Mágico

The last few days have involved a bit more traveling around and has been highlighted by the theme of magic. Of the three places we visited, two are designated as “Pueblo Mágicos” in Mexico. All have included a more subtle type of magic like the bus we need to take arriving seconds after we discover which bus we need to take or meeting the people who are going to lead us to our next magical destination. All have included their own special magical experience. Welcome to the magic of Rock-Awn 4.o!

TEQUIS

Tequisquiapan or more commonly referred to as Tequis involved the magic of the Temazcal or the Aztec shower/sauna. This was the one activity on our trip that was pre-planned and one we knew would result in some kind of story as this particular sauna is located randomly in some guy’s back yard. DawnO found the place, communicated with the guy and everything was set up for us to figure out how to take a bus to a smaller centre about 10 minutes outside of Tequis. This is one example of why Rock-Awn works so well. We both like to figure out and use public transportation in the places we visit, we both love to eat at local food stands, and we both think going to a sauna in some random guy’s back yard in a foreign country is going to be an adventure (to the mom’s or mom figures out there . . . . Don’t worry . . . we both also know how to be safe and how to trust our guts!) Just as we thought it was an experience, and it was a good one!

The temazcal involved sitting in a sauna with herbs for 10-15 minutes and sweating buckets, coming out to be doused with cold water, sitting out in the open air for a period of time and then repeat. By the end I felt relaxed, clear and cleansed. The experience ended with a fruit plate and Antonio (our host) waiting with us by the side of the road to make sure we got back on the bus to return to Tequis safely.

BERNAL

Bernal is another pueblos mágicos which has the world’s largest monolith. The city is smaller than Tequis but busier (possibly because it was a Saturday). The monolith IS magical!! To simply see and take it in is incredible, but of course we also had to hike up it. You can only get to the top by rock climbing, but you can get fairly high by walking. It wasn’t a difficult hike but it was fairly steep with a lot of loose stones and smooth rock to navigate over. However, the view and feeing from the highest point we could reach … mágico! We got up early the next morning to catch the sunrise on it. Just after sunrise, a fog settled in and we could no longer see the monolith from town. It cleared up later in the day, but our host told us that the fog is common at this time of year and it’s not uncommon to not be able to see this towering stone structure for days. We were only there for a day with perfect views. How magical is that?!

MICHOACÁN

This was the most magical of them all! When we visited El Cerrito earlier in the trip, we mentioned to our tour guides that we were trying to figure out a way to visit the monarch butterfly reserve. Conveniently (because that’s how our luck has been going), they also led tours there. We really enjoyed their company so decided to take the journey with them. We got up bright and early this morning, jumped in their car and made the 2.5 hour trek to the Michoacán-Mexico state border to arrive at Santuario de la Mariposa Monarca. It is a hike up a mountain, and DawnO and I were able to maintain a slightly faster pace than our guides, so they told us to go ahead without them and we’d meet at the top. We got to the booth to pay were told we needed to go with a guide. “Nah” we said (as we assumed we could use our tour guides as our guides). We’d find out later that a sanctuary guide is mandatory, but they didn’t really insist, and we didn’t give in so off we went. We were told that the path was well marked, and it was until we got to a fork in the road. We figured we had to go up, so up we went. On the first part of the path we were super excited to see about five butterflies flit past. By the top of the fork, we were surrounded and I’ll just say . . . . . . there was a lot more than five. We were enchanted, walking amongst these beautiful orange insects. We were also told we needed to be quiet, so we walked along in silence taking in the magical scene. To top it off . . . . . we were the only ones on the path. After a little while, we heard yelling. A couple of the sanctuary guides had been sent to find us . . . . . we had taken the wrong fork in the road and were heading the wrong way!! We back tracked about 1 km (not as magical when being marched back) and were taken to the correct path. At the end we were shown trees covered in butterflies. Equally amazing, but not quite as magical when we didn’t get the butterflies to ourselves! 😂

Fun fact . . . . the butterflies that migrate from Canada to Mexico have a life span of 8 months and delay their fertility until they arrive in Mexico. The life span of the butterflies that migrate from Mexico to Canada have a life span of 25 days!! It takes about 5 generations to make the journey. Nature is so incredible!!!