The road north

All good things must come to an end. It was eventually time for us to start heading back to the States at the end of December. We said many goodbyes to the beach and our friends in Puerto Escondido and hit the road again. It is a long drive up so we decided to break it up by visiting some places we missed on the way down. We started with Oaxaca City. This had to also be one of the craziest drives of the trip. So many nauseating twists up beautiful mountain after beautiful mountain. After 4 hours of this, we made it to our campsite, which I use the word loosely as the amenities, such as a pool, were numerous. 

The following day, we hit the town and walked to some cool sites such as the Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman, the markets and the Andador Turistico, which is a popular street for shops and street food. We also walked up a hill so we could view the city from the Cerro del Fortin. Within the markets, many vendors were selling Alebrijes, Mexican spirit animals. They are usually a swirl of color and designs hand painted on either a fictional or recognizable animal. The Alebrijes are meant to be your spirit guides. It was wonderful to see so many of the different forms of this craft, along with many other forms of art.

After Oaxaca, we made our way to Puebla. We stayed in what seemed like a suburb of Puebla called Cholula. Here we were able to visit the Zona Arqueologica de Cholula, which houses a giant Mesoamerican pyramid. On top of the pyramid sits a church which allows brilliant views of Popocatepetl,  a volcano, and Izta-popo, a mountain. While there is heavy irony and symbolism in the church's location, it was a pretty view.

We made our way into the city after the strenuous hike. We met up with some friends we met during our beaching weeks and then some others we met early on in Guanajuato. Puebla is a great city to get lost in, and occasionally run into a beautiful monument or fun shop. We did stop specifically in La Pasita for a shot of pasita, which is a raisin flavored liquor that usually comes with a cube of cheese. Don't knock it until you try it is all I will say.

Overall, the city was a delight to stroll through with its many tiled buildings (something Puebla is known for), lively atmosphere, fun street markets an old hacienda ruin we visited and the delightful hidden art displayed at every corner. In the evening, we got Tacos Arabes, which are very popular in Puebla due to an influx of Lebanese immigrants to Mexico, specifically Puebla, at the crumbling of the Ottoman empire. The meat is cooked on a spit, similar to shawarma and then wrapped in a delicious taco. This concept continued to be adapted for Mexican tastes and eventually developed into the popular Al Pastor taco. 

Our last stop before making it to Monterrey and eventually crossing the border was a small, old mining town called Mineral de Pozos. We stayed at a quaint campsite surrounded by cactus with the best good boy ever. If it wouldn't have been considered rude, not to mention illegal and an overall bad idea given my allergies, that pup might have gained a new home. Alas, he already had one. We went into the town and had some pizza and vino and hit the hay early.

When we made it to Monterrey, I sadly was not feeling great so just rested in a hotel. When we crossed the border, we spent the night in Padre National Park, but after clocking a high temp and developing a sore throat, checked in at another hotel the next day. The reality of living in a camper: its not super fun when you don't feel well. That being said, I recovered fairly quickly and we were back at it.

That concludes our December. Until next time!