Last of Mexico

Leaving Oaxaca the drive to San Cristobal de las Casas included a few changes of scenery. The roads were excellent and we were able to skillfully avoid the last remaining bloqueos that the citizens of Oaxaca had set up as we left the state.  Leona's navigating and her instincts for trouble were becoming well tuned after a baptism of fire,

It seemed like the countryside was getting drier as we found ourselves looking at hillsides of large cacti resembling Cordon. The local variety at the right had even more arms but was much shorter and probably not as long lived.

While we had entered the mescal country before Oaxaca, it was becoming abundantly clear that these people were serious about tequila: the hills were now covered in plantations of blue agave.  For about an hour and we were constantly in view of scenes like that below.

We travelled along excellent highways, often down the spine of mountain ranges before plunging into deep valleys.  Bridges that spanned gorges hundreds of feet deep allowed us to cover miles quickly.  The same route would have taken weeks before these modern  highways had been built.

At times it was hard to ignore the rugged majesty of the southern Mexican highlands...

 and keep all attention on the utter madness being played out on the highway. It was common to see cars speeding past three semis at once, up a hill, on a blind corner. Common!

Mexican drivers are hands down the most impatient and totally reckless drivers I have ever witnessed.  They have no apparent concept of the power limitations of their vehicles and a wanton disregard of the consequences of their actions.

Sadly we witnessed a couple of those consequences passing by shortly after the occurrence of highway fatalities.

While traffic slowed for a few miles as drivers contemplated what they had witnessed at the side of the road, within 5 minutes most of them were once again pushing beyond reasonable limits and placing their lives in the hands of fate.

Leona had been claiming that I was going native behind the wheel but I can assure you I will never go native.... in that way.

Before reaching San Cristobal the toll road descended into a valley which traversed a wind corridor paralleling the Pacific coastline.  Now the only trees for many miles was a forest of wind turbines.  Mexico is only slowly opening its energy sector to foreign participation and historically their oil and gas industry had suffered from chronic under performance, primarily due to a lack of capital and an unwillingness to take on foreign partners.

It was encouraging to see that they had taken the step to incorporate renewables into their electricity generation mix to such an apparently successful degree,  This site rivalled anything we had seen driving down the desert southwest of the US.

Brad and the trusty little Nissan, both gasping for breath at high altitude

Soon we could see more mountains in the distance that we knew we must be starting the climb to  San Cristobal de las Casas, perched at a lofty 7,000 feet.

As we passed a very smoggy Tuxtla Guttierez we knew it was only about an hour to San Cristobal.  Amazingly we would be pushing uphill the entire way, As we climbed higher and higher the temperature dropped and by the time we arrived and got out of the vehicle, it was sweater weather in mid-afternoon. 

We had booked the The Hotel San Luis, a small family-run hotel on the ancient main street of San Cristobal, The city had been founded in the 1500s and all of the streets in the centre were ancient cobblestone and barely a lane wide.  One-ways are OK in the city core, but really guys, could we put up a few signs to tell us which way to go.  Too simple I guess.  I was beginning to understand that what Mexican drivers really cherish is a challenge.

It became apparent that the direction of the street was dictated by the number of cars that wanted to go in a particular direction at any given time. When traffic is light it is a free-for-all.  When traffic is heavy it is a free-for-all.

Back to the hotel, they had a lovely Christmas tree, one of the first we had seen, and a nativity scene set up in the lobby.  It was totally charming and homey.

Most hotels in the older part of a Latin American city are set up like the San Luis.  In most cases they have not been hotels forever: when a grand old family was unable to keep up a large home it was often sold off to a hotelier or refurbished by the family to serve as a hotel.

Typically there is a narrow opening onto the street with a reception or lounge area.  A courtyard near the front which had served as a garden and now was commonly a restaurant.  The rooms and pool often circle the courtyard to the back of the property.  They are comfortable and secure configurations that make staying at a hotel a warm and personal experience, more like visiting a large family than checking into a hotel.

These are night and day pictures of the Christmas scene in front of the garden area of the hotel. Inside on the walls were many family pictures dating back a few generations.

The family were very friendly and the wife spoke excellent English. The room was simple but clean. The only issue we had during our stay was there was no heat in the room. But, you might say, this is Mexico, who needs heat?

Well, the temperature dropped to 8 C when we were there and often goes below freezing in the winter!  Leona spent the evenings with several layers of clothes on under the blankets. Apparently the Mediterranean blood of these French girls thins very quickly.  To the right is a fun picture of Leona wearing all of the clothes she brought with her to Mexico, preparing for bed.  

The city of San Cristobal was founded in 1528 by Diego de Mazariegos (which is the name of the main street our hotel was on). Try saying that ten times fast.

There were many indigenous people selling their woven clothes and blankets. This young woman had her son along with her. He was not too excited about us taking his picture but she was agreeable. They were appropriately dressed for the climate!

The Cathedral below is a beautifully restored building off the central square or zocalo. As in most Mexican cities the zocalo is the block at the centre of the city where a public park is surrounded by the cities most prominent cathedral on one side, the City Hall on another side, the Governor or Mayor's Palace on another side and either a grand hotel or governmental offices to round out the block.  It usually forms the commercial and the civic centre of the city with restaurants and, in recent years, massive concentrations of gringos. A local favourite was handmade hot chocolate, which I had to indulge in.


Mexicans are very devout Catholics and their observations of Christmas are very traditional.  Never the less American culture has had its impact and we were happy to see familiar scenes of snowmen, Christmas trees, and Santas on prominent display,

This was a Christmas scene you might see in Calgary, strangely out of place in the tropics.  Considering the temperature in San Cristobal however, maybe not.

If it weren't for the cooler climate I would have found it hard to leave San Cristobal de las Casas. Mediterranean blood however thins quickly and thickens slowly. We were compelled onward, beyond the borders of Ol' Mexico and to the warmer climes south.

Hasta proxima: B&L

Oaxaca and New Friends

After a stressful trip to Oaxaca we found ourselves in the peaceful and calm surroundings of the Overlander Oasis in El Tule,  on the outskirts of Oaxaca City.  Leanne and Calvin were our gracious hosts and provided an endless fount of information both on the immediate area and Mexico overall. Before settling into Oaxaca they had travelled several years throughout Mexico in a retrofitted highway coach (think Greyhound).You name it, they knew where everything was and how to get it.

Deciding to plant roots in Oaxaca they bought a piece of property with some buildings already situated and made it into their own. Together they possess a formidable range of talents, her a disciplined and precise Med Lab Tech (like Leona) and he a mad inventor and mechanical genius disguised as an automotive mechanic.

The Casita and home for a week

Drawing on their many years of 'overlanding' they built a facility catering to other overlanders.  It is at the same time less than and much more than an RV park,


To accommodate visiting relatives and friends they built a charming and comfortable casita which they also rent out when not using it themselves. It became our home away from home for a week and just the kind of break we needed. We can't thank them enough!

A picture of part of the interior of the Casita

As Canadians we had a lot in common with Calvin and Leanne and spent many evenings visiting and getting to know each other.

In her tenure as a Lab Tech Leanne even worked in Calgary for a short time! Small world!

At left Leanne is showing us how to cut bananas right off the tree!

At right Calvin is cooling roasted coffee done on a machine of his own invention using his gas barbecue, a rotisserie, and various machined parts to create a rotating stainless steel basket.  He has many such marvels scattered throughout the property but in this case he is perfecting the art of cafe rosteria, a la redneck.

It wouldn't be fair to tell you of El Tule without also mentioning the 'biggest tree in the world', for which, by their own estimation, the town is famous.

Whatever the veracity of the claim the tree is astounding and difficult to capture on camera, It's scale is perhaps best shown when compared to the cathedral nearby.  The tree actually sits behind the courtyard in front of the church.

This view of the trunk shows a mass that is at least 100' in diameter.  Brad could probably walk around it in less than a day, but it was really big,

Here we learn of dying wool
traditionally with natural dyes

We also received topnotch advice on the local arts and culture at the Overlander Oasis.  One outing took us to Teotitlan,  a small town outside of Oaxaca which has preserved the ancient techniques of preparing, dying, and weaving natural wool fibres into beautiful handmade rugs.

Rosaria instructs Leona in spinning wool

Rosaria's family have been doing this for generations and still use the same techniques, although Rosaria and her son experiment with different colours and unique patterns. Beautiful work!

She's a quick study!

One afternoon we took our vehicle into the city for a service and thorough check over with a mechanic buddy of Calvin's.  From his shop it was an easy stroll into the core of the city to see the main square and all of the ancient buildings for which the city was justifiably famous.

One side of the huge main zocalo

What we discovered rivalled many of the cities of Old Spain amidst a rich cultural tapestry spanning eons of native  American empires and their traditions.  Museums of Archeology, PreHispanic Culture, Ethnobotany, etc., etc....

It was overwhelming... so we sat in the shade and had a couple of cold beers to mull over the options,  When we finally settled on the Oaxacan Museum of Ethnobotany it was closed for that day! We really are not very good tourists!

Back to the shade for another beer to ponder the remaining options. Before we knew it the car was ready and we had tried all of the brands of beer but none of the museums.  A good day!

We also took a day to go the ruins at Monte Alban on a mountain overlooking Oaxaca.

It was a huge site -bigger than the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan- and a fitting memorial to a civilisation that spanned many centuries.












We had only planned to stay three days in the city of Oaxaca but ended up stretching that to a week! We loved the climate: around mid 20's in the daytime with evenings cooling to mid teens.
No air-conditioning needed.

Apparently summer temperatures rarely exceed the mid 30's.  Even the rainy season is pretty mild with rains in short bursts, primarily in the evenings.

We really could have stayed longer but we know how much time we have to cover the distances yet to go. So sadly we had to say goodbye to our lovely casita and new friends! We have promised to come back for Easter! And get back on the road.

Our next destination was San Cristobal de les Casas in Chiapas. Another eight hour drive where we seemed only to be climbing.  Again we found ourselves in another beautiful and ancient mountain town. But that is, as they say, another chapter.

Hasta luego: B&L

Silver Linings and Lofty Pursuits

We said goodbye to Zihuatenejo and the beach life in the Pacific coast of Guerrero, heading to the highlands silver mining town of Taxco in the same state.

We quickly found ourselves driving through mountain roads similar to the Logan Pass (also called the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier Park, Montana), without the snow.

This however was the Sierra Madre range; also very high but with lush tropical vegetation. The road seemed to be nothing but switchbacks and after 2 hours we had barely gone 80 km!  At times it seemed we were in a tunnel but it was only that the vegetation had engulfed the rock cliff faces and the roadway.

Soon enough we left the high mountains and even though the roads were still windy, we could drive a speed closer to 80 kph. No wonder it takes 6.5 hours to go 450 km!

Daunting to look across a wide valley and see a cut across the mountain face at the your elevation and realise "that's our road, in about 30 minutes"

After we had cleared the highest passes and were winding through forested highlands, we noticed an increase in military presence in many of the towns we drove through.

Usually we were waved through with a smile; sometimes a quizzical 'what the hell is that?' gawk; and occasionally that dismissive brush of the hand that says 'on your way, gringo'.


In the small town of Teloloapan however, in the space of about 5 blocks -which was the full length of the town- we actually drove through five checkpoints. Two were official: State and Federal police.   The three others were cobbled together 'local militias' with squirrel rifles and machetes. In addition there was a military unit of special forces types just hanging around by the road, looking menacing.

The militias were passing-the-hat for money to support their cause and everyone seemed to be getting along and supporting each other,  I dare you to not throw a coin into the can with the A-Team watching and cleaning their grenade launchers in the shade.  No pictures of this one kids, discretion being the better part of valour.

That night Brad checked out the newsfeeds and found that we had inadvertently driven through a recent hotspot for cartel activity. Being neither a drug dealer nor a landowner at odds with the former, we were never in any danger, but it does serve as a reminder to read the occasional newspaper.

Having been on the road since 8 AM, we pulled into the city of Taxco at rush hour and were absolutely amazed at how the city was built. This was a town for mountain goats!

Everything was built on a hill either going up or down! We realised that the hotel we had booked was built on one of the highest points overlooking the city. Here we go again, I thought! The road up to the hotel was steep but driveable and after a few switchbacks, we were at the Montetaxco Hotel.

This beautiful hotel was about 70 years old- so relatively new in that Taxco was founded in the 1500s- but still full of colonial charm. It had a small cable car gondola that went from the hotel, over the top of the city center, and into the valley below.  The cable system looked to be from the 1500s though, so we went silver shopping instead.

One of the main reasons for heading to Taxco was to buy a few gifts for Christmas.  Typically, the doorman at the hotel had a friend who was a jeweller who lived close by.  I know, sketchy, right?

We were however, pleasantly surprised to meet a lovely couple who built and sold jewellery from their home, exported product to Chicago, and spoke very good English.

Afterwards we walked up the last block of the hill to the hotel.  Even that small distance and we were winded.  Not a surprise for Brad but... me? I realised later that we were actually at 6,300'.

Our suite at the Montetaxco

After a lovely meal in the restaurant we slept like babies. I think Brad's head never even touched the pillow and he was asleep.  It became clear that one night in this beautiful hotel was not enough.  The next morning was Friday and we looked into staying the weekend.  Our bargain Thursday rate went up 4 times for the weekend, so we made a note to check it out on the way home in the spring. C'est la vie.  Such bargains are few and far between I'm afraid.

The Montetaxco's courtyard and pool overlooking Taxco

With much regret we left Taxco bound for Oaxaca.  According to Google Maps Oaxaca was an eight hour drive.  Accurate but for a few minor pitfalls.

Issue one was a missed turn in the large and very smoggy center of Puebla. When we were to have turned onto the ring road bypassing the city there were several city police cars, lights on, with a line of cars pulled over. One of the cops waved us on... we thought. I realised in the commotion that we had missed our turn.

Approaching the modern city of Puebla

After a perfectly legal u-turn we were stopped by a motorcycle cop who informed us in broken English that we had not stopped for the roadblock way back at the ring road: infracion! Soon his apparent boss showed up to stress the gravity of the situation and outlined a disaster scenario.  When we did not appear to be sufficiently shaken he called in El Voce, by cell phone. (cryptic reference to the English speaking ransom negotiator, The Voice, in the Denzel Washington movie Man On Fire.)

The opening ticket cost was 1,800 pesos or about $100 USD. Yes, this was a shakedown people! Brad handled it so well. He just kept telling them he needed to see an official ticket and we would follow them to the police station to pay it, and we wanted to talk to the tourist police, etc. The senior man on-site was standing by the window of our car as the Indy 500 raced past close enough to kick rocks against his boots.  When fatigue became evident (not everyone can barter with a retard for long under those circumstances) Brad pulled a 50 peso bill out of our registration folder and handed it to the guy. I guess for a motorcycle cop $2 was better than the ignominy of being killed by a speeder while soliciting a bribe!

On the road to Oaxaca we passed awe inspiring volcanoes

Slow down number 2 happened shortly thereafter with another turn made too quickly, (I was flustered after being pencil whipped by the cop, OK) putting us into a very poor barrio. We wandered through neighbourhoods that looked more like a garbage dump in a pasture. Finally we found our way back to the correct road without getting robbed. In the terror of it all I told Brad that, even though I needed to pee desperately I would wait until we were far away from Puebla!

After all of that, slow down number 3 came when we were almost to Oaxaca City. While getting directions to our next hotel from the couple who owned the place, we had heard that there may be blockades (bloqueos) near Oaxaca City. When in doubt, 'follow the locals' they had told us.

As we were driving down a four lane freeway into town, suddenly there are cars coming towards us on our side of the highway.  The cars in front of us seemed to cower and turned to charge us as well.  What kind of a freeway is this? Narrowly avoiding impact we simply turned to follow the leaders: off the road, into the ditch, through the barb wire gate, and into the pasture. This is nuts!

Hats off to our new coaches, whom we hadn't even met yet.  We followed the pack -cars, trucks, semis, even motorcycles- through a tiny village and right back onto the freeway further down the road. Just before dark we arrived in El Tule in the suburbs of Oaxaca City.



The Overlander Oasis in El Thule had been highly recommended by our friends Manfred and Karin while we were in Lo de Marcos.  It was owned and operated by a lovely couple from Kamloops, BC and would be our home until a very sad farewell a week later!  Next post we'll cover our wonderful stay in Oaxaca.

Hasta luego: B&L

More beach towns

We left Lo de Marcos early on a Sunday morning, on what turned out to be Revolution Day, the day that Mexico commemorates its birth as a nation. November 20th marks the anniversary of  the start of the 1910-1917 Revolution— specifically the call to arms by Francisco I. Madero to unseat the dictator Porfirio Díaz, who had remained in power for more than three decades. The celebration starts, in every town in the State of Nayarit and perhaps in all of Mexico, with a parade at 9 AM through the heart of each town. 

Although we always enjoy a nice parade, with an 8-hour long drive down the coast to San Patricio Melaque we were going to have to dodge a lot of celebration just to get to our hotel that night. The first major hurdle was getting around Puerto Vallarta before the throngs engulfed us. 

Revellers thronging to the parade

Fate did not favour us.  As we were driving through Puerto Vallarta, we ran into a "Desviacion" sign, which we have interpreted from previous experience on the Baja to mean "Devastation"! Actually it indicates a detour: one off the main road and through the narrow, cobblestoned streets of PV.  Occasionally there was a cop showing us the way, sometimes we just followed the locals, but in truth it was the worst of both outcomes, no parade and endless traffic.

Schoolchildren in period costumes and marching bands mingle

We wound through detour after detour but the best we saw of the parade itself was staging areas where children and marching bands waited for their time to shine. Actually it was a lot like trying to get to the Calgary Stampede Parade an hour late if the City Police was on strike.

All of the chaos on the streets actually made the Mexican drivers a little less aggressive.  It was the one time I felt like they didn't know where they were going either, so it put us all on an equal footing, 

Finally after losing at least an with extra hour, we got through the center of PV and on to the highway out of the city. The city itself was stunningly beautiful from the hills high above the beaches, where the hi-way leaves town to the south.

We're not much for cities but it's clear why this place had attracted so many fans over the years.  The area north of town was clearly a favourite so far on our trip and a very viable place to establish roots.

Going south we were surprised that the highway was quite busy as the towns went from post-parade to all of the other celebrations that were planned for the day.  We had many opportunities to see folks enjoy the last days of their holiday long weekend and share an obvious pride in being Mexican.

Horsemanship and 'caballero culture' is still very much a part of the Mexican identity, shared by young and old alike.

Our plan was to stay in Melaque for a night and leaving early meant that we arrived quite early, about 1 in the afternoon. So we parked near the hotel and headed to the beach for a late lunch. We were pleasantly surprised to find the prices to be a little cheaper than we had found in LoD.

San Patricio-Melaque is a Mexican resort town (totally different from a gringo resort town) that was busy with the long weekend crowds from Guadalajara. The beach was lovely fine sand with calm water that was safe even for children.

There were many restaurants along at least a kilometer of beach.  You could see beachfront stretching all the way to Barra de Navidad, the town at the other end of this long curving bay.


True to the town, the Bahia Hotel  turned out to be a very simple hotel.   It was only a block off the beach and our room was small but sufficient for a one-night layover.  An extra bed for Brad and a bathroom with no shower curtain, just a drain in the middle of the floor. Charming!

True also to the town, the staff was warm and genuinely caring.  Only a block from the beach, it nevertheless had a nice pool, which provided a break from the heat without the crowds at the beach.

Although the beds were comfortable enough, we didn't sleep well because this was the first time we had to park the Nissan on the street.  Without admitting it to each other at the time, we both worried all night even though the vehicle was parked right in front of the hotel,  In the morning all was well and we needn't have worried!

That evening we had a memorable supper of pollo asada: a whole splayed chicken, marinated and barbecued on hardwood charcoal right in front of you,  The meal included rice, a great homemade salad, beer, and smoked chili de arbol salsa for about $8 CAD.

We were the last customers so the proprietor, who spoke good English having spent several years living in the US, entertained us with stories about the town.  The chicken was well worth the wait.  

"From north to south from east to west
we will win this fight regardless"

We left early the next morning for our long drive to Zihuatenejo. We had read that about 150 km of our drive was along the Michoacan coastline and was referred to in the National press as the 'Cartel Coast'. We did not encounter any issues although we did see a somewhat heavier military presence and noticed that many of the bridges had been spray painted with text that seemed to indicate that the locals were: fed up with cartel violence; fed up with inaction on the part of the governments; and that they were not intending to tolerate it anymore.  More on this as we move inland in the next blog!

There were lots of fruit plantations along this route.  The photo below show some of the banana plants with blue bags over the matured banana bunches, either to protect them from pests or aid in the ripening process.

Driving along the Pacific coast the panoramas of the coastline and ocean views were spectacular!  Many times the hiway glided down to idyllic white sand beaches with little surf camps among the coconut palms.  We half expected a sign to welcome us into the town of Margaritaville.😎

After a long day we arrived in Zihuatenejo right at rush hour! We soon realized this was a big busy town.  Big enough to extend from the beaches and sprawl up into the hillsides.

I was navigating as usual but we missed our turn, usually not a big problem. I was hot and tired at this point so we pulled over to get our bearings. This is where Google maps can get you into trouble. 

The map was indicating we could get to our Airbnb condo if we just turned up the next street and made a couple of turns to get onto the street we had missed. WELL, this turned out to be nearly straight UP! The first part was steep but the left turn took us onto a street even steeper. I was freaking out thinking we might roll backwards but Brad put it in 4-wheel drive and pushed up to the final turn.  The next -probably final- street on this path was nearly vertical.

With no assurance that our goal was even at the end of that street, our only option was to back up and make the perilous turn to face back down the first hill. He managed to get us turned back without rolling the truck but I was like a cat on a hot tin roof. I just wanted off this f*##* hill!!  We managed to find the right street and the very imposing gate into the condo development where we would be staying. The gate opened to another steep hill.... but nothing like what we had just been through. I was so spooked I didn't want to see any more hills and wasn't taking any Godamn pictures.  Get me back to Brooks.... RIGHT NOW!

South facing windows.  Great view, big heat load

Despite the potential for more drama, we found the caretaker waiting for us outside the gate.  The condo complex was a 3 story building set on lovely grounds with a pool. The condo was nice and new but it had a quirky floorplan.  It was a two bedroom but the only bathroom was the en-suite off the master and both bedrooms were not air conditioned, only the great room.  Zihuatanejo was at least 34C that day and our suite faced south with a huge panoramic view of the city stretching below us.

The pool was incredibly relaxing after a hot day

Unfortunately, with big south views comes huge daytime heating impacts so A/C was absolutely necessary.  Apologies to the owner but that A/C worked overtime for the entire 3 days we were there.

The first night I was a little nervous about walking down the street which was very steep and very Mexican! OK that sounded bad but I was in no mood to be nice to anyone, least of all my husband. Pretty frosty for a bit, despite the oppressive heat.

Almost everything was forgiven when we found a very popular eating place called Papas Loco near our place.  It had great tacos al pastor for really cheap but heir main claim to fame was baked potatoes... stuffed with different meats, cheeses and sauces. It was still steaming hot at 7 PM and the place was buzzing with people and salsa music! The tables seemed like they were right on the street but the food was good and we were starving at this point. This was definitely an adventure!

For the next few days we enjoyed one of the most popular beach towns in Mexico and came home to a quiet, restful pool.  Perfect!  This view from the edge of the pool made it clear that we were pretty much perched on a cliff overlooking the city, but it was awesome.

First we did the tourist thing and spent a day at Playa La Ropa, the best of the 5 beaches in town. It was beautiful, calm on this day, and not busy.

On the last day of our stay we drove 10 km south to Barre de Potosi, a small fishing village where many Canadians have built winter homes. The draw to this area is obviously several miles of beach, part of which is surf friendly and part of which is at the mouth of an estuary where the beach is so calm that paddleboarding and kayaking are popular snowbird pastimes.  In addition, this area is only a few minutes from the Ixtapa/ Zihuatenejo international airport.

Apparently, the fishing village at the end of the beach has grown substantially over the last ten years. Today there are many restaurants lining the beach in town, so much so that and the day we visited a busload of tourists from the inland had arrived to paddle in the gentle waves and enjoy spectacular seafood.

This will be the last of beach life for a while. Next we travel to Oaxaca via the famous silver mining center of Taxco.  Stay tuned

PS: I feel like I'm missing an easy joke about the Mexican Navy out on maneuvers. OK it's just a wheelbarrow loaded with a chainsaw on the boat, but we had to get a picture of it after watching this elderly couple load it up and paddle off!