What a trip!

Back to the cold reality of Wisconsin Winters (24 degrees this morning during the pups' walk) But yesterday, I enjoyed one more day of 80 degrees in Mexico city.

For a 10 day trip, we saw so much and yet had a relaxing time. My Spanish came in fits and starts. I successfully spoke our way through most of the country with only a few hitches. It's definitely a good thing to be able to speak the language of Mexico because you can learn so much more about the places you visit, the people you meet, the foods you eat, and the sites you see.
We spent the beginning of our trip in Mexico City for the first three days. This was during the Day of the Dead celebrations (La Dia del Muerto). Above is the mosaic-tiled building at the University where our friend Lenny is working. One night the students put on a huge celebration with floats, displays and music.Then it was off to the silver city of Taxco for a relaxing three day stay which included some silver purchases as you can imagine.
We then headed south to Acapulco which was way too hot and humid for me. It was 90 degrees with about 100% humidity - Yech. The ocean was beautiful. (The picture above is the sunset in Acapulco on Thursday) However, I found the city of Acapulco very disorganized, gritty and not very driver friendly. We actually stayed about 10 km northwest in a village called Pie de la Cuesta. Very quaint, but not fully recovered from the 1997 hurricane that destroyed many of the hotels and other businesses.

We then drove back up Highway 95 to Tepotzlan, the site of an ancient temple 1300 feet up a sheer cliff, which our friends, Lenny and Laura decided we needed to climb. The basically vertical 1 mile hike to the temple was worth it in the end, but I sure grumbled about it all the way up.
Finally, we landed back in Mexico City on Sunday for a relaxing evening before the flight back home on Monday.

Mexico is an amazing country with so much history, culture, personality and energy. I would definitely recommend a trip into the interior of the country and not just a beach vacation to gain true insight into a wonderful place. And a few Spanish lessons would go along way in making your trip more fulfilling.

All in all, a fantastic trip. Double click on the image below to see some more photos.

Mexico