful and interesting places here! Though we’re off to Florida and France for visits with family and friends, we’ll be back in Mexico in six weeks, ready for round two of our Mexican adventure!