ON THE ROAD AGAIN
We are back in Mexico! After almost three months in Indonesia and a return trip with another stopover in Switzerland (with more cheese and chocolate ?), we land in the metropolis of Mexico City. Estimates are based on 24 to 28 million inhabitants, but we only get to know the true size of the area when we visit the city center. We walk along the mile-long Avenidas, cross huge Plazas and visit some of the different quarters. Also, the culture doesn’t come too short with various museum visits. In addition, we are lucky enough to witness the yearly parade of the monumental «Alebrijes». Alebrijes are Mexican mythical creatures with elements of different animals, hybrid beings so to speak, made of a wire frame and paper and painted incredibly colorful.
Despite the unbelievable offer, our conclusion about the capital is a bit sober… Maybe we simply saw too many colorful and lively colonial towns with charm during the first half year in Mexico as that this Moloch manages to rob our hearts.
HOME SWEET HOME
After this side trip we finally go back to our home-on-wheels! We are happy to find our mobile undamaged, everything gets thoroughly cleaned and we do some maintenance work too. After a few days we are ready to leave, but unfortunately the parcel with spare parts we sent from Switzerland still hasn’t arrived. ☹ But we do not get bored that easy…
Friends we travelled with for quite some time in Baja California are in the area and they come to visit us. It is Halloween and here in Mexico they also celebrate the “Día de Muertos”, the day of the dead. Fortunately, there is a lot going on in the suburbs of Mexico City where we are! The Mexicans – no matter if young or old, woman or man – make up their faces as colored skulls and dress up.
The custom of decorating the graves in the cemetery with flowers and all sorts of other things and meeting there at night to celebrate seems a little bizarre to us at first… But we get into it, drift through the colorful crowds of people and explore with our friends Catherine and Stewart the alleys and the cemetery of the town of Tepotzotlán and celebrate the day of the dead until late at night.
WE FINALLY SET OFF!
After what felt like eternity, we are glad to get the message about the arrival of our parcel and the next day we finally start the second part of our Pan-American-Highway adventure.
Our first tour takes us to the area of Huasteca Potosina. On the way there we visit the surrealistic garden “Las Pozas”. During more than 30 years the Englishman Edward James created his dream of a paradise in the middle of a huge forest. The decayed buildings, meanwhile overgrown with green moss, give this garden truly something magical and we are enchanted by the shapes and colors during the walk.
In the next few weeks, we cross Mexico again in southerly direction, this time for good and without plans of going north again. Because we want to spend the festive season in Belize, the next country on our adventure trip.
