Mariposas Monarcas Seek New Over Wintering Home

"Tenemos que irnos."

December 28, 2013:
Word has come from the Administrative Council of Las Mariposas Monarcas that they will be abandoning their traditional over wintering area in the oyamel (fir) mountains of eastern Michoacán and westernd Estado de México.

The governing body, which administers 4 sanctuaries in said areas made it known in a press conference yesterday that due to the diminishing of the oyamel forest because of illegal logging, and the further diminishing of visitation, for fear of Michoacán's bad rep for violence, that as of the next season, the Monarcas will be in new wintering grounds.

"We are considering various locations, but we like the way La Riviera Maya looks, on the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula.", said Licenciada Inocente Paloma, spokesperson for the Council. She went on to say, "We realize that this may have some negative impact on the local economy but they are resourceful and will find alternative sources of income, such as emigration al otro lado. Personally, I like Playa del Carmen".

¡Adios, amigos, hasta la vista!

Map showing proposed route of move.

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Two Hotels of the North. Part 2

We'd long considered Nuevo Laredo a sort of ugly necessity when crossing the border into Mexico from Texas. We recently had to go there to nationalize our vehicle. It wasn't fun to do, the distance from home is great, and the temperature in the Rio Grande Valley in August at times reached 109º F.

So it was important to have a conveniently located, comfortable hotel for our sanctuary. We chose the Hotel Colón Plaza in which to stay two nights on our recent trip to Nuevo Laredo, based on TripAdvisor reviews and personal recommendations. It's located in a surprisingly attractive, upscale part of the city. We were comfortable, except for the heat when walking to and from Los Ajos restaurant and nearby branch banks. Note that if you go to Los Ajos, the heavily fortified and guarded building next to it, immediately to the north, is the U.S. Consulate. I recommend walking on the far side of the street, as the security guards are justifiably vigilant, especially after a bomb attack of April, 2010.

It was easy to find and the rate was a reasonable $715 pesos for a double room. The room was a little small, but very well outfitted and ample for our needs. The style is serious "Business Class", and while it didn't warm my heart, it was fine. Parking was in a walled lot behind the hotel with access to the lobby.

The service environment seemed "correct" and a bit "stuffy".

The main things were that the elevator, AC, and bath worked. There is an attractive swimming pool, but we never had time to use it. Although our room faced a busy avenue, the interior was quiet, as it was set back from the street and had heavy curtains as well.

On Sunday evening, the desk clerk told me that the hotel restaurant "Triskel" was not open and was not open for breakfast on Monday. This was not a big issue for us, as we took all our meals at the Restaurante "Los Ajos", an inexpensive, pleasant and informal restaurant 800 meters east, at Calle Álvaro Obregón and Paseo Colón. I will review that separately.

The bathroom was a bit small, but worked fine and like the rest of the room, spotlessly clean. The shower was o.k. but not positionable as it was fixed directly above in the shower stall. The hot water arrived fairly quickly but with only moderate pressure. The bath amenities were above average.

The Wifi worked very well, and there was a large and comfortable desk, plenty electrical outlets, drawers, shelves and adequate but not generous closet space.

The only notable glitch was that the electronic key cards would not work at times. The receptionist got one to work, but a second never did. One is needed to place in a slot inside the room to keep the electricity going. Another is useful if one guest wants to go out while the other stays in. On our return one evening, neither card worked and I had to go to Reception to have them reactivated.

There were the standard two bottles of purified water in the room each day, but on Sunday, when I requested more, the desk clerk told me that there weren't any. What he failed to reveal is that there is an alcove on our floor, close to our room, with a big jug of purified water. It's there for the guests to use to refill their water bottles.

I would have given the hotel 5 stars but for these small annoyances.
(A version of this review appeared on TripAdvisor.com)

I don't have any photos of the hotel, but you can look at these.)


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Two Hotels of the North. Part 1

We recently traveled to the Frontera del Norte that divides México from the United States. It's a long drive from Pátzcuaro to Nuevo Laredo, and we planned to do it in two stages. A few friends of ours are able to do it in one, 12 hour grind, but we value our comfort and sanity too much.  We were also driving without air conditioning. We decided to pause for rest and refreshment at the Hotel Del Parque, in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí. It's at approximately the midpoint of the trip.

The better known hotels in Matehuala are out on what we might call the Business Bypass to Highway 57D. Of those, the best known is the stalwart Las Palmas Midway Inn. But we had read good things about the Del Parque, and we weren't disappointed. It's located close to the center of town. It's a first rate establishment, offering excellent accommodations, quality service and a surprisingly good restaurant.

We found the hotel with only a little difficulty. It's located at the corner of Calle Bocanegra #232 at Calle Rayón. That's at the southwest corner of the park.

There's a secure, underground parking garage. There's an attractive lobby and spacious lounging areas with comfortable furniture on each spacious floor landing. The stairs are broad and easy, but there's also an elevator.

Del Parque Lobby

First floor lounge

On our first night, while heading northward, we ended up in the Junior Suite, because no doubles were available. There was only either a solitary single available, one of several rooms with windows that face the interior lounge areas. The other was the Jr. Suite was a splurge, but a good value, at $835 pesos a night. It had a big screen tv (which we didn't watch), a mini refrigerator, which came in handy, a king bed, plenty of desk and shelf space and a reasonably sized closet. If they would include a microwave oven, it could be a very nice, spacious studio apartment.

The bathroom was spacious, with separate toilet, lavatory and shower sections. The hot water arrived quickly on demand, and water pressure was adequate. The only flaw was some sewer gas coming up the drains, both from the shower and the sink. We were able to isolate that by closing the bathroom doors.

On our return, a few nights later, we arrived earlier and had more choice as to rooms. This time we chose a double, $775 pesos, and it was more than satisfactory, although it lacked a mini fridge.

Double room with view of the park.

Both rooms in which we stayed were remarkably quiet.

---

Usually, we avoid hotel restaurants, but this time we gravitated to the adjoining Restaurante Los Nogales.

Informal but well run restaurant "Los Nogales"

It was extremely convenient, attractive, and the service and food were good. Both of our evening meals were light. On our first night, I had Enchiladas Potosinas, and Sra. Cuevas had an Ensalada César Con Pollo. On our return a few days later, she had Caldo Tlalpeño and I had a rich and soothing Crema de Elote and a couple of pretty good Empanadas Argentinas.

Enchiladas Potosinas

Caldo Tlalpeño

Crema de Elote...Soothing...Creamy

Where the Restaurante Los Nogales really shines is with its daily breakfast buffet. The Sunday morning offerings seemed a little more varied than those of the following Wednesday, but still a good value at $108 pesos per person. Cereals, yogurts, fresh juices, piping hot meat  and egg dishes of various types, and if you desired, the kitchen would prepare special requests. The Sunday selections even included menudo. I tried a small amount, and it was superior to any I'd had in Pátzcuaro  or Morelia.

Menudo "Los Nogales"

A few of the hot dishes on the breakfast buffet

Ratings:

Comfort: *****

Service: *****

Wifi: various routers, worked well most of the time. I had a little difficulty connecting at first.

Housekeeping: Immaculate

Price: $735 (sgl); $775 (dbl), $835 (Jr, Suite), in high season, which is when we were there.

Restaurant: See above description.

Food: ***1/2

Service: ****

Price: $-$$

Rest rooms (off hotel lobby) clean and modern.

The now obligatory bathroom shot

Location: Google Maps is a little bit off on this. Hotel is actually to the west of the place marker.)

 
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The Seven Year Hitch

La Casa, July, 2006

We have just marked the seventh anniversary of our arrival at el Rancho. When we first saw the house that was to become our home, we were immediately attracted to it. True, it wasn't as nice looking then; a one story, flat roofed, unpainted building on a big lot. But we knew right away that we wanted to live here.


The ugly duckling exterior belied the attractive interior. Two bedrooms, a bath (complete with bathtub), a garage with an overhead door, lots of windows, and most attractive of all, an ample kitchen that called to me to cook in it.

Mi Cocina

Since we moved here, our landlords put on a traditional, red tiled roof and painted the exterior. (It already needs to be repainted.) Early this year, they rebuilt the outer walls, defense against would-be, opportunistic predators.

The improved house in summer

We also like that there are no stairs or changes of levels in the house. We also enjoy relative tranquility. Most of the traffic that passes consists of a few farm vehicles and small herds of cattle.

We were quickly accepted into the community, which consists of a handful of closely knit families. We used to participate more in local fiestas, but we have in the last few years pulled back some. It's just too exhausting to go to every fiesta. We also limited our fiesta going to those within a radius of a few kilometers. We don't want to drive at night if at all possible.




Overall, living in this small, pastoral community has been a very satisfactory experience. Every time that we turn off the main highway and travel the last three kilometers to the village, we feel that we are headed homeward.

Splendid backdrop mountain scenery

We're eager to sign up for another seven year hitch.

El Reto Metro

All Hope Abandon...

Used to be that a good test of a Mexico City visitor's savvy was the ability to enter and navigate the underground Metro system and exit relatively unscathed. Now the city has developed an increasingly extensive network of MetroBuses, running above ground.

A double coach MetroBus at the Sonora Station

The system  of fares is based on a smart card. But it takes some smarts to understand how it works. It also helps, as we found, to have friendly, sometimes English speaking fellow passengers who can advise you.

¡Híjole!

We recently used the MetroBus system a couple of times. The first requirement was to learn how to purchase and load the smart card, which although available in varied, colorful designs, all work the same. But, according to the MetroBus web site, the vending machines may vary. Some automatically issue cards according to the money you put in, while others require you to key in the amount.

	Compra de Tarjeta
	Sigue las instrucciones de la máquina. 1. Presiona el botón de "compra" 2. Deposita la cantidad que desees recargar. La máquina acepta monedas de $1, $2, $5 y $10, y billetes de $20, $50, $100 y $200 pesos.*** 3. Puedes retirar la tarjeta recargada en el compartimento inferior. Recuerda que las máquinas no dan cambio, por lo que es necesario que deposites la cantidad exacta que deseas recargar. ***(Algunas máquinas entregan la tarjeta sin saldo y es necesario ingresarlas en el lector para después depositar el saldo deseado).	Charge!

Pick a card, any card

 Once you have obtained an MB smart card, you can move on to the turnstile and have your card read. With beginner's luck, it will admit you to the bus platform.

That was the easy part. We now ramp up the reto to the reto de las rutas.

In our naïvete, we assumed that each line carried buses on simple, linear routes. Not True.

We were coming from the direction of Tacubaya toward the Nuevo Léon station, where we understood to get down from the bus and walk about a block to a different Nuevo León station. (I have to mention at this point that you are allowed free transfers between crossing lines if done within two hours of your original entry to the System.)

We did as instructed, but the next bus we boarded swung right, to the east, an unexpected direction. We didn't feel alone in our confusion, as a  Chilanga near us was confused as well. But by a miracle, yet another Chilanga knew the ropes of la ruta, and in good English, explained what to do.
For details, read more:

Four Recent Hotel Stays

We recently traveled to Grutas de Tolantongo, Hidalgo, stopping first for a night in the Pueblo Mágico of Tlalpujahua, Michoacán.

I didn't do a lot of research on the lodging options in Tlalpu, but assumed (correctly) that if we showed up on a Wednesday in the low season, we'd get a room.

I had my eye on the Hotel Jardin, mostly because of its very central location and its nice website. The Hotel Jardin is located less than one block uphill from the plaza, or "Jardin". It's attractive in many ways, not least of which is the warm greeting we got from the recepcionista, Marita. She even went so far as to walk back the 6 or 8 blocks to our van, in order to guide us through the one way streets to the hotel.

A sweet little hotel

We wanted a spacious room, with two camas matrimoniales. The rack rate is $600 pesos, but when I requested a low season discount, Marita graciously dropped it to $550.

Like Tlapu itself, nearly everything requires a climb. The town itself is located at an altitude of 8,400 feet above sea level. I felt the effects of the thin air, both walking uphill to the hotel, then climbing two sets of stairs to our room on the "primer piso".

Upper stairs to the terrace

The room, which faced the interior hall, was spacious, simple but attractive; the beds comfortable, the bedding and especially the soft blanket were very nice. But there was a definite lack of closet space. One tiny closette in the dresser was all we had.

Partial view of our double room

The bathroom was clean and functional although simple. Hot water arrived quickly and reasonably forcefully.

There is a rooftop terraza with a partial view of the town center. Guests can opt to have breakfast up there, at $40 pesos per person. We ate elsewhere, to our regret, and perhaps should have had breakfast at the hotel. Brenda, the night shift recepcionista, asked us, but we declined.

The significant downside of the hotel is that its secured parking area is off site, almost a mile away, at the Cabañas Esperanza. Parking required that a staff or family member ferry us to and from the parking area. Although there was a wait of up to 30 minutes, we took it as an opportunity to get to know a few members of the family. Other guests might be less patient.

Ratings
Comfort: ****

Cleanliness: ****

Price: Sencilla= $350, Doble=$600

Service: **** Outstanding

Pluses: Service, central location, comfort, QUIET

Minuses: Many stairs; tiny closet, parking at a remote lot

---

(Reprise)
In Ixmiquilpan, we stayed at the very nice Hotel Posada Centenario. A foul smell in the street that Thorn Tree poster "Alterigor" mentioned was present, but once inside the spacious patio parking (there's also enclosed parking) we noticed no odor. (Later, when we showered, uncovering the shower drain released a bad smell, but it was minimal and tolerable.)

There's a nice lobby, where the free wifi works best, although I could capture it in the room.

Our room was on the second floor, facing the covered swimming pool. (The pool was too cold for us to swim in.) It was bright, cheerful and reasonably comfortable. The beds had cement bases and were a little high off the floor, but no real problem. Our double room rate of $400 p included a missable Continental breakfast in the adjacent restaurant, "Le Salamandra".

Ratings

Comfort:***

Cleanliness: ****

Price: $400 a double. Promotional rates available Sunday through Thursday.

Service: good

Pluses: bright and well maintained, sufficient electric outlets. Short walk to plaza.
Minuses: sewer smell in shower, but it was stopupable.

---

Tolantongo; Paraiso Escondido, Cabaña #5

As I have already written in my posts about our visit to Grutas de Tolantongo, we didn't have a lot of choices of rooms when we arrived at noon on a Friday. The first two habitaciones we were shown were close to the Recepcíon, along busy pathways, and least attractive of all, faced the paths and not the canyon. Those rooms, doubles, went for $600 pesos. I asked about cabañas, and there were at least a pair still available. Although these are really intended for up to 5 persons, we decided on the basis of the excellent front porch and view of the pozas close by to rent it, at $800 pesos per night. We were offered the option of Cabaña # 6 next door, but as it had just been cleaned thanked our receptionist and moved into #5. It could be that we might have done better with #6.

Pozas viewed from cabaña area

Cabaña # 5 was very spacious, on two levels, with 2 camas matrimoniales on the upper level and a sofa bed on the lower. The ceiling was high and there were windows on both sides. There was sufficient space left over on the lower level to install a small lounge area, or a kitchenette, but it was empty.

The overall maintenance was poor; there was a burned out bulb in the lamp over the bed, no hangers in the reasonably spacious closet, no bulb in one of the porch lamps, but the most serious flaw was the really fetid gas coming up the drains in the bathroom. We were able to mitigate that last by putting the supplied plunger over the shower stall drain, but there was still some gas rising from the sink.

The bed would have been comfortable, but the sheets had the texture of fine sandpaper.
In regard to the shower, the warmer water (spring sourced) from the single valve was slow in coming but tolerably warm after 3 or 4 minutes of waiting. This was not a big problem.

In addition to the above defects, the whole interior was shabby and in need of paint and renovation. But we stayed because it was what was available (there were probably other habitaciones available at the lower, Río section, but we wanted this specific location close to las pozas, so we settled in to enjoy the positive aspects.

The most outstanding feature was the spacious porch, with heavy wooden chairs and a low table where we could enjoy the foods we'd brought, with a very pleasant view of the semi tropical vegetation and the beautiful pozas not far below us.

Breakfast on the porch

Ratings

Comfort: **

Cleanliness: **

Price: $800 pesos. More economical options are available, but as in all cases, one must arrive early, mid-week, to get one. No reservations are taken.

Service: ***

Pluses: Very spacious. Nice porch for relaxing, good view, short walk to the pozas. Not far to the parking area.
Minuses: Run down, shabby, poorly maintained. Expensive considering these defects.

---

Hotel Real D' Mendoza, Zinapécuaro, Michoacán

After a fruitless halt in dusty Maravatío, we drove on to Zinapécuaro. From what we saw, it's an attractive town, whose centerpiece is the beautifully landscaped water park, Reino de Atzimba. But we didn't visit that until the following week.

I had in mind the hotel Hacienda Monarca, but just about 1/4 mile before we reached it, I saw a sign for the Hotel Real D'Mendoza, located on a side street, Calle Camelinas at Calle Dahlia, two blocks from the arterial Avenida Lázaro Cárdenas.

I was immediately taken by the attractive exterior and once inside the reception/lobby area, it was like being in someone's large home. (It is.) Even better, to the rear is a large, enclosed and secured parking garage. A ramp is available for persons in a wheelchair to access the primer piso.
There are 22 rooms, some of which are interior but have balconies facing the quiet street.

Garden view rooms

Our room: small but pretty

Several options are available in rooms, sencillas, dobles and king size. We chose a king size, on the terrace level one flight up. It was very small, but pleasantly cozy. Cost was $380 pesos.

The only negative note was that the TV stand hanging on the wall had sharp projecting corners.  (We escaped injury.) We draped a bath towel over as a visual warning. The room had artistic decor, but the coolest thing was that when the lights went out at night, stars glowed on the ceiling. It was utterly charming. The bathroom was small but very functional. Above all, it was very clean and odorless.

In the morning, there was free coffee and packaged cookies available at the reception desk. Oh, I almost forgot about wifi. (The Hotel Jardin has it, too.)

There is a sequel to this story. When we got home, I found that I'd left my iPod Touch wall charger and sync cable in the hotel room.

I contacted David Moulton, who lives in Zinapécuaro, to request that he call the hotel to see if they had my missing gadget.

Not only did they have it, but David is a brother-in-law of the owner!

Doña Cuevas and I returned to Zinapécuaro the following Thursday to meet David and his wife Tere. David gave us passes to Atzimba and took us on a walking tour of the beautifully landscaped grounds. We didn't return to the  Hotel Real D' Mendoza that time, but would definitely recommend it.

Ratings

Comfort: ***

Cleanliness: *****

Price: $380 pesos for a king bedroom. Larger rooms are available for a little more.

Service: ***** Outstanding

Pluses: Family atmosphere, quiet, enclosed parking inside the hotel, wifi, free coffee and cookies; garden with kids' playground set.
Minus: Watch out for the tv set!

Note: we learned that the Hotel Hacienda Monarca was the billet for a good size troop of Federales, and has been so for at least a couple of years.

Two To Tolantongo, Part Two

On the evening before our departure, we walked along the upper canyon trail to the head of Tolantongo Canyon. This is the spectacular source of the Río Tolantongo. There are actually several sources; the warm river, thundering out of La Gruta, a small stream emerging from el Túnel, a natural sauna; cool cascades falling lacily over the escarpment, and the springs at the adjoining park, La Gloria. La Gloria is owned by a neighboring ejido and has a its own features. We have not yet visited there.

Upper trail to head of Tolantongo Canyon

I was surprised by the amount of development that had been done in the five years since we'd last been there.

New service structures near head of canyon

But the main, natural attractions have not been significantly altered.

La Gruta straight ahead. Túnel up stairs to left

La Gruta holds many bathers. There's a powerful, warm waterfall inside to the left.

After our evening walk, we went to dinner at Restaurante Las Palomas.

Sra. Cuevas had Alambres Tolantongo

I had Camarones Empanizados

I'd had some doubts about eating seafood that far inland, but the shrimp (and the alambres) were excellent  Later I learned that the Ejidal Society has its own aquaculture facility!

We slept one last night in the park, and in the morning ate the last of the food in the ice chest, packed, and were headed up the road towards Ixmiquilpan by 9:15

We stopped for some quick photos while en route.

Maguey in bloom

Iglesia de San Isidro Labrador

Mission Ixmiquilpan:

We needed to get to an ATM, get the van washed, have my shoes shined, check email, and have some lunch/late breakfast.

We successfully arrived in Ixmi along a crowded market street, located a parking lot and informal carwash next to Posada Centenario. We got over 2 hours' parking, car wash and rest room use for $50 pesos through our skillful negotiation, charm and general good will.

I went to a cyber cafe, but was unable to send email, so I gave up on that. The ATM part was successful, and the shoe shine, under the portales, was an amazingly low $12 pesos. (It's $20 now in Pátzcuaro.) I gave the guy $15 pesos.

We wanted to see the Mercado Municipal, very conveniently close by. First we stopped at an herbs and hats seller, where we bought an unusual type of orégano. A big sardine can's worth was $25 pesos. A small can, $10.

Orégano, Ixmiquilpan Type

Pepitas, chiles chipotles, orégano

Just beyond the herb seller were two young women cooking antojitos on a comal. This was irresistible. And we hadn't even gotten into the mercado yet. 

We were first struck by a pile of the local version of pambazos. Usually, these filled bread rolls are dipped in a thin chile salsa and fried, but these are not.

Ixmi Pambazos

We were drawn more towards eating smaller items, preferably without lettuce. There were tlacoyos de frijoles ready to eat. Our first choice.

There were also attractive, but lettuce bearing sopes, de huevo and other variants. What are the green shreds? Chicken?

Sopes Ixmi

One of the women started patting out masa and putting a small handful of crumbled chicharrón on it; flattening it and cooking it on the comal. We couldn't resist these, and they were better than the slightly dry tlacoyos. We were told that they were pupusas, which I've associated more with Central America.

Forming a pupusa de chicharrón

L-R: Flautas, sopes de huevo, pupusas

¡Escógelo!

We had snacked well but lightly, so we headed into the mercado to find solid fare.

After entering by medicinal dried herbs,  fresh herbs for tea, frying chicharrón, bicycles and shoes, we found Desayunos Lily's.

Solid breakfast fare served at Lily's

There are no menus, of course. The regulars, who pack the counter stools, know what's available. The cooks will tell you what's available. We decided on chilaquiles verde con huevo for me and a tamal de carne for the Señora.

In a moment appeared a bowl of the soupiest, slurping good chilaquiles, dressed with chopped radishes, onions and cilantro. It wasn't as picante as they warned.

Chilaquiles verde, Ixmi Mercado. The roll was too much to eat.

Several types of atoles are available. I chose avena, a very rich whole milk drink, thickened slightly with oats.

Desayunos Lily's is open from 7:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. Seating is limited at the counter, but there's a shared seating area across the aisle.

Food: ****

Service: Fast counter service ****

Price: -$  Bargain!

Hygiene: **** Appears spotless.

As we wandered deeper into the mercado, we suddenly popped out into a sort of food court flanked by fondas. There was a vocalist with portable amp serenading the diners. The offerings appeared much more extensive than those at Lily's, running more toward moles and caldos and comida than to breakfast. Alas, we'd reached our limit, and have to save these for another trip. I recall from ny previous visit to the Mercado Municipal that there's quite a lot more to it than we saw on this visit. Where's the slabs of carnitas de res? The barbacoa? We just didn't have time nor capacity to cover it all.

We have to make another trip. Besides food, there are other attractions in the area.

Getting There and Back

Our route home retraced our earlier route: Ixmiquilpan to Huichapan, Huichapan to Carretera Federal 57, near San Juan del Río, then onto Carretera 55 towards Atlacomulco, then west on the Mexico City to Guadalajara cuota. We found this faster (far fewer urbanized areas and dreaded topes) and cheaper than the supposedly shorter route using Arco Norte. We did get onto Arco Norte just after Acambay, for which we were charged $22 pesos for about a kilometer of tollway. If we'd known, it can be avoided. We stopped for the night in Zinapécuaro, at the pleasant and charming economic Hotel Posada Real D' Mendoza, Calle Dahlia at Calle Camelinas. $380 for a king bed in a small room for two. Inside parking, cookies and coffee included.

Hotel Real D' Mendoza, Zinapécuaro, Michoacán

ROUTING

The Google Map route, using Arco Norte is below. Grutas de Tolantongo is about 35 or 40 miles northeast of Ixmi, beyond Cardonal. Note that the G Map also routes you through Morelia Centro, a poor idea if there ever was one. This route also gets two urban areas in Hidalgo, with plentiful topes thrown in.

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Here's the modified route we took to Zinapécuaro and home.


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Two To Tolantongo, Part One

Una Poza Azul, Paraiso Escondido

Tons of water emerge from hidden caverns and mountainside springs, to make a desert canyon in the Estado de Hidalgo into a spectacular oasis.

We'd visited Tolantongo in 2007, and were eager to return to experience the Paraiso Escondido area, with its long vistas and cascading warm springs pozas, tiered upon the hillsides. There are now two Tolantongos: the classic section closer to the Río and La Gruta, and the upper Paraiso Escondido section, nearer to the entrance station and place of pozas.

We left our home in the Pátzcuaro area on Wednesday and headed to Tlalpujahua, Michoacán, about 3 hours away, a Pueblo Mágico at over 8,400 feet a.s.l to stay overnight. It's a small, charming and picturesque town, although the altitude strained my pulmonary capacity. Tlalpujahua photos.

But this report is about a visit to Tolantongo, so we'll move on now, as we did the next morning.

We got on the Arco Norte near 15D and Altlacomulco, finding the various card system and on/off ramps somewhat disorienting, but we muddled through, exiting at Tlalhuelipan after passing Tula. We got through the relatively small urban zone of Tlahuelipan only to encounter the much larger Mixquihuala. Mixquihuala must be one of the cities in the most numerous and diabolical topes. The main highway out has sets of triple topes set at frequent intervals.

Highway from Mixquihuala towards Ixmiquilpan

But we arrived without significant problems to Ixmiquilpan, Hidalgo, our rest and jumping off place to Tolantongo. There we stayed at the very nice Hotel Posada Centenario. A foul smell in the street that Thorn Tree poster "Alterigor" mentioned was present, but once inside the spacious patio parking (there's also enclosed parking) we noticed no odor. (Later, when we showered, uncovering the shower drain released a bad smell, but it was minimal and tolerable.)

Our room was on the second floor, facing the covered swimming pool. (The pool was too cold for us to swim in.) It was bright, cheerful and reasonably comfortable. Our double room rate of $400 p included a Continental breakfast in the adjacent restaurant, "Le Salamandra". 

Meanwhile, on arriving and settling in, we sought comida. The grilled meat restaurant, with the flaming torches out front, was no longer there. So after a sort walk under the portales, we decided to eat at Restaurante Hierbabuena, in the front of the Hotel Palacio Real.

It was a pretty good comida, soup with elbow macs, chuleta de cerdo a la Mexicana (lots of fresh, if well cooked vegetables in the sauce, frijoles, tortillas and agua fresca, and a minimalist gelatin cube dessert. It was $40 pesos per person.

chuleta de cerdo a la Mexicana

Across from the Hotel Posada Centenario is a handmade tortilla shop also making some of the richest frijol con chile tlacoyos I'd ever seen, and only $5 pesos each. Although they were alluring, I never found time to sample their products. We made up for this deficiency upon our return, but close by the Ixmiquilpan Mercado.

El Rayo, tortillas hechas a mano y tlacoyos.

That night, I was stricken by a hunger for non-Mexican food, so we went out back to the portales on the Plaza. About midway down the portales is a large, popular casual restaurant, Mr. Pizza—El Malecón. We dug into the free carrots botanas, followed by Alitas Búfalo (Great!), and pizza Griega mediana. If that was a medium, I'm glad we hadn't ordered a large.

Pizza Griega Mediana

Headed out next morning after a ho-hum breakfast in the hotel restaurant.

Gente de negocios en Restaurante "Le Salamandra"

I love the high arid area east of Ixmiquilpan and toward Cardonal when the weather is not too hot. This trip was blessed with far more temperate weather than our previous trip in April, 2007.

Inflatable water toys for sale at a small shop in the desert.

Another desert outpost

After another supply stop enroute, we reached the "Edge Of The World", where the road begins its profound descent into the Barranca de Tolantongo. (I am quite sure that I read on the Lonely Planet Thorntree Mexico Branch or perhaps elsewhere that the road down had been paved. Big news: other than a few kilometers of pavement at the beginning, it's still unpaved for the most part. But after a few "ULPS!" and putting my trust in our driver (my wife), we slowly and carefully descended the road, with special caution at the sharp switchback curves.

"The End of Civilization As We Know It."

Warp Space Boundary

We stopped at the entrance station to pay our fees and get directions to Paraiso Escondido.
The general daily admission per person is normally $120 pesos, at Semana Santa it rises to $140; but we were given the INAPAM discount and paid only half. The parking fee is $20 pesos day per vehicle. We were directed to the Paraiso Escondido section, where courteous security personnel directed us to a shady parking spot. (Later we found that we'd parked under a roost of zopilotes, who beshat the hood of our van.)

The Paraiso Hotel had only 3 rooms available, $600 pesos, when we arrived at noon on Friday. They were nice enough inside, but their view was toward the paths alongside, not to the canyon. I asked about cabañas, and they had a couple available, next to each other but not abutting, at $800p. We liked the location of the cabaña they showed us, above a trail, outward looking, quite private, so we took it. It was tall ceilinged, two level, old and shabby inside and the bathroom stunk of sewer gas badly enough to seep into and befoul the room. Sra. Cuevas solved most of that by putting a plunger over the shower drain.

The lighting was poor, the bulb for the bedside lamp was burned out; no hangers at all in the closet, but we talked to the man at recepcíon and he got us a bulb and two hangers. The shower itself was fine, given a couple of minutes for the warmer water to arrive.

The beds were passable but the lower sheets were like fine sandpaper. But we put up with it and stayed 3 nights, because of the space, privacy, view and ample porch. All the furniture was on the porch. Heavy, "lodge" style furniture, including a low table suited for putting our food.

Café y pan dulce at 7:21 a.m.

Next time, though, we'll try to arrive earlier and have more choice.  The good parts were that we were not too far from our van, and less than 100 feet below were plenty of tepid to warm water pozas in which we could indulge our idyllic, aqueous, back-to-Eden-like desires.

Newer pozas, below our cabaña

FOOD

We used the porch of the cabaña as our lounging and snacking area. We had an ice chest along and a large bag of snacks, including half a leftover pizza. But we also ate both in the Cocina Económica near to us in Paraiso Escondido as well as the Restaurante “Las Palomas”, closer to the river. Las Palomas reminds me of a small, U.S. National Park restaurant, back in the ‘50s. The food is reasonably priced and most of what we ate was good. The exception were some very dry and overcooked pork chops. Yet they tasted good. Maybe it was all the fresh air. There’s a full service bar and the highly competent bartender can mix your favorite drink.

Good bartender in Restaurante "Las Palomas"

Mine was the Vampiro, sweet, sour, salty and picante.

Service is unpretentious but good.

The menu runs heavily to carnes, but at our last dinner, I had some very good camarones empanizados. There’s another Cocina Económica closer to La Gruta, but we did not eat there.

Sundays are barbacoa days, and if you like this traditionally prepared dish, I recommend it highly. Serving starts at about 7:30-8:00 a.m. at the Cocinas Económicas, and continues until supplies run out. The consomé de barbacoa, a rich distillate of juices of borrego, enriched with vegetables, and garbanzos, is unmissable.

A Farewell To Lambs

Uncovering the hoyo de barbacoa on the morning after

There is also a string of even more economical puestos down below, near the jumping off place for the Tirolesa. It’s a very old time Mexican scene. There we only ate some elotes.

LAS POZAS

These are the warm pools which are the big draw at Paraiso Escondido. I won’t try to describe them in any detail, as words would fail. You could spend all day, giving each 5 or 10 minutes, and probably not cover than all. The supersaturated waters and the semi-tropical climate have deposited minerals on every exposed surface of the stone and concrete constructions. The area below Recepcíon are newer and less encrusted. Those in the downstream direction, behind a gate on the trail, signed “Las Pozitas” are heavily mineralized. It’s like a speleo water fantasy, except above ground, in daylight. I half expected to see Raquel Welch in a leopard skin bikini, clambering in and out of the pozas.

Las Pozas

Water spouts, cascades, falls and pools everywhere. The overflows from the pozas join and speed down a stone flume, then exit at a large cascade on the canyon wall. My favorite pozas are those with warmer water, about hip to waist deep, and a canyon rim location. All are a pleasurable experience.

Las Pozas

The metaphorical icing on the cake is the large swimming pool and adjacent diving pool, just below that Cocina Económica. Water depth in the former is from .90 to 1.8 meters, the second, diving pool, is 3 meters deep. The view upward from the pool is of the towering crags, but the view in the other direction is of  a construction 2 storeys high, which partially blocks the view of the canyon. Hopefully, it will be attractive when completed.

A large pool awaits swimmers and waders

After a few hours of clambering in and out of pools and pozas, soothed by the warm waters, you will have no problem sliding between your sandpaper sheets and snoozing.

To be continued: Part Two: A morning in Ixmiquilpan