Click on the pictures to see the captions.
Day 1--Off We Go
Getting across the border was a little harder than we had anticipated. Visas are not supposed to be needed for trips of 7 days or less. But, for some reason, the authorities made us get Visas. This involved filing out forms and going through 2 different lines. We also had to change busses after we were over the border. After all of this, we finally left Reynosa around 9:30.
Today was mainly a travel day. The roads were decent and we stopped every 1 1/2-2 hours for a break from being in the bus.
Our lunch stop was in Monterrey, the 3rd largest city in Mexico, with a population of over 4,000,000. There were thousands of "labor houses" in this city. The laborers in the factories live in these as a benefit of their employment. The size is based on there job, wage level, and family size. After 20 years, they own the house. I am unsure if they make payments or not. They all look much the same and I wouldn't say they are nice, but they are better than some of the shacks we saw. I tried to get some pictures, but it is hard to tell much.
We had about 1 1/2 hours for lunch in downtown Monterrey. Thanks to a lady from our group, we were able to order without much trouble. Authentic Mexican food was not as spicy as I was anticipating.
We finally arrived at our hotel in Matahula around 7:00 pm. Dinner was on our own. Jeff and I chose to eat at the hotel restaurant. Food is really cheap, but it takes some thinking when the fajitas we shared were $148 Pecos and we try to convert it to dollars and figure the tip. So, dinner was about $8 American.
Day 2--Happy Valentine's Day
Our morning was spent traveling. Yesterday and most of the morning today the scenery was cactus and yucca. But, today we finally saw more lush, agricultural land.
We arrived in early afternoon in San Miguel de Allende. This town in known for its large population of retirees that come here in the winter.
At the hotel, we all loaded in taxis to go downtown for lunch, a tour, and shopping at the town market. We quickly understood why we could not take the bus to the downtown area. Some of the streets were so narrow that two small cars had difficulty meeting.
We decided to find something other than Mexican food for lunch and selected Italian. It was very good. The tour included an old building that had formally been a nunnery, but it's now a cultural center.
After the tour, we walked several blocks to the city market, shopped a bit, then took the city bus back to the hotel. Our hotel room was very nice with an in room fireplace, but no heat. The weather today was quite warm but the nights get very cool. We were at 6000 feet in altitude. We walked to eat dinner and were cold by the time we got back to the hotel.
Almost no service personnel speak English, so ordering food was challenging. So far, people around us have helped some. Jeff also has a very basic knowledge of reading Spanish words. He was able to downloaded a translation app for the rest of the trip.
Day 3--Heading to the Butterflies
Our lunch stop today was Queretaro. Thus town was a temporary capital while they were rebuilding the capital in Mexico City after the revolution. There is still a government center there and we had a brief tour of the building. The rest of the time in this city was designated for lunch and walking around/shopping. We chose to have dessert and look in the shops. Not much buying for us.
Then we were back on the road. We were surprised about how much time was spent on the bus so far. It would be a long way to our destination and the traveling was sometimes slow, with narrow streets, speed bumps, and no bypasses through small towns.
It is almost strawberry season. We saw large fields that were, sometimes completely covered with white greenhouse-type structures.
Our hotel was in Angangueo, a small village near the butterfly preserve. It is quite remote. Our room has no heat, but plenty of warm blankets on the bed. It was not a restful night with barking dogs and the person in the room above us snoring louder than I thought possible.
Day 4--This is the Day
Breakfast was at 7:00 and we were ready to travel to the preserve by 8:45. The bus could not go up the narrow, steep, winding road. So, our mode of transportation was pickups with 2 bench seats in the back. The ride was about 20, bumpy minutes.
The area where the preserve is located is in a "town" of indigenous Mexican natives. No one is allowed to live here except them. It was, surprisingly, crowded.
The walk to the area where the butterflies are located was a 1200 foot climb and about 2 miles. Then, there was another loop of about 1 mile to see the bunches (kaleidoscope) in the trees. I would call the path strenuous. But, it was worth the climb. It is hard to describe. There had to millions of butterflies gathered in the trees and flying around. Also, males die after they mate, so the ground was covered with them. It was hard to capture it in pictures, but we tried.
Since the people in the area mostly make their living from the preserve, there were many make-shift shops with their wares for sale. We spent some time looking and left the preserve at 3:30.
Our tour was running late and we didn't leave Angangueo until around 4:30. Our next destination was Patzcuaro. It was after 7:00 when we arrived, so it was a late dinner.
Day 5--Boat Ride and "Old Men"
We all ate at a restaurant in Patzcuaro, then had a short walk to Casa de Once Patios. At one time there were 11 Patios (areas) here, but now there are 4. There was a hospital that was built in the 1400s and used for 250 years.
Our third destination for the day was the town of Santa Clara del Cobre, known for their crafting of copper products. We watched a demonstrations of hand hammered copper makers.
The after dinner entertainment was the "Dance of the Old Men." This is a traditional folk dance in Michoacan, Mexico. The men that perform this dance are known as "Danzantes" or "Dancers." This 4-person dance was danced by the Purepecha people to represent fire, water, earth, and air. It also represents man’s eternal fight against death as the old men dance vigorously to scare off the spirits of death, demonstrating that they are still strong and capable of executing intricate foot stomping. The dance was also a protest against the Spaniards, who brought desease and death to the indigenous people of this area.
Day 6--Bus Woes
It was quite warm and the air conditioning stopped working on the bus this morning. When we were moving the air was coming in through the roof vents, but it was still 87 degrees, even warmer when we slowed down. A different bus was waiting for us in Queretaro.
Lunch was in Queretaro. After eating we went to see the aquaducts that were built in 1726. The aquaducts were 6 miles long with dozens of arches. They are still used to supply some water to small areas. The spring dried up 100+ years ago, but they work if there is rain.
The aquaducts ended at a convent where we had our final tour. This convent was built in the 1400s. It was seized by the government at one point and then returned to the church. The government said it must be called convent even though there were never nuns there. At this time, there are 23 Franciscans and 6 Priests.
Oh my!! When our bus got to San Luis Potosi they needed to take back streets to find our hotel. The bus turned down one busy street and SURPRISE, could not get under the overpass. With city busses, taxis, and cars coming in 3 lanes behind us, one bus driver jumped out and started directing the bus to back up about 75 yards. We continued to drive in circles for the next half hour. At least, that was my perception.
We finally arrived at the Plaza Real Hotel about 9:00. There was a special surprise for us when we arrived. There was a minstrel singing/playing group that performed for us. The name of the group was Estudiantina Guadalupana. There were all ages of men/boys. They were quite good.
Day 7--Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety, Jig
At one check point we all had to exit the bus while they put some of the luggage through scanners. This stop put us behind and we did not get to the border until after 7:00.
The Mexico bus could not cross the border, so we loaded in taxis to cross. Little did we know that even at this time of night the line to cross was long. We were in the taxi over 2 hours. Then, out of the taxi and into the American bus. Our stop was first and we were on the road about 10:15. It was a long, exhausting day.
Some Observations about Mexico
The living conditions of many places we saw were surprising and not in a good way. The average laborer salary is about 3600 pesos a month (equivalent to $191 US dollars). In the village at the monarch butterfly preserve, there were several nice houses. Our guide said that the people who owned them were migrant workers who went to the US for 6 months to work. This way they can earn enough to take better care of their family. Seems mutually beneficial for both parties.
It is far easier to forget converting from pesos to dollars and just get used to the pricing. But, I always wanted to figure how much I was "really" paying.
This trip was to the "real" Mexico. I now realize that there is a huge difference in the tourist areas that cater to Americans (Cozumel, Cancun, Acapulco, etc.) and the parts of the country where we traveled.
There are public buses everywhere. I was surprised to see bus stops, with waiting passengers, in some very remote areas. Also, lots of taxis were available. Even though our bus was constantly backing up to maneuver the narrow streets, not one vehicle honked at us. They must be used to having to wait for big buses and trucks to get around.
Mexican time is different than US time. No one seems to be in a hurry. If they say it will be 2 hours, plan on at least 3. If the guide says we are leaving in 30 minutes, it will be at least an hour. Therefore, mostly, we were always running behind time. Patience is not my strong point. 🤣
I realized that I know almost no Mexican history. It was interesting information that I felt I should know, but I probably won't study it. 🤷♀️