We weren't going far though... only into the city of Ciudad Hidalgo (pop 80,000) to a big Bodega Aurrera grocery store parking lot.
We had breakfast there, then went in and did some grocery shopping. Mexican grocery stores often have "helpers" who will take your groceries to your car for you, and bring the empty cart back, expecting a small tip. The guy who helped us spoke perfect English, which is not common in this area. I got to talking to him and it turns out he's from Colorado, but had entered the U.S. illegally when he was a youngster. He spent many years in the U.S., got married, had a family... and then got deported. His wife and kids are still in the U.S. as his mother in law tries to get his paperwork fixed so he can return home. Sad story.
Nice guy though, and he said we were fine to leave Igor parked in the Bodega Aurrera parking lot while we walked to the center. He gave us some tips on where to get the best food for lunch.
Winnie the Pooh candy store.
Christmas decorations in the central plaza.
Nobody around because everyone is shopping. The streets and shops were actually quite busy.
Town hall.
The main church was interesting. There was actually a service of some kind going on inside.
We also found this smaller church that was really pretty.
Inside nicely decorated.
Ciudad Hidalgo is not a tourist place. We didn't see another gringo the whole time we were there.
We went and had carnitas for lunch.
Two carnitas each, plus a shared melon drink for a total of 125 pesos ($8.75 CAD, $6.05 USD).
The tortillas are all hand made.
Back at Igor, we got things ready to go, but again, we weren't going far. It was about 45 minutes (uphill all the way!) to Los Azufres. We had been up here with Sherman way back in 2012, but we didn't think Sherman was agile enough to make it up to Los Azufres, so we had parked at the side of the lake instead. This time, Igor is of course much smaller than Sherman was. so we went all the way up.
We are over 9,000' altitude up here,
Los Azufres is a thermal water area where there are lots of hot spring pools and cabins for rent. There aren't a lot of camping areas, as such, but most places will let you stay overnight in the parking lot if you pay to use the pools.
We chose the Rancho Viejo, paid 320 pesos ($22.40 CAD, $15.50 USD) and looked for a decent overnight spot. The parking area was actually fairly busy, but I had read where they have a lower camping area that is rarely used. We walked down there, and it would have been great, however the road down was in very poor condition. Igor could have got down there, but might not have made it back up!
We ended up in the main lot. Most of the cars would disappear by dark.
GPS 19.784897, -100.674928
Lots of people in the pools.
Look up... there are some big pine trees!
Me, with the signpost.
Ruth went for a dip.
While Ruth was in the one pool, I went to the other pools just to check the temperature. They were all warm, but none of them were that hot. While I was up at the top one, a teenage girl came towards me, and asked me a question. I didn't understand, and explained that my Spanish isn't perfect and asked her to repeat it. She responded in perfect English, with no accent at all. She was born in the U.S., and she and her brother are visiting here from Oklahoma. Too funny.
Slept fine last night. Going to leave by 9:00am because if the parking lot starts to fill up it will be difficult to get out of here!
We're going to head north of the main toll highway to a town called Yuriria. We've never been there before, and that's the main reason for taking that route... just for something different!
Our route since we left Valle de Bravo.
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And in Canada...
Winnie the Pooh. Jeannie's favorite. I would definately have to take her in that store.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as we saw the store we thought of Jeannie and knew that we had to take a picture of the store for her. We should have gone into the store to see what it was like inside. Jeannie would love for you to take her there.
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