Fellow blogger A Canuck in Cancun added me to the list of those sharing three of their best travel secrets on their blogs according to the rules of Trip Base Blog tagging. The final list of travel secrets will be published at some point in a special blog post for everyone to share.
I'm actually curious and even eager to see what comes of this effort; just think, we will all have access to some pretty incredible places to see. Like having our own personal tourguide for many trips to come! I only hope we'll have time to do the traveling before we use up the oil reserves!
Okay, the first place that comes to mind is:
Apulco, near Cuetzalan, Puebla. I've never actually been to the Hostal Hacienda Apulco, but I have seen the waterfall called La Olla, which you can click on when you're in the main menu of this website. It was so impressive - I remember how we had to get a little boy from the town of Cuetzalan to lead us there... that was many years ago, but I never forgot that first glimpse of the waterfall. My son has camped out on the river near the waterfall, but I've heard from others that the Hacienda is extremely nice and not expensive. See for yourself as you explore the menu, and be sure to check out that video that's in the main menu!
Apulco is only minutes away from my second option:
Cuetzalan, Puebla - I love this town. It's the kind of place you can spend the whole day exploring. The huge marketplace, the picturesque restaurants with their delightful menus and wonderful views of the streets of the town. There is an impressive variety of handcrafts, easy on the purse, the people are so friendly and they really appreciate your visit. The best coffee I ever had was from Cuetzalan, and I'm planning to go there again soon to get some more, as well as an incredible liqueur known as Yolixpa, which is a mixture of alcohol and herbs native to the area, a truly exotic drink which gives you an incredible feeling of being peacefully at one with the universe, which might be the reason, it's nickname is El Todopoderoso (the all-powerful drink). Believe me, a little goes a long way! For a glimpse of Cuetzalan, watch the video in this link. And remember, Apulco is only a few miles away!
My third pick for this blog is another coffee region - in Veracruz this time. It's a place called Teocelo. The drive to get there (going south from Puebla on the autopista to Xalapa, Veracruz) in itself is breathtaking - you are going through the coffee belt and the landscape is so richly green and brown... deep forests and green meadows. Before you even get to Teocelo, there are places to stop and vist, but then, you'll know when and where! The town of Teocelo is very colonial. We stayed in a lusciously green, extremely inexpensive outdoor area called Rancho San Gabriel. Since our main objective for making the trip was to taste as many different coffees as needed in order to find the best ones, we didn't take the opportunity to experience a temazcal, which they offer there, and I always regretted that. A temazcal, by the way, is a traditional sauna - an ancient ritual that began with the Meshicas. The sauna is a ritual in reverence to Mother Earth, using the four elements of earth, water, air and fire to purify and harmonize body, mind, and spirit. I'm not sure of the particulars of it, but it leaves you feeling cured of all your ailments. Anyway, during our search for coffee, we found three that we considered exceptional and bought them right from the growers. We also went to see the incredible waterfall in Xico, which is near Teocelo. You can find your way around quite easily once you're there. Everyone knows what you're looking for and they are ready and willing to help you find it! Please do check out the video of the waterfall, but remember, it's only a video! When you actually get there and see it for yourself, it will astound you!
Okay, finally, I need to nominate other bloggers to carry on the effort! Am looking for ideal candidates for writing up their travel secrets, but if you read this blog and would like to be nominated, please leave a comment so I can get back to you!
Showing posts with label vacations; travel photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacations; travel photos. Show all posts
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Back to Reality
After a trip like I/we had, it's a dose of reality to be back to your regular life. First there was a plane trip and a whirlwind stay with family and friends north of the border, during which I:
Got my driver's license thanks to my Dad, who lent me his car and was a good sport about sitting and waiting for me for two hours while I took first the written, then the practical driving tests. Of course, he did get to sit in an air-conditioned room with the newspaper and a library book, so I guess it wasn't too hard to be patient. And since I passed the test, that must have made it all worthwhile, right?
Ate some fabulous enchiladas with my parents and sibs one afternoon (made by my Dad!)
House going up in the woods!
Witnessed the moment when my mom received the most lovely news from my sister!
We took lots of pictures, but in trying to choose the best ones, I get too wishy-washy! Here are some the ones I like best:
ON THE ROAD
the 'Bajada a Orizaba'
Trying to get out of a parking lot after filling the tank and making a pit stop
Licking her chops!
Fruit market by night!
Under a shady tree on a rest stop next to the ocean
Approaching the tunnel
In the tunnel!
CLo and Bella playing ball...
Getting some shade...
Just before sunrise...
Just after sunrise!
Dzit-Nup - paradise beneath the ground we walk on...
Talking things over at the edge of the ocean
SIESTA!
Got my driver's license thanks to my Dad, who lent me his car and was a good sport about sitting and waiting for me for two hours while I took first the written, then the practical driving tests. Of course, he did get to sit in an air-conditioned room with the newspaper and a library book, so I guess it wasn't too hard to be patient. And since I passed the test, that must have made it all worthwhile, right?
Ate some fabulous enchiladas with my parents and sibs one afternoon (made by my Dad!)
YUMMY!
Saw the beginnings of a house my cousin is having built by her sister's husband who is an architect!
House going up in the woods!
Witnessed the moment when my mom received the most lovely news from my sister!
And what a surprise that was!
And just enjoyed my stay to the max!
Then it was on the road and living in the camper and traveling south to places I've been before, lived in before, and seeing people I've missed and wondered about, and spending money and trying to find ways to beat the heat, and having the van looked after, and looking after the dog on the road, and eating the most scrumptious food during the whole two different trips (and coming back to find that I've gained 2kilos because of that) and swimming in seas and cenotes and looking for rivers and river-rocks (and bringing back a whole bucketful of river-rocks) and helping Lu move out and move in, and swinging in hammocks, and sleeping in hammocks when the van was too hot to consider a sleeping place...We took lots of pictures, but in trying to choose the best ones, I get too wishy-washy! Here are some the ones I like best:
ON THE ROAD
the 'Bajada a Orizaba'
Trying to get out of a parking lot after filling the tank and making a pit stop
Licking her chops!
Fruit market by night!
Under a shady tree on a rest stop next to the ocean
Approaching the tunnel
In the tunnel!
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL!
CLo and Bella playing ball...
Getting some shade...
Just before sunrise...
Just after sunrise!
Dzit-Nup - paradise beneath the ground we walk on...
Talking things over at the edge of the ocean
SIESTA!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Vacationing on Both Sides of the Border
This will be a quick one - just gotta get something down as the end of vacation creeps up on me. What a wonderful end to this - my special year - i.e. the year I was born coinciding with the age I was. Now it's a new year and I'm a new age and this year could be special too since the age I am now is the same as the year I was almost born! (If anyone can figure out the mathematics of that, they'll know how old I am, but hopefully you won't be able to, cause it could scare ya!)
But anyway, this year I got to split my winter vacation half and half; I spent the first week as my United Statesean self (After living 30 + years in Mexico, I can't get back into the thinking that people born in the US have the exclusive right to be called American), with my family in SAT, and 3 of my kids, while C, my partner, spent it on this side of the border with the other two kids - and we each did our own thing. It was nice. I loved getting to be my old gringa self, as opposed to my Mexicanized self - for awhile! I saw family I haven't seen in so long, and got to have a night out with one of my oldest friends, where we sat up talking into the pre-dawn hours as we used to way back when...
I felt surrounded by the most loving, caring people, and I felt so loving and caring myself! For once, I didn't let myself or my kids cater to the consumerism thing - as we usually do when going up over the border between Mexico and US - doesn't matter where you cross, as soon as you're on the other side you can't resist the urge to stop and shop! But this time we did resist that urge. Partly, probably, because we had just seen http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html which is an incredible video about that - the story of stuff! Once you see it, you seriously start to re-examine your compulsive buying habits. At any rate, we did go around looking at stuff and buying here and there (notably much-needed clothes and shoes), but this year, I found that my book and movie lists were so short, I figured I might as well wait till next trip. As for the two younger kids, they had to tread carefully as they each had limited funds.
So this trip up north was more concentrated on just being with people, taking zillions of pictures, and storing up lots of memories. Unfortunately, my poor, simple little digital camera kept dying out on me (batteries), so I hope other people (as in fned, mimi and stacy) will send me some of their snapshots!
We crossed back over to Mexico 3 days before the end of the year. Getting back to this side really sobered us up - you can't imagine the difference until you've crossed over and kept on going. You get deeper into Mexico and you know you're in for an adventure of some sort. Nothing is predictable here. Everything is just out there and you don't know what will happen next or how it will present itself. So you just keep driving south and fall into whatever.
Traveling like that, we finally got to Puebla and home at 1:00 a.m. As a delightful surprise, C was up and so were L (number 1 son) and A (number 2 son), who had recently returned from trips themselves. They welcomed us in with pulpos en su tinta and wine and we told stories and they told stories and it was cold in the house, so L lit the pot-bellied wood-burning stove in the corner of the dining room and we toasted up nicely.
Then the days started to rush by... with C's brother arriving the next day and bringing music and tequila into our midst, and the whole family battling daily with faulty plumbing and billions of dishes to wash (you have to realize that we are a family that RARELY - as in ALMOST NEVER - eats out and considering that we were ALL HOME, well you can imagine)... and with our 3 dogs plus a temporary boarding dog to feed and care for... so mornings were lazy with lots of coffee and good talk over bagels, tamales, or torta de papa or whatever; afternoons brought on lots of wine and good talk over delicacies like pescado zarandeado y ensalada verde con aguacate, or arroz con plátanos fritos y dobladas con salsa verde; and finally, night would fall amidst tequila and pizzas (NYE), and good talk, accompanied by guitar and percussion and singing. Throughout it all, we were periodically blasted away by S (number 3 son) practicing on his new (used) saxophone...
So P (number 1 daughter) is gone now, and C's brother has returned to his own family, and I'm going to watch a movie that P and I started but never finished watching, but before I go, I'll just add that CLo (number 2 daughter) doesn't agree with my one-word description of her (didn't I tell you she had a driving personality?) and C doesn't agree with my one-word definition of myself! He says I don't adapt to Everything, and of course he's right, which is only logical as that's part of being adaptable too - adapting to the fact that when you can't adapt to something the way it is, you change it! Seems to me you should have a healthy balance between the two, but whether I do or not is a whole nother story.
But anyway, this year I got to split my winter vacation half and half; I spent the first week as my United Statesean self (After living 30 + years in Mexico, I can't get back into the thinking that people born in the US have the exclusive right to be called American), with my family in SAT, and 3 of my kids, while C, my partner, spent it on this side of the border with the other two kids - and we each did our own thing. It was nice. I loved getting to be my old gringa self, as opposed to my Mexicanized self - for awhile! I saw family I haven't seen in so long, and got to have a night out with one of my oldest friends, where we sat up talking into the pre-dawn hours as we used to way back when...
I felt surrounded by the most loving, caring people, and I felt so loving and caring myself! For once, I didn't let myself or my kids cater to the consumerism thing - as we usually do when going up over the border between Mexico and US - doesn't matter where you cross, as soon as you're on the other side you can't resist the urge to stop and shop! But this time we did resist that urge. Partly, probably, because we had just seen http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html which is an incredible video about that - the story of stuff! Once you see it, you seriously start to re-examine your compulsive buying habits. At any rate, we did go around looking at stuff and buying here and there (notably much-needed clothes and shoes), but this year, I found that my book and movie lists were so short, I figured I might as well wait till next trip. As for the two younger kids, they had to tread carefully as they each had limited funds.
So this trip up north was more concentrated on just being with people, taking zillions of pictures, and storing up lots of memories. Unfortunately, my poor, simple little digital camera kept dying out on me (batteries), so I hope other people (as in fned, mimi and stacy) will send me some of their snapshots!
We crossed back over to Mexico 3 days before the end of the year. Getting back to this side really sobered us up - you can't imagine the difference until you've crossed over and kept on going. You get deeper into Mexico and you know you're in for an adventure of some sort. Nothing is predictable here. Everything is just out there and you don't know what will happen next or how it will present itself. So you just keep driving south and fall into whatever.
Traveling like that, we finally got to Puebla and home at 1:00 a.m. As a delightful surprise, C was up and so were L (number 1 son) and A (number 2 son), who had recently returned from trips themselves. They welcomed us in with pulpos en su tinta and wine and we told stories and they told stories and it was cold in the house, so L lit the pot-bellied wood-burning stove in the corner of the dining room and we toasted up nicely.
Then the days started to rush by... with C's brother arriving the next day and bringing music and tequila into our midst, and the whole family battling daily with faulty plumbing and billions of dishes to wash (you have to realize that we are a family that RARELY - as in ALMOST NEVER - eats out and considering that we were ALL HOME, well you can imagine)... and with our 3 dogs plus a temporary boarding dog to feed and care for... so mornings were lazy with lots of coffee and good talk over bagels, tamales, or torta de papa or whatever; afternoons brought on lots of wine and good talk over delicacies like pescado zarandeado y ensalada verde con aguacate, or arroz con plátanos fritos y dobladas con salsa verde; and finally, night would fall amidst tequila and pizzas (NYE), and good talk, accompanied by guitar and percussion and singing. Throughout it all, we were periodically blasted away by S (number 3 son) practicing on his new (used) saxophone...
So P (number 1 daughter) is gone now, and C's brother has returned to his own family, and I'm going to watch a movie that P and I started but never finished watching, but before I go, I'll just add that CLo (number 2 daughter) doesn't agree with my one-word description of her (didn't I tell you she had a driving personality?) and C doesn't agree with my one-word definition of myself! He says I don't adapt to Everything, and of course he's right, which is only logical as that's part of being adaptable too - adapting to the fact that when you can't adapt to something the way it is, you change it! Seems to me you should have a healthy balance between the two, but whether I do or not is a whole nother story.
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