Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-ha-ka) is both a state in Mexico and the capital city of the state. We drove through some beautiful high mountain terrain to Oaxaca city. The roads were quite good, if not all the drivers. I have dash cam video of two cars, a semi and a pickup truck, all shoulder to shoulder trying to pass each other, going up hill and around a corner…..again, wish I had the internet power to upload the video, maybe one day.
(I am experimenting with larger format pictures in this post…let me know if this causing issues with loading the pages, if so, I will revert to the smaller sized photos.)
We arrived in Guanajuato to a warm welcome from a friend of Derek’s who, after falling in love with and marrying a beautiful Mexican woman, has moved to the city. David and Claudia have a great home and a wonderful family, and it was our great pleasure to stay with them while we explored their city.
We were due in Guanajuato on the 20th of December, and we had a few days to kill. We looked on the map and in our guide books and decided to head to Tequisquiapan for 2 days. It had once been a place with many thermal baths but we had read that the water was not really warm anymore, due to a local paper mill’s water consumption. Neither of us were expecting much from the town, but we had found a place to camp through an internet search, and thought we would check it out.
Bernal is another of Mexico’s pueblos magicos. It is a small town of about 3000 people, best known for La Peña de Bernal, which is, according to some sources, the world’s third largest monolith, after Gibraltar and Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. And Peña, for those of you who may be wondering, translates as “cliff”….nothing sexual.
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.
After leaving Puerta Vallarta, we drove through the mountains to the Pueblo Magico, Mascota. This lively town has a pretty little plaza, beautiful stone work, lots of plaster, colour and tile roofs. It is surrounded by pine covered mountains. We found a place to park after making our way through some narrow and occasionally double-parked oneway streets. We wandered around town for an hour or so with Piper, had an ice cream, bought some tequila….it’s all about priorities.