Mexico City

Have I mentioned how wonderful Mexico City is? On any given day I can take a walk and be thoroughly entertained by this magnificent city. There is always something happening somewhere, and there is always a lot of color, noise, and street food. The album to the right is a collection of pictures that portray what I saw walking through the city on a Sunday. As you can see there are tons of people walking about and tons of action.

Huasteca

During a recent four day weekend Craig and I traveled with our friends Colin and Anya up north to the state of San Luis Potosi. There we encountered a lovely mountainous region of the country with thick jungle and clear blue rivers.

We camped out directly beside the river among the sugar cane fields. The night sky was vast and very starry and we took early morning baths by swimming in the clear water.

During the day we explored the area, finding large waterfalls, wonderful hiking paths, and pristine swimming holes. We also traveled through small mountain towns wherein all houses had a large pig tied to a tree, several hens and roosters, and most often a burro or cattle. The houses were small and simple but very clean and colorful. The people were very kind and often helped us when we became lost.

Flocks of wild parakeets would fly overhead and fruit trees grew naturally in the wild. Some areas had so many orange trees that the landscape was dotted with orange color and there were large bags of harvested oranges everywhere.

My favorite part of this journey was the rugged exploring we did and the lush greenery that constantly surrounded us. My least favorite part was having to go to the bathroom outside.

You can see all pictures of our trip by clicking on "HUASTECA" on the right of this page.

Also posted are other pictures of our excursions outside of the grand city of DF.

Cuernavaca

About an hour and a half bus ride to the south of the city and you wind up in Cuernavaca, Mexico. I have a friend teaching and living there and Craig and I went to visit for three days.

I love the colonial center of the city. It is lined with colorful colonial buildings and the streets are busy with people young and old. I love the cathedrals in the down town center - they are a fading pink color and to walk inside of them is like walking through time, into days from long long ago. Ouside of the cathedrals is a string of coffee shops where you can sit outside with friends drinking coffee and chatting and watching the passers by.

Craig and I also found a pathway by a sunken river that led us through a jungle thick with trees right through the center of town. We walked all day and explored. I couldn't help but get some churros - four for 10 pesos - everytime we passed a vendor. We had delicious tacos al pastor at a local taqueria and Craig even got one of his best hair cuts ever for 30 pesos.

There is a large museum in the center of town that holds all sorts of relics from Cuernavaca's past - there is a very large mural painted by Diego Rivera that we sat in front of and looked at for quite a long time. It was amazing.

My favorite part was sitting on the hammock on the front part of my friend's house, enjoying the warm Cuernavaca sunshine and happy with the thought that very soon again I would be going to eat more tacos al pastor.