Sampling of pics from a week in central Mexico and the Sierra Madre Oriental. 860 kilometers driven, the most absurd winding mountain roads and back country through tiny ass towns, praying we wouldn’t get held up, dodging potholes, dogs, tarantulas, piglets, and goats in the road, eating mostly street food.
The weather was suboptimal–the rainy season was supposed to end in October but somehow it’s still going strong, so instead of 80 and sunny it was 65 and rainy. Not the best for a region known for swimming holes and waterfalls and dirt roads. Oh well. It’s not too often anymore that I get to go on a solid adventure, and this trip delivered.
Beat: Got a parking ticket for parking in front of the dumbest little non-fire hydrant of all time, which meant the cops took my plates so I had to wait a day and go to the police department to get them back so I could return my godforsaken rental car
Brag: Despite a cumulative 40km really bad roads, I didn’t get a dime of rental car damages–a miracle, really. Thank god they can’t inspect the bottom of the car.
Variance: Got covid
Cabin at almost 9000’ ASL
We descended down into those clouds for the next 4 days, which despite my optimism literally never lifted–at best things looked like this.
Surrealist gardens of Xilitla
The most amazing water anywhere
Now this is a waterfall worth some effort to get to. The ejido knows it’s badass, and makes anyone who wants to go to pay 1000 pesos for a guide. Wildly expensive for Mexico but easily worth it.
Top of the waterfall
Immediately to the left, a natural swimming pool right top of the falls.
A place called Puente de Dios (SLP–not to be confused with the one in QRO). Easily the coolest swimming hole I’ve ever seen. A lot like the cenotes of the Yucatan, except on an actual river and all the waterfalls flowing in are natural and spring fed, and different temperatures. Since it was sorta cold we basically swam around trying to find the warmest ones. The entire river then flows through a cave, which you can also swim through.
A few km downstream of there, the water is calm and a good bit warmer (not sure why).
When I say 40km of bad roads (cumulatively), I mean this. Average speed 10km/h in this sort of road, very stressful in a tiny car.
Back in the central part of the country, finally some sun and good weather.
Basically ate street food the whole time. My fiance really only likes food that has been cooked the second before you eat it, so almost everything we ate was stuff like this.
All in all a great trip, probably the kind that’s better to look back on than the actual trip itself in a way. If the weather had been hot and sunny it would have been godlike, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to make it to this place again. Oh well, such is life.
