A 6 Week Vanlife Adventure Through Central Mexico with an Infant – Full Itinerary

About the Trip

We took this trip when Tara and I were both on parental leave from our jobs. Atlas was 5 months old when we started this trip and 7 months old when we ended, which is an absolute sweet spot for traveling with babies. At this age he was capable of holding up his own head and thus could spend a couple hours at a time in our Osprey Poco or backpack carrier, which he absolutely loved for seeing out in both cities and on hikes. While he had head control, he was immobile. We could get a table in the corner or on the side wall of a restaurant, set a blanket down with some toys, and put Atlas in tummy time without much worry while we enjoyed a meal and a drink. If there is a time to travel with an infant before the age of 1, we would highly recommend this timeframe.

On a side note, you will see through this blog and on every trip, if you only have one item to bring for traveling with an infant to young child, it should be the Osprey Poco. It is incredibly comfortable, you can hold a surprising amount of supplies for your child in the storage compartment, and I can’t tell you how many parents have stared at us in awe as they contemplate lugging a stroller up a set of historic steps or are actively trying to get a stroller wheel unstuck from a cobblestone street, while we simply stroll by with a child on one of our backs. The choice is yours, but I have never met anyone who hasn’t absolutely loved this thing for travel or hiking, and it is quite compact. Finally, you can carry this on the plane the same as a stroller as it is classified as a baby carrier and it will fit in the overhead bin. I digress.

Why we chose Mexico is simple; internationally, Mexico is our favorite country. It has cities hundreds of years old with history that rivals Europe. The food that is to die for, from street food to elegant Michelin worthy restaurants with cultural cuisines that vary surprisingly across different regions. The wine and vineyards are some of the best we’ve had anywhere in the world, I would put it on par with Napa, Tuscany, or Kelowna.  Finally, the landscape is incredibly varied from snowcapped volcanoes to some of most stunning beaches, jungles, networks of intricate caves, some of the deepest canyons in the world, and crystal-clear cenotes. From extreme sports to road-side overlooks, you can find anything to match your adventure level. You can travel across the country for dirt cheap staying in $10 hostels and living on $2 meals of street tacos or you can live as lavishly as you want and experience 5-star hotels and restaurants. There is no limit to Mexico and outside of the few cartel hotspots, it is a relatively safe country. In fact, people were more friendly there then just about any place we have traveled and they absolutely adore children. We felt like a celebrity traveling with a red-headed baby that everyone wanted to touch and we constantly heard, “Que Lindo!!!” or how pretty/handsome.

Have I convinced you on Mexico yet? This itinerary and guide will shed light on some of the lesser-known areas of Mexico that deserve more tourist attention, but are so worth getting off the beaten path for.

Itinerary Overview and Download

Odyssey Inspired - Central Mexico Trips Log.xlsx

Download XLSX • 15KB

On every blog we will include Word Documents version of an itinerary. We have a short version which is meant to be a shell that you can edit or add to depending on the level of detail you want. Our long version has copy and pasted this entire detailed writeup below without the pictures to condense the length. Take your pick or download both!

We also include a Trips Log with every trip, this is a fun way in Excel to track where you go and make your own makeshift journal of the trip in the notes section. You can take this exact template, add to it over time, and upload it to make your own Google Maps of your trips you’ve done. Yes, you can do something similar by pinning locations on Google Maps, but this spreadsheet allows you to log your distance hiked, elevation gain, sort different trips in different colors in Google easily, you can also sort by category i.e. breweries, vineyards, hikes, city attractions, etc. In essence, this gives you an offline document that is safe if you ever loose your Google Account and gives you infinitely more freedom in how you log, categorize, sort, and note what you do.

There are 7 sections to this itinerary, you can feel free to click on the table of contents below to jump to any specific section I’ve outlined which will have a more detailed map of just the attractions and sites in that region, as well as hotels, hikes, restaurants, and a description of the area.

Section I - The U.S. Mexican Border to Monterrey: Hiking, World-Class Rock Climbing, and Modern Urban Mexico Full of Creature Comforts

Section II - Huasteca Potosina in San Luis Potosi: Pueblo Magicos, Gatorade Blue Waterfalls by the Dozen, Limestone Cathedral Caves, and Gaudi-esq Architecture

Section III - Queretaro and Guanajuato: Waterfalls through Skylight Caves, a Canyon Deeper than the Grand, Elegant Vineyards, and Historic Cities

Section IV – Mihoacan: Truly Off the Beaten Path Unique Towns, Deep Culture, and the World’s Youngest Cinder Cone Volcano

Section V – Central Mexico: The Heart of Urbanization in Mexico City, Spiritual Landmarks, and Monolith Volcanoes for Alpinism + Hiking

Section VI – Puebla to Oaxaca: Hot Springs and a Foodie Paradise in One of Mexico’s Most Important Cultural Centers

Section VII – The Southern Coast of Oaxaca to Chiapas: Completely Empty Coastlines, Canyons Filled with Crocodiles, and Mesmerizing Jungle Waterfalls

Housekeeping Items for Mexican Travel – Our Best Tips

Get a Points Credit Card that has No Foreign Transaction Fees – For many years Tara and I traveled solely on points and never paid for an airline ticket or hotel. We highly recommend credit card churning; although, it is getting tougher with tighter credit conditions. Essentially, sign up for a credit card, spend until you hit the bonus usually $4k or $3k spending in the first 3 months for 50,000 to 75,000 points. Then pay off the credit card, book travel with the points, get a new points card, and cancel the old one. Rinse and repeat. It does not affect your credit negatively as long as you’re paying your balances; we have been doing this for years and both have scores over 800.  

Credit cards with no foreign transaction fees will be cheaper than constantly running to the ATM, where you will always pay fees. It is good to have a few hundred dollars or maybe 5-10k pesos through your trip for places that don’t take credit card, but we keep the cash to a minimum and only carry $50 or so on our person at any one time.

If you see a City Market grocery store, you must go! We are not even kidding, these grocery stores are absolutely incredible, they put even the best in the States to shame. You can find them in Monterrey, Mexico City, San Luis Potosi, Puebla, and a few other areas. They have wagyu beef, sushi bars that they will catch the fish from the giant tank behind the counter and make the sushi fresh for you right there, isles of the best snacks, olive bars that stretch 100 feet. It was always such a treat whenever we could shop at one of these.

Do not drink the tap water in Mexico. Bottled water is available everywhere and that’s what the locals drink. If you are living in your vehicle in Mexico, you can purchase 5-gallon water jugs in almost any convenience store or grocery store, you can even fill up your water tanks right there and leave the plastic jugs to get your deposit back from the store, as they recycle the containers. Look for the “Agua Purificada” shops in each town.

Gas Propano or propane is used widely in Mexico and it is pretty easy to find tanks or a fill up if that’s what you’re using to cook with.

Boondocking is completely legal and accepted in Mexico. Generally, parking at trailheads is a great safe place. If you’re in a city parking outside of a large hotel is another decent option. There are also plenty of campgrounds and paid parking lots for camping if you’re worried about security.

The hiking in Mexico is generally pretty steep. When hiking it is more about the elevation gain than the mileage. Most trails are out and back trails so if a trail is 1,000 feet of elevation gain over 2 miles, it really means 1,000 feet of gain going up 1 mile, then 1,000 feet of decline when going down the second 1-mile section to return. Generally, 500 feet a mile is a decent incline, but nothing too strenuous. 1,000 feet per mile of hiking is quite steep and most people will be working pretty hard in this terrain, it may be difficult to talk while hiking too much and you may have to stop to catch your breath from time to time. 1,500 feet per mile is very strenuous and will likely require some scrambling, or the use of your hands at waist, chest, or head height.

At the time of this trip 1 US dollar is roughly 18 Pesos, so 1,000 pesos would be roughly $50, just to get used to the sticker shock of large numbers.

What You Need to Know About Registering Your Vehicle in Mexico

If you plan to self-drive in Mexico, you need to first obtain a personal visa or Mexico Tourist Card (FMM). To obtain the Mexico Tourist Card you only need a valid passport and to pay the entry fee of $500 pesos (~$25 USD).

Note: You only need to pay the Mexico entry fee if you travel overland, the entry fee is included in the price of your airline ticket if you travel by plane. Although, be aware it is an ongoing scam at some border crossings that even if you fly into Mexico, immigration officers will extort the FMM fee even if you paid and have documentation through your airline ticket. They will withhold the passport stamp unless you pay them and yes, the money goes into a big rubber band that then gets rolled up and thrown into a desk drawer.

Once you have your Mexico Tourist Card you will need to make a photocopy of the card. At the US-Mexico border that we crossed, there was someone set up in the building to make copies for $5 USD for each copy.

Once you have a copy of your Mexico Tourist Card, then you need to obtain your Mexico Vehicle Permit also known as Temporary Import Permit (TIP) for your vehicle. Below are the documents that we needed to cross the border into Mexico.

·        Passport of the registered owner (original and 1 copy)

·        Vehicle registration (original and 1 copy)

If you purchase your FMM online, you will still need to stop at the border to have your FMM stamped, thus making everything valid. Remember to bring your receipt for your FMM purchase to show that you paid, or you may be asked to pay again. Always keep your receipts in Mexico!

https://www.inm.gob.mx/fmme/publico/en/solicitud.html

·        Driver’s license of the registered owner (original and 1 copy)

·        Mexico Tourist Card (FMM) you received when you crossed the border (original and 1 copy).

https://www.banjercito.com.mx/registroVehiculos/

The cost of the Mexico Vehicle Permit is $52 payable to the Banjercito. You will also need to pay a deposit called the Temporary Import Deposit which is determined based on the age of your vehicle. The deposit for vehicles before 1996 is $200, for vehicles between 1996 – 2000 $300, and for vehicles after 2000 $400.

Driving in Mexico

First, get good Mexican Auto Insurance! We do not travel with travel insurance, we have just never thought it was worth the price, but driving in Mexico is another story. The roads are insane, the drivers can be a bit reckless (just like anywhere), and sadly hit and runs are all too common. Someone pulled out in front of us on the highway in Chiapas and hit the back of our van. Even though we left the country before getting our vehicle repaired, our Mexican car insurance still paid us out $9,000 after we sent them several quotes from U.S. repair shops. If you do get in an accident in Mexico, be sure to file a claim in Mexico and meet with the insurance adjuster IN MEXICO! Also file a police report when it happens just like in any western country.

Autopistas aka Cuotas aka toll roads are common all throughout Mexico and they are much faster than their free public highway counterparts. There are way fewer topes, or speedbumps, along these roads as well. They are expensive, but save yourself the time, convenience, and safety, they are worth it.

Topes. Oh, the dreaded topes. If you are traveling in a car, you will inevitably have an Oh Shit moment where you just absolutely plow through one of these makeshift speedbumps. They are everywhere and they are many times unmarked, uncolored, and unsigned. People will erect speedbumps in front of their shops to stop traffic, in front of their homes, and just about anywhere they please. If you drive your own vehicle just know between some of the crumbling street roads, the mountain roads, and the topes, the suspension will take a little beating. Keep your head on a swivel for these!

Police checkpoints are common and nothing to worry about. Several times on our trip Federal Police pulled us over and asked to check in the back of the van. This is of course a drug and human trafficking check and we always obliged. Warrantless searches are quite common in Mexico and the police are usually friendly and let you go quickly. That being said I would not risk any illegal substances in my possession.

Finally, on the freeways you will see people regularly driving half on the shoulder and half in the first lane to the right. This is to allow people to pass more easily as the roads are often not many lanes wide. It is a courtesy to drive like this if you are going slower and feel free to pass when others are driving halfway on the shoulder.

Notes About Central Mexico; You’re not in Cancun

Mexico outside of the resorts is really not that dangerous. The violence is mainly cartels targeting each other or their families. Typically, criminals do not want the attention associated with crimes against tourists. That being said, there is a risk to anything, but you could also wind up a victim of a crime in the States or any other country just as easily in our opinion. If you let fear hinder you, much of the world will become off limits.

Keep a low profile and you will be just fine. We don’t wear any watches or jewelry as a rule when traveling. Our wedding rings are $5 Amazon silicon rings and we wear t-shirts and shorts most places we go. You want to project that there really isn’t much to take from you, whether you’re in the financial district of London or Africa, this is generally a pretty good rule to follow when traveling.

Don’t expect too much English to be spoken, many people through central Mexico may know bits and pieces, but it is rare to encounter fluent English speakers. Brush up on the basics of Spanish and have Google Translate nearby and it will help you immensely. That being said, neither me nor Tara are anywhere close to fluent in Spanish, we know the very basics, and we did just fine.

Bring a half dozen copies of your passport and driver’s license to give to police for checkpoints and border crossings, we never hand over the physical book or license.

Lastly, lighten up. Watch out for scams and keep your guard up, but know that most Mexican people are the sweetest you will meet in your life, especially if you have children, they LOVE children. The culture is very family focused and they genuinely are such generous people. Throughout almost all of our travels in Mexico we felt that Mexican people wanted us to have the absolute best experience possible and to bring back positive stories of their villages and towns.

Useful Apps

Alltrails for hiking is useful, especially Alltrails Pro for downloading offline maps and GPS tracks.

Mountain Project and MTB Project are pretty good and accurate for rock climbing and mountain biking.

We did use iOverlander from time to time to find water, a shower, or a place to sleep.

Maps.me – We always download and pin our main points of interest on Maps.me before any international trip just in case we don’t have service or run out of data.

The Detailed Itinerary

Section I - The U.S. Mexican Border to Monterrey: Hiking, World-Class Rock Climbing, and Modern Urban Mexico Full of Creature Comforts

Section Summary and Maps

This section of Mexico goes from wild and untamed to the full urban center of Monterrey, a powerhouse industrial city. You can roam the desert endlessly here. If you’re a climber you will find three different world-class areas with endless options. There are Via-Ferrata’s you can do, this is a great tour we’d recommend. The city and surrounding areas are also a hiker’s paradise, although be warned, as with most hiking in Mexico, it is steep! The city of Monterrey itself is gorgeous, the skyline is filled with modern condos and skyscrapers. You will notice factories and distribution centers of just about every major American brand all throughout the city. The food is amazing everywhere we ate, the downtown Macroplaza felt very safe at night, and there is plenty of street art and architecture that makes you feel the heartbeat of the city. There is truly something for everyone in this part of Mexico and you can make it as cheap or as glamorous as you want.

*Note – Mina is Cerro De La Popa, that is how it is labeled on Google Maps, the hike is on Alltrails

Zoomed in Map of Monterrey Central:

Where to Stay:

·        Krystal Monterrey – A 4-star hotel right in the center of the Macroplaza for $80 per night, we’ve stayed here on a separate trip and loved it.

·        CASA COMPLETA CON PATIO, ASADOR Y ESTACIONAMIENTO – A great place to stay if you’re looking to hike or climb and spend more time on the South side of the city.

·        El Cubil – In El Potrero Chico, this is a family run hotel that was just amazing to stay at. The family who owns the property even cooked us dinner one night and were just so lovely. I would go back here every time and the views from the “cubil rooms” were amazing! El Cubil Potrero Chico (ecpotrerochico.com)

·        You can camp for free in the El Potrero Chico Canyon or in Huasteca National Park

Where to Fly:

·        Monterrey International Airport (MTY) – Very modern and easy to navigate. If you’re flying into this section rather than driving this would be the place to do it and car rentals are plentiful.

Where to Eat:

·        El Rancho on the way down from Nuevo Laredo – A great introduction to authentic Mexican cuisine

·        Fonda El Limoncito (Our Favorite) in Monterrey

·        El Rey del Cabrito in Monterrey – Famous for their goat dishes and outrageous interior decor

·        Huasteca Street Food all through the park

·        The Food Box Nativa – Upscale brunch and lunch similar to those type of places in the States

·        La Posada in El Potrero Chico – Amazing chilaquiles and tacos

·        El Jacalito in El Potrero Chico – Newer restaurant with all of the local favorites and excellent service right in the canyon

Main Attractions:

·        Mexican History Museum

·        Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey

·        The Macroplaza

·        The Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León

·        Catedral Metropolitana de Nuestra Señora de Monterrey

Hikes:

·        Pico Norte – Cerro De La Silla: 8.1 miles and 4,375 feet of gain

·        Cueva de la Virgen – 3.1 miles and 1,690 feet of gain

·        Cerro de la Popa – 3.4 miles and 1,475 feet of gain (can go up to 6.6 miles and 2,875 feet of gain)

·        La Raya – 1.2 miles and 686 feet of gain

·        Mirador El Penal – 5.1 miles and 1,532 feet of gain

Climbing:

·        Monterrey is a sport climbing mecca.

·        El Potrero Chico has over 2500 routes from single pitch 5.5 routes to Time Wave Zero a 23 pitch 5.12a.

·        Huasteca is another great option for climbing, especially with kids as many crags have very flat areas far away from the wall and out of the way of rockfall. Moderates from 5.5 single pitch sport to the 13 pitch 5.12+ The Life You Can Save.

·        El Salto is a little farther south and has harder sport routes starting at around 5.10 for the best routes up to 5.14, tufa and cave pulling single pitch routes.

Our Odyssey

We started our trip by crossing through Laredo Texas. There is not much to do in Laredo, we simply slept in a Walmart parking lot and were ready to go first thing in the morning to be at the border patrol office when they opened at 8:00 am.

Atlas per usual ready for the day ahead as I try to eke out a couple more minutes of sleep.

We Crossed through relatively smoothly, although we were not given a permit for the RV rate which is a lot cheaper, because our van is not registered as an RV in the United States on our American registration. We may have just gotten unlucky with our particular inspector and others might be more lenient on this, but I don’t think most vanlifers register their vehicles this way in the US either. Our inspector almost gave it to us because we had a bathroom, but later decided not to.

Note when leaving the immigration area, you will be targeted. The second street after leaving the immigration area I was waiting at a light and across the way I saw a Mexican police car sitting at the cross intersection. I waited for the light to turn green, looked both ways a couple of times, and very slowly pulled off the line and through the intersection. Even as I was crossing the intersection, I made eye contact with the police officer and gave him the, “Don’t you do it!”, look. Well, sure as death and taxes, he immediately pulls me over to let me know, “My friend, you ran a red light! Don’t worry its only $250 US dollars, just follow me to the station”. I argued back and forth with him for several minutes, before getting tired of the situation. I proceeded to hand out $50, which he balled up in his fist and told me, “No worries, have a good day my friend!”, in perfect English no less. I imagine this happens a dozen times a day at this border crossing with the same cops. It is stressful, no matter how prepared for the situation you are. My only regret is starting off so high, maybe he would have accepted $20? Who knows? That being said, get out of the border towns and hit the toll road as quickly as you can to avoid the corruption. Later in our travels in Orizaba, we encountered another corrupt police woman who tried to extort us for “running a red light”, this time we argued and refused for 10 minutes while asking for her supervisor until she gave up and let us go. There is potential to get out scot-free if you’re persistent enough, especially if you know you’ve done nothing wrong.

After this adrenaline rush, we headed pretty much straight to our first hike which was an almost 4-hour drive away; Cerro de la Popa. A great thing about Mexico, contrary to convenience stores in the States that are typically limited to processed food and glizzies that have been spinning on a rotisserie for God knows how long, Mexican convenience stores a lot of times will have restaurants attached serving up freshly made street tacos. Sometimes stopping at a convenience store was a lifesaver to break up the longer drives and to get fresh food when groceries were running low.

After a quick stop along the toll highway, we were in one of the most gorgeous desert mountain ranges I’ve ever seen. There were razor sharp peaks and ridgelines in every direction. A few semi-wild horses greeted us as we arrived, one of which we appropriately deemed Butterscotch. Atlas got a kick out of watching them stroll by within a few feet of the van. The hike up Cerro De La Popa is incredible, the views are 360-degrees and the tabletop of the peak if very unique, it really does look like a battleship. Be warned, this is a great trail to have AllTrails Pro and download the map ahead of time. We got off trail several times and had to bushwhack through some knee-high cactus here and there. The hike was worth all 3.4 miles and 1500 feet of elevation gain. The full trail on Alltrails goes 6.6 miles and 2800 feet of gain, but 3.4 miles gets you up to the ridgeline for the views.

We got poured on at the end with gigantic raindrops as fat as grapes the last quarter mile of the hike, which Atlas found absolutely hilarious. This made the drive out even more scenic as we got to see the washes gushing with rainwater and all the little waterfalls flowing through the desert. The entire drive in this area is a photographer’s dream; old windmills dot the landscape on the grounds of historic cathedrals painted in bright colors which sit against stark old-western desert backdrops. There is plenty more to do in this area from El Potrero Chico to the hot springs at Las Termas de San Joaquin, but I’ll write about this in another blog for a separate, shorter Monterrey trip we did, flying in rather than driving.

From here we went south to Monterrey and Huasteca National Park. Huasteca is a wonderful place to camp for free, you can pull into any parking lot without a worry. There is traffic that enters and exits the canyon throughout the night as people love to stargaze here and meet friends late to avoid the heat, so if you do camp be sure to face away from the road. Huasteca is known for its steep hikes that lead to dazzling views through the canyons and across Monterrey, as well as phenomenal rock climbing from moderate 5.7-5.11 single-pitch sport routes to big multi-pitch adventures. We were able to do some nice climbing while Atlas relaxed under an umbrella a safe distance from the crag wall. Kamasutra and El Rey de Jeep, both 5.9+ (Mountain Project), were our highlights for sport climbing. For kids of all ages these crags are perfect and safe whether they want to climb or lounge.

For hiking, La Raya (on Alltrails) was only a 1.2-mile hike roundtrip, but with 686 feet of elevation gain and the May heat sinking in, this was plenty of effort. The reward is a panoramic view eyeing the massive towering peaks and overlooking the Southwest aspect of Monterrey. Cueva de la Virgen is another fantastic hike up to two different caves, but is even more strenuous clocking in at 3.1 miles and 1700 feet of elevation gain, as well as requiring some scrambling. The entire canyon has plenty of opportunities for bigger hikes and side of the road photo ops if you don’t want to leave the car. It is also great to stick around at night when the road side becomes a giant food market with plenty of carts and people BBQing elotes or corn, meat, and plenty of traditional Mexican dishes.

The amazing 360-degree views of Huasteca and Monterrey from La Raya.

While in Monterrey I also recommend Chipinque A.B.P. Ecological Park for more hiking that has everything from gentle 1-mile strolls to strenuous class 4 ridgeline hikes that are 8 miles long with a couple thousand feet of vertical gain. Mirador El Penal is a do-able hike with kids that is 5.1 miles long and 1,900 feet of elevation gain that ends at a huge log ranger tower that you’re allowed to climb. There was a coatamundi at the top that was super cute and super aggressively going after everyone’s food. The “M” is the hike to do in the area if you want a big adventure, but it does require some rock scrambling along exposure.

Pico Norte in the Cerro de la Silla Range, near the radio towers to the Southeast of the city, is another area for the more adventurous hiker with four sharp peaks that are brutal, but very rewarding hikes. If you go for any of the four peaks here wear pants and spare yourself from the cactus and shrubby bushes.  All of the hiking in Monterrey is go at your own pace and risk, which is a nice change of pace from many areas in Mexico that require guides.

As far as city life goes, the Mexican History Museum and Museum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey are both fantastic. The Macroplaza is an urban center that any American would feel at home in. Full of street art, incredible restaurants, and lively bars, this area has it all. In this area, the Palacio de Gobierno del Estado de Nuevo León and Catedral Metropolitana de Nuestra Señora de Monterrey are architectural marvels worth checking out.

For places to eat, El Rey del Cabrito is a famous eatery with special cuts of meat that are authentic to Monterrey. I’m not a huge fan of goat meat, but I have to admit it was delicious. The restaurant itself is quirky and the decorations inside the restaurant are worth seeing even for just an appetizer and a drink.

Our personal favorite for the hole-in-the-wall authentic restaurant is just across the street at Fonda El Limoncito. Having now been to Monterrey several times, since first finding this restaurant on our first trip, we have consistently gone out of our way to stop here to eat. Everything on the menu is fantastic, they regularly have tasteful live music that is not too loud, and the family who owns the restaurant is incredible.

Overall, Monterrey is a fairly easy city to get around outside of rush hour. You can get to all of these sites in the city within a half hour or so driving. You can take Uber in Mexico and Monterrey, but it is cheap and easy to rent a car. We travel with a Car Phone Holder Mount so that we always have GPS at our fingertips and will navigate off Google Maps or Maps.Me if we don’t have data.

Outside of downtown, we’ve found Plaza Nativa next to Huasteca and the University district of Monterrey to be great for breakfast, brunch, and lunch. Outside the Plaza Nativa mall, off Av Alfonso Reyes street, there are a dozen restaurants or so in a semi-circle that are all very good and akin to trendy modern brunch/lunch restaurants in the states. There is also a huge Santander grocery store that is great for stocking up on food if you’re heading into the Huasteca Potosina district next, where the towns are small and amenities are fewer and farther between. Also don't miss the chance to go to the City Market while you're in Monterrey, you will not regret it!

Atlas eyeing brunch, apparently I was quite hungry also.

Section II - Huasteca Potosina in San Luis Potosi: Pueblo Magicos, Gatorade Blue Waterfalls by the Dozen, Limestone Cathedral Caves, and Gaudi-esq Architecture

Section Summary and Maps

A couple notes on this next section, there is a lot of driving in remote areas. Really the only way to get around Huasteca Potosina would be to rent a car or hire a driver. For the freedom, renting a car or having your own vehicle is the way to go. Also note that around November – March is the rainy season when the waterfalls will be flowing the heaviest with the brightest colors, while April – September or so is typically the dry season and some of the falls will not be running. The waterfalls in this section are some of the best and most unique in the world, we would put this on par with all of the famous falls in the Philippines. The caves in this area are suitable for beginners and are walkable, but they offer very unique features and will intrigue even those who are adventurous spelunkers. For nature lovers this area of Mexico is hard to beat and the cute towns in between can make for a romantic getaway for couples. It would be easy to combine this section and section i/iii to make a nice 10-day trip or so.

Where to Stay:

·        Hotel Quinta San Jorge in Tula – Cheap accommodations for around $50 per night

·        Casa de campo - Ruta Turquesa in Naranja near all the waterfalls – Around $90 per night, but there is not much in the area and this location will put you in the middle of all the falls

·        Posada El Castillo xilitla – Worth the splurge for a little over $100 per night, but the pool with views across the mountains is absolutely gorgeous.

·        The is plenty of free camping in this area all along the waterfall trailheads and even in front of Las Pozas in the street parking.

Where to Fly:

·        Monterrey or Leon – You can do a roundtrip from either or fly into one airport and do a point-to-point trip with a rental car to combine sections I, ii, or up to iii in this blog. Monterrey will likely be much cheaper from most destinations. You could fly into Mexico City and wrap in Grutas De Tolantongo, but this would require even more driving.

Where to Eat:

·        Cactus Nieves in Tula – Famous for its cactus flavored ice creams

·        Restaurant El Quijote in Tula – Great local dishes

·        Las Tortugas De Xilitla – Everything you want in a Mexican restaurant

·        La Cabañita, Cocina Huasteca in Xilitla – Gorgeous restaurant overlooking the gorge that runs through the city

Main Attractions:

·        Plaza de Armas in Tula – The central square with many vendors

·        Las Pozas – The surrealist sculpture gardens in the rainforest

·        All of the waterfalls and caves in the region below

Hikes:

·        Cascada El Meco - 0.2 miles and 35 feet of gain

·        Cascada Salto del Agua (El Naranjo) – 1 miles and 40 feet of gain

·        Cascada de Minas Viejas - 0.6 miles and 180 feet of gain

·        Cascada Micos - 0.5 miles and 50 feet of gain

·        Casacda Tamul – Boat ride or Kayak 5 miles

·        Sotano de las Golondrinas - 1.6 miles and 680 feet of gain – The Cave of Swallows

·        Mantetzulel Caves - Cueva del Espiritu Santo, Cueva del Sol, and Cueva del Aguacatillo - 3.7 miles and 1,560 feet of gain

·        Cascadas de Tambaque - 0.7 miles and 25 feet of gain

·        Las Pozas aka the Edward James Surrealist Gardens – 2 miles and 130 feet of gain

Our Odyssey

This next leg of the trip begins with a long drive, albeit you will see parts of Mexico few tourists do. Some of the largest joshua trees we have ever seen, some 40 feet tall, were on this drive. It was 5 hours and 45 minutes from Monterrey to Tula. Tula is a Pueblo Magico, or magical city. This is a program started in Mexico to recognize historic and beautiful smaller towns and help draw tourists to them. The town is cute, we were there on a Saturday, and they had a massive sprawling market with lots of treats and leather goods. Plaza de Armas is the main square and is where all of the life of the town revolves around. A fun place to stop to eat is Cactus Nieves ice cream parlor with over 140 flavors, many of which are centered on local cactus species.

From here you’re traveling through mountain highways with incredible overlooks and more sugar cane trucks than you could imagine. It is fascinating to watch the sugar cane harvest, which happens throughout the year. The cane is slightly burned then stacked about 15 feet tall, almost impossibly tall, onto semi-trucks that are often 3 full trailers deep. Pray you do not get stuck behind one of these on a curvy stretch of mountain road, it will be slow and painful.

Sugarcane truck loaded to the gills and Atlas having a blast behind the wheel.

However, it is all worth it for what lies ahead; some of the most awe-inspiring waterfalls we have ever seen. A quick tip for visiting the falls is to bring your own life jackets if you are overlanding, otherwise you will get charged for them at most of the waterfalls. Some of the falls have a small entrance shack, others you simply follow the road or trail right to them and you can tell they are just local hangout spots.

It is a 1 hour and 45-minute drive from Tula to the first waterfall, Cascada El Meco. This is an amazing waterfall right off the road with plenty of parking pullouts and platforms for pictures. It is not an easy one to get down to for swimming, but there are also plenty of tours to take you around the falls.

A nice, short 5-minute drive down the road delivers you to Cascada Salto del Agua (El Naranjo). The falls were dry when we were there, but the canyon itself was so grand with crazy rock features, massive moss, and hanging plants. These falls are also free. There is a large area to swim around about 100 yards by 50 yards and a few caves you can swim into. You can climb on top of a few smaller rock formations around 15 feet tall or so for some cliff jumping. The water was so gorgeous and Atlas had a ball swimming and didn't want to get out of the water. We watched sunset here and had the place to ourselves!

Another 50-minute drive South will get you to our favorite falls of the area, Cascada de Minas Viejas. These were some unbelievably beautiful waterfalls full of moss, plants, and orange rock. The water was so turquoise blue it almost hurt your eyes. The falls were so relaxing, there is plenty of area to swim around, there are concessions for food all around this site, and Atlas had a blast doing some tummy time on a picnic table. The entrance fee here is 60 pesos, it is only open from 7 am until 6 pm, and a life jacket is required for swimming.

An hour straight South of driving will lead you to Cascada Micos. This was a fun spot to relax with tons of little cascading waterfalls down the river. You can climb up a series of several waterfalls, but beware they are slippery. The food vendors here really knew how to grill. We had an amazing lunch consisting of an entire grilled chicken, beer, and watermelon right in the waterfalls for a mere $8. This area is open from 7 am until 11 pm and does get quite crowded in the afternoon. The entrance fee was 30 pesos and a life jacket is required here as well. If you’re going to do a tour, this area is famous for a high wire bicycle that goes above the falls and looked pretty amazing.

These tree bark monkeys were everywhere around Cascada Micos and the colorful boats made for a picturesque scene.

Finally, one last hour South there is Cascada Tamul. This waterfall is the biggest of the five and much more commercial. If you are a real hearty soul with a rowing background from Oxford or Minnesota, with determination you can kayak a few miles to the falls. Or you can take a boat tour, which is much quicker; however, I would not recommend this with small children. With children in mind the other four options are much better and will not leave you white knuckling your child in a wooden speedboat. Also be sure to check out the season, this waterfall is usually dry from April to the fall due to agricultural use of the upstream water source.

We really loved this area, even though there was quite a bit of driving it was so remote and uninhabited. It felt like this is what Hawaii might be like in the 60s or Tulum in the 80s, an undiscovered area devoid of tourists with the most incredible sightseeing. The roads were rough, and the development was few and far between; for large stretches of road we didn’t even see electrical poles. The entire area just felt so lush and serene. Cows and horses roam the countryside, and the locals are very friendly. The entire drive consistently made us ooh and awe. We also were able to sleep at every trailhead without any hassle and for free.

If you want another waterfall, you can also check out Balneario de Tambaque, it is a short half mile stroll down a paved path to see these smaller falls by the river. We did not stop for this one due to time constraints and because it didn’t look quite as impressive as the others.

After all that swimming it was time to take a break with a couple of caves. Sotano de las Golondrinas is an hour and 40-minute drive away. This cave is called the Cave of Swallows, as thousands upon thousands of little birds fly in and out of the cave every sunset and sunrise. The cave is in a small town close to the saddle of a large mountain range and it is a bit cooler and refreshing up there. There is a very official entrance where you can get tickets for 30 pesos, we highly recommend going for sunrise when they open around 6:00 am to see the swallows fly out. You can get quite close to the giant vertical shaft of the cave opening that reaches down several hundred feet and the swallows are magical. It is one of those sights that almost gives you vertigo watching them. We also love that this is self-guided, you can hike and do it at your own pace. If you have your own equipment you can rappel into a couple vertical shafts that connect to the cave or you can hire a guide who will set everything up for you. An additional perk for vanlifers is you can sleep parked on the road right outside the entrance station for free.

The crazy pit of the Cave of Swallows and the gorgeous countryside heading down through the village to the cave.

The next set of caves we think are maybe the best kept secret in the area. The Mantetzulel Caves which includes the Cueva del Espiritu Santo, Cueva del Sol, and Cueva del Aguacatillo, are about a 20-minute drive down the hill from Sotano de las Golondrinas. Where there is one cave, there are always more. This cave requires a guide and costs roughly $10 or 180 pesos and a tip if you are so inclined. Our guide Miguel spoke very little English, but was very knowledgeable about the plants and insects in the area and stopped to have us smell and taste several of them which was fascinating. He’d crack open a seed pod and it would smell as though someone juiced a lemon in your nose. The caves themselves were all easy to walk through, they were huge caverns so if you have a child on your back you will not have to do any maneuvering or crawling on your knees. Each cave also had a distinct environment and flora, even though they were quite close together. The hike here is still about 3.7 miles long and requires over 1,500 feet of elevation gain, mostly upstairs. It would be recommended to do this early as well after you catch sunrise at Sotano de las Golondrinas before it gets to hot in the jungle.

The last stop on this section is Las Pozas, also known as the Edward James Surrealist Gardens. It is just over an hour drive from the Mantetzulel Caves to the little town of Xilitla, where this attraction is located. This is another attraction that requires a tour guide, some do speak English though. The entrance fee to this attraction is 225 pesos or just over $11 per person and the hours are 8 or 9 am depending on the day to 4 pm, closed on Tuesdays. The town of Xilitla is a great base, there are a lot of great restaurants and cute places to stay with pools up on the cliffsides overlooking the valley. There are many more comforts in this area of San Luis Potosi if you’re looking to unwind and relax a bit more from all the hiking and driving.

Las Pozas is a surrealist garden with sculptures and living structures created in an open-air living compound. There are waterfalls that run through the property that are quite gorgeous and it is interesting to see the surrounding rain forest environment. Apparently, Edward James the original owner and artist used to roam the property and town nude, and was accepted lovingly in the community. He certainly put Xilitla on the map. The tour for this site is a little long and we didn’t love that it was mandatory, but still worth seeing. This area wrapped up this section for us and was a refreshing reprieve before heading back to the desert.

Atlas enjoying the wonderful food and plentiful overlooks at every restaurant in Xilitla.

Section III - Queretaro and Guanajuato: Waterfalls through Skylight Caves, a Canyon Deeper than the Grand, Elegant Vineyards, and Historic Cities

Sections Summary and Maps:

This next section of the trip blends the mountains back into the desert. Guanajuato as a region is steeped in historic cities and has a much more laid-back feel than the more adventurous Huasteca Potosina region. Guanajuato is an area of Mexico that’s just easy. You’ll find a lot more English speakers and expats. The restaurants, vineyards, breweries, and hotels are all very trendy and have a boutique atmosphere. You certainly still get an authentic Mexican vibe, but you will also feel a touch of home everywhere you go. The roads are well paved, you’ll see advertisements for the vineyards and tours in neatly erected billboards. This region is a great place to step out of your comfort zone and go a little deeper into Mexico if you’re looking for something a little less touristy than Yucatan Peninsula or Puerto Vallarta, but still plenty of comfort. 

Where to Stay:

·        Bernal – Hotel Casa Caro - At $70 per night this property is a steal in the perfect location in the center of the city and has a very attractive exterior and courtyard.

·        Just outside Bernal and by the vineyards - Club Vergel Resort – this resort has a pool and beautiful gardens. It is a bit pricier at around $125 per night, but it is certainly more luxurious.

·        San Miguel Allende - Hotel Mansión Virreyes by Rotamundos with its rooftop deck and indoor atrium filled with lush plants is 1 block from Jardin Allende or the central square. For the area and this being a 3-star hotel you will not find a better deal for under $90 per night.

Or

Suite de Lujo con Terraza Panorámica is a higher end option at around $350 per night before taxes, but with this you will get access to a rooftop balcony with the best views in the entire city.

·        Guanajuato – Hotel de la Paz – A 3-star hotel for $90 per night that is across the street from the basilica and central to everything in the city.

·        Car camping is also abundant in any of these cities and felt very safe

Where to Fly:

·        Leon – This will be your best option internationally if you’re looking to stay local within the Guanajuato region

Where to Eat/Main Attractions:

·        Below broken out by each city.

Vineyards:

·        Bodega Dos Buhos

·        Vinedo Toyan

Hikes:

·        Puente de Dios - 2.6 miles and 85 feet of gain – Bridge of the Gods with the waterfall flowing through the mountain

·        Mirador Cuatro Palos – 1.4 miles and 344 feet of gain – An overlook across one of the deepest canyons in Mexico

·        Pena de Bernal – 1.4 miles and 702 feet of gain – hike to the base of the monolith peak

·        El Cerro de La Bufa – 5.5 miles and 1,892 feet of gain – Hike to an overlook of Guanajuato and the surrounding mountains

·        Rincon de Parangueo – 1.4 miles and 208 feet of gain – hike through a quarter mile long tunnel to a huge, glistening white crater

Climbing:

·        Pena de Bernal in Bernal is a sport climbing mecca with a lot of amazing multi-pitch options. You can climb the monolith rock across slabs and chickenheads. Generally, routes will be anywhere from 5.7 – 5.12 and 1-13 pitches, although mainly multi-pitch. There is also an amazing via ferrata up this peak that we highly recommend taking a tour if you don’t have the gear or are not comfortable going alone.

Our Odyssey

Leaving Xilitia we drove 2.5 hours down to the state of Queretaro and the Sierra Gorda Mountains to do the guided waterfall hike of Puente de Dios. It is important to note that our next destination has two locations on Google Maps, one several hours north in the Huasteca Potosi area, and the one that we wanted to do to which is located at this address: Comedor Tapancos, 76316 Río Escanela, Qro., Mexico, it also says Puente de Dios right next to this one Google Maps.

There is a well-established parking lot and entrance booth for this hike that costs $175 pesos per person and is open 8 am to 5:30 pm. The locale requires a guide for this hike, mostly as a way to provide additional income to the area and people. Luis, our guide, was less than enthusiastic but he was very patient and let us stay at each junction as long as we wanted. The hike was very cool over bridges, boardwalks, and ladders. All of which was doable with Atlas in the Poco. The cave at the end was one of the craziest things we have ever seen. Water poured out of the ceiling of a large cave in a waterfall straight down at the "Bridge of the Gods". The water is a little chilly, but you have to stand under it and feel the power of all the water pouring out. We had tacos at a little roadside stand on the way out of the town that were delicious and we stopped at a nice little overlook in the town of Pinal de Amoles, another Pueblo Magico.

One hour driving from Puente De Dios will put you at the beginning of the hike for Mirador Cuatro Palos. We parked here overnight for free and started the hike first thing in the morning for sunrise, which we highly recommend. This is another hike which requires a guide at a rate of 80 pesos per person or roughly $4 and is open from 5 am until 6:30 pm, we had a very sweet abuela who was really just a walking companion. The canyon is as deep as the Grand Canyon, dropping over 6,000 feet from peak to canyon floor. The hike is up hill all the way, but there are cute camp sites at the top, rope swings attached to the giant trees, some of the biggest yuccas you will ever see, and some of the most amazing views in all directions. The hike is short and this is a huge bang for the buck.

After Cuatro Palos you will emerge from the forest back into society and onto straight, unwinding freeways. It is a roughly 3-hour drive from the mountains down to San Miguel Allende, one of the more Instagram famous cities of Mexico. Along the way you can find about a dozen vineyards to stop and do tours, sample a tasting, or buy as many bottles as you please. There is also the Pueblo Magico of Bernal that we would put as a must stop. Whether you want to walk a quaint town and get a delicious bite to eat, get fresh honey and tour a farm, hike, or rock climb, Bernal has it all.

Pena de Bernal is a great hike with a roundtrip of roughly 1.4 miles and 700 ft of gain. There is a small entrance shack that charged 60 pesos per person. This is the base to some amazing multi-pitch sport climbing as well. There are tons of moderate routes anywhere from 5.7 to 5.10+ and 4-13 pitches up this monolith. While we were not able to multi-pitch climb on this trip with Atlas, Tara and I have talked about coming back to Bernal on a separate trip just to do some of the world class routes in this area. If you want to beat the climbing crowds that often only go to El Potrero Chico and Salto, this is a great alternative.

There are farms, some of which you can tour and this area is famous for its vineyards and honey. We purchased some local honey that was fantastic, we typically saw lighter colored honeys with plenty of crystals and thickness if that is your style of sweetness. Finally, the town itself with its winding streets and plenty of souvenir shops is very enjoyable to walk through and quite safe.

As far as vineyards go, we made stops at Bodega Dos Buhos and Vinedo Toyan, either of which we would highly recommend. The grounds are gorgeous, and they had a great set up with private pavilions for tastings or having a bite to eat.

The tasting at Dos Buhos Winery was absolutely luxurious. It was worth every penny of the $30 per person tasting. Our private pavilion looked over the grounds, we were served local cheeses, chocolates, and fruits to pair with our wines, all of which were divine. Everything we tasted here amazed us. The vineyard had pretty spectacular wines from semi-sweet whites to dry reds. Coming from North Carolina sweet Moscato wine is everywhere and we are not fans of the variety. However, Dos Buhos does a Moscato Giallo Vino Anaranjado or Orange Moscato, that was a 10/10 in our book. The sweetest was very light with vanilla notes and just enough orange. This is a flagship of theirs and one of the most unique wines we have ever tried.

If interested, there are plenty of wine tours in the area and we talked to a couple that was loving the tour they found on viator. We had to limit ourselves to just a couple vineyards as one of us still had to drive and the other was breastfeeding; however, not having either of those constraints, a tour would be quite nice.

Next came the rightfully famous San Miguel Allende. The city is easily walkable, all of the main sites of the city are all within a square mile and a half or so. San Miguel Allende is almost 500 years old and entrenched in deep history. The architecture is jaw dropping and there is a photo opportunity around every corner. The many cathedrals are magnificent, the food scene here is mouthwatering. Peak into every doorway and you will find lush courtyards adorned with birds of paradise, Spanish archways, and candle lit lanterns. The cobblestone streets and colonial architecture just make the whole town so quaint; it is easy to spend several days here wandering the streets and trying every restaurant in sight.

Where to Eat:

• La Unica – The grilled octopus was delicious and bone marrow tacos were an upscale twist.

• Xam Xam was absolutely incredible. The mezcal margaritas were the best of the trip here. They aren’t too smoky or sweet, but just right. The rooftop is great for watching the sunset.

• Inside Café – It was so good we actually ate here twice. The curries and grilled cheese were the best we've ever had.

Inside Cafe's famous curry sampler and the grilled octopus at La Unica.

Mezcal margarita and the sunset from the rooftop of Xam Xam, this place was oh so good.

Attractions:

·        Jardin Allende – This is the main square across from the absolutely magnificent cathedral, Explanada del Jardín Principal Allende. The main squares in any Mexican city are gorgeous, filled with manicured trees and landscaping, and it is a lively meetup and hangout space. If there are events in the city this is where they will be held, you will also find plenty of street food vendors around these main squares, and most importantly, some of the best ice cream carts!

·        Parque El Chorro Mirador - Beautiful overlook of the city and quite the hike up there on steep streets depending on your starting point. We recommend and early start on this one to beat the heat and traffic, both pedestrian and vehicle.

·        Mercado Ignacio Ramirez & Artisan Market - Super cool indoor open-air market that seemed to stretch forever. Atlas loved the homemade maracas. There are plenty of food and juice stalls in the market. Apparently, the beet juice is quite famous here, for us it was insanely strong and we don’t mind beets, but I’d much rather have a nice mango smoothie.

·        Fabrica La Aurora - Nice little artist collective with dozens of galleries, pottery spaces, fine arts, and cool museum type exhibits. The sculptures were quite impressive and the old textile factory it was located in. There are so many talented artists in this space and it amazing to watch some of them work.

Pictured above is Mercado Ignacio Ramirez & the Artisan Market.

Walking to the high points of the city will get you some fantastic views and the walks themselves will go past winding streets, numerous cafes, and through lots of quaint alleyways.

After a few days in San Miguel Allende, a short 1 hour and 20-minute drive away awaits another historic city with a completely different feel, Guanajuato.

Guanajuato is a maze of a city. It feels a lot larger than San Miguel Allende and by all measurements, population and area, it is. The city is famous for its underground tunnels that you can drive and walk through. Google Maps does a pretty decent job of navigating through the tunnels, but there are plenty of merges and forks that keep you on your toes if you’re driving. On a weekend we were able to find parking on the side street under the tunnels which was very convenient. If you can hike anywhere along the outskirts of the city and you will find incredible views.

Where to eat:

·        Café Tul is famous for their beso negro, a small concentrated dark hot chocolate that was refreshing even on a 90-degree day. Pairing this with a churro is a match made in heaven.

·        Los Campos - The fresh guacamole was quite impressive in the traditional mortar bowl and had a very nice grilled flavor that set it apart from normal guac. The wild boar mole was very tender and full of flavor. Everything we ate here was top notch.

·        Estacion Gelato – Every flavor here was so, so good. There is ice cream everywhere in Mexico, but this really stands out and was just as good as anything in Italy or Spain.

Main Attractions:

·        Take in all of the Cathedrals and Basilicas that rise through the city, they are all unique and beautiful. At night you will find some of the best street food just outside of these areas.

·        El Jardin – Guanajuato’s main square is similar to San Miguel Allende, very lush with perfectly trimmed trees that shaded the area and made you feel like you were in the forest.

·        Callejon de Besos – This cute little street is where two balconies meet and is often a photo op, for a fee, that many couples undergo. It was fun to see, but we didn’t feel the need to pay and stand in line a few dozen people deep for a photo.

·        Mercado Hidalgo - The market was massive and the streets were so tight, winding, and narrow. If there was ever a place to advocate for the Poco, this would be it. For the love of God, do not bring a stroller to Guanajuato or San Miguel Allende, you will regret it. This market was mostly centered on crafts, but there were still plenty of food vendors inside as well. Worth popping in just to see the scale of it.

Left is the Mercado Hidalgo and right is the ever-crowded Callejon de Besos.

Just outside Guanajuato is El Cerro de La Bufa, a gorgeous morning sunrise hike. This hike is quite strenuous at 5.5 miles and 1,892 feet of gain, but you can do it unguided and there is no fee. The path up to the bluff was fantastic and the views were 360 degrees, with so many interesting other peaks and bluffs in the area. Unless you go in winter, the name of the game stays the same in Mexico, get up early to hike and avoid the heat. Up to the lookout had some fun steps and a few little class 2 scrambles cut into the rock, using your hands at waist level to navigate. There were also quite a few caves on the way up that Tara loved exploring, she just can't help herself with caves!

An hour and a half South of Guanajuato is this peculiar hike, Rincon de Parangueo, out to a crater that is almost blindingly white. There is an entrance fee here of a mere 7 pesos, but the hike is unguided and at your own pace. You have to walk through a quarter mile long tunnel bored through the volcano that comes out to the crater and it is trippy. The walk down to the crater is wild and the gauchos were racing horses across it the white silty surface inside the crater. It was quite a sight. There is a parking garage for this attraction, but it was quite tight and took many three point turns in old Big Betsy to get out. Overall, it was worth the quick 1.4-mile hike with not much elevation gain. There is also a host of vendors on the other side of the tunnel if you need a snack or drink.

This was our last stop in this section before heading off to Michoacan. Traveling through the desert we could feel the modern life of Guanajuato fading and once again we were back in the wild west of Mexico, in an area that felt and looked as though it had few rules.

Section IV – Michoacan: Truly Off the Beaten Path Unique Towns, Deep Culture, and the World’s Youngest Cinder Cone Volcano

Section Summary and Maps:

In the last few years from 2020 onwards, Michoacan has gotten a pretty bad rap in the media. Cartel violence is a big focus, as well as the extortion that locals face from it. Guanajuato is very tourist friendly and no one will look twice at an expat anywhere in the region. Michoacan on the other hand is a little rougher around the edges. You will still find top notch food from street vendors to fancy restaurants, hiking, cute old towns reminiscent of Europe, but everything feels just a little more unrefined. Locals will be intrigued to see a tourist this far from the crowds; however, we encountered nothing but lovely people nonetheless. Many will skip this State, but we found the culture here to be deeper than anywhere else in Mexico and it is an area we grew to love, despite the problems that seem to plague it.

In Depth Map of Morelia:

Where to Stay:

·        Hotel del Naranjo in Patzcuaro

·        M Hoteles Concepto – In Morelia this is the best of the best. The location will put you right in the middle of all the major sites and this is a 4-star hotel for sometimes under $70 per night depending on the time of year.

NaNa Vida Hotel Morelia – Another great option, slightly more expensive at $100 per night, but the reviews here speak for themselves, this hotel is adored for its service and incredible architecture. The arched courtyard with stain glass is an absolute retreat.

·        We had no problem car camping in any of the areas in the state. Occasionally we paid for parking near some trail heads in different towns just as a precaution, but we felt plenty safe even in free areas.

Where to Fly:

·        You can fly into Mexico City and start this section in reverse with Morelia first, after exploring some sites closer to Mexico City in the next section. There is even a bus that goes from Mexico City to Morelia and takes 4 hours.

Where to Eat:

·        Must eat the carnitas, anywhere you find them and preferably at the most hole in the wall places you can find!

·        Taproom Nacional Morelos – Great brewery in Morelia looking out to the aqueduct

·        Tata – Upscale restaurant in Morelia with an amazing chef

Main Attractions:

·        Downtown plaza in Patzcuaro – Cute European feeling town right on the lake

·        Tzintzuntzan – Ancient ruins and museum overlooking the lake 

·        The Island of Janitzio – The famous spot for the butterfly fishermen and village on the island of the lake

Morelia -

·        Aqueduct de Morelia

·        Mercado de Dulces in Morelia

·        Catedral de Morelia

·        Cerrada de San Agustín

·        Templo de la Cruz

·        Callejón del Romance

Hikes:

·        Ruínas San Juan Parangaricutiro – 3.1 miles and 482 feet of elevation gain – hike out to the famous site where the lava flows overtook an old church

·        Paricutin – 13.2 miles and 2,644 feet of elevation gain – the hike to the top of the cinder cone volcano

Our Odyssey

Two hours South of Rincon de Parangueo lies this gorgeous town reminiscent of Italy or Spain with old churches, tiled roofs, and white and red buildings, Patzcuaro. We somehow stumbled onto this cute festival Gua Guafest that was being hosted in multiple squares in the town. The street food markets here were some of the best in Mexico. Michoacan is known for being the birthplace of carnitas and wow did it not disappoint. This pork is often slow roasted in huge underground clay pots and cooked for sometimes up to 72 hours. If you’re in the area and are a meat lover, this is an other worldly experience. The tacos in this town were also some of the best anywhere in our 2 months in Mexico. The markets line all around the main square and the churches here looked as old as any we'd seen through our trip.

If you’re looking for a nice sit-down meal Hotel del Naranjo was a 10 out of 10 on all accounts. The Uchepos, an endemic Michoacan sweet corn dish, was so delicious. It is no surprise we eat mole anywhere we can and their mole dishes did not disappoint. Finally, round out the meal with their Pie di Limon, the presentation of this dish is as impressive as the taste and they grow the lemons right on the property. The total check with appetizers, drinks, and desert was around $50 for a meal that would be 3 or 4x that in the States.

The famous Pie di Lemon to the left and the inside of Hotel de Naranjo with an orange tree growing right in the middle of the restaurant.

Next, we made our way to hike the youngest cinder cone volcano in the world, Paracutin. A volcano that sprung up and erupted so quickly that is swallowed a town and a church in a matter of only several years. The town of Angahuan is not much, but there are some great carnitas vendors in the town. Outside of the hiking, there is not a ton to do here or too much in the way of accommodations. If you want to hike Paracutin or any of the other surrounding volcanoes you will have to drive 2 and a half hours out of the way and back track likely to either Patzcuaro or Morelia.

Upon driving up to the trailhead at night we were happily greeted by a nice local who allowed us to park our van right next to his house for $5. This area is so dark that the Milky Way in the middle of the night was vivid and lit up the sky. We started before sunrise to hike all the way to the cinder cone rim on this 13-mile roundtrip journey. The lava fields were really intense and we lost our way a couple times on the way up as there are a myriad of trails through the jagged boulders. We started at 5 am and this was a full 8-hour day with a nice hour stop at the top. This hike is doable with a child in the Poco. Atlas did amazing, but we did stop 4 times for some decent tummy time breaks in the shade for a half hour or so each time. The view into the crater at the summit was amazing and the smoke coming off the volcano was so interesting and very hot still through some of the venting holes. There is a restaurant right at the trailhead and we absolutely crushed some carne asada and carnitas upon our return. We got a ride the last 3/4 of a mile down the trail in the back of a truck from a one-eyed villager who was quite nice.

If you are not up for the full 13 miles, a great hike to do instead would be Ruínas San Juan Parangaricutiro which takes you to the lava field that has partially overtaken the old church of the town. This hike is only 3 miles with 482 feet of elevation gain.

After this detour we headed back towards Patzcuaro Lake to explore some ruins and other towns in the area. We visited Tzintzuntzan which had some unique circular ruins that are strung along a single structure for almost 500 meters. They admittedly were not the most impressive ruins, but the museum on site was interesting with all of the artifacts and the forest looking over the lake was quite pretty. It was a nice stop close by to stretch the legs and walk for a mile or so.

The Island of Janitzio is the main attraction in this area. It is a 1.5-hour drive from Angahuan and it is famous for its fishermen who use gigantic butterfly nets to fish, these nets are 6-8 feet wide and require a very specific technique to use. We kayaked a mile and a half out to the island and to see the fishermen do their show. One of the old fishermen even took Atlas on his boat to get a picture with him. Horses were walking in the lake right as we were about to leave. Sadly, I’ve recently seen in the news that this lake has been illegally tapped and used by the cartels to farm avocados and berries in the area leaving the lake partially dry and you can now actually walk to the Island of Janitzio.

An hour drive from the ruins is the gorgeous city of Morelia. The entire city is a UNESCO heritage site with tons of museums, cathedrals, and grand squares. There were little parks everywhere with cute decorations strung across the street. Every street was picture worthy and we had such a good time walking miles around the city. The aqueduct and university park at night were very lively with tons of people street performing. For those who love the metropolitan feel of a real artsy city, you could easily spend a few days in Morelia touring the sites and museums.

We had lunch at Tata at it was divine. The courtyard is incredibly cute and it feels like an oasis inside the city. Surprisingly, Mother’s Day is a different day in Mexico than it is in the United States. We were surprised to see this restaurant had a fixed brunch menu for the holiday, but it was more than worth it. The menu consisted of fish mole, prosciutto croquets, creme brulé with a wine reduction, and delicious cocktails. We got an additional four desserts sample that left us speechless.

After wandering through the city, towards sunset we found ourselves at Taproom Nacional Morelos a great brewery that was very kid friendly. There is a back patio that is gated in, has yard games, and plenty of area for kids to safely roam. The food was all pretty good and standard of what you’d find in an American brewery. It might be nice if you need a change up from Mexican food and street tacos. The beer was also solid across the board, we enjoyed the IPAs and wheat beers the most. You can do flights here to try the whole tap selection. They do flights to make it convenient to sample many different beers.

With some of the more rural areas in this state and longer hikes that are available, Morelia is the perfect city to end this section of Mexico with as you will find yourself back in modern everyday life. It is a great yin and yang that makes the trip feel balanced and gives you a taste of the best Michoacan has to offer. Even if you’re just flying into Mexico City and are looking to do a more urban trip, it would be worth the drive to wrap Morelia into your itinerary.

Section V – Central Mexico: The Heart of Urbanization in Mexico City, Spiritual Landmarks, and Monolith Volcanoes for Alpinism + Hiking

Section Summary and Maps:

The State of Mexico is the heartbeat of the country in terms of population size, traffic, commerce, and nightlife. You will find it all, in what feels like one giant sprawling suburb centering around Mexico City. If you’re visiting Mexico and not going to a coastal resort, most people will fly into Mexico City as their hub. The city itself is huge with everything you’d find in a major metro and it is also a great base camp for exploring the more cultural regions of Puebla and Oaxaca or if your objective is to hike and potentially mountaineer in the high alpine volcanoes.

A more detailed map of just Mexico City Attractions:

As you can tell from the map, Mexico City is very spread out and this itinerary covers 30 miles. There are numerous bus routes, but if you have the means I would suggest an Uber or renting a car. Surprisingly, Mexico City traffic was pretty easy to navigate in, even with a 21-foot van.

Where to Stay:

·        Hotel Ritz Ciudad de México – A 4-Star hotel for $85 per night within blocks of all the major attractions, hard to beat this for the money.

·        Gran Hotel Ciudad de México Zócalo View – If you have the means to spend $250 per night, this hotel is worth the splurge. The views are out of this world and even walking through the hotel feels like a grand museum in its own right.

·        For Toluca - Cabañas Nevado 4 elementos – This is not cheap at $140 per night, but it puts you right next to where you would hike for Nevada de Toluca and the house is very nice with a great grassy area for kids to play.

·        If you’re looking to climb Itza and/or Ajusco - Hotel Oaxtepec is a fabulous place to stay with a pool and great views, for $45 per night this is a great deal.

·        We had no problem car camping at any of the trailheads in this area or in Mexico City itself. We paid for parking and even slept street side overnight near the downtown core and it was quiet and a pleasant temperature.

Where to Fly:

·        Flying into Mexico City (MEX) is easy, cheap, and many US cities with international airports will have a direct flight. It is a modern airport with pretty decent restaurants inside and exhibits to see. For its size, it is also pretty easy to navigate.

Where to Eat:

·        Amaya - A great dinner spot in the city

·        El Moro – Delectable hot chocolate

·        Market of Coyoacan – Street food and cheap eats

·        La Casita in Val’Quirico – Filet mignon in the main square

Main Attractions:

·        Centro Ceremonial Otomí Archeology Site – Newly constructed spiritual site mirroring ancient temples

·        China Town

·        Palacio del Bellas Artes – Center for the arts with a gorgeous park beside it

·        The Grand Hotel – An architectural marvel of a hotel and lobby

·        Zocalo – The gigantic main square of the entire country bordered by all the most impressive sites of the city

·        Roma Nte & Parque Mexico – Green space and an avenue filled with restaurants and shopping

·        Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe – Famous cathedral

·        Watercolor Museum Alfredo Guati Rojo – Fantastic museum and gardens

·        Lago de Xochimilco Floating Market

·        Val’Quirico – A small town modeled after old Italy with fascinating construction, live music, restaurants, shops, and a merry go round

Hikes:

·        Grutas Tolantongo – As far as you want to explore, there are endless miles or stair case and paved trails to different pools, hot springs, waterfalls, and the river.

·        Circuito de Nevado de Toluca to El Fraile - 4.2 miles and 2,184 feet of gain

·        Circuito El Ocotal – 1.5 miles and 370 feet of gain

·        Circuito Cerro Cumbres del Ajusco – 3.7 miles and 2,193 feet of elevation gain

·        Parque Apatlaco from Paso de Cortez - 4.4 miles and 1,532 feet of elevation gain

·        Teoten Hill – 1.4 miles and 594 feet of elevation gain

Honorable Mention Before We Start: Grutas Tolantongo

We actually visited this site on the way back up from Chiapas; however, this would be worth doing an entire trip from Mexico City by itself. This complex is absolutely mesmerizing. There are tons of massive waterfalls, the most gorgeous natural calcium thermal pools across the entire hillside, multiple caves that double as large hot spring baths, and an entire river system you can navigate and swim through multiple waterfalls. The giant hot spring caves were the highlight and Tara’s favorite thing we’ve ever done. You could walk back into the caves with thermal water gushing out of the ceiling and walls. With the water seeping through the cave there are massive stalactites in every direction; however, the floor is smooth in silty. We walked all over the complex, swam in so many pools and waterfalls, and Atlas loved all of it. This is a truly magical place, I know it is becoming more and more famous online, but the pictures do not do it justice. You can spend an entire weekend or plan a whole trip just around this.

Our Odyssey

From Morelia it was a 3-and-a-half-hour drive to the Centro Ceremonial Otomí Archeology Site. These temples are a spiritual site that was erected only a few decades ago to give the locals a place to practice their religious and spiritual beliefs. Concerts and events are frequently held in the main courtyard space. The whole complex was massive in size and quite impressive. The staircases even to get to the statues were a few hundred feet tall. The attention to detail in the construction was on point and this site was just very unique to any other ruins you might find in Mexico, probably because they aren’t actually ruins; however, it has that feel of old spiritual significance.

A 2.5-hour drive from Otomi will get you to high alpine mountains in a completely different environment. If you want a big summit without a ton of mileage, at 4.2 miles and 2,100 feet of gain the Circuito de Nevado de Toluca to El Fraile will get above 15,000 feet in elevation, higher than any point outside of Alaska in the United States. The craggy peaks and deep blue alpine lakes are stunning. Although, this hike is still plenty strenuous even with the short mileage. Beware, you are in a high alpine area so even in the summer this area can still get chilly and have thunderstorms, layers are suggested. The loop around the lago de sol was beautiful and we saw a lake trout right at the edge of the lake the water was so clear. We hund out here for hours and enjoyed every ridgeline and spur the trails had to offer. The trailhead is a great free place to sleep for vehicle dwellers.

2 Hours driving back towards Mexico City we stopped for the Circuito El Ocotal, a little forest hiking area that is a famed system for elite trail runners. It sits at almost 10,000 feet in elevation and is a great spot to get initially acclimated for the high peaks in the region. It is a nice smooth hike through the tall oak forest just outside the city and a great place for kids to play.

Next, we braved the traffic and headed into Mexico City. I was surprised, the downtown core is a great city for walking with many pedestrian only streets set with a myriad of shops for literally anything you could want to buy.

Right as we came into the city, to satisfy Tara’s sweet tooth we had to go to El Moro. This is THE place to go in Mexico City for delectable hot chocolate and churros. You can stand and watch them make both by hand behind the glass which is fascinating.

The downtown core of Mexico City is an urban paradise. You can spend hours and walk for miles checking out the intricate network of streets and sites. The artisan market is a fun place to wander through as is China Town. Palacio del Bellas Artes is great to see even from the park surrounding the building. The zocalo was gorgeous with tons of different architectural styles lining the square. If you have the means do stay here, but even if you don’t the Grand Hotel was incredible just to walk through. The stain glass ceiling in the entryway put us in awe and the courtyard was as the name implies, grand.

Left: Chinatown. Right: Going towards The Grand Hotel after circling the Zocalo.

Palacio del Bellas Artes

I almost was not going to recommend any restaurants, as this is Mexico City, there are literally hundreds of incredible restaurants just in the downtown core mile alone. However, we really enjoyed Amaya for dinner and everything we ate was just so good and reasonably priced.

After sleeping street side in a quiet neighborhood a couple streets away from the Palacio del Bellas Artes, we roamed through Roma Nte & Parque Mexico. This is a great place for a workout and many fitness classes seem to happen here. It was a bustling park for dogs which Atlas loved petting. It is fun to watch the hustle and bustle of the city from here, especially in the morning. In this park it feels like you are seeing the true daily lives of those living in Mexico City.

After a quick breakfast stop we went south for a little museum tour. We had a great time in the Alfredo Guati Rojo Watercolor Museum, it was the perfect size and the grounds were gorgeous with vibrant landscaping. You can spend an hour perusing the museum or half a day depending on your level of interest. The museum asked for a 100 peso or about $5 donation upon entrance per person and is open from 10 am to 6 pm and self-guided at your own pace.

The coyoacan market is nearby the museum and was super fun with tons local shops. The carnitas inside the market were delicious and we got to try some giant chicharrones the size of our torsos, the street food costs a few dollars per meal and was outstanding. This is where to eat like a local.

We were not a fan of Lago de Xochimilco Floating Market or this part of the city, it felt over touristy and pretty dirty from the streets to the plastic filled canals. In our opinion, with how far out of the way this attraction is, it is an easy one to skip. There are plenty of boat tours to see the floating market, but to be honest, it just didn’t look that impressive especially at $25 per person. We have maybe potentially been spoiled by the floating markets in Southeast Asia. However, it was wild just thousands of boats sitting around and no tourists local or foreign seemed really interested. Still fun to walk around the city and see the canals in a different part of town.

Once you’re ready to get out of the city and enjoy some of the breathtaking forests and alpine mountains the area is famous for, your first stop should be the Circuito Cerro Cumbres del Ajusco. The hike immediately starts with a gorgeous suspension bridge and leads you through some of best smelling forest I have ever been through. The hike is Crazy steep at 3.7 miles and 2,193 feet of gain, but beautiful 360-degree views of Nevado Toluca, Itza, and Popo all await you from the top. The ridgeline was super cool and Atlas did phenomenal in the poco. So did Rolo our dog friend who crushed it and accompanied us to the top for some snacks.

After a short mountainous drive, we approached the Paso de Cortez and famous Parque Apatlaco hike. This hike is 4.4 miles and 1,532 feet of gain and goes in between both Popo and Itza to get a grand perspective of both towering 18,000+ foot volcanoes. The hike was gorgeous right off the pass-through grassy fields with huge views and a nice walk through the large pine forests. These miles felt like nothing after Ajusco's steep hike. Even if you are not in the mood to hike, the pullout of the Paso de Cortez will give you jaw dropping views.

On our drive over to Val’Quirico we stumbled upon Teoten Hill. This was a spur of the moment add on for us to break up the drive and we were spoiled with natives performing a ritual dance at the top with authentic bells/beans around their ankles in honor of the festival of the sun. They perform these dances repeatedly for 24 hours, it was quite something to see and just the luck of the draw that we were there at the right time on May 15th to witness this. The views of Popo and Itza from here were arguably the best of any in the area, you could see the smoke coming out of Popo's crater. The hike itself is short but steep at 1.4 miles and 594 feet of gain, but requires no guide and there is no fee.

Our final stop on this section of our trip was Val’Quirico. This little town looked, felt, smelled, and tasted just like an Italian village. They did such a good job, the squares were gorgeous all with live music, the shops were really cute, and the food was amazing. The architecture was spot on from the outside resembling an old village, but completely modernized throughout the interior.

Our dinner at La Casita in the main square with 2 different types of mole and filet mignon was amazing. We stayed until close and were serenaded by a live opera singing of Por Ti Volare (famous in America from Will Ferrell singing this song in Step Brothers on Catalina Island) in the main square. It was actually very magical with the romantic lighting strung across the plaza. Every night there is live music and different kinds of music throughout the individual squares. I thought this place might be gimmicky, but it was a highlight of our trip.

Section VI – Puebla to Oaxaca: Hot Springs and a Foodie Paradise in One of Mexico’s Most Important Cultural Centers

Section Summary and Map:

Puebla and Oaxaca are famous for their traditional Mexican architecture features with fluorescent colors and cutely decorated alleyways, and of course, the MOLE! While the cities themselves are fun to roam, there are a surprising amount of attractions in this area off the beaten path that can elevate the adventure of your vacation. Mix in some of the off the beaten path suggestions below into your city itinerary and you will have a trip even more memorable.

Detailed Map of Puebla:

Detailed Map of Oaxaca:

Where to Stay:

·        Puebla - NH Puebla Centro Histórico – We loved our stay here in Puebla and it was a great break from the van. The rooftop pool is perfect for hot days and this was about 2 blocks from our favorite restaurants El Mural de los Poblanos and BRICO which were great pauses from having to cook. This is again a 4-star hotel under $65 per night.

·        Orizaba - Gamma Orizaba Grand Hotel de France – This 4-star hotel for $85 per night has a rooftop pool with gorgeous views of the mountains and is a nice base for Pico de Orizaba expeditions and hikes.

·        Oaxaca - Hotel Siglo XVII Art Gallery – This is on the spendy side for us in Mexico at $175 per night, but you will notice a theme in this section: rooftop pools. It is hot this far South in the desert and we were craving afternoon dips after walking through the city. The pool here is gorgeous and the hotel courtyard/views were beautiful. Oaxaca is also just a pricier city as it does get so many tourists.

·        We slept in the van at Hierve el Agua which was a beautiful vista with dark skies and free.

Where to Fly:

·        Flying into Mexico City (MEX), Puebla (PBC), or Oaxaca (OAX) is easy and cheap. You can fly into Puebla or Oaxaca, but you will have to connect through Mexico City anyway and the flight is going to be more expensive. However, if you fly into Mexico City you will have to take buses to travel South or rent a car.

Where to Eat:

·        El Mural de los Poblanos – The best meal we’ve ever had

·        Tacos Arabes Baghdad – Cheap eats with huge portions gyro, taco fusion

·        BRICO Pizzería Restaurant – Neapolitan pizza

·        The Gran Café – Impressive hotel and café designed by the same architect of the Eiffel Tower

·        Los Pacos – Delicious mole

·        Zandunga – Craft cocktails near all the museums

Main Attractions:

Puebla -

·        Teleferico Puebla – Cable Car over the city

·        Santo Domingo Church – Golden church

·        The Puebla Zocalo, Alley of the Frogs – Famous pedestrian street and nightlife area

·        Nuestra Señora de la Medalla Milagrosa – Beautiful cathedral

·        Africam Safari or the Arboterra by Africam in Puebla’s city center

Orizaba -

·        500 Escalones

·        Orizaba Cable Car

·        Orizaba River Walk – Fun city walk with zoo exhibits along the way

Oaxaca -

·        Monte Albán ruins – Mixtec ruins

·        Oaxaca Zocalo – The main square of the city

·        Oaxaca Artisan Market

·        Mercado 20 de Noviembre – Open air food and craft market

·        Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad – The grandest basilica in the city

·        Andador Turístico Promenade – Pedestrian street filled with cafes and shops

·        Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán – Amazing church

·        Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca – One of the best region museums in Mexico focused on Oaxaca history

·        Jardín Conzatti – Cute and park garden in the city

·        Tree of Tule – The widest tree in the world

Hikes:

·        Pico de Orizaba Route Sur – 4.2 miles and 1,571 feet of gain. For Pico de Orizaba there are several routes up, you can go to the refugios or little huts on the mountain or you can go to the summit, they are both fantastic hikes. We went to the refugio on the South side of the mountain, going to the peak would require a few thousand extra feet of elevation gain.

·        Hierve el Agua – 2.4 miles and 389 feet of elevation gain

Our Odyssey

Just 35 minutes South of Val’Quirico lies Puebla, a city worthy of a postcard. We spent 3 days in Puebla and absolutely loved our time here. It was nice to relax a little and take a break from some of the long drives we had become used to. The food in this city as a whole was the best of anywhere in Mexico for us.

We had potentially the best meals of our lives at El Mural de los Poblanos. So good in fact that we came back, three separate times, and ordered the same exact thing every time. We love trying new places, but sometimes when something is so good, you have to repeat it.  The 5 mole tasting and china mole appetizer were unbelievable. Mole is the signature food of the region and this is absolutely the place to try it. The checks for drinks, appetizers, dinner, and desert were around $60 US; however, this pales in comparison to the quality of the experience and food you will be eating. While budget travelers may scoff at this for a dinner for 2 in Mexico, I assure you it is worth every penny.

While we are on the topic of food, if you want cheap eats that will leave you stuffed to the gills, Tacos Arabes Baghdad is your place. The tacos and everything on the menu here were delicious and for $3-4 U.S. dollars the portions were monstrous, like you will get 2 full meals out of a single dish.

Finally, there was BRICO pizzeria right down the street from our hotel. They do wood fired Neapolitan pizza to perfection and there is a large courtyard for kids to room as well as a cute coffee shop and ramen restaurant right next door if that’s what you’re craving.

Roaming around the city is so easy in Puebla, for most of the main downtown core attractions and restaurants they are all within several blocks of each other. The pace of the city also feels relaxed, there is certainly a siesta vibe here and Oaxaca; especially when compared to Mexico City. We highly recommend the fig and prosciutto pizza.

The Santo Domingo Church was quite something to see. Everything and I mean everything was covered in gold here. The grandness of the church was felt immediately upon entering and it has a feeling of significance, regardless of your religious affiliation.

The Zocalo is lively and well kept. Alley of the Frogs is a famed street in Puebla and filled with cute shops and cafes. It is a pretty tranquil area during the day with many simply enjoying a quiet espresso on the patio, but at night this area of town becomes alive and is full of excitement. The teleferico is a cable car ride with sweeping views over the city, a unique attraction if you’re spending a couple days in Puebla, but if you are on a quick stop through, I would just focus your time on the city center. If you’re also going to Orizaba I would save the cable car ride for that city since Puebla’s cost 200 pesos per person vs. 50 in Orizaba and we liked the view better in Orizaba.

The Alley of the Frogs are on a quiet morning.

The arboterra is a biosphere full of flora and fauna. There are treehouses that are fun whether you’re 60 or 2 years old. This stop is more to diversify your time in the city if you need a break from the downtown area or are just looking for something different. Although, an even better option if you’re willing to drive another 20 minutes or so out of the city would be to do the full blown Africam Safari.

In all of my years of travel, if you told me I’d spend my time doing a drive thru zoo experience in the middle of Mexico, I would not have taken you seriously. However, this safari was on another level. It was unbelievable just how close and how many different animals came up to the car.  From bears to African antelope, giraffes, lions, monkeys, water buffalo, and everything in between. This hour driving tour at your own pace was absolutely enthralling and I would come back in a heartbeat.

After fully exploring Puebla, we were ready for a return to the mountains. If you’re in the area we highly recommend stopping to see Pico de Orizaba, an 18,491 feet tall volcano, the tallest in Central America. Whether you’re going to climb to the summit, hike around the base, or just view the mountain from Orizaba the town, it is worth seeing. If you have no interest in mountains or are tight on time, then some will just head straight to Oaxaca from here.

If you do have the time, this is one of the most awe-inspiring mountains we've ever seen. Our original plan was to hike Sierra Negra to the observatory, but we couldn't find the trail so we headed up Orizaba’s South route towards the refugio instead. It might have been the altitude getting to him, but Atlas was so giggly the whole way up with his thick layers and beanie on. Even just hiking around the base of the mountain you will be at 14,000 – 15,000 feet in elevation, so with a toddler on your back you will likely be breathing pretty hard as we were. Also note there is a huge dichotomy of temperature in this area. It may be 100 degrees in Puebla, but on the mountain, temperatures fall quickly and the summit will likely be below freezing temperatures year-round. In May the summit temperatures on Mountain-Forecast.com were hovering around 5 degrees.

The observatory seen on the lefthand side mountain at the peak.

The town of Orizaba is not as refined as its counterparts in Puebla and Oaxaca. We started our trip with a venture to the 500 Escalones. This area is a park with 500 steps that leads down to a waterfall and a gorge. This was the only place on our entire trip we were approached by a local and told that the area was not safe. The guy who stopped to warn us was friendly and was built like a bodybuilder, so we heeded his advice. Up top by the parking area the small park had turtles riding actual crocodiles in a cage enclosure which was wild to see. The overlook was also pretty, but we had a sketchy vibe after the warning, so we quickly left the park and drove off towards the city center.

Orizaba itself is an interesting city and has a completely different feel than any other we found in Mexico; we almost got San Antonio vibes due to the river walk, but the Mexican version. The river walk cuts through the entire city and just like the 500 Escalones hikes, there are different zoo enclosures of different animals throughout the river walk. This walk is also entirely free. You’re just walking along the river enjoying your tamale, then all of a sudden there’s a 300-foot-wide enclosure with monkeys swinging across high wires. We almost couldn’t believe it when we first saw this as it did not appear anywhere in our research. Every tenth or quarter mile there was then a turtle exhibit then a crocodile exhibit, just right there out in the open air. From the river walk it is convenient to access the teleferico or cable car. This ride in Orizaba we thought was better than the one in Puebla as you go up to a higher view and have better views as the mountains here are more dramatic and down to the city. The ride only cost 50 pesos or about $2.50 per person and is open from 9:30 am to 6 pm every day.

Down in the city street vendors are everywhere all along the sidewalks and tucked away in tiny buildings. We had some chocolate and meat tamales from several vendors. They were addicting. At first they were just going to be a snack before lunch, but before long we had eaten a half dozen and they were lunch. They also cost something ridiculous, like 12 pesos a piece. We walked though the city to have a coffee at the Gran Café, which was designed by the Eiffel Tower's architect. It is a beautiful building that has a completely unique style of its own.

Upon heading out of the city a cop tried to extort us by saying we ran a red light; although, this time we stayed firm and denied it. Eventually she let us go, but we had to stay adamant in our denial (which was true, we did not run any light) until we backed her down. This took about 5 minutes, but fool me once at the border, can’t get fooled again as President George Bush would say!

From Orizaba or Puebla it’s about a 4 hour and 20 minute drive down to Oaxaca. Oaxaca is everything you could want of Central Mexican culture. The Mayan architecture is gorgeous and the vibrant colors of the building bring the city to life. Oaxaca is similar to San Miguel Allende in that you can spend days just wandering down every nook and cranny. We constantly popped our heads into building courtyards just to see their design and see what lied behind the gorgeous façade. You could create a coffee table book just of the all the grand doors and entryways of Oaxacan buildings.

If you’re looking for a place to buy souvenirs and handmade crafts in Mexico, this would be your spot. They might be slightly more expensive in Oaxaca, but this town is truly comprised of artisans, you will find many more handcrafted goods rather than cheap souvenirs shipped from China. The Oaxaca Artisan Market is an open-air market that winds through the streets and even connects to Mercado 20 de Noviembre to create a half mile long network of shops with food vendors included for plenty of snacks while you wander through.

These markets are a great way to start the day and you can generally walk north for a couple miles across the various basilica and church sites up to Andador Turístico Promenade which is a great place to grab a late morning bite to eat or brunch. The promenade has plenty of shops, more so in actual buildings rather than just vendor carts. The walk through this part of town has pedestrian walkways lined with fiesta flags and pinatas that will give you plenty of photo opportunities. Los Pacos is just a few blocks from the promenade if you are hungrier for a more substantial meal with a menu full of local specialties and of course, mole.

A couple blocks north and west is the museum district, with our favorite the Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca. The museum itself is in a monastery and actually connects to the Templo de Santo Domingo. This is a great place for history buffs to learn about the Mixtecs and the region as a whole. Pairing this with the Monte Alban ruins, which we talk about below, will give you a great appreciation of the history of Oaxaca. If plants are more your thing, the Botanical Garden of Oaxaca or Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca is right next door. This botanical garden had plenty of ponds, greenhouses, and bamboo gardens that left us amazed. There were so many plants that we had never seen in any other part of the world or even if we had they were usually much larger in scale.

Even if its not 5 o’clock yet, right across the street from the museum is Zandunga, a crucial rehydrating spot with plenty of margaritas and cocktails to choose from in a trendy courtyard restaurant surrounded by boutiques. From here the streets just kept getting better and better. Farmer’s markets sprung up in random parks and the views down through the city keep getting better the farther North you walk towards the Jardin. We spent two days in Oaxaca and felt that was just right for us at that point in the trip, but you could easily stretch this to 3 or 4 days, especially if you are staying at a hotel with a pool like Hotel Siglo XVII Art Gallery or are going to some of the surrounding attractions outside the city.

The Monte Alban ruins are a quiet spot only a half hour from the city of Oaxaca with fantastic photo opportunities as the grounds create a natural terracing effect on a mountain plateau so you can get wide sweeping pictures across the ruins and surrounding ridgelines. This is especially true if you get there early, before the tours show up around mid-morning. It was interesting climbing some of the ruins and learning about the games they used to play in ancient times in the fields, as well as the village life that existed here.

On the way to Hierve el Agua and a 40-minute drive from Monte Alban is the Tree of Tule, the world's widest tree in the middle of a small town park with a cathedral. Some of the prettiest gardens and square we saw on the entire trip surrounded this site. There are plenty of vendors here and restaurants if you’re hungry, but the rest of the suburb did not have a ton to offer. It would be a decent 10-mile roundtrip, but you could also rent bikes in Oaxaca and bike to the Tree of Tule along established paths.

The tree is wider than it looks in the picture at 46 feet wide.

Our final stop on this section of the trip was the famous hot springs of Hierve el Agua, an hour and 20 minutes South of the tree of tule. It is a quick quarter mile hike from the parking area down to the main pools, but we highly recommend doing the full loop hike of 2.4 miles and 389 feet of elevation gain. The hike is absolutely amazing as you go down into the valley to look up at the massive, calcified falls and even get to hike your way through some of the massive tufa features of the pools that stretch down a couple hundred feet. There were so many different hot springs pools along the entire hike illuminated with different natural colors that seemed to glow in the sunlight. The valley and surrounding mountains were gorgeous and would have made a great hike in and of themselves. This is also a great secluded area to camp. On our night here we chatted with some German van lifers heading down to South America, it was fun touring each other's vans and talking about our travels. This section of the trip was some of our favorite, it is well traveled and you will see plenty of tourists from across Mexico and the world, but it is that way for a reason. There is a lot to offer in this area of Mexico and the convenience of the area makes it perfect for a week-long getaway.

Section VII – The Southern Coast of Oaxaca to Chiapas: Completely Empty Coastlines, Canyons Filled with Crocodiles, and Mesmerizing Jungle Waterfalls

Section Summary and Map:

It takes a bit of effort to get down to the Southern coast of Oaxaca, but if you’re looking for beaches where you will likely be the only person for miles, then this is your spot. The entire coastline is gorgeous and set across a backdrop of giant sand dunes and craggy peaks. If you’re a surfer, this area will be paradise and you can camp just about endlessly for free. Pelicans are a regular site, as are mango trees holding more fruit than you thought was possible. The drive down to the coast through Oaxaca is 4 hours and 45 minutes from Hierve El Agua winding along mountainous roads, but along the way you will get to see the hillside agave farms and the cultivation of the agave that produces all of the wonderful spirits Mexico is so famous for. Once you navigate across to Chiapas you are thrown back into the lush jungle and rain forest. Hiking and nature opportunities are endless, but driving from place to place can take some time when there are little to no toll roads. While most of the crowds will head up the coast to Acapulco, you will see few tourists in this area and it will have that adventurous feel of the Huasteca Potosina region.

Where to Stay:

·        Southern Coast – Casa Majeva Punta Conejo – a 5-star hotel at $125 per night. This property has a pool which will be a nice break from the ocean and every amenity you could ask for.

·        Tuxtla Gutierrez - The Lu'um House – Everyone raves about this property and it is in a great location for roughly $75 per night.

Where to Fly:

·        Your best bet for visiting the Southern Coast and Chiapas would be to fly into Oaxaca (OAX) as your base and rent a car. Public transit from the south of Oaxaca will be very limited. Expect long drives as the mountains through this region and along the coast are rugged.

Where to Eat:

·        Jardín Divino – Beautiful restaurant in a garden with the best fresh squeezed juices, daily brunch/lunch dishes, and artisan desserts.

·        NATTIVA brunch & restaurant – Right on the beach, the views are as good as the food.

·        Los Hijos del Maíz – Fresh seafood tacos and craft cocktails in an unusual setting.

Main Attractions:

·        The beaches and hikes

Hikes:

·        Dunas de Playa Azul - 1 mile and 80 feet of gain

·        Cascada El Aguacero – 2.5 miles and 820 feet of gain

·        Canyon Sumidero and the 5 Overlooks – 2 miles and 120 feet of gain

·        Guanacastle Park – You can go as short or as far as you like in the park, there are a myriad of trails through the jungle including a glass bottom bridge out over the cliffside.

Our Odyssey

A 5-hour drive south from Hierve el Agua will land you at Playa Chipehua, a cute small beach town where you will find other expats mainly looking to surf. The beach was about a 10-foot walk from the parking and the ocean was quite calm at night and warm. There are a couple restaurants along the beach all cooking freshly caught fish. It is fun to watch the fishermen coming in from their morning catch and beaching their boats.

Playa Azul was a short drive down the road and was a fun beach with great waves for body surfing. We had Atlas naked under an umbrella at this beach and he pooped all over the beach towels! Luckily, it was easy to get him cleaned up. The dunes in this area are a highlight and make the coast that much more dramatic. It is a short half mile or so out to the dunes and they are a blast to run down. From here Los Hijos del Maíz was one of those “only in Mexico” kind of meals. Delicious, fresh shrimp tacos and craft cocktails inside a gas station restaurant just outside of town. The restaurant itself is really well decorated and trendy, it is just funny how it is adjoined to the gas station.

NATTIVA brunch & restaurant was an excellent start to the morning with an amazing breakfast looking out to the beach. The atmosphere at this restaurant will make you feel like you’re on your honeymoon.

Chiapas is 5-hour drive from here, but the jungle and canyons in this area make it a must visit if you’re looking for adventure off the beaten path. We started our Chiapas visit by going to Cascada El Aguacero and incredible waterfall that poured down the entire canyon wall about 200 feet wide and had plenty of pools and falls coming off the different spouts and mossy jungle tufas. It was fun to climb up through the few dozen waterfall offshoots and explore back in the caves behind the waterfalls. The hike requires descending a few hundred stairs down the canyon to the river, but the scenery is straight out of National Geographic. We spent a couple hours here and Atlas loved the spray coming off the falls.

Tuxtla Gutierrez is just down the road from here.

The city itself is not overly picturesque the way Puebla or Oaxaca are, but there are some great places to eat and it is a centralized base as there are a lot of hikes and tours in the area. Jardín Divino was an incredible lunch stop with a variety of daily dishes, freshly squeezed juices, and stunning desserts.

The star attraction of this area is Canyon Sumidero located just on the outskirts of the city. The canyon might give you vertigo as the walls tower over 3300 feet tall at a dramatic almost 90-degree angle. There are five separate overlooks that are short walks, each about a half mile or less. Walking the overlooks was really neat and the last one had an amazing tower overlooking a massive U section of the canyon with an art installation inside. We would also recommend taking a boat ride through the canyon as the views from the bottom through the tight canyon walls are equally mind boggling. The tour will also give you insight into the wildlife of the area, including exotic birds and crocodiles.

Guanacastle Park is an amazing ecopark and the owners are doing inspiring environmental work bringing this area back to its former glory. You can go as short or as far as you like in the park, there are a myriad of trails through the jungle including a glass bottom bridge out over the cliffside.

Shortly after this last stop we were involved in a hit and run and had to cut our trip short. We had originally planned to spend another 2 weeks going through Campeche and up to Merida, but we had to take care of the claim and van. If I’m honest too, by this time of the trip it was getting to be June and quite hot living out of the van. If possible, I would do this trip more from February – April for the ideal weather. If you wish to proceed through Chiapas here are some other top-rated hikes, ruins, and towns that we had planned. The drive from Tuxtla Gutierrez to Merida is about 13 hours and even longer if you add some of these stopes in between. There are not a ton of tourist attractions in Campeche so often travels will either fly into Merida if that’s where you would like to go or they head South into Guatemala. If you’re interested in continuing this journey, here were some additional stops we had on our list on the way to Merida.

The damage to Big Betsy from when we were hit and run.

·        Cascada "El Chorreadero” - waterfall hike

·        San Cristobal de las Casas – Cute town with great artisan crafts

·        Cascada El Corralito – waterfall hike

·        Zona Arqueológica de Toniná – Mayan ruins

·        Agua Azul Waterfalls - waterfall hike

·        Cascadas Roberto Barrios - waterfall hike

·        Sombrillas Waterfalls - waterfall hike

·        Zona Arquelogica Palenque – Mayan ruins

·        Sport Climbing – Arcotete: 5.7- 5.13 and Cerro de Don Lauro: 5.6 -5.14

We hope you enjoyed the itinerary and will travel through some of these destinations yourself!