Feb 2, 2011 - Angangueo

(Back in Mexico City on 5 Feb and updating my journal.) Today (Feb 2nd) we went to see one of the great wonders of the world; the wintering grounds of the Monarch Butterfly. But first our trip to get to the town of Angangueo. First the long ride into the city, then three subway trains to get to the bus station on the west side of the city. This is the same bus station where we went to get a bus to Malinalco. But this time we took a bus to the city of Zitacuaro. From there we took another little bus to the town of Angangueo. This was a wild...

Oct 23, 2010 - The first mexican guitar

Nachdem wir eine Nacht in einer wunderbar grottigen Absteige in Uruapan verbrachten, brachen wir bereits frueh morgens gegen 10:00 auf um mit dem Bus nach Paracho zu fahren. Paracho ist ein 16.000 Seelendorf 40 km von Uruapan entfernt und die einzigen Touristen die sich hierher verirren wollen nur eines: Gitarren! Es ist der Traum und gleichzeitig Alptraum eines jeden Gitarristen.. ein ganzes Dorf das nur aus Gitarrenkonstrukteuren (und Fleischhauern) besteht, eine Hauptstrasse an der sich ein Gitarrenladen neben den anderen draengt und...

Sep 3, 2010 - Our last visitor, Deb Attwood

On August 16, Amelia's birthday, our friend Deb, arrived from Mass. Unfortunately, Amelia was in Omaha, Texas, for Deb's entire visit. Amelia was taking care of her mother's 24-hour care change-of-the-nurses...She also had a very quiet birthday just like the dr. ordered! So I picked Deb up @ the Guadalajara airport @ 4:15 p.m. We went back to our house. Deb got settled in the guest room, then we had guacamole, chips, and beer to make her feel like she landed in Mexico. The next day, we started with tennis. Deb loves to play tennis and she's...

Aug 10, 2010 - Mid-July to Mid-August

Since our last journal, we've had a few celebrations. Russell's birthday, Bill's birthday, Tony's pool party, and our fifth anniversary, July 14th. We wanted a special fifth year celebration. Since I had been wanting to see Morelia, a very colonial town in the State of Michoacan, we decided on a car trip to Morelia. We contacted our friend, Cristina Potters, who lives there and she went ahead and made all the reservations for us from August 4-9th. We decided on those dates because Cristina was available to show us around and help us get to...

Dec 27, 2009 - tsjoolinge

Hoi iedereen, Vandaag daguitstap vanuit Morelia naar het Sanctuario de las Mariposas Monarchas, het reservaat van de Monarchvlinders. Het belooft een lange queeste te worden... Alleen al informatie vinden over hoe we er kunnen geraken blijkt een halve uitdaging. In het busstation zetten ze ons op een bus naar San Felipe. De busreis duurt ongeveer drie uur. Op de kaart leek het zo ver niet, waardoor we ons een beetje ongerust beginnen te maken. Maar we zitten ondertussen opnieuw in vulkanisch gebied, dus de reistijden zijn hier langer door...

Dec 26, 2009 - Morelia

Hallo, Vanmorgen verlaten we Toluca voor even en reizen verder naar Morelia. Morelia ligt iets centraler voor onze uitstappen van de volgende dagen. Maar eerst de innerlijke mens. Net voor het busstation verzeilen we in een van de vele overdekte marktjes die je hier kan vinden. We laten ons leiden door de heerlijke geur van eten. Nou ja, er zijn er die van 's ochtends vroeg al kippensoep met pikante tortilla's naar binnen werken. Wij houden het bij lekker vers geperst fruitsap en een "torta" (een warm broodje met beleg en groentjes)....

Oct 11, 2009 - Michoacan

Nous faisons quatre heures de route avec des amis rencontré a l’hôtel Pacifica. Ils nous emmènent jusqu’au village de Patzcuaro, au cœur de la belle région de Michoacan puis continuent leur route vers Mexico. Patzcuaro est un très joli village, au style typique de la région. Le très frais climat (parfois froid) contraste beaucoup avec la cote d’où nous arrivons. Nous sommes tout de suite touché par l’amabilité des habitants, notamment dans l’hostel ou nous restons les deux nuits. Patzcuaro est au bord du lac du même nom. Il y a plusieurs...

Mar 15, 2009 - Maruata

Sunday March 15…10:30pm We were on the road at 8:45am, and only had another short distance to travel. But the road from here to Maruata is very twisty and windy. Arrived at Maruata after 49 kms (30 miles) and it took us 1 hour and 15 minutes. Average of 40 km/h (24 mph). We are parked on an old airstrip right beside the beach. There’s a small military installation on the opposite side, with maybe 25 or so soldiers stationed there, so it should be a safe night! We walked into the main town beach, and it’s quite busy with college students...

Mar 13, 2009 - Playa Azul

Friday March 13…9:45pm We were up at 6:30am, and on the road at 8:45am. It seemed to take forever to get out of Zihuatanejo…the roads are bad, and we made one wrong turn that fortunately wasn’t a disaster because we got back on track pretty quickly. The road from Zihuatanejo to Playa Azul was actually in pretty good shape most of the time. We actually had the cruise control on for a little bit. We could have taken a short section of toll road, but opted for the free road all the way around the industrial city of Lazaro Cardenas. But there...

Mar 9, 2009 - Day 3. Butterflies everywhere!

We awoke early and completed our morning routine with a shower and clean clothing. Breakfast was ready for us by 7:00 AM and everyone was excited because today was the “Butterfly” day. We were aboard our bus by 8:00 and began the hour and a half drive to the butterfly sanctuary. The drive through small Mexican villages was interesting and we enjoyed it. I must say that our two bus drivers are fantastic, doing a wonderful job of maneuvering that 43’ bus around corners where the streets are so narrow that I would not want to drive my 19’...

Mar 8, 2009 - Day 2 of our tour in Mexico

After what was pretty much a sleepless night we had showered and dressed for the day by 6:00 AM. The Hotel was very nice but there were three weddings and a tremendous amount of partying all night long. It didn’t get quiet until 4:45 AM. Marilyn & I walked on the now deserted streets for about half an hour. Breakfast was served to us beginning at 7:00 and we enjoyed our meal with the company of Ted & Sue. We were quite happy to see that Ted is feeling much better. After breakfast, Mario, our guide, led us on a walk around the historic...

Feb 8, 2009 - Overnight in Morelia

Since Morelia is only one hour from Patzcuaro, we decided to travel west and north around the Lake Patzcuaro. It was a lovely drive and through small villages and the city of Quiroga. We did not realize that Quiroga has a daily market that is HUGE. We thought we'd arrived on market day as the town was rather congested. So, we parked and did a walkabout. Joanne found a king sized bedspread, handwoven and tablecloth for a very good price ($63CAD in total) and she convinced Victor to buy a few things too!! We arrived in Morelia in the early...