Leaving Oaxaca City, we were excited to meet up with Matt’s parents and start to experience beach life. To break up the 7 hour drive we stopped in a little town named San Jose Pacifico. It is a very small mountain town high in the misty temperate rain forest. It is famous for its mystic nature, largely in part due to the abundance of all types of hongos (mushrooms) that grow everywhere. The amount of moisture in the rainy season…
Feeling good about our time spent in San Cristobal, we ventured further west towards Tuxla/Gutierrez, the capitol of Chiapas, where we had plans to venture up the famous Sumidero Canyon by boat. After descending 6000ft and feeling the heat of lower elevation, we stopped off at another hidden natural beauty, Cascada el Chorreadero. Here we were surrounded by gorgeous pools filled with a waterfall descending from a huge cave system.
So there we were, cherishing and contemplating our new-found vagabond lifestyle and how we planned to progress. The time in Guatemala allowed us to realize we can shape this trip however we desire, thus giving us the sense of complete freedom. We anticipated this to be the feeling from the start of our grand adventure, but years of systematic structure and planning took a while to shake. We opted to return to Mexico to visit areas we’d missed on our way…
Back from a wonderful adventure in Cuba, we were excited to be back with our trusty Koru. He had a good and safe rest while in Cuba, and we were all ready to continue onward. Sarah’s father and step-mother were planning a trip to the Cancun area a week later, so we decided to take a lap around the northern end of the Yucatan to kill some time until they arrived. Our intended route would lead us on the famed…
Moving our way through the sea level highways of south central Mexico, we couldn’t be more excited to get our hands on some fresh seafood. A local friend from Guadalajara had keened us in on a special place to get oysters where a large fresh water lagoon met the ocean. We stopped at a roadside vendor to buy 40 oysters fully shucked for about $4. We then stopped to get some homemade cocktail sauce from a nearby restaurant and we…
City life was fun, but we were more than ready to head out and explore the vast mountains outside of the city. With Mexico City sitting at an already impressive 8000 feet, it didn’t take long to reach the foothills of the incredible volcanic mountains and Mexico’s first national park just east of the city.
With a long day planned to drive towards big ‘ol Mexico City, known as the districto federal or DF to the locals, we knew a stop was needed to grab some food. In a random small town we stopped and made our way to a standard market and found ourselves looking for something prepared and not just groceries. Finding ourselves all the way in the back, a promising stand with cocteles stood in front of us. We sat down and…
Earlier in the trip while we were climbing in northern Mexico, some locals had made mention of a huge monolith with multi-pitch climbing near the pueblo of Bernal, in the state of Queretaro. Since it was more or less on our way, we knew it would be our next stop. Once we spotted the large monolith (Peña de Bernal) from the highway, we were blown away by the size and were excited to be climbing again. We later found out…
After leaving the wonderful pueblo of Guanajauto and wishing farewell to our new traveling friends, we were off to San Miguel de Allende and Dolores Hidalgo, both very important stops along the route of Mexico’s independence. Dolores Hidalgo is where the first ‘El Grito’ took place in 1810 at the beginning of Mexico’s revolution for independence. It is also currently known for its high quality of ice cream which of course we planned to seek out. 🙂
Feeling a new sense of excitement, relief and overall enthusiasm, we departed Ajijic confident Koru was back to normal and as dialed as the day we bought him. Our next destination was the important pueblo of Guanajuato. Sarah had been there once before and had recalled it’s interesting history and compact layout. First however, we had to navigate some interesting roads with less than ideal fellow drivers.