On Monday, February 18th, we regretfully left Huehuecoyotl Community, Tepotzlan and our good buddies Giovanni & Kathy. As per our new mutual agreement (after our "Trip from Hell") to travel in ways and make decisions that lessen our exposure to stress, we took Cuota (toll) roads from Tepotzlan to Puebla. Still managed to get a bit turned around getting onto the "periferico" (ring road) around Puebla to Cholula but that's the fun of it, right. Senales (signs) are simply not that great down here. At any rate, other than hitting OUR mirror at one of the tollbooths and then getting turned around a bit, it was less stressful than our trip to Tepotzlan http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/24979/Start-of-Day-from-Hell-Toluca-42.  

We arrived at the Las Americas RV Park to find only two other "active" travelers here. There are a few trailers a that are stored here but the only folks actually staying here were Joan and Wally from Peterborough, Ontario and Raymond and Yvette from Milk River, Alberta. Raymond, a longtime Mexican traveler,  shared lots of great info re: our impending trip south to Oaxaca and Chiappas while Wally shared stories of woe re: their solar and electric challenges aboard their classic GMC Motorhome.

Went to "a nice grocery store" just up the road last night and I will let Susan fill in the details there. We suddenly found ourselves in a mall like the most modern ones in USA. Florescent lights and  loud music blasted us as we tried to search the Walmart grocery store for supplies. Masked workers offering us cheese and other items made it look like we were on a different planet.  If Mexicans from the city shop here there will most certainly be a major shift in diet to junk food and even more sugar products causing diabetes to soar. Ah, perspectives! Buying locally at farmers markets and small shops may be more important than we thought! I think we will stick to the local markets and enjoy the older style market places as long as they last in this ever changing culture.

Walked into Cholula today and visited the ruins of the Pyramid and the Centro. Walked up about a thousand steps to the Nuestra Senora de los Remedios church that lies atop a substantial hill of earth. Interesting that the Catholics chose to build their church atop this particular mound since it is the remains of the widest pyramid in Mexico and what would have been, in terms of mass, larger than the ones in Egypt. Some kind of ironic juxtaposition there -- a very Catholic church built, probably unknowingly, atop a very pagan temple! It is possible to go "inside" the pyramid through kilometres of tunnels archealogists have burrowed into it but we opted out. The walk to the church was enough.

Stopped at a street vendor for lunch of quesedillas and rice water and liked the blue corn tortillas so much we had the nice woman make up half a kilo to take home.

Went into the ex-Convento de San Gabriel, a Franciscan church and old seminary. I did see the sign extending the offer to become a Franciscan monk or priest. Passed as I'd already been there, done that. Grounds are nice and quiet - tranquilo - but must have been quite the place in its day. Can only imagine all the monks walking and meditating about in waht must have been then formal gardens.

We are ducking out early in the morning toward Oaxaca just in time to miss not one but two caravans of RVs from the States. Rosita, the owner of the park tells that she is expecting 40 rigs. I told her the Ingles translation for this is "sardines" -- not sure if she saw the humor - said it was good for the pocketbook! Glad we are going to miss it. We ran into a caravan last year at Villa Corona and, although they are great people who feel the need to travel together for security and safety reasons, the group as a whole can kind of dominate a campground and both tax the resources and be a bit demanding. Forty in a space the size of this park will be interesting. 

Leaving Acapulco behind us was a great thing...really couldnt stand this busy town!

Well...we didnt get very far..there suddnly a sign started blinking which said that something was wrong with the battery...juhuuu! We were in the middle of nowhere with a broken car!
At the next petrolstation we asked (a lady) if she could help us which she couldnt..she sent us to the nearest automech around the corner...hmm looked very hopefull...he had a closer look and said that it was an electric problem and he couldnt help us...there is a carelectricer a min down the street he told us and we drove feather...and what a surprise...there was one! But our hope really became lower and lower...my dad went in to ask and what he saw made him laughing...a guy sitting behind a desk having his cigarett in his ear!!!!:D that was a picture!
Well he found the problem but he couldnt mend it...so we drove off not knowing if the car is gonna make it!

A few houers later we arrived in Taxco...my favourite place in Mexico! Girls Paradise!!!
We even found the car park i knew from my first 2 visits!

Trough the market we came to the Zocalo. We found a lovely little restaurant with a grat view over the live of Taxco!
Watching all the little Cars driving trought the streets was kinda sweet:P!

After doing some shopping (surching something for my bros girlsfriend:P) we went along and drove the last bit to Toluca...the near it came the more nervouse i became! Finally home, i tought!
The hole year over i was wondering if the Girls will remember me or not, and now it was only a few minutes away!

But first we had to get trought Toluca town...ooohhh dear what a mess! Since i dont drive and never did i hardly couldnt remember the way through this messy place...take that road, left, no right, uuäää carefull..noo wrong way, hang on i remember that Wal Mart..ahh no was the wrong one! Haha...! ohh man that was too funny and scary somehow!
After finally finding the way out of Toluca the next question came up and i tryed to remember: which Retorno do we have to take???...hmmm...well in the end we took the wrong one but we crossed the road without an accident:D!...And there we where...Golf Resort Los Encinos Lerma! Home...all looked so familiar!

Like every morning this started  fairly peaceful with waking up, a shower, a breakfast and walking to the centre. Today my plan was going to Cholula. A small city close to the borders of Puebla. A ancient city which dates from the 2 century BC. With as main attraction "the great pyramid of Cholula" and the "The Roman Catholic church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios". The bus said to leaving at 10:00, but knowing that most of the time things are a bit delayed I expected it to be a bit later. In the end it was true, the car (later on more about that) left at 10:45. Giving me some time to explore Puebla a little bit more.

It promised to be a bizar 45 minutes, because when I was looking at the overview of the city a Mexican came to me and started to conversation. In the beginning it was really nice he explained some things about me of Puebla, where he was from and what he did in life. I on my turn did the same. It was a nice conversation, untill he explained to me that he was an artist and he showed me some pictures of his works. It look really good, untill he explained that he was specialized in painting nudes. I should have finished the conversation, but that would be unpolite. Then he was telling me that I was well-build (physically) and if I would like to be in one of his paintings. Meaning could you pose nude for me. He explained to me that his hotel was nearby and if I would like to come with me. I was really flabbergasted and turned him down politely, Also the tour was about to leave. It was a funny and strange experience.

Enough about the perverted guy in the streets of Puebla, because I was going to Cholula. I expected to go with a big group, but in the end we were only with three people (which in fact is also a group, but not very bid), which was really great. Meaning that we had a personal guild, which would drives us around in a car (because busses are to big for 3 persons, logical) I´m not the persons who likes travling to these things with groups that are too big, because people are always late with these things, 99% of the time you don´t hear everything because other people than the guild are talking aswell. Arriving in Cholula We saw various things.

First stop: "The great pyramid of Cholula" and the "The Roman Catholic Church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios": Which was truely amazing. First you take a route that goes underneath the mountain, which is really small and I was to big. During this route you learn things about the history of the pyramid, how it used to be and why it isn´t there anymore. Very informative. When you are outside again you can choose two option or you go to the church or to the remainders of the Aztec period. I coose to go to the remainders. You didn´t got to see much, but the things you saw were breathtaking with as highlights: the rebuilded stairs of the pyramid and the place where you clap you hands you hear a bird fly away. I knew such a place existed in Mexico (thanks to Patrick and Wendy, but I didn´t know it was here (or there are more places). It is the strangest things, you clap and in the echo you hear a bird and nothing else you do can copy this sound, strange but very funny to see the peoples faces. After exploring the ruins I went upstairs to visit the church. This didn´t made a really big impression on me, but the view upstairs and don´t misunderstand me the church was really nice, but you should see it first before seeing the ruins. When on solid ground again the guild took us to some shops and then we went further with our tour.

The Next stops: Churches, a lot churches in all the shapes and sizes you could possibly imagen. To give an overview for who they were dedicated, Virgen Guadalupe, Mary. San Pablo, Peter and many more. It is impossible to describe all the Churches here, but I hope the photos will give a clear image of the churches. But there were some really nice churches And I must say I´m really impressed with the baroque style in most of the churches. It looks truly amazing.

The next and final stop: Puebla main square, The end of our route, It was a really nice day and I saw so many different things, and got a lot of new experiences. I went to a very good restaurant and if I have time I will write a review on that restaurant and then straight for bed, because learning a seeing new things is really tiring, but it give great pleasure and satisfaction. Walking to my hotel I was hoping that I would meet the pervert again, what would mean that I have to find a new excuse for not posing naked for a person I don´t know

Due to Tere´s school and work I had the idea to travel alone for a weekend. After talking to her mother decided to come along with me. Even for one day I was really grateful that she could join me. On Sunday morning she would return back to Cuernavaca

We left early in morning in order to enjoy the day to the fullest. Althought we were still really tired we arrived at 10:00 in the historical city (UNESCO) of Puebla. We arrived at the youth hostel and we had a nice little breakfast. During the breakfast Tere received a text message from her aunt telling her to call A.S.A.P to home. After the phonecall Tere told me she had to go back to Cuernavaca, because there were some complication after the operation of one of her aunts. I just wanted to say that Tere and her aunt + the rest of the family are in my heart at the moment of writing. I wish them strenght during this entire situation. Today wasn´t so much fun as it could be because Tere had to leave at therefore my mind was with Tere and her aunt + the rest of the family the entire day. You all are in my prayers.

Due to all the circumstances I still enjoyed the stroll I had in Puebla. Puebla is a very old city (but appears very new because many things have been reconstructed in the previous years. Also the city is part of UNESCO which give it the staus it deserves. The town is full of beautiful churches, parks and musuems and too many to visted them all in one day. A good alternative for seeing most of them in one day is the turibus. You get on the Turibus at the central square and during 1:30 hour you will see the most beautifull sights of the town. I really like the moment when the bus was going up the mountain and you could see the emtire city with all its churches. After the Turibus I went to visited the Catedral of Puebla. This catedral was build in the Baroque style and was truely amazing. You have to see the pictures. I also got the priveledge to join wedding ceremony. It was a good way to see how it is going for the future ;)

Outside again I was getting hungry and ate some pizza at the Italian. It was delicious. Afterwards I went to see a Mexican Aztec dance. If I understood it correctly it was about a priest Quetzalcoatl (the moon), Huizilopochtli (the sun) and the 4 womens performing some kind of special ritual. I couldn´t understand everything, because I though that some things that were said were in Aztecs, But this dance was performed because it was the beginning of the Applefestival, because apples are very important in this region.

Well I´m off again, To see the rest of the city and enjoy the Applefestival, Toedellsss

Taxco was small town I hadn't heard of before, but my friend assured me it would be nice.  He was right.  The bus ride over was long, but the view coming into town was beautiful.  Apparently this was/is a silver mining town, and they had all kinds of great jewelry for sale at a good price.  After being dropped off we wandered around looking for the cheapest place to stay that wasn't trashy and found one near the huge church in the middle of town. 

Not having any idea what was here, we decided to wander around.  We spent the first day perusing the market, playing guitar in the town square, and having some drinks with a few locals we met.  Then the next day we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and wandered up the hill.  From the center of town, near the huge chuch, you can see a small Christ statue.  It's similar to the one in Rio, except way smaller, and not nearly as much of a hassle to get to.  It looked rather close so we took off assuming it would only take a short while.  Well we were completely wrong, and since there were no signs, it took us the better part of the afternoon.  We made it pretty close without any help, but finally came to a dead end.  That's when we stumbled upon a group of 4 guys boozing it up.  After a friendly hello and a small chat the guy took us the rest of the way.  He cut through some dirt soccer fields and broken down schools (no wonder we couldn't get there), but finally we made it to the top.  The view from the statue was amazing.  The town is heaviliy populated, and sprawled out across this valley.  We spent quite a while relaxing until the sun started to set.  Then we quickly tried to retrace our steps and get back into town.  After a couple failed attempts we hitched into town and relaxed in the town square once again.  Next stop, Oaxaca!