We must be getting old – slowing down! Only six new places in a month! But it was, in our defense, a short month 😉
We are not “If it’s Tuesday it must be Belgium” kind of travelers. Quick bus tours that have you hopping up every day to see a new country and even cruises that take you to a new port every day have not been the way we prefer to travel. However, if you hadn’t realized it from my previous blogs, Mexico has a LOT to see and do. We only have one more month here before we have to head back to the good old USA for the privilege of doing our taxes and taking care of some business that can’t be done on the road. More importantly and the best part of going back, is getting to see our kids and other family and friends – Yayyyy!
So here’s the map for February:
I’m guessing that you are seeing a trend here. And you might be thinking, hummm, what are they going to do when they get to the end of the road? Do they have to drive ALL that way back to the U.S. in less than a month? Maybe you weren’t thinking that at all and you were thinking more along the lines of “Those Coffeys are just plain nuts!” Both legitimate thoughts. More to come on the “plans” in a future blog as they happen 😉
Here are some of our favorite memories of the last month in short descriptions and photos:
San Miguel de Allende – we ended up staying here longer than anywhere else. It’s a beautiful city with lots to do. We could see why in 2013, Conde Nast voted it as the best place to retire in the world.
Guanajuato: One of our very favorite places so far. It is a vibrant college town built on hills with interesting architecture and tunnels for the river and roads as it has grown and had no where to go. Downtown is almost exclusively pedestrian only – no parking to be had. It is also known for it’s famous mummy museum (not for the easily queasy) and it’s vast mining history.
Just like me – she had to have her own pillow! Great smile on her!
The geographic center of Mexico is near Guanajuato (in the state of Guanajuato), and the site of Cristo Rey, an enormous impressive statue of Christ (among the world’s largest and certainly that is always disputed) is in Cubileto. It was also a fun drive getting there.
According to Wikipedia, the current structure and base for the 23 metres (75 ft) statue was created by artist Nicholas Mariscal in 1944 to honour the struggle of the Cristeros who were persecuted for their beliefs in the early 20th century.
Tlalpujahua – try to pronounce that one! Just one night here, but we went here to see the Monarch Butterflies which migrate all the way from Canada to return to the same trees every year. It was a beautiful hike up the mountain to reach them. We need to go again some day for the full effect as it was a windy, cloudy day when they preferred to chill in the trees.
Puebla is known for its beautiful colonial architecture and it’s a foodie’s heaven. They celebrate mole’ for an entire month there and that’s a very reasonable thing to do in my opinion! It has our favorite (so far) zocalo (public town square).
Nearby we visited two of Mexico’s three tallest mountains. Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. Both are volcanic and Popocatépetl likes to show off that fact.
I also got to visit the Air Traffic Control Tower at the Puebla airport. Getting my avation fixes wherever I can!
Puebla is also home to the famous, incredibly beautiful, Talavera pottery and we had a great tour of a factory and of course had to support the local economy 😉
Veracruz – On one of last year’s trips to Baja, Mexico, we had the misfortune of a tire problem, but the very good fortune to become friends with a wonderful couple who helped us. They have moved from Baja to Veracruz and they encouraged us to come see them and meet their daughter in their new town. We are so happy that we did, and that we also had a great time going to the largest Carnival in Mexico among other fun activities. Katia and Antonio made having a tire problem one of our best experiences – thanks again you two!
San Juan de Ulua – an infamous prison in Veracruz – it’s very intresting but I’m really glad it’s a museum now. It was similar in some ways to Alcatraz, but the conditions at the time of its use were unimaginable.
Villahermosa – A big bustling town. We enjoyed the Mayan ruins and museum outside of town and one of my favorite parts was visiting a chocolate factory where we learned a lot about the plants, the processes and the eating of chocolate. Well, that last part I already knew, but I practiced some more! Gotta love those Mayans for developing my favorite food group!
And then, just some of my favorite photos from random places along the way:
Have a beautiful day!
Hugs!
Kommentare