July 21, 2018 – July 23, 2018
The Quilotoa Loop is a 3 or 4 day backpack that you can do, partly on trails, partly on roads, that takes you through small indigenous towns and stunning mountain scenery. Backpackers generally do the loop staying at hostels found all along the way. We decided that instead of stashing the truck somewhere, renting gear, and trying to find places that would accept us with the dog, that we would drive the loop with our truck and camper.
Chichen Itza is maybe one of the busiest archeological sites in Mexico, so we knew we wanted to get there early. We found a great little spot for the night camped in the parking lot of a small hotel and restaurant a few kilometres from the site. Hotel Delores Alba had two nice swimming pools. We were able to camp next to a large palapa beside this cool pool. It had a natural floor that consisted of sand and limestone that was lit up at night with lights that cycled through different colours.
We headed along a highway, toward the border of Mexico and Guatemala, to Parques Nacional de Lagunas de Montebello. There are a series of lakes here. On a sunny day each lake has its own remarkable shade of blue or green, sometimes both. But when we arrived, it was raining, so we made our way to where we were going to camp for the night and thought we would drive to visit the various lakes the next day.
We arrived in Morelia, the capital of the state of Michoacan, following iOverlander directions to a suggested camping spot for the night. As we turned onto a narrow street, the app told us our location was on the right hand side, but we looked to see a solid wall with a few doors and some windows but nothing a vehicle could fit through…this didn’t seem right.
Our plan had been to visit Uruapan, the “Avocado Capital of the World”, and we did drive through miles of lush avocado plantations to the town. When we got to our intended camping spot, the owner told us there was a private fiesta happening that evening. We were welcome to stay but it would be muy ruidoso (very noisy). He told us there was a campsite in Patzcuaro, which is where we had planned on going next anyway, and that it was only 20 minutes away, so we headed for Patzcuaro with the idea of returning the following morning to walk around Uruapan .
(Nov 15 – 16, 2017)
Prior to coming to Creel we had booked an overnight tour with Eco AlterNATIVE Tours. We were not sure what to expect from the tour, we just knew that we would be visiting a village of the Raramuri people.