Making Our Way to Puebla

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry folks, Chuck and I have had to take a leave of absence from telling you about our trip to Mexico  because we have been very sick.  We no sooner arrived back in Tucson when we came down with some sort of virus.  Flu?  Not sure what we had but fever, congestion, no energy.   Audrey provided me with a Covid test kit and I tested negative.  It has been a solid week now and we are no longer running fever, but the recovery is taking its time. We still do not have much energy.  

I got up this morning and decided I have to finish sharing about our trip before you all forget we even went anywhere.  So here I go...back to our Mexico adventure.

My last post was about our brief tour of Mexico City.  The next morning we left Mexico City to drive to Puebla.  The trip should only take about two and a half hours on the freeway. We took the whole day because we stopped and toured in Cuernavaca and Atlixco before arriving in Puebla.

On the way out of Mexico City, we passed the monument to the Revolution.  The rising sun made for this great picture.

Here is another view of the historical part of the city as we were leaving.

It took about an hour and a half to get to Cuernavaca.  Cuernavaca is known as the city of eternal spring.  I had never heard of Cuernavaca before, and if it weren't for our tour, we would never had gone there.  It turns out to be one of the oldest cities in Mexico.  It was a thriving city before the Spaniards arrived.

This photo is of a temple, from the mid 1400s, dedicated to the god of the sun.  Fortunately, it was overlooked by the Spaniards as they plundered Xochicalco, a much bigger sight.  It is in pristine condition.

We toured the cathedral, which turned out to be a cathedral complex.  Here are some photos of the vendors outside the wall of the complex.

Here is the main cathedral known as the Cathedral of Cuernavaca.  Besides the mega cathedral it is surrounded by four chapels.  The cathedral was founded by the first Friar Monks to ever come to Mexico.  The cathedral was built between 1529 and 1552.

One of the chapels in the complex.

The grounds were covered by beautiful gardens.  I was intrigued by this unusual plant.

These marigolds are probably replaced by now with poinsettias.  We were there not too long after the day of the dead celebration and marigolds are a big part of this holiday.

Here is Chuck in front of the oldest parts of the cathedral.

After visiting the cathedral we walked to lunch at India Bonita.  This is an old traditional restaurant that has been in the family since the mid 1930s.  

 

The inside is gardens.  Just beautiful.

Here are some of our travel companions.

Such a lovely town.  So glad this stop was included in our tour of Mexico.

On our way to our next stop, Atlixco, we passed beautiful scenery.

Our second stop was Atlixco.  This city is known for its production of flowers.

A travel companion posing in front of this beautifully decorated doorway.

The main square is surrounded by Colonial buildings and fun eye candy.

Can you find Chuck posing with the name of the city?  It is also known as a magic city.

Right in the middle of the square is this yellow coffee house.  We did not have time to partake, but the Italian Coffee Co. is a rival to Starbucks in Mexico.

Christmas decorations are starting to appear.

And yes, any city that can turn Chuck into an angel is magical!

Our next stop is Puebla where we experienced the highlight of our trip.

Love you,

Nancy

Mexico City Tour

Dear Family and Friends,

We started our Gate 1 tour this morning by meeting in the lobby of our hotel.  We are very fortunate to have a wonderful tour guide, Ivan, and a bunch of wonderful folks (and quickly to be friends) to be traveling with.  

Today we are touring Mexico City.  Our first stop is the Anthropology Museum.  We are traveling in a comfortable motor coach.  Below is a couple of happy old folks to be on this tour.

The center of Mexico City is very modern.  Many tall beautiful buildings and public areas.  Below are some of the photos I could make from the window of our bus.

Many statues and works of art line the tree canopied avenues.

This bench intrigued me.  It looks like four "electric chairs".  Not sure what the meaning is.

I noticed that people here que at the bus stop.  The first time I saw this was when we were in Japan.  Everyone waits in a long line, not crowding the side walk, and loading the bus on a first come, first board basis.  So civilized.

We finally arrived at the Museum of Anthropology.  We were greeted outside by this tall statue of the Aztec "rain god."

This is the inner courtyard of the museum.

I have posted many photos from inside this museum from our last visit.  I encourage you to click this link to see the inside.  Photos inside Museum

After touring the museum, we walked along the oldest street in Mexico City, which is now a pedestrian only street.

Since we are here in the first part of November, there are many decorations from the "Day of the Dead" celebration.  These skeletons on a bench were popular with tourists for photos.

This is the gold gilded "Angel of Independence Statue."

I was surprised to learn that Mexico City even has a small China Town.  

The photo below is the Bella Arts theater.  A national theater much like the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C   but much older and definitely more ornate.

Many organ grinders in the tourist areas.  

Oldest cathedral in Mexico City.

A view of the tourist street.

A couple greeting us pedestrians from the balcony above.

Below are a couple of street entertainers.

Enough for today, tomorrow we leave Mexico City and travel to Puebla.  I hope you will be joining us.

Love you,

Nancy

Day One in Mexico City

Dear Family and Friends,

Tuesday morning Audrey picked us up at 6:45 am and took us to the Tucson airport.  Our adventure was off to a great start.

Here are Chuck and I waiting for our first flight.

We flew to Los Angeles, which takes no time at all.  There we changed planes and flew direct to Mexico City,   We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel.  We were very tired and the sun was setting so we had our dinner at the hotel and made it an early night.

This morning we took a short walk from our hotel and had a cup of Starbucks to start our day.

The Starbucks here is much the same as in the USA, except for one big difference.  It takes the crew longer to make the order, which causes the lines to be long.

After getting fueled up, we decided to go visit the huge market located in the south of the city.  The market is said to be the largest market in the world.  It covers acres and acres.  We just saw one tiny section, but it made for a fun morning.

Here are some photos.

Nice melons.  These look so fresh, I could almost taste how sweet they are just by looking at them.

Huge amount of dried chilies of every variety there is.

These are colorful small fresh fresh peppers.  I love the sign above them, it says Dinosaur Eggs.

I found a market kitty.  Looks healthy and well feed.

With so many people working at the market they have to eat and there are many very small stalls where people can eat.

He is making tacos.  They sure looked inviting, but we had other plans for lunch.

Here is a couple, I think the man works at the market.  The lady is enjoying some soup and their daughter is sitting safely in a crate behind them.

This happy vendor sells chickens.  Look how large his chicken breasts are.

Large amount of Mexican sausage.  

One last market picture.  This lady is buying the largest wash tub I have ever seen.  Maybe she has a bunch of kids to bath at home.  

 

After a couple of hours we were through with the market.  There was tons more to see but it was getting hot in there so we took a taxi back to our hotel.  

We rested a little at the hotel and then started our afternoon adventure.  

We decided we wanted to try some street food.  They always say don't eat from the street vendors, and we usually don't but the food looks so good we decided to take the chance and try several vendors just to have some real Mexican food.

Our first vendor, Edwardo, was making tortillas out of blue corn meal.  

We ordered one and halved it.  This is mine.  It was very tasty.

Our second vendor, Carlos, made us flautas.  

Here is mine..

and here is Chuck enjoying his.

The third place we went was to a small outdoor vendor who had plastic tables and chairs.  They were extremely busy and offered many items on the menu.  I chose a burrito and Chuck had a soup called pozole.

While we were waiting for our food, these two lovely ladies offered me something that I have never had before.  I had seen them in Thailand but was not brave enough to try them there.  They offered me some fried grasshopper to try.  I accepted the offer and honestly, it was crunchy with a smoked garlic flavor.  It was really good.

This is a gross picture, but I just wanted to show that I did indeed eat a fried grasshopper.

These are the two ladies that shared their grasshoppers with us.  They are Irene and Velna.

Irene said she was eating a Mexican pizza.

Here is my plate with burritos, rice with mole sauce and salad.  Yum, yum.  

Here is Chuck enjoying his meal.

The street food did not make us sick.  It was all very good and unique.  We will certainly do this again.  

After eating we walked around before returning to the hotel.

Here is a picture of the Revolution Memorial reflected in a building.

and here is Chuck posing by a Day of the Dead art piece.

We had a  fun food filled day.  Tomorrow we will have a tour guide and I bet he would never let us do the fun things we did today on our own.

Love you.

Nancy

What have we been up to?

Dear Family and Friends,

I will give you a quick update on what has happened during my absence from this blog and other social media.  

We have been busy even if we have not been putting it out there.

Our intent was to fly from Ecuador to Arizona in mid October.  Our sweet granddaughter, Portia, who was married in Europe during covid, and who we met up with in Ireland, was planning a post covid wedding celebration for her USA friends and relatives who could not attend the wedding.  She had this scheduled for the end of October.

In early September, Audrey contacted us and said that Jim had passed away.  We made arrangements to come to Tucson as soon as possible.  We had a strong need to be near her.  We arranged to be here the second week of September.

About a week after we got to Arizona, I flew up to see kids and grandkids in Richland, WA.

We had a terrific time together.  I hope we can have this reunion on a yearly basis from now on.  

I am happy to share that although Jim is missed more than we know, Audrey is doing as well as can be expected.  She is making plans and is living life. The first part of October she joined us in a quick trip to Laughlin, Nevada.  This trip turned out to be a chance for me to leave money in the casinos.  I'm just going to have to go back later and win it back!

On our way back to Tucson, we stopped in Kingman, AZ for breakfast and a few hours of thrift shopping.  We had a wonderful few days.

Audrey also went with us to Minnesota to celebrate the wedding of Portia and Ilir.

It was a little unusual as costumes were requested.  I did my best, as you can see from yesterday's post, but Audrey and Carol had outstanding costumes.

Here are Portia and Illir.

So, we have been busy.  Just quietly.

We will soon be on our way to Mexico. I decided that I want to take pictures and share our trip with you.  We will start our trip in Mexico City.  We will be meeting our friend, Bob Cox, in Puebla.  After that we will go to Oaxaca for a few days.  I am especially excited about Oaxaca because I have never been there before.

So this has been a capsule version of what we have been up to these last couple of months.  

We are looking forward to more travel and the holidays ahead.  

Hoping that you all are doing well.  

Love you,

Nancy

Will I know when it is time to close this blog?

Dear Family and Friends,

Hello my friends.  It has been a long time since I have contributed anything to this blog.  The other day I was about ready to write a final goodbye post and put this blog to rest.  Then I remembered we have an upcoming trip to Mexico.  I also remembered why I created this blog in the first place, back in 2007.  The reason I created this blog, when we first moved to Ecuador, was because I wanted a way to share the pictures I was taking with my family and friends.  

For those of you who are as ancient as me, you will remember back in the old days when taking photos involved using a film camera and in order to see our photos we had to have them developed.  We ended up with an envelope of photos of an event or a trip.  We loved showing them to our friends.  We didn't just hand them the envelope and say look at these photos of my trip or whatever.  Well, at least I didn't, I stood right there as they looked through the photos telling the story behind each picture.  (who, what and where).

When we first went to Ecuador I was so excited about all the new and wonderful things we were encountering, that I wanted to share the photos I was taking.  Not only share the pictures, but share the stories behind the pictures.  

Chuck encouraged me to write a blog so I could share not only my photos but share what the pictures were about, etc.  With his help I got it up and running. This blog is now about fourteen years old.  I was pretty faithful about sharing our lives and travels until the Covid lockdown.  I have talked about this in the past so I won't rehash that.  I did enjoy posting this year when we returned to the U.S. for a very special wedding, a graduation and taking Matt to Minnesota for his vacation and also when we went to Peru and to Ireland.  

After we returned from these trips we settled down in Cuenca to be homebodies until mid-October.  

This brings me back around to our Mexico trip.  As I said, I had been thinking of posting a goodbye post and closing the blog.  But when I thought about traveling to Mexico and not having a venue to post photos and tell all about our trip, I realized that I need this blog.  I may not be consistent about posting, but when the enthusiasm to share floods out of me, I am so thankful I have a place to share all about our trip with you, pictures and story.  

Since I have not been on Facebook or any other social media for a few months, I want to share what is going on in our lives, but this is for tomorrow.  For now, I've talked enough, don't want to bore you.  

Love you,

Nancy

PS:  Here is a recent photo.