12-30-05 Zitacuaro to Villa Victoria
Bright, cold blue sky. Temps in the 30’s. We got out our tights, but the sun had warmed up things considerably by the time we finished breakfast and got on the bike. One mile downhill then a 12 mle climb up out of the city and over the mountains. Beautiful scenery, steep climbing with an altitude gain of over 3,000 ft. The mountains on either side of the pass toppped out at over 9,000 ft. We had a torta each for lunch at the top of the pass and roared down the mountain for 6 mi. Through the pine forest: a dark tunnel with a wonderful smell of pines!
Lots of logging in this area and wood is used to heat and for buildings instead of the usual concrete. As we coasted through villages we saw mnay families doing thier laundry in the roadside stream. Lots of bright clothing on the indian women. They also wear broad brimmed hats and the laundry is left to dry on the stream banks.
Around 2:30 we arrived at the turn off to go into Villa Victoria. Judee asked a taxi driver and an attendant in the Pemex if there were hotels in town. Both said yes – in central. So we took off down the 2km hill into town ...an easy coast through the outskirts. Streets got narrower and narrower and finally we came to a screeching halt in a log jam of traffic – we inched our way, bumper to bumper to the church and jardin shich to our amazement were jammed with people, shoulder to shoulder. The center of town we found had no hotels. The only hotel is back u the hill 2km on the mian road.
Nice highway hotel – clean, neat, quiet and only $15. We did our laundry and hung it on the lines with the hotel’s laundry. We took hot showers and went out onto the “drag” for a dinner restaurant. The beers foamed when poured-almost all head and no beer. Altitude effects the brew. We sat in the warm sun for about an hour in a lovely garden at the hotel and just relaxed and recalled the Great Day of riding.
As Judee mentioned earlier we lost our new camera wwith all 200 plus pictures. What a bummer! Taking pictures as we travel and explore is a big part of the trip for me. It gocuses my attention both on the big and little things – the details, patterns, colors, expanses. Hopefully, we can replace it in Toluca in the next couple of days.
I feel alot better today. The climb was a real challenge. Judee loves hills . I have to over come them.
What a day!! We both woke feeling somewhat rested and ready for Mexico! Cold , cold – downhill! We went downhill for about 40 km – yesterday and today and end up in Metepec, a village south of Toluca at about 400 m elevation higher than Mexico City.
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Toluca Street Posters |
Children in park |
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Man with bicycle |
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The day got warmer, our spirits rose, too. The traffic, though bad, was divided from us by a drop off shoulder. As we got close to town, a Walmart came into vies. Art pulled in and replaced our lost camers! Although we have no pictures from our possibly favorite several riding days, we will remember the gorgeous scenery of the piney mountains – including the snowy top of Popocatepetl, open, wide vistas of farm valleys, and clear air, blue, blue skies.
New Year’s Eve and we find a pretty nice hotel – take a cab to the artsy area of Metepec. There we see the famous artists of “trees of life”. One wonderful older gentleman (Gonzalez) took us through his house, yard, and studio – all a work of art. If only I could have had a way to buy on of his “trees”. He had a room of awards and recognition pictures and documents from places like the Renwick in Washington DC, pictures with presidents and the Pope. We bought a little Guadalupe to carry n our bike. He was a delight! We found a wonderful dinner restaurant, too! Hopefully, it will hold us – I think there won´t be anything open tomorrow: January 1, 2006!
Boy does it feel strange writing “06” and waking up to wander the deserted streets in Mexico looking for a restaurant to eat breakfast. We have cooking gear with us, but we can’t use it in most of these hotels – not with our gasoline powered rig! We found a place that was catering to all of the new year wanderers.
The rest of the new day we spent going to the main bus terminal to prepare for tomorrows journey to the pyramids on the other side of Mexico City. We wandered the streets of this large city and found a beautiful park where we sat and watched the families come and go, the children play, riding, skating, using their new Christmas toys. The sun was very warm so we took a shor sun bath on the park lawn then walked the empty streets back to our hotel.
After dinner we took in our first movie in over three months and the first in Mexico. The Family Stone, a Christmas film in English with Spanish subtitles. In the dark of the movie I was back in the states experiencing a Connecticut white christmas. The movie ended and the lights come up and we were back in central Mexico.
A quick catch up for the last seven days:
All day trip to Teotilhuacan Aztec pyramids 200BC to 800 AD. What a culture...thousands lived in the valley, troding all over the central part of mexico. The bus ride home (three buses) droppped us off at the hotel drive ways at 9pm. We had not eaten a bite since noon and Judee was ravid. We went straight across to Mickey D’s and pigged out on three McNiff burgers, large fries and shakes. They over chared us about $12, but what the hey, we were starved! This was the first time we were pruposely treated badly in the whole country and was by mean McDonald employees!! Shame!
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Teotihuancan - Pyramid of the Sun |
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Steep climb |
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From top of the Sun |
Next day we took the bus from Toluca to Mexico City, tranferred buses and bus lines to Oaxaca – 7 hour journey through mountains that made our jaws drop open. Wista of valley so deep, no bottoms, no people, no services, just the tollway. Were we glad we did not attempt to ride this area. We did see three movies on the bus, two in English. We arrived in Oaxaco after 7:30pm – looked for a hotel nearby and paid $70 for one that looked quiet. The luxury was a nice change.
The next day we moved to cheaper digs that were also very nice with a large bathroom and shower, good bed and also quiet. We learned later that we were in a bad part of town. We never noticed!! It was run by a helpful older couple and was perfect for a two night stay.
We wandered Oaxaca for two days, visiting galleries, churches, museums, and book stores. We did find one English language library and a book store. There are lots of tourists, many American, a vital American expat community made up of mostly elders of us!
We made contact with a couple we had met outside of Puerta Vallarta and who are renting a home for 3 months here in Oaxaco. They invited us to join their family for lunch and a wonderful lunch it was! Appalonia, their Mexican housekeeper/cook outdid herself feeding us a home made meal. Alex, Lorie, David and Meegan shared their interests and what not to miss in lthe area.
Guess what? We have rented an apartment for 2 weeks and Judee starts language classes on Monday to brush up on her Spanish! Our little 2 bedroom, second floor place is very cozy, located on a busy street. We have great views out our windows, front door of the surrounding mountains and city. What is most outstanding is that we are cooking our own food! Judee is out doing herself with dishes from home and we are eating big salads again! Very good home cooking ...we slept until almost 9am this morning. Not our usual 7:15 wake up time. We even managed to sleep through the roosters crowing!
Today we decided to ride up to Monte Alban (a 5 mile climb out of the valley) a pre-hispanic Zapotec culture with temples, pyramids dating 200BC-800AD but different from the Mexico City cultures. This mountain top sight use to be the home to thousands of indians...ball courts, temples, homes, palaces...360 degree view of the three valleys which come together in Oaxaca! Good signage in English and a good museum made the experience very informative!
To Oaxaca interlude
