Vagabundo del Mundo

Flying back into Mèxcio City from Gudalajara I was determined to get on my way south. Brenda and I decided to to spend the following weekend in the Sate of Hidalgo. The first night we stayed in the Plaza center of Pachuca, which was a priority of mine to be able to watch the USA win the Gold Cup final over Mexico. Needless to say I was only person in that local watering hole signing the praise of the red white and blue, but they were all pretty good humored about it. Later that day we headed out to a town called Real de Minas, which is a really quaint old mining town with narrow winding stone paved streets, vibrant colored buildings and houses, and not a single person in a hurry to do anything. The town was actually supported by an old silver mine owned by the British. It still shows the influence of the Brits who lived there as much as 100 years ago. In particular the food has a really strong British influence, which is not always a good thing.

After a bit of searching we were able to find some chalet style cabins and settle in for a couple of nights. At about 3000 meters (9500ft) its gets really chilly at night time. Definately a welcome change form sleeping in Cuernavaca in 90 degree heat with a fan aimed directly at me all night long. It was also nice to get a little taste of fall weather from back home, and to build a fire in the fireplace. Unfortunatley they didnt quite have the idea of dryed and seasoned wood, but they were happy to give me a bottle of gasoline to use to start the fire with. Heres me trying to get it going, that bottle on the mantle is the gasoline!

In the morning we headed out to check out our surroundings and found that we were really close to the famous Primas Basalticos. A waterfall forming large vertical stones that stand more than 150ft in height. It felt wonderful to finally escape the busy city traffic and noise and make my way back into nature. We spent the entire afternoon hiking around the area and later visiting the ex hacienda de San Miguel Regla. Ex haciendas en Mexico are now almost always converted into enormous hotels with 200 to 300 year old buildings and accomodations. The weird thing is that all of the haciendas were basically slave camps for the indeginous natives of Mexico. Wealthy Europeans,(mostly Spanish) constructed these enormous complexes as farms, ranches and production houses. There are usually quite beautiful but I couldnt see myself staying in one. It woiuld be like turning an old southern plantation into a hotel, and offering accomodation in the old slave quarteres. Maybe they do it, I just havent heard of it.

So after a great weekend out in nature we headed back to busy metropòlis of Mexico. I called the director of the language school in Cuernavaca and reminded him that he owed my a bottle of Don Julio Reposado (very fine tequilla) as a result of the USA winning the gold cup. He acknowledged but said he refused to send me the bottle, I would have to come get it. With Cuernavaca just a 1.5 hour trip I decided it was worth it and set of the following morning. I arrived at the scvhool, collected the bottle, and reunited with some friends who were still there. After a fantastic night out I stayed with the same family I had been staying with previously. Cristina sat down with me in the morning, went over my map, and we decided on a route heading through Puebla. I ruished to the bus station to catch the 1PM and off I went to Puebla.

Puebla is problably the most charming Mexican city I have visited. I`ve seen lots of charming towns, but the cities usually leave a bit to be desired. Puebla on the other hand has the feeling of a small town in a city with almost 2 million people. The arquitecture is a beautiful and unique toi anything i have seen so far. Building are faced with decorative red tiles, and listellos. Wrought iron railings decorate the balconies and heavily detailed cocncrete cornice surrounds widows, doors, balconies and roof lines. I passed many peaceful days just strolling through the city streets and markets and eating Mole poblano in the local comida corrida restaurtants.

One particular day I wandered around the neigborhood behind the old San Francisco convent to eat lunch in a typical food market. After a fantastic meal that set me back a whopping 30 pesos (about $3) I found myself relaxing a park bench underneath a willow tree. Completely relaxed it wasnt long before I dozed off for an afternoon siesta. This is something you could never do in Mexico City becuase you`d likely wake up without any of your belongings. As the storm clouds started to move in I knew that it was about time for the regualar afternoon downpour. I put on my raincoat and headed back towards the hostel through the ceramics market. An unexpected gust of wind tore down the alleyway leaving broken vases, glasses, bean pots, and tazas in its wake. The artisans stood motionless in disgust as they stared at what must of been days or in some cases weeks of work lying shattered in the stone streets. Above the noise of the now pouring rain and flapping awnings, I could hearing the crunching sounds of the cermacis uner my feet and the those of the other pedestrians. Perhaps Im just a bleeding heart, but I decided to return the following day to make a few purchases.

I also made a short day trip to the town of Cholula, which is home to one of the many ancient Mixeca ruins sites. Also on a clear day you can catch a glimpse of the Popocatépetl volcano. I was hoping to take a hiking tour of the olcano, but recently they have limited access due to speculation of another eruption. The volcanoe last erupted around ten years ago. I did the best I could here to get a shot through the clouds.

Heres an Spanish Catholic church built on top of the ruins of Cholula . This is a common practice signifying the Catholic churchs` succesfull conversion of the Indigenous people to Catholocism.

I also managed to make lots of friends in Puebla with other travllers and locals. One of the employees of the hostel invited me out one night with his friends to watch a fe soccer games. He like many other Mexicans i have met, started the night by telling me he was going to teach me to drink tequilla. You can probably imagine how that turned out. After a wounderful time in Puebla I headed back to Mexico to hook up with some friends there who were headed to Oaxaca.