This is an update that we wrote way back in 2010 that I am
sorry never made it onto the site. It was the last long, and best, trip we did
in the van in Mexico. We continued to explore around Jalisco and Nayarit
through 2012, but as I started working as director of the Costa Verde
International School we never got this kind of time and freedom to explore
again! All good things will continue in the future..
Many people are afraid to get off the toll roads in Mexico,
but every once in awhile we got itchy and here is a little example of what can
happen “off” the nice pavement…
We notice from the toll road that there is a consistent
plume of white, pure smoke coming from some hills in the distance……
Roll up to a very well developed geothermal energy production
area…. Steam pushing through valves and turbines and out through stacks all
over the side of a pine forested mountain. The mixture of industrial
construction, large tree cut fenced areas with miles of pipes, and the
knowledge that there was clean energy being produced here makes you consider
carefully how land can be managed and used. And then on the side of a the road
a young man approaches the van to hand you a flier for a natural sulfur hot
spring open for soaking! Mulit-use land! As it turned out, around the corner
from all the energy production were many sites of natural human energy
rejuvenation. Families and tourists were spread around different thermal
springs to soak up the healing properties of the springs and breathe in the
clean mountain air.
We took a
turn at the Azufres Spa. Apparently it is the original and oldest around.
Nothing fancy here, just a huge pond with some mud at the bottom that you can
spread all over your body before moving to the temzcale, or sauna that is heated from steam coming right from the
rocks and captured in a dark room made of old boards and tin. Then when you run
screaming from the heat and smell you can slip into another pool of bubbling,
murky, water around 90 degrees to “rinse” off. The sulfur and minerals in the
mud are supposed to be very therapeutic and your skin does feel noticeably
softer, if not also drier afterwards. However, be warned, the smell you emit
for the next 24 hours can be trying. John spent the next four days trying to
clean everything that he had touched in the six hours after he “soaked” at the
springs and would constantly comment, “Do you still SMELL that? Or me? When
will this stop?” to which Julie’s response might be “Yes, I smell the sulfur,
its healing me.”
The only remedy for John was to sweat out the stench on some
great mountain bike trails so we headed to Valle de Bravo. “Valle” has it all,
mountain biking, sailing, waterskiing, parasailing, go-karting, and the list
goes on if you live there and are a member of one of the many sporting clubs.
Consider it Mexico’s mini-New Zealand. It is the get-away place for many
upscale “D.F.ers”, and if you want to spend your time oogling new dirt bikes in
some fancy stores you won’t be alone. This was our second time to Valle and we
had a great spot to camp right in the park of Monte Alta on the well laid out
mountain bike trails. We also hired “no name guide” (we never did catch his
name, and don’t think he made much effort to tell us) to take us on a route
outside of town. After our gringo-test ride of uphill two hours, down
forty-five minutes we treated ourself with a night out on the town of Avandaro
where we browsed bike shops and ate some great pizza.
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| Great campsite right at the summit and on the bike trails! |
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| View of Valle de Bravo from the paragliding launching site. |
We tore ourselves away from Valle and headed to the
Itzaccihuatl-Popocatepetl National Park. These two volcanoes are the second and
third tallest in Mexico. We approached from the west side just as dark was
coming and we had to scurry for a camping spot. With no light left we found a
lightly used road that seemed to go up the side of Popo into nowhere and we
took it. We had a beautiful spot overlooking the lights of the valley with cool
temperatures at 3,180m – 10,400ft! And there was more to go up! When we woke up
in the morning John scouted the road and found that it continued and at some
point would meet up with the main route, so off we went! It turned out to be
some of the best 4x4ing that Tonto has done in a long time!
Volcan Popo is spewing steam and still considered active so
it is off limits, but we found out that Itza is climbable, so we went to check
it out. We paid the entrance to go up to the highest parking lot on the volcano
and then started our hike, at 4,000m. Ouch. Lobo was having no trouble pulling
John and I up the mountain and he made instant friends as we hiked up the
trail. Finally at 4,500m, that’s 1500 feet of climbing at altitude, we were
pretty cold and decided to have some lunch and then turn back down. There is a
refugio not much further up that is used for the staging of a full ascent to
“El Pecho”, but Lobo forgot his winter coat.
After a ridiculous downhill from Itza-Popo through probably
the dustiest, twistiest, longest and busiest dirt road ever we pointed toward
the small town of Chalula to see the Chapel of the Virgin of Remedies which is
built on top of the widest, and possibly the largest, pyramid in the world.
There is still some speculation on its actual size since it has been built on
top of by three civilizations, culminating in the Spaniards and their chapel.
There is a lovely hotel right across the street and it was time to get out of
the van for a night and into a shower and a pool after all the dust. How were
we to know it would be one of the worst nights sleep ever. Apparently being the
Easter Vigil, all of the 36 churches (Cortez really wanted 365) sent off a
firework or two to “celebrate” the resurrection of Christ. Julie even had to
stop and question a nun to clarify that a bomb going off at 2:30am was a kosher
form of celebration since it seemed in juxtaposition of all the candlelight
vigils that normally happen during the Easter program in Northern countries.
Before we left John had read in the lonely planet about a
place called Africam, described as one of those drive through zoo experiences
with lions and tigers. Our expectations were low, but we felt that a look-see
would be worth it, and honestly, Tonto would look bad-ass next to a African
animal. Luckily Wally World was open. Grandma didn’t die on the way, and we
didn’t accidentally leave the dog tied to the bumper, but he did have to go
into “quarantine” because his smell might “stress” the animals. We were pretty
aware that Lobo might lose his bark and sprain an ankle in the ensuing mayhem
if we passed through a herd of zebra, so we were glad they had a pet care area.
The motorcycle and bicycles also had to be removed before we could enter
because the monkeys might be attracted to them. What mammal wouldn’t be
attracted to Tonto? Of course we understood.
Then we crossed the threshold into Africam. Immediately the
Giraffes, Antelope, Ostritches and some friendly Lemur were ready to great us.
Sure we had to follow a line of cars, but we had Xm radio playing Jam-ON, a
cold cerveza, and cameras at the ready. We were on safari.
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| Our fellow man checks out the big van... |
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| Riding in Chico National Park, Hidalgo, MX |
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| Camp and yoga after a ride in Chico |
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| The summit after a day of rock climbing in Chico National Park |