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Published: November 30th 2008
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Arrived safely in Mexico City on Monday afternoon, though the airline had kindly broken off my zip on my bag so I'm not able to zip away the straps now! Got the metro from the airport to the hostel, which only cost MEX$2 (about 10p or 30c), was an experience in itself. The hostel did free dinners which was yum, and I was a bit sad and had an early night since I hadn't had much sleep on the concrete seat at JFK airport.
The next morning I got up early to go out to the Monarch butterfly reserve. I got to the right bus station, as there are like 4 different ones depending on where you are wanting to go, and got in the queue to by my ticket to Angangueo as per my guide book. It was just over 4 hours and there were no seat belts, lots of bends and loads of white crosses along the side of the road, so it was best to enjoy the scenery rather than the driving!
At Zitacuaro everyone else on the bus got off and the driver, who spoke no english, told me to sit at the front of
the bus so I could enjoy the view (sign language is universal since I speak hardly any spanish yet). He kept speaking to me, and I'd look in my phrase book to try and work out what he was saying. In the end he took my phrase book, and while driving along flicked through it to find things to say to me - I tried to keep a smile on my face as he was looking at the book instead of the road and driving with one elbow!
Got to Angangueo and kept asking people Donde esta el Monarca? (where is the Monarch butterflies?) and following the pointing. I asked a taxi how much it was to the Monarca and decided I didn't want to pay 250 peso and would walk. Turns out when he said it was an hour away he wasn't lying! So flagged down a car going up the hill and got them to drive me to it - thank you phrase book! Then it was another 20 minute walk up a hill to the reserve, where there was a LONG walk to the butterflies. So worth it though, there were hundreds everywhere and amazing views
over the valley. Could actually hear them flying cos there were so many.
My wee guide, who was only about 10, spoke no english so it was a quiet walk lol. When I got back I asked how to get back to Angangueo so could get a bus back to Mexico City and worked out they were saying there was a community bus that might come back at the bottom of the hill. Luckily the one person that spoke english appeared and there was a man going back down if I was happy to wait 10 minutes, which in mexican time is about 25, but it was sunny.
So got a "taxi" back down the hill, which had the Dutch tourists I'd met on the trail and that's when I found out I'd ended up at a completely different butterfly reserve than where I'd been trying to get to! This one (sierra chincua) had better views, but the other one (El Rosario) had the butterflies on the ground and a much easier trail. So if you are going to visit the monarca get the bus to Ocampo instead and then go from there (to whichever reserve you prefer).
As soon as the taxi got back to the town centre there was a battered bus coming along which I got to Zitacuaro and then had to get a mini bus to the main bus station, and a bus back to Mexico City. So the 14 hour adventure was just that! When I got back to the hostel Lorna was there, and an english girl who was planning on going to the butterflies the next day so I gave her the tips on what not to do! Slept really well that night, even with the music from the hostel bar that goes until 1am!
The next day (Wednesday) we did the free walking tour that the hostel put on. The guy was great, I lost count on how many times he said "Now my friend..." The area we were staying in, Zocalo, was right in the Historic Centre so the walking tour covered loads of things. The main square had a huge cathedral on it, which is the largest and oldest cathedral in Latin America. Behind that was the Templo Mayor which had seven temples built one on top of the other and used for human sacrifices! Also
on the square was the National Palace, which had massive murals by Diego Rivera showing the history of Mexico and then different cultures.
Also visited the oldest hospital in continental America which had murals showing the progression of medical ways, and squirrels in the garden including black ones; a few more chuches; a pharmacy where you can get pretty much anything without prescription!; the Casa de los Azulejos (House of Tiles) which is covered in tiles on the outside - lucky with the name aye; an awesome bakery with huge cakes upstairs and then a bakery shop down the bottom where you could choose from a massive selection of cakes, buns, biscuits - baked things really, so we all bought lunch; the first post office and the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Me and Lorna then went for a wander through the markets in park next door, Alameda Central, which used to be the Aztec market and the place of execution for the Spanish Inquisition - which I didn´t expect..... haha. The wee market had some tempting things so we each got some earrings and Lorna got a tiny purse.
I then went through the inquisition torture museum
which was pretty disturbing. They had english translations which described what the tools were used for and then a drawing to show exactly how it was used. There were also the shackles that Christopher Columbus was brought back to Spain in on display. No photos allowed inside though.
On the way back to the hostel we got a 5 peso taco which I really liked but Lorna wasn´t so keen on hers. Not sure what was in it, carne something (carne meaning meat) but all good and no upset tummy from it. We also gave the no prescription needed pharmacy a go, armed with our phrase book cos Lorna had a bit of a cold and I´d forgotten to get my allergy cream, so we got stuff you´d need a note from the doctor for in the UK.
Have had enough typing now - we are in Oaxaca at the moment and have to go get dinner before our 12 hour bus to San Cristobal. There is a market round the corner where you can get a whole chicken roasted ready to eat, which we had last night mmm
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Claire Kinnaird
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Hey Rach, hope you had a good birthday? With the sounds of things you are taking to backpacking like a duck to water!! Whats the weather like? I have been rubbish and I havent had time to get your prescription, but just reading your blog do you still need it.? With the bank card, what is happening with that? Is your new lodger going to bring it into Savills? I could have emailed you but thought I would try this comment thing, I hope it worked. Claire x