Great first day back on the road!

We had a plan to set off by 9:00am, but our host Chago didn’t seem to want us to leave. He kept coming by to ask questions, and wanted my help to try to set up his smart watch. But I have no experience with smart watches! Anyhow, it's nice that he doesn't want us to leave! We may be back in April!

It was almost 10:00am by the time we left, which was totally fine. I figured we had about a two and a half hour drive to do.

First stop was to top up the gas tank. Igor was still over half full, but our new furnace sucks from the gas tank, and it needs to be around the half way mark to confirm that it will work. We’re going to be up in the mountains, so we want to make sure we have heat!

We decided to take the toll road out of El Arco because we had taken the free road coming down and it was in terrible shape. Sometimes it’s worth it to pay the extra for the toll roads.

It wasn't all like this, but overall it was in good shape.

We also took the toll road that leads to Zitacuaro. We’ve done the free road quite a few times in the past, and the toll road wasn’t that much money. In total, the three tolls added up to 243 pesos ($16.80 CAD, $11.70 USD). I think it was worth it in this case.

Just before Zitacuaro, the toll road ended.

Despite the fact that it's slower going, the free roads are much more interesting.

Quite a bit of traffic in this area!

But then we were out in the countryside again.

Arrived at the Grutas de Tziranda (Tziranda Caves) at about 12:30pm and went over to talk to the very friendly guy named Carlos at the entrance booth. It’s just a small place and the parking lot isn’t very big, but he said that when the park closes he would let us in onto the grass to park for the night. It’s actually quite a scenic little spot, and great that it’s free for the night, although you have to pay a small entrance fee for the caves.

We had some lunch and then decided to go for a walk before doing the cave tour. We headed up the hill on the other side of the river and through the rustic hillside village of Las Caleras. We found a nice path that led beside a small water canal, and ended up doing about 5 kms (3 miles).

It's a pretty area!

We walked along this canal for a while.

Big maguey plant.

Nice views.

Lots of small farms.

This is about where we turned around and headed back.

As we're approaching the bridge over the river beside which we are parked, we see a guy with a motorcycle that's broken down, and a couple of other guys are trying to help him, but they only have a screwdriver and a pair of pliers for tools. His chain had come off, and they were trying to loosen up the wheel. I offered to go get my tool box, and they were so happy. We had that chain back on and tightened up in no time.

Back at Igor, the cave was actually quite busy. A few families were having picnics. People are obviously still on holiday. I’m guessing a lot of people don’t go back to work until after January 6th which is Three Kings Day.

So I had a nap and eventually Carlos came over to tell us that there was only one more tour before they closed, so we had better do it! Cost was only 35 pesos ($2.40 CAD. $1.60 USD) each, but they also ask for a tip for the unpaid guides who were just young high school students.

Our two guides leading our group up to the entrance.

They pointed out some interesting fossils.

They said this is a fossilized tree root.

Similar trees still grow outside the cave.

We all had to wear brain buckets. Good thing, too!

The face of the devil.

Heading further in.

Looking up.

It was a pretty small cave, but still interesting. And of course it wasn't very expensive!

When we came out, Carlos had removed the barriers so that we could go park on the grass.

This is where we spent the night!

GPS 19.639888, -100.50191

Pretty quiet overnight, and we had a good sleep. But we didn't have a usable cell signal down there, so we headed up to the small city of Ciudad Hidalgo first thing. We've driven through, and around Ciudad Higalgo in the past, but have never came in to see the city itself.

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