Bikers caged in Mexico!

Read the horrific details of their week trapped in a metal cage! See their perilous escape! Actually, it's not like that at all. I promised Mary a trip to see monarch butterflies on their wintering grounds in Mexico to celebrate our anniversary and we went in our Honda Element instead of on the bike. We also included several other stops to make the trip more interesting.

Though this was not a bike trip, some interest has been shown in reading about it, so I decided to write it up. Hopefully, I'll finish before the butterflies come back through on their way south in the fall.

Mary is a huge fan of Monarch butterflies. Our backyard has quite a bit of butterfly weed planted to attract butterflies and to feed the caterpillars until they become butterflies. Here in Corpus Christi, we always get quite a few spring and fall on their migrations north and south. Some stay for the summer.

Our backyard jungle:



Our wedding anniversary always seems to come a few days after Valentine's Day, so I usually get away with one present for both or, if I want to splurge, I've got good reason to do so. For our anniversary this year, I promised to take her to Mexico to see the butterflies on their winter turf. She would have a chance to get acquainted and to invite them to stop by on their way north in the spring. Some on-line research turned up many sites about butterflies and showed the town of Angangueo to be a good jumping-off point to see butterflies.



Angangueo is on the right edge of this partial map of Michoacan.



To add to the trip, we decided to drive down the coast on the way down and see friends in Huatusco, about 60 miles west of Veracruz, spend a day with them, then cross the country to Michoacan to see the butterflies and return home, passing through Xilitla on the way to see Las Pozas de Edward James. The trip would also let me scout some roads for future bike trips.

Since it was February and we were looking at a long trip in what would probably be cool, rainy weather, I decided to go in our car instead of the bike (Hence: bikers caged in Mexico). And since we were going in the car, we had extra room for someone to go with us. Sandi jumped on that with both feet, even though she was scheduled to have neck surgery two weeks before we left. She checked with the doctor to make sure travel would be OK and he signed off on it. We would be gone a week, which was too long for her husband, Dale, to take off work, so he had to stay home. You can see from the pictures she was pretty good about wearing her neck brace. I don't know how many times people have been along with us on anniversary trips, but that's how it goes.

Part II - Heading Out

We left early on a Friday morning, crossed the border with little problem after exchanging money and getting papers for the car. My goal was to make it to the hotel in Ozoluama where I stayed on a trip to Huatusco the year before. Ozoluama is about 550 miles from Corpus Christi, leaving about 300 miles to do on the second day. It's about a third of the way from Tampico to Poza Rica. We didn't even get the cameras out, had lunch at the "Y", took the beach road in Tampico to bypass most of the traffic, just leaving us a few miles of city streets to get to the big bridge across the river and were in Ozoluama before dark.

Here's a shot of the hotel from the previous trip (on the bike, that was the trip with the bald back tire):



The second day out, we took a bypass through Cerro Azul and Alamo to get us past Tuxpam, then hit a section of toll road to take us past Poza Rica. Past Tampico, the scenery improves, but road conditions deteriorate. Travel time the second day is almost the same as the first, though the distance is less. The road is 2-lane with no shoulders, traffic is heavy and topes (speedbumps) are frequent. Because there's not many places to pass, long strings of traffic wind up following slow trucks. Mary complained about my passing once or twice, but eventually gave up.

The letters on this map don't mean much, except to force our route. "A" is our border crossing point, the Pharr-Rio Bravo bridge, "B" is Soto la Marina, a more direct route to Tampico than going through Ciudad Victoria, "C" is Cardel, where we turn off the highway to head inland towards Huatusco, "D".

Part III - Ozoluama to Huatusco

Sandi felt a bit rough in the morning but that soon passed (after she left her breakfast in the gas station parking lot (didn't want to pay to use the bathroom) and we were on our way.

On the first bypass (mostly to avoid Tuxpan) the road goes through an area with a lot of citrus orchards. The town of Alamo features a life-sized statue of an orange picker alongside the highway.



Then it goes through some hills with a half-mile stretch of fruit stands along the highway. We usually stop and buy some fruit to take along. Sandi took this picture (I hope she doesn't mind me stealing some of her photos for this report. I'll hear about it if she does mind.).



Not too much farther down the road, the road hits the coast for a stretch called La Costa Esmeralda (the Emerald Coast). I like it. It mostly caters to Mexican tourists with cheap hotels, food and coconut stands and other sorts of gimcrackery. We stopped, walked on the beach a bit, let Sandi take pictures with her new camera, ate some fresh coconut and enjoyed the views.



This is us:







Then it was on to Huatusco. We arrived and were welcomed warmly by Manolo, Ortensia and family. I'm always amazed at how verdant the area is. Huatusco is at about 4,000 elevation in a coffee growing area. The road climbs up through pastures and fields for about 30 miles, then you go around a corner and it's fruit trees and coffee everywhere. Maybe that's a product of always seeming cold and damp when I'm there.

This is a shot from last July. The road is a nice one for bikes as well.

Part IV - Cempoala

Manolo and Ortensia wanted to show us some of the sights in the area, so the next day we loaded up the cars and headed out. Their older daughter, Saraí, had to stay home and mind the store, but we had Andrea with us.

Manolo dreams about having a tour business showing people around the area and he wanted to show us some of the sights. We started off by driving back the way we came to Cardel, then a bit back up the road to Cempoala to see some pyramids. I'd seen the signs everytime I came by, but I never turned off. I also didn't realize they were only a couple miles off the main highway. During its heydey, Cempoala (or Zempoala) was the largest city on the gulf coast.

Here's a map of the area. I've put boxes around Huatusco, Cempoala and Jalcomulco, another area we visited during the day.



There is a lot of sugarcane grown along the coast and some overworked burros hauling it in:









After spending an hour or so wandering around, we were off for Jalcomulco. On the way there, we passed some fruit stands and Mary was yelling, "Stop the car! Stop the car!! Sapote!" I pulled over and she jumped out while I was still rolling. Sapote is a fruit found in Honduras (and Mexico, too, I guess), but rarely seen in the US. She was as excited as a little girl. She also bought some guanabana. Unfortunately, it was pretty much gone before I could get any pictures to show you what I'm talking about. Look it up. You got to be careful to not eat too much guanabana or you wind up looking like the fellow in the above picture (and why is he wearing glasses?).

More to come.

Part V - Jalcomulco Resorts

From the fruit stand, we soon dropped into a small valley with a river running through it (as is usually the case). I believe it is the Antigua river. This is an area promoting eco-tourism with whitewater rafting on the river, rappelling, hiking, etc. We stopped by several very nice resorts along the river to look around. Being February, there weren't many people there.







The next two pictures are Sandi's.









Then we drove on a few more miles to another resort, Chichaki Eco Resort, across the river from the town of Apazapan (honest, I'm not making this up). Mary snapped a quick picture of a couple on a swinging bridge as we crossed the road bridge above it. Maybe they just needed a little space.



People were a bit touchy about us taking pictures at the Chichaki Eco resort, but we took a few anyway. I don't think they understand publicity.





All this and now it was finally time for lunch.

Part VI - Lunch, finally!

For lunch, the Ameca's took us to a seafood restaurant, located along the river farther upstream. I don't remember the name, I do remember driving through groves of HUGE mango trees, some of the biggest I've ever seen. The restaurant was a thatched roof covering a large concrete floor, no walls. In back was a swimming pool, some guest cabins and a path down to the river. The swimming pool seemed to be taken over by some of the local fauna.





After lunch, we drove back to Huatusco, taking the back way over the mountain through coffee plantations and small towns along the road. It was an amazing day. Total mileage for the day, maybe 150 miles and it included ancient pyramids, riverside resorts, and lunch. Coast to the mountains.

The next day, we headed out for Michoacan. There had been a lot of rain in the area of the butterfly sanctuaries and we weren't sure if we would have access to them, but we decided to go see anyway. After all, that was the primary purpose of our trip.

Manolo said there was a new loop open around the north side of Mexico City, el Arco Norte and told me where the turnoff was, past Puebla, that would carry us around Mexico City, winding up on the highway to Guadalajara. That sounded good to me. I had no desire to drive through Mexico City and going around it to the South looked like it would be a long day.

Part VII - the Road to Angangueo

The road from Huatusco drops in elevation as it goes down the far side of the mountains. On a clear day, you can see Orizaba, the second-highest mountain in Mexico to your right, but this wasn't a clear day, it was cloudy and drizzly. The road passes through the towns of Coscomatepec and Fortin de las Flores, very pretty towns, but we had places to go. We hit the main highway between Monterrey and Mexico City at Fortin and were happy to pay the tolls.

An hour or so up the highway, the road climbs up on the central plateau. A divided 4-lane expressway does a series of hairpin turns that would make a snake dizzy. In the process, the road climbs from 4,500 ft. elevation to 8,000 ft. To make it a bit more interesting, we were driving up it in the fog. I was glad it was divided highway and I didn't have to worry about on-coming traffic.



We drove through a lot of fields, the city of Puebla with it's enormous Volkswagon factory alongside the road, then hit the turnoff for the Arco Norte. My maps of Mexico show the road under construction, but it's now about 2/3's complete. A big part of my trip planning before we left was trying to figure out how to get between Michoacan and Huatusco, avoiding Mexico City. The Arco Norte made it easy.



There was very little traffic. Tolls must've been reasonable because I don't remember griping about them. We didn't have the camera out, but we drove through many scenes of cows grazing in pastures, fields of cactus that, I assume, were for making tequila. We could see the smog hovering over Mexico City to our left and were glad we weren't there.

By lunchtime, we were opposite Mexico City. We headed west out of Atlacomulco, stopped for lunch at a roadside diner. The town of El Oro was very nice so we parked for a bit and wandered around their market. Gassing up in Tlalpujahua, the gas station attendant said the road to Angangueo was closed due to mudslides, one of which had taken out much of the town itself.

This is from a blog called thereadingzone.wordpress.com:


We spoke to the manager of the gas station and he suggested getting a room there in Tlalpujahua and visiting another reserve, Sierra Chincua being the closest. Tlalpujahua was celebrating their carnival before Lent began and we had seen costumed dancers as we came through town. The manager recommended staying at Hotel La Parroquia when asked and said if I gave the owner his name, he would give me a good rate.

Part VIII - Tlalpujahua

Tlalpujahua is one of those Mexican towns built on top of a hill, rather in the valley, as we do in the states. Finding the hotel took a bit of doing, but we located it on a dead end street, next to a small factory entrance.

The hotel was nice. Fernando, the owner, rented us a two-room suite with 5 beds for the price of a double. He said he was full other than that, though the hotel seemed empty. The mystery was solved when a butterfly tour group showed up in the evening.



This was our anniversary suite. I wasn't too keen on the color scheme, but Mary liked it.



And the view from the window.







We enjoyed the fireworks going off (undoubtedly because it was our anniversary).

Part IX - Tlalpujahua Morning

In the morning, we wandered around town for a bit, had breakfast back at the hotel, then headed for the butterfly sanctuary, Sierra Chincua, probably about 20 - 30 miles to the South.

Tlalpujahua was an interesting place. One of the major industries in town was manufacturing christmas tree ornaments and there were shops selling them throughout the town. Sidewalks were lined with Indian ladies selling candied fruit and squash, all of it a dark brown color from the brown sugar used to make it.

Sandi was talking with the folks on the tour and they were impressed that we'd driven all the way there. When she told them we usually did our Mexico trips on motorcycles, they were really impressed.

Sandi got a picture of this fellow selling pan dulce (sweet bread):



The streets in town were pretty steep (another of Sandi's pictures):



and then we were off to Sierra Chincua.

Part X - Sierra Chincua Butterfly Sanctuary

We followed the road signs to the butterfly sanctuary. It looked more like a logging camp, a collection of wooden buildings that housed a restaurant or two and some stalls selling curios. We had to pay several dollars to drive in to the sanctuary. When the guy at the gate didn't have change and Mary told him to keep the change, I was upset. Seems like a pretty good scam to me, just don't keep any change around. Then we had to pay for tickets to hike up the trail, pay a tip to the guide and pay the guy on the horse who carried Sandi up there and Mary and Sandi most of the way back. Though none of it amounted to much, probably $20 total, I was grumpy.

The area was pine trees, 8000 ft. plus elevation and the 2-mile hike to where the butterflies were was tough, given the elevation (hence the guys with the horses). We were there early because the weather forecast promised more rain for the afternoon. Our guide:





Then we were finally at the butterflies. Because it was cold and damp, the butterflies weren't going anywhere, but were just clustered in the trees.





These are blurry because my camera didn't know where to focus (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).



After about 20 minutes of looking at dark globs of butterflies, we headed back out. Later, we were glad we went early as they even had some snow by the end of the day. The time to be there is when it is warm and sunny and millions of monarchs are flying around. Oh well. You never know the weather when you plan the trip.




We hiked back to the car, passing several groups of tourists going the other way to see the butterflies, then headed back out to Tlalpujahua, back to Atlacomulco, then north to San Juan del Rio, on the main highway between Mexico City and Queretero. The highway was mostly 2-lane, heavily travelled with a lot of construction, but we made it to San Juan del Rio.

It was cold, we hadn't been in a heated room since we left Corpus Christi and we were looking for a nice, US-style hotel. A gas station attendant directed us to a brand-new motel a mile or two up the road, but when we found out their main business was renting rooms by the hour, we weren't too interested. We wound up staying in one of the old hotels downtown (with no heat). In the morning, when we headed out for Xilitla, we passed the nice, new Holiday Inn Express on the road out of town.

All three of us were having stomach problems that evening. Mary usually doesn't get sick. She grew up barefoot in the mountains of Honduras and is much more resistant to bugs than us Gringo wusses. It saved us spending money on supper.

Part XI - The Road to Xilitla

The whole reason for our passing through San Juan del Rio was to drive Hwy 120 to Xilitla. On a previous trip to Xilitla, I met a motorcycle tour that came into town from that direction and always wanted to check out the road.

Here's our route from Tlalpujahua (A) to San Juan del Rio (B), about 75 miles, where we spent a night and the next day's travel from there to Xilitla (C), about 125 miles, then on to the next night's stop in Ciudad Valles (D).



A friend cautioned me I don't want to drive Hwy 120 in the summer. It can be a scorcher. On this day, it was cloudy and cool. We enjoyed the trip and took lots of pictures out the car window. Vegetation and geology changed a number of times on the drive.









We went through a checkpoint out in the middle of nowhere where the soldiers did the most thorough search of the trip, then started climbing. As we went up, the landscape was greener and trees were bigger. We enjoyed lunch in Jalpan at a roadside restaurant, then headed on to Xilitla. There was a gas station at the summit with an old-timer watching the premises.

Jalpan seems like a promising area to visit. Maybe we'll get back there sometime.





Sandi took a picture of the house just below the gas station.



When we arrived in Xilitla, I wanted to swing through the town center, but didn't hit the right road on the first try and was outvoted on making a second attempt, so we went on to Las Pozas de Edward James.

Part XII - Las Pozas de Edward James

I made an earlier trip to see Las Pozas, built by Edward James, a VERY wealthy Englishman, in the '60's and '70's. Since I was there two years ago, the property was bought by a foundation with the purpose of restoring and maintaining it. Some repairs have begun and there is now more commercial activity on site. Entrance cost 30 pesos, less than $3.00, apiece.

We were met by a fellow who said he was a grandson of Plutarco Gastelum, Edward James' right-hand man, and could tell us stories about Edward James. We declined the offer and decided to walk ourselves around the property.

Given all that, it's a photographer's paradise (and I am in no way a photographer). The next three pictures are Sandi's. Some of the others I tagged on to my previous post on Xilitla.

Part XIII - Ciudad Valles and then Home

Leaving Las Pozas, we dropped down the mountain and hit the highway heading north to Ciudad Valles. This time we did find a U.S. style hotel, went in our room and turned up the heat. It's a nice drive up the highway, passing an orange processing plant with semi trucks full of oranges parked on both sides of the highway. The road goes through a few towns and snakes over several ridges along the way.



The next day, Friday, was Sandi's birthday, so we got her a birthday cake.



From Ciudad Valles, I was on pretty familiar turf and we headed up the highway going towards Matamoros, turning off at the road going to Reynosa. At the border, we went through customs with a minimum of fuss and on to Corpus Christi. Total mileage was about 1800 miles. Duration - Saturday to Friday. We certainly enjoyed the trip and have an anniversary to remember.

Here's our "official" anniversary picture:



I call it "Beauty and the Bulge."

Hope you enjoyed the trip. Thanks for coming along. Bye-bye!