We arrived here on Friday afternoon, after a comfortable four and half hour bus ride arcoss mountains and valleys from Patzcuaro. This is a different country from Patzcuaro and Morelia..very touristy and tourist driven. Everyone attempts to speak English to us, and to sell us something....but the beaches are beautiful and the seafood great....Hotels are more expensive: we are paying $92 a night here compared to $35 in Morelia and Patzcuaro...but we have an ocean view..and direct access to the beach. Today, Saturday, I woke up early and decided to go for a run on the beach, since I was feeling better. There were many runners and walkers; a mix of Mexicans and gringos. Again here, there are many older people, and not many backpackers. After my run I waited til the sun came up far ... read more

We spent the day walking around the city and visiting many Colonial buildings! We didn't carry the big guide book with us, so we spent some time circling around, looking for restauarants and museums we wanted to visit. It didn't help that one exhibit was in a building that had a different name than the one on the poster! Last night we went to what we thought was a concert, but instead was a lecture on a requiem...the music was on tape and the lecture, while in a beautiful chapel, was in rapid Spanish, so we left early. We had an early dinner tonight in a restauarant recommended by Sandra, Citlalli's mom....the meal was great..and setting was beautiful. We had thought to take a tour today, but realized that since the traffic is so bad, we ... read more

Sunday afternoon We had a less than ideal night...our room was right on the very busy truck route into the city and the people next yo us were noisy, but we had found a nice little restuarant nearby where we were the only customers, the evening was not a total mess! In the morning, we walked two blocks to the bus station and caught a bus to the Teotihuacan pyramids. The bus ride was interesting. We both love traveling by bus, and watching the countryside or cities go by. As we left the central area of Mexico City, housing became more and more piced together and poorer, but there were interesting buildings in every neighborhood. After about 30 minutes of travel, we started seeing some open land and men on horse back. The pyramids are located ... read more

We spent Wednesday taking it easy, since I came down with some little bug Tuesday night...but did get the house where Diego Rivera was born and to a speciality shop for local sweets. We also took the funicular up the hill for the first time! Our hosts had us over for dinner....and we went to bed after packing....and heard the incredible dog chorus for the last time....you can hear the dogs barking in waves around the city..and then several times a night the more than five dogs that live on the roofs below us and the ones behind us take up the call....I actually started sleeping through it! Today (Thursday) we took a first class bus back to Mexico City, checked into our hotel, and went out to eat...it is hot here today..hard to think of ... read more

Yesterday we took a taxi up to the small lakes at one end of the valley or bowl where the town is located, and walked back down. There were lots of old, beautiful government buildings along the way down....I went into one "museum" that turned out to be a very hokey haunted house... Today we took a taxi up to a mining town above Guanajuato, where there is a decaying but lovely old church ad an active silver mine. The church was locked but I asked woman nearby if it would open later. Turned out she had the keys in her house and let us in.... Next we decided to hike up to one the pilgrimage sites on a near-by mountain, passing by a few silver mines. The hike took about an half hour each way, ... read more