Our first stop for the night after leaving Mazatalan, was at Laguna Santa Maria del Oro. A deep lake in a volcanic crater surrounded by lush forest. The scenery all day was so different from Baja California, we drove through fertile volcanic hills filled with sprawling vegetation. The drive down into the crater was a little tricky as the flourishing foliage overhung the twisty downhill road. It was fine for cars but difficult for a vehicle as high as ours. At our stop for the night: Koala Bungalows and Camp was right on the lakeside. We met a Mexican protestant congregation on their church retreat there, they were very welcoming and friendly. Their two pastors and families were Canadian and we were invited to join their team games and campfire. Our girls soon connected with the Canadian and other children and we were sad to leave in the morning.
We continued eastwards to the small town of Tequila, famed of course for the spirit. It was a very pretty bustling little town with tequila distilleries scattered throughout. A bit like Champagne, only the spirits made from the blue agave cactus and distilled in the area are allowed to be called Tequila. Although not really tequila drinkers, apart from the odd margarita, it seemed a shame not to find out how it was made on one of the distillery tours. We'd seen the blue-green fields full of cacti all around the area and the huge hearts or pineapplesĀ they make the spirit from being transported into town. Fortunately we'd stopped to ask directions at the first tourist information stand at the edge of town. They suggested we park our truck right outside their stand, where the road was reasonably wide while we took one of their tours. It turned out to be an excellent idea as the roads got progressively narrower the closer they were to the picturesque historic centre. We held back from the tastings during the tour, so we could enjoy the margarita at the end.
The Fonda where we had our lunch was still decorated for the day of the dead celebrations. There were folk dancers in the square outside and there were a whole range of Mexican dishes we hadn't had a chance to try before on the menu. It made for a very pleasant afternoon.
We headed out into the countryside near Etzatlan to Delia's RV park. The girls were thrilled with the newly hatched chicks, dogs and friendly owners. It was a delightful place to stay the night and yet again it seemed a shame to move on after just a night.
Roco Azul at Lake Chapala, was our stop for the next night and we arrived in time for lunch. It is a large "beach club" beside a lake with an RV park in the corner. Being a lovely Sunday afternoon it was full with families enjoying picnics, the pool, playing football and there was even a church service singing the same worship songs we have at our old church in Prague, apart from it been in Spanish of course. We met a lovely Mexican family who were interested in overlanding and spent an interesting afternoon chatting with them while all the kids played together in the pool. Our girls are still quite shy and occasionally resistant to playing with non-English speaking children, which is ridiculous as neither of them have ever lived in an English speaking country, so they are very used to playing with children from many other countries. Maybe it is because they are both so imaginative that their games are usually very language centred, it's not like if you chuck a football at them and everyone can get involved even if they can't understand each other, it just isn't their thing. Hopefully that will change overtime and we were pleased to see them playing with the Mexican children with attempts from both sides to understand each other's instructions.
The following day was a long drive to San Miguel de Allende, a town described by our Lonely Planet book as "Mexican Disneyland". That aside, it is a stunning small city with colonial architecture, cobblestone streets and art galleries on every corner. However before we could explore its delights we first had to negotiate its narrow streets and enter the tiny gated RV park in the centre. In most of the towns we have stayed in, we've had to walk or bus in which is not always much fun with tired kids. Here, we were pleased to find the main campsite was just a few minutes stroll to town. We'd emailed the owner in advance who warned us it was going to be a tight squeeze for anything over 26 feet (we are just over 27 feet). Steve was still game though, after checking it out on foot. It was a stressful manoeuvre first backing it into the gate and then reversing down the narrow alley with tree branches and building roofs jutting out from both sides. However he did a sterling job and is now just having cold sweats about getting out tomorrow. The entrance is the red gate on the right.
To our amazement when we finally had a chance to see our surroundings we found 2 other overland expedition trucks and 2 campervans, all from Germany. Apart from rendezvousing with Michael and Henny (Michael's company Bocklet built our truck) way back in Canada, we haven't seen another vehicle like ours. Mind you one of the trucks has been based there for 4 years! maybe they couldn't get out of the gates!!?!
Despite our slightly sniffy guidebook review San Miguel del Allende turned out to be delightful for wandering around and exploring, so we extended our stay here to 3 nights. I think that maybe Steve would just like to delay getting out of that tiny gate again!
Lucy did some window shopping and was trying to work out how many weeks pocket money she'd need to save for a dress like this.....not the most suitable attire for overlanding but a girl can dream.
It was a very peaceful night at 3000m. The next day we hiked up to see the butterflies. Their story is amazing. Every year they migrate from Canada and the US to a few spots in Mexico. The following spring they migrate back. However not every generation migrates. In the summer they only live a few weeks, so only one in about four generations actually does the annual migration. No one quite knows why they do it or how they find their way to the same spot every year. We saw thousands of them but as it was not very sunny they were not that active and mainly hanging in the trees or on the floor.
After hiking down the mountain we drove a short distance off the mountain and were lucky enough to find a campsite which we had not heard about anywhere, Cerro Chino only 30kms away. This site is just outside Aporo on the way to Ocampo. It was a quiet place to stay run by a very friendly family. Alisha and Lucy practiced their Spanish while playing with the owner's daughter Sophia.
The next day we drove around the Arto Norte to avoid Mexico City and to get to a campsite just outside the city in San Juan Teotihuacan. Although the roads are good the other truck drivers often drive like maniacs. The road is very hilly and while the trucks crawl up the hills they then tear down the other side praying that their brakes will work when they reach the bottom. Sometimes they don't and we saw two bad crashes where the trucks brakes had not worked. While driving around the Arco Norte Gilly and I decided it would be crazy to be so near to Mexico City and to not actually go to see it, so when we arrived at our campsite we enquired into how to get into the city.
Early the next morning we set off to the local bus station to catch the bus into Mexico City. Unfortunately the first bus driver reversed into a wall so we all had to get off and get on the next bus 15 minutes later. After that things went smoothly and after catching 2 metros once we got off the bus, we arrived in Zocalo the main square in Mexico City. Unfortunately it was full with a large political demonstration and the side streets were full of riot police.
Everything seemed to be pretty calm though so we continued with our exploration.
First we went to the cathedral.
And then to the Aztec ruin the Temple de Mayor. This was the major temple of the Aztecs but the Spanish destroyed the whole city and rebuilt their colonial city on top. This Temple was only rediscovered in 1978 and they are still excavating parts of it.
On the way out of the temple we paused to watch the Aztec dancers.
Unfortunately due to the demonstration the National Palace was closed which was disappointing as we had wanted to see the murals by Diego Rivera. After a typical Mexican lunch we set out to see if we could find some of his murals elsewhere. Eventually we arrived at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso. This was a beautiful old Jesuit college with murals by Jose Clemente Orozco.
We were sure there was a Diego Rivera mural there so after searching the place we went to find the gift shop and found a picture of it in a book. Thinking we had missed it we asked the shop assistant where it was and she explained it was in the concert hall but that it was closed. One of the young guides overheard our conversation and told us to follow her, whereupon she led us into the closed concert hall so we could have a private viewing of the mural all to ourselves. This is just one example of how friendly and helpful the people have been to us in Mexico.
After this we wondered down the main street, Madero to catch the metro back to the bus station. Fortunately on the way we passed the Museo Mural Diego Rivera which houses one of his most famous works Suena de una tarde dominical en la alameda central.
It was great to spend a day in Mexico City and the trip in and out and was very easy and cheap (16 dollars return for the 4 of us). We wished we could have spent longer as we would have loved to have seen The National Palace, the Frida Kahlo museum and the Archaeological Museum.
The next morning we were up early again to get to the entrance of Teotihuacan by 8am before all the tour buses arrived and before it became too hot. Teotihuacan is a complex of pyramids which was part of Mexico's biggest ancient city. The city was built between the first and fifth centuries AD and whilst it fell into disuse in the 7th century it was still revered by the Aztecs many centuries later. When we arrived we first climbed the Temple of the Sun.
Later we climbed the Temple of the Moon.
Before walking through the rest of the site and finally the museum. The whole site is very impressive but we were glad we set out early as it was filling up when we left at midday for a well earned rest.
We have been in Mexico 4 weeks now and are really enjoying it. We are starting to learn a lot about its cultures both ancient and more modern as well as enjoying its varied cuisine.
We have also completed more than 21,000kms since we set off back in July. 
