From Teotihuacán looking towards Mexico City, you see a daunting thick cloud of smog. As you drive through the outskirts of the city, the sky seems to darken a bit as you enter that smog… and we thought, one or two nights will be enough here.
Teotihuacán
We have visited many archaeological sites at this point, from active excavations to well maintained sites with detailed museums. Now we were heading for probably the most famous site in all of Mexico, Teotihuacán. This city used to be home to over 100,000 people, making it the largest pre-Columbian American city, and one of the largest in the world at its time.
Querétaro and Hidalgo
After our long stay in Guanajuato, we were happy to hit the road the again. Our first stop was the city of Santiago de Querétaro. The town has a beautiful old city and long viaduct that used to transport water into the city.
Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende
Ever since crossing the border to Mexico, we had been planning to stop for an extended period in Guanajuato to take Spanish lessons. We chose Guanajuato because of the city size and good reviews of the town from other travelers. Guanajuato was also on Lonely Planet’s Top 10 Cities to visit in 2018 – sounded like a good place to spend some time.
Nayarit and Jalisco Highlands
After a lazy Christmas along the Pacific Coast, we headed inland to Laguna Santa Maria del Oro, a beautiful crater lake. The lake and surrounding area were popular, but had a much more relaxed atmosphere than the coast and was mostly full of vacationing families.
Mexico – Durango, Sinaloa & Nayarit
After our exciting journey through the Copper Canyon, we made a few stops in cities inland and then headed back towards the warm coast for warmth and relaxing!
Our first stop after Copper Canyon was the town of Hidalgo del Parral. Continue reading “Mexico – Durango, Sinaloa & Nayarit”
Barrancas del Cobre – Copper Canyon
The Copper Canyon in northern Mexico are a beautiful area often compared to the Grand Canyon. Continue reading “Barrancas del Cobre – Copper Canyon”
Baja California Sur
Our first stop in Baja Sur was San Ignacio, an oasis in the middle of the desert. It was also our first glimpse of an old colonial mission built to convert the natives of Mexico. Although beautiful structures, the missions carry a sad history linked to European diseases that decimated native populations. We saw more of these missions along the peninsula, including the next stops in Mulege and Santa Rosalia. Continue reading “Baja California Sur”
Baja California Norte
The north half of the Baja peninsula offers a lot of varied scenery, from quiet sandy beaches to high sierra pines. We spent a week exploring this region after crossing the border in Tecate. Continue reading “Baja California Norte”
Southern California on the Beach
The closer to the beach you get, the more expensive the camping gets, so our stay here was quite short. We spent a couple nights in state parks along the ocean, but the noise from trains and cars led us to continue on south. A few highlights from our short stay around San Diego county were La Jolla cove and Mission Trails State Park.