Dead Horse Curve (unpleasant subject)

There's a section of highway, at the base of a small mountain between Tzurumutaro and Sanabria (the turn off for Ihuatzio) that is notorious for its blind curves. For reasons incomprehensible to us, it's also an area where livestock, both cattle and horses, freely range unfettered. The result is that there are often the corpses of cattle or caballos.

We had just finished smelling the last of one such rotting carcass when another unfortunate victim was seen lying on the other side of the road, a hundred or so meters closer to Sanabria.

We feel badly for the victims, but we have no solution to the problem. Ni modo. At the very least, we use extreme caution when driving around the curves. When riding in the combi van, we have to adopt the motto, "Fe en Dios y adelante." "Faith in God and forward."

We once had a driver steer with his knees, while texting on his cell phone, on this same stretch of highway.

The last victim's situation was especially asqueroso; after a few days, its head was missing.

Sorry to upset your stomachs. I'll offer a photo of some beautiful, live horses, taken alongside a less trafficked stretch of another highway near here.

Click on photo for full view.

Zi-Wha?

We have just returned from a 4 night stay in the small, tropical, Pacific coastal city of Zihuatanejo, in the Mexican state of Guerrero.

This trip was out of character, as I especially have not liked beach resorts in the past (I was bored to irritation), and we are both averse to steaming hot locales. (One of the big attractions of the Pátzcuaro area is that it's seldom hot.)

Lately, however, the onset of cold weather here in the Michoacán highlands plus a desire for a change of scene, impelled us into taking this brief trip. I theorized that an air conditioned hotel, in a city with numerous restaurants and shops nearby would appeal to me more than a "chill" beach scene. (Chill beach scene, if I understand that phrase correctly, is a place of hammocks under palapa shape huts, where you lie around, drink coconut water mixed with gin or whatever —neither of us like coconut water—, and I'm good for oh, maybe, 5 minutes chilling in a hammock.)

We decided to travel by bus, an economical and less stressful way than driving. Oddly, no buses go directly from Pátzcuaro to Zihuatanejo; one has to either back track to Morelia or go to Uruapan. Uruapan is the logical choice, as it's 50 miles down the slope and in more or less the right direction. We packed lightly and carried two soft mini-duffel bags and a woven shopping bag. Thus equipped, we walked down our street to the corner, where we waited then caught the combi van to Pátzcuaro.

There's a second class bus stop in lower Pátzcuaro called "La Estacíon", after the long inactive train station nearby. This is a popular transportation hub for buses and combis and taxis. We dared enter the Tortas Pátzcuaro shop, next to the infamous Federal Police Station that got shot up by narcos last year, to buy two tortas (hoagy/sub-like sandwiches) to go. Then we walked a block, waited a few minutes, and got tickets for the Uruapan bus.

The bus is "servicio ordinario", which in other words, means it isn't first class, but it's reasonably comfortable for short trips.

The scenery is beautiful, as the highway winds down the mountain slopes through pine forest and views of extinct cinder cones, then past groves of avocado trees. The outskirts of Uruapan mark the end of the pretty part and the start of the gritty part. It's quite unattractive a place, but the bus station isn't bad. A good thing, as we had over two hours to wait for the next bus. We'd bought our senior discount tickets for the 1:30 p.m. run two days before.

The people watching was above average, and helped while away the time. There's even an operating bakery, where I watched the baker scrape down the dough on the inside of a still whirling dough kneader machine.

From Uruapan, our First Class bus on "La Linea" took us down into the Tierra Caliente of Michoacán and the dramatic mountains around the Presa del Infiernillo reservoir.

Three quite forgettable movies played for our entertainment. (At least, I'm trying to forget the last one, an animated, full-length feature about anthropomorphic eggs, in an Old Mexico desert setting. Although the stark beginning, shaman-haunted and set amongst the buttes and mesas of Real de Catorce was auspicious, it quickly degenerated into mawkish and squawkish silliness.

The autopista disgorged us onto the sunny coast road, which carried us palm thatched huts, cold beer stores and  for about 45 minutes to lovely Zihuatanejo.

The Zihuatanejo bus station has no taxi boleto taquilla where you can buy tickets at a regulated rate. So I was pleasantly surprised when the taxi driver quoted us a rate of $25 MXN to take us to our hotel, Villas Miramar, in Colonia La Madera, a ten minute walk from Centro.

Colonia La Madera is a pleasant, semi residential area, in which most every property is dedicated to the hospitality industry. The principal, east-west-ish street, Calle Adelita, is shady and relatively cooler than the nearby streets across the mostly dry canal that marks its northwestern boundary. There, as in much of touristic Zihuatanejo, English is widely spoken. Prices are often quoted in dollars, but with firmness, you can pay in pesos, which is better for you, the customer.

Villas Miramar was a good choice for us. We are grateful to our friend D.L. Glidden, who told us about it, and gave us many dining tips. The Miramar has two sections, one on either side of Calle Adelita: a "garden view" and a "sea view" section.

We chose the sea view section, which cost us $850 MXN a night (about $66 USD a night, with a 40% discount on the 4th night. It would have been $100 MXN less per night for a garden view room. (These were shoulder season rates, which changes to high season on December 18.)

The room was very spacious and comfortable. There was a small terrace with  a view of the bay and the pool below. There was a small refrigerator; an effective ceiling fan; two double beds, reading lights, an AC unit, a decent bathroom with very ample supplies of hot water, and a telephone, which we never used. The TV had very few channels available, and we had no remote, but TV watching is not among our priorities.

What didn't come with the room was purified drinking water, facial tissues, and instructions for operating the lights. But we bought two liter bottles of water at nearby stores and we eventually figured out the light system.

We were soon into the pool. Not big enough to do laps (like I care?), it was perfect for cool, easy lounging.

I realize that this post is getting long, so I'll leave it here for now and later, describe our quasi-touristic activities and especially, the restaurants, on My Mexican Kitchen.

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Beam Me Down, Google...

...there's life down there.

I learned on Mexconnect.com's forums the other day that Google Earth now has Street View for Guadalajara. I have to admit the Guadalajara aspect didn't excite my interest, but I was really thrilled that Google Earth had this feature. The poster helped me out by explaining how to enable Street View in your Google Earth browser. Open the panel on the left side and look under "layers" for "street view", then check the box.
(You can visit Ajijíc and Chapala, if you wish. I haven't tried San Miguel de Allende yet.)


Areas which have been photographed for Street View have little camera icons up and down the street. Mousing over the icon reveals the street name. Corner intersections are indicated with names of both streets.


You can click the camera icons to reveal a small photo, then click the link below to open in Street View. Or, just double click the camera icon to swoop directly down to street level. This is often vertiginous and not for those prone to los mareos. Once at street level, you can drag the image to either right of left and then navigate your way up and down the street. There's some limited zoom in-zoom out capability. To exit, click "exit photo" in the upper right of the screen. This does not return you to your previous, regular view very well. I have to zoom out and correct the North arrow on the navigation tools to reorient myself.


Instead of Guad, I went zooming off at high speed to México, D.F. There I homed in to one of my favorite areas of the city, Colonia Roma. Once I "arrived", I navigated to Avenida Álvaro Obregón, locating various well known landmarks such as Casa Lamm, Hotel Colonia Roma (budget), Hotel Milán (moderate), Hotel Stanza (Executive Class). The latter is located at the corner of Álvaro Obregón and Calle Morelia, with the Jardín Pushkin to the east side. (You can see the street tianguis and food stalls there.) About three blocks up Calle Morelia, at the corner of Calle Colima, I located my favorite hamburger stand. (pictured below) With minimal maneuvering, I was able to get a good Street View, full screen picture and save it.

With a little trial and error maneuvering (the direction you are looking is not always clear.), I then navigated several blocks to the off-center, second floor, shiny chrome and formica restaurant, Las Costillas d' Fuentes, at the corner of Calle Mérida and Calle Durango. Nº 58, to be exact. It's on the first floor up in this modern building, pictured below. It's a slightly odd but pleasant, low priced restaurant specializing in charcoal grilled meats, especially the eponymous rib steaks. Coming soon on My Mexican Kitchen.

This is another great tool enabling us to explore the world and its wonders, thanks to the generous development of the Google Corp.

Don Cuevas' Top 5 Hotel Picks

When we last heard from him, Felipe was concerned that the Cuevas couple was still skimping on pesos and staying in wretched backpacker budget hotels.

Rest your fears, amigo. With two borderline exceptions, we have not stayed in a budget hotel since 2004. Those exceptions were the Posada de La Villa (pretty basic and older), and the Hotel Casa Galeana, (newer, nicer and noisy) both in Morelia. Neither of which would be on our Top 5 List, however. Since then, we have made it a point to spend the necessary money in order to be comfortable.

These are our top picks.

Mexico, D.F. is where we usually stay in hotels these days, going to and from the Aeropuerto Benito Júarez (MEX).

Hotel Milán, Avda Álvaro Obregón, Colonia Roma Norte. (Map) This is a 3 star hotel which is well located in a pleasant zone of the city, near parks and fountains, restaurants, coffeehouses plus new and used book stores. The rooms are modest in size but nicely renovated. The bathrooms are small but very clean and functional. Sometimes there is free wi-fi in the rooms.*

Hotel Catedral is our choice when staying in el Centro Histórico. It's a couple of blocks north of La Catedral. It has all the amenities but still, despite its increased popularity among Lonely Planet fans, its rates are still affordable. Book by email and save by not opting for the breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Save even more by paying en efectivo.

Also in CH, we have stayed at the Hotel Gillow, the Catedral's older sister hotel, on Isabel La Católica at Cinco de Mayo, and we didn't think it worth the extra money. The Gillow has great, 1930's Art Deco style in its lobby and public spaces, but the room we had, though large, was quite worn.

Similarly, the cute Hotel Canadá on Cinco de Mayo itself has a pleasant staff but tiny rooms and street noise. The chief advantage of the latter two are their terrific location in the very center of the CH. The wonderful Jugos Canadá is next door. The Gilipolllos chicken restaurant is across Cinci de Mayo. (I confess; we haven't eaten there yet, but the '30s and '40s style Cafe La Blanca is only a block away.)

Back in Colonia Roma, we have recently pampered ourselves at the Hotel Stanza (used to be called Hotel Parque Ensenada). The rooms are like the Catedral, but a higher notch in amenities and style. The rates are reasonable for the quality and service. We like it because it's a great place to rest while decompressng after a visit to the U.S. It's the closest decent hotel to Hamburguesas a la Parilla, just 3 short blocks north on Calle Morelia.*

*Note that both my Colonia Roma choices are within convenient range of several Bisquets Obregón restaurants, including the Mother Ship of all Bisquets in Mexico. They are notable for serving decent fare at good prices.Breakfasts, accompanied by café con leche, are a strong point.



Puebla, Puebla.
We have only been in Puebla once, and we chose to stay at the quirky but pleasant Hotel Imperial. In a way, it's a semi-budget hotel. They offer a geezer discount, if you show an INAPAM card. They also include a Manager's cena, but it's pretty basic. There's a breakfast included, a bit more elaborate. There's wi-fi, and it works. The location is quite central; a few blocks to the Zócalo. The rooms are old, and worn, but we were comfortable. We opted for a Suite Ejecutivo, as the price was so reasonable: $550 less INAPAM discount. In your spare time, you can get in a few holes of mini-miniature golf, while in your bathrobe. (Included in the Suite Ejecutivo price.)

Oaxaca, Oaxaca.

Really, we've only stayed in one hotel in Oaxaca, the Casa Arnel. We have a great deal of affection for this hotelito and the family and staff that runs it.
On our first stay, in the early '90s, we skimped and took a very minimalist budget room, resembling a barely converted mop closet. Since then, Casa Arnel has renovated and improved so that the rooms are pleasant, although they could not be called luxurious. The attractions, besides the hospitable family, are the green leafy patio and the neighborhood. There is a small restaurant for guests, serving breakfasts, drinks and light meals.

Barrio Jalatlaco

The location is within 7 blocks of the first class bus station, in the picturesque Barrio antiguo Jalatlaco. It's a 20+ minute walk to the Zócalo, but an interesting paseo. A few blocks away is the Parque Júarez, better known as El Llano, a very relaxing and pleasant place.

Casa Arnel is in a fairly quiet neighborhood, but there is sometimes noise from other guests out in the patio.

For longer stays, they have some basically furnished but pleasant apartments a few doors up the street.

Hoteles Mexicanos: Los Buenos, Los Malos y Los Feos Part 3

I'm beginning to realize that these anecdotes of Bad budget hotels could go on for a long, long time. Conversely, what's so interesting about a Good hotel?


I think I'm getting close to wrapping up this theme.


But I must highlight just one more really bad hostelry. It's
hard to choose: the hotel in Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, whose bathrooom window almost fell to the street below when I opened it? The Hotel Lorena, in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, looking like a suite of bare bones dental offices, with the bare electrical wires in the closet?


The room in the Hotel Avenida in Chihuahua that had the concrete support column in the middle of the tiny room, and a good view of the flashing lights of the marquee just below our window? Not to mention the literally piped in central AC that came on and off at the whim of management?


No; the outstandingly bad hostelry was the Casa de Húespedes Bed and Breakfast in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, January, 1993. We were in full backpacker kit and mentality as we drudged up the cobbled streets of SCLC, while light drizzle fell. Our goal was this fantastically cheap hostelry which offered a room with bath PLUS breakfast for the peso equivalent of U.S. $10 a night/dbl.


After a long walk from the bus station, we arrived at the two story Casa de Húespedes, where we were greeted and shown two different rooms. The first was closer to to the main house. We imediately detcted a foul sewer odor upon entering. We quicly noted that the bathroom was separated from the bedroom by a coarse curtain.
We immediately asked to see another room.


That looked and smelled a lot better. By now, our energy reserves were at the point of no return. We needed to stay because we lacked the strength to return to the centro and look for another place. Besides, we really wanted to experience the cheapest lodging deal we'd ever read about.
We took the room.


It was nearly bare: a bed, a few pegs in the wall for clothing and a small card table for a nightstand.
We soon realized that the bed had no mattress but only a boxspring, covered by the bedding. There was one, bare light bulb in the room.


The bathroom was a charmer: a copper pipe snaked into the window, ending in a big showerhead. We were not keen to use the shower, as the bathmat was a filthy car floormat. The bathroom floor was equally unattractive.


We decided to make the best of it and crawled into the bed, between thick woolen blankets, atop our boxsprings.


Lights out.


We were awakened at intervals by the shrill screams of a child. Sleep was difficult, but we somehow survived a restless night.


When we went to the sunny terrace where a breakfast of frijoles negros, tortillas, eggs and excellent coffee was served, we could almost overlook the wretched night we'd experienced. But we knew we couldn't stand another night like that, so after breakfast, we left, lugging our backpacks, and found a nice, clean warm place, with hot water showers, just off centro. It was about U.S. $17 a night, with no breakfast, but it was worth it. La Posada Virginia was cozy and homey, and we snugged right in.


Stay tuned for Don Cuevas' Picks of his favorite Mexican Hotels.

Hoteles Mexicanos: Los Buenos, Los Malos y Los Feos, Part 2

In a previous post, I described some of the features of the Hotel Montecarlo, which I would rank among the best budget hotels in México.
Good price, great location, lots of ambience.


Our other hotel experiences were not always so favorable. The first one was a small place in the provincial town of Pánuco, in the Veracruz lowlands, along the winding Río Pánuco, back in '80. I forget its name. We'd had a long, tiring day, of considerable exertion, after climbing up to a cave, and we arrived after dark. Pánuco greeted us with a Hair Raising Vehicle Adventure on a steep street, ending at some posts atop a precipice, from which we'd reversed ourselves, clutch lurching and tires smoking. We'd already seen another hotel, which did not impress us favorably, but the one we selected was not any better.


 (This picture is NOT of our Pánuco hotel. Looks Australian, don't it?)

The room was "only" the equivalent of $8 USD for the 3 of us, with two beds and at least one, large cockroach.


The most striking aspect of the room was the shocking pink paint job, with a sensitive appliqúe of green frog patterns climbing in rows up the wall. Or could have been shocking pink frogs climbing a green wall. It was a long time ago.


The temperature and humidity were uncomfortable, so we opened the massive, sheet iron windows to catch whatever breeze, but catching instead the nocturnal noises of vehicles, crowing roosters and flying insects.


The small bathroom, our first experience with the "all-in-one" design, had a stuffed up commode. There was a conveniently situated vent above the toilet shared with the bathroom of the adjoining room, which also shared earthy sounds and aromas. I don't recall hot water, but because of the heat, cold water was welcome.
After a few hours of fitful sleep, we were glad to get out of there and on the road.
I can't even remember what I had for breakfast, or where.


Stay tuned; there are more hotel tales, and they get worse before they get better.

Hoteles Mexicanos: Los Buenos, Los Malos y Los Feos

A recent post by David Lida, "It was good enough for D.H. Lawrence", on the venerable Hotel Montecarlo, in the Centro Histórico of México, D.F. brought back memories. Replying under my pseudonym, "Michael Warshauer", I wrote:

¡Viva el Hotel Montecarlo!
I started staying there on my second visit to Mexico City, February 1992. It was the equivalent of U.S. $14 a a night for a single room.
When my wife and I started staying there in ‘93, the peso price had risen but the dollar price had dropped. We last stayed there in February, 2004 for about U.S. $25. At that point, I realized that my aching, aging bones needed more comfort and we started staying elsewhere. The acrobatic antics necessary to enter some of the smaller bathrooms no longer amused me, nor were the infamous “eraser” pillows, with a consistency of firm rubber, still tolerable.
The doorlocks on the rooms were always cantankerous, but fun if you liked puzzles.
I always enjoyed arising early, going the to branch of the Pastelería Ideal across the street, and bringing back fresh pan dulce for us, the old night clerk, Arnulfo, and later, the security guard.
Gracias, David, for reawakening memories of our earlier, more adventurous travels in Mexico.
Saludos,
Mike

Night desk clerk Sr. Arnulfo and Doña Cuevas

Felipe Zapata responded that although he'd wanted to stay there, just once, in order to say he'd done it, my description convinced him not to.
In an email to him, I expanded the details, so that he could get the full flavor of the place. Some excerpts, below

In my reply on David Lida's blog, I failed to mention the Pervert Lounge, or whatever it's called, almost directly across the street. The large, high ceilinged front rooms would be the best ones, were it not for the Pervert Lounge disco. On Th, F and Sat, it revs up at about 10 o'clock and blasts away until about 4:00 a.m. The music (?) penetrates even the heavy wooden shutters and curtains. No wonder there're loose plaster fragments in the rooms. (Really, they're from sismos.)

Not all the rooms have acrobats' bathrooms. Some are grand salas, where you may bathe, evacuate and shave all at once, as you like. Be sure to move the toilet paper out of the range of spray before showering.

The newer, smaller but quieter rooms, at the back of the hotel, usually have windows or narrow airshafts, or no window at all, but an overhead ventilator. They felt snug and safe. Those rooms tend to be the ones with acrobatic bathroms.

Taller persons need to take care when descending the grand, curving staircase from the primer piso to the lobby. There's the underside of a marble cornice that can cause head damage if you walk on the wrong side. (There is a small and cranky elevator, capacity 3 persons and a small amount of luggage.) But you can make a grand entrance on the grand staircase, as if anyone cared.

Free local calls, through the ancient switchboard!

Another neat thing was when cars were driven into the lobby and parked in the ground floor garage.

Yes, we have a lot of affection for the old Hotel Montecarlo. It was one of the best budget hotels in which we've stayed during our earlier travels in La República. There have been much worse.

Stay Tuned

The Pole Dancers

It's been scarcely a month since our house underwent the Glorious Rectification of Electrification Project. So it was with considerable astonishment the other day, that I saw a big truck parked in our street, laden with cable, parts and stout new concrete posts.
I knew I hadn't ordered any work.

Neither the trucks nor the uniforms of the somewhat boisterous crew bore the CFE (Comisíon Federal de Electrificacíon) logo. I concluded correctly that they must be contractors.

Using posthole diggers, they excavated new holes close to the previous posts. Next, the trucks placed the new, taller and stouter posts into the sockets. This was accomplished with a large mechanical claw I call "The Grabber". Delicate nuances of positioning were aided by muscle power, through the use of the rope slings. (These slings also are the pole climbing device used by the workmen.)

After the three poles were emplaced, the crew began the changeover of the power lines to to the new poles. This meant that we had to patiently wait a 2 to 3 hour period without power. (We have become proficient at this.) Later, the lines and posts were extended for hundreds of meters farther until they reached a farm gate. The final post has a large lamp above, to light the gate.

Although at first I'd had the impression that the crew was a bunch of uncouth laborers, I gained new respect for their skills as I watched them work. The job is not only a skilled one but a dangerous one. They gracefully climbed the poles, sometimes in pairs, and reset the lines.

Soon after they had restored the power to our house, they set about removing the old post from inside our yard. This was a very delicate maneuver to accomplish without damaging our house or our new electric line-in. It was done successfully and I could let my breath out again.

Later, we met the ranchero who was responsible for not only the gravel extension of our road uphill, beyond the pavement, but also the new electric lines and posts. He's planning to build a house up in what are presently fields. The view is superb from there. He mentioned putting in a sports field for the community, but we gently tried to dissuade him. (As if we have any influence in the matter.)

He also kidded us about developing a Colonia Americana. Maybe the money will run out before that.