Driving day... Tepotzotlan to Cholula

Driving days are always interesting... you never quite know how smoothly things will go. Turns out that yesterday went pretty smooth, although there were a couple of minor glitches!

First thing we had to do was to top up the fuel. Mexico has been experiencing some fuel delivery problems, and there have been a lot of stations without any fuel at all. Usually, it's a very temporary situation.

Last day in Tepotzotlan

It was our last day at Pepe's RV Park. We spent the morning relaxing, and then after lunch a bunch of us walked into town to see the World Heritage Virreinato National Museum here in Tepotzotlan.

The building itself was a Jesuit College, built in the early 1600's. The attached Church of San Francisco Javier was built between 1670 and 1682. It is likely one of the most ornate churches we have ever seen, all of the alter pieces are carved of white cedar and adorned with 23 1/2 karat gold leaf.

A couple of days to get caught up

Compared to last year's trip, we have a lot more days of rest on this trip. It's one of the things we wanted to change, and so far, we think we have found the right balance. In fact, someone left a comment yesterday saying "Sure sounds as though this small caravan is working for you two."

And yes, we think it is. We had a little discussion yesterday with some of the group about things we could change or do differently, and it would seem that everybody is very happy so far. Including us!

Day trip to the ancient city of Teotihuacan

One of the highlights of the Mexico City area is the ancient city of Teotihuacan. It's a little difficult to get to from where we are at Pepe's Hotel and RV Park, but Pepe's sells organized tours to the ruins site, along with a guide and a bus. So our group took them up on that.

Yesterday was the first day of the year where the Mexican population is back to work and school. It was suggested to us that we leave early to make the best use of our time, so we were all on the bus at 8:00am.

Last day in Mexico City

We got the group back down for breakfast at 8:00am. With only three days and two nights in the Big Tamale, you want to take advantage of every minute. If we do this again next year, we might spread it over three nights and try to relax a little more. The downside to that might be that we don't relax, and we just try to see even more!

Anyhow, we decided to walk over to the Monument of the Revolution. Then to give the group a different experience, we took the Mexico City Subway to the historical center.

The best way to see a city is by walking

There is a lot to see in the downtown area of Mexico City, and there are many ways of getting around. Taxis are inexpensive, and Uber works well and is even cheaper. The metro buses, the subway (underground) shared bicycles, shared electric scooters... transportation for everyone!

But we choose to walk. Although... the shared electric scooters look like fun!

Into The Big Tamale - Mexico City!

A minibus arrived at Pepe's Hotel and RV park just after 10:00am Friday to take nine of our group into Mexico City. We all piled in, and it was sure nice to have someone else do the driving in the busy city traffic.

Mexico City is huge. They say that the metropolitan area  is around 21 million people, but they're probably off by a million or two either way. How could they count that many people all squeezed into such a small area?

Traffic jam!

Yesterday was a driving day as we made our way from Valle de Bravo to Tepotzatlan. Ruth and I have been on most of these roads before at some time or another, but never this particular route all in one day.

There is no easy way to get 8 motorhomes from Valle de Bravo to Tepotzotlan.

Last day in Valle de Bravo

Yesterday was our last day here in Valle de Bravo. It's been a great stay, and everybody enjoyed it here, just like we knew they would. 12 days is almost not enough time though! Two more days would have been nice.

But, we have reservations for Mexico City for Friday and Saturday night so it's time to move on!

Well that was a fantastic way to start the new year!

Valle de Bravo is a popular area for paragliding. It started back in the 1980's with hang gliding, but now you don't see any hang gliders... it's all paragliding. The wind conditions are near perfect and consistent every day from November through March.

This is our sixth time here in Valle de Bravo, so we've seen the paragliders doing their thing and we've always wanted to try it.

Happy 2019!

Yesterday was a rest day. I took some time to take apart and clean our roof vents, something that needs to be done once a year or so. I think there was still some Dempster Highway dust up there!

And Ruth and I walked into nearby El Arco to pick up a few things for our wine and cheese New Years Eve happy hour. Otherwise, not much going on yesterday, so we thought we would present a different perspective for you...

Sometimes in Mexico you never quite know how something is going to happen...

Three years ago, Ruth and I had hopped on some local transportation and done a day trip to a waterfall. We suggested the trip to the group, and 10 of us decided to go. But it's tough to use local transport for a group of ten, so we contacted the same minibus company that had taken us to the butterflies, and they sent a van to pick us up at 10:00am.

But before we left, we had some laundry to do...

What a great way to start off the new year!

From November through February there are near perfect daily conditions for paragliding here in Valle de Bravo. And with the fantastic views, this makes Valle de Bravo a world class paragliding location. Every single day at this time of year they are paragliding off the top of nearby Monte Alto.

 And every time we've been here we've thought about going paragliding.

Yesterday, we went to the central area and put down a deposit!

Into Valle de Bravo for lunch, and evening birthday cake!

Yesterday was a day off for the group. Ruth and I needed to go into town to buy a birthday present and do some research on another activity for the group. We made plans to go into town with Roy and Sue, and while we were standing out at the road waiting for a collectivo (shared taxi) Garth showed up and he came along with us.

Pretty tough to get all five of us into a single collectivo because they usually already have at least 1 person in them when they come along, so Ruth and Sue took off in one, and the three guys waited for another one with a plan to meet up downtown.

Our 5th visit to see the monarch butterflies wintering grounds

This is a bucket list item for many people, and we've now done it five times... and it never gets old.

We rented a 14 passenger van for the group. It cost 2,000 pesos ($103 USD, $140 CAD) for the van and driver for the day. So with 14 people, it was 150 pesos ($7.75 USD, $10.50 CAD) per person. Not a bad deal. When these people signed up to travel with Kevin and Ruth, they get to share our frugality!