Flowers, Waterfalls, and Strangers to Friends
It has been a busy six weeks but I’ll try to catch you up some. After visiting the butterflies we made our way to the historic city of Huachinango (pronounced: WoW-Chi-Nain-Go, this is an Aztec word and speaking Spanish doesn’t help a bit) in Mexico. We chose this destination because they would be celebrating The Flower Festival – an annual event full of parades, dancing, shows, and FLOWERS! The floral arrangements that adorned the entire city and especially the churches, parade floats and streets were a wonder to behold (see pictures for a taste). However, the most memorable thing about Huachinango is the people. They are quite possibly the friendliest and most hospitable people we have ever encountered! It started with our AirBNB hosts, Charlie and Nelva, who treated us like family and helped us in so many ways. But from there it proceeded to manifest itself in every person we met. We were given the ‘red carpet’ treatment – impromptu tours by local celebrities, meals paid for by people we had just met, special access to restricted areas, and the list goes on. Their kindness and generosity overwhelmed us!
From there we traveled to the area of San Lois Potosi to visit five different waterfalls. They were all beautiful, but the favorite for both of us was Minas Viejas (Old Mines). Wonderful swimming and incredible scenery! It was hot enough that we actually wanted to get in the water! It was also at one of these waterfalls that we discovered our first major luggage system failure. One of the racks that holds on the metal boxes had broken away from the chassis and was bouncing around precariously. Fortunately, after about five hours of work at a motorcycle shop and a bill of $12.00 (yes, the decimal point is in the right place:) we were all welded up and ready to go! We felt very blessed to have discovered the problem before it got any worse and while in an area where we could get repair work done. Thank you Lord!
From there we went to the ‘Cave of Swallows’. The ‘cave’ is an enormous hole in the ground about 150 feet in diameter that drops 1,100 feet straight down! It is the largest cave shaft in the world – or so says Wiki. We sure thought it was big! The main draw to visit the site is the fact that a flock of 2.5 MILLION birds make it their home and fly in and out everyday and it is absolutely amazing!
Next we visited a number of missions near the city of Jalpan de Serra. The city is named after the monk who founded the missions Father Serra. This same monk also founded many of the Spanish missions of California and Baja California.
From there we made a detour from our original plans to visit with our new friend Javier in Ixmiquilpan (pronounced: Icks-Me-Kill-Pan – good luck! it took us forever). We were received by Javier’s friends Jacobo and Gil who treated us like long lost relatives. We stayed at one Gil’s cabins on a beautiful piece of property in the nearby town of Tasquillo. From there we took several adventerous rides with Javier and Jacobo; the first was to visit the Caves of Tolontongo which was a stunning series of waterfalls, partially submerged underwater caves, and gorgeous pools. Our next adventure was down a mining road that finally ended in a shallow stream running through a sheer canyon. And lastly we visited a lake overlook with some very challenging off road riding. It was great to spend time with these new friends and also meet the rest of their motorcycle club at their bi-weekly barbecue roast.
From here we made a quick trip to visit the pyramids of Teotiuacan (Te-Oh-Tea-Oh-Can). We spent a full day exploring the extensive grounds and trying to capture in photos the vastness of the site (not even the panoramic photos can do it justice). On a side note, Sharon built a scale model of these ruins when she was in the Fifth grade – so she was especially thrilled to finally see the ‘full size’ model. From there we headed toward Mexico City. On the way, I left a credit card at a convenience store and didn’t realize it until we stopped to pay a highway toll thirty minutes later. We immediately turned around and headed back to the store with a sinking feeling in our guts and lots of prayers on our lips. When we arrived the cashier immediately presented me with the lost card! We were so thankful that a potentially nightmare experience turned out to be one of honest goodness and answered prayers (see photo with my Mexican angel).
Eventually, we arrived in Mexico City to visit more new friends! We stayed with Renee and her daughter Milos for our entire visit here. Literally five minutes after our arrival she was handing us the keys to her house! We had such a great time staying with these dynamic ladies. Normally, during the daylight hours we would take an Uber from Renee’s house to downtown Mexico City to visit museums, churches, and attend shows and concerts. I also was able to spend one entire day on motorcycle maintenance and with the help of Renee’s friend, Zeus, accomplished much more than I had expected. Our last reunion here was with our new friend Rodrigo from Baja. We met up with him and his wife and they took us to Frida Kahlo’s museum, the Canals of Xochimilco, and an incredible dinner that included mescal and crickets!
Hope this update finds you well. We enjoy sharing them!
Chris & Sharon
