The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Etzatlan, Mexico (day 5)

What a busy day we had yesterday! We had the use of Bonnie's car for the day, and we were going to the ruins at Tuechitlan. But near there was the road turning off to Piedras Bolas, so Ruth came up with the idea that we should return there to complete the hike we tried to do last Monday.

The signs say it's a 5 km (3 mile) hike each way to the boulders. We arrived at the parking area at 10:50am and set out. Won't post any pics from the first part of the hike because you can see them in last Monday's post.

No, she didn't go any further than this!

On Monday, we had made it as far as the first zip line. It turns out there's another zip line, and then a cable bridge. You're supposed to have a harness attached to the cable bridge, so Ruth didn't go any further than where she is in the pic! 

Arriving at the "interpretive center", although this looked more like a caretakers building that hasn't been used in years.

Ruth at the amphitheatre.

We still had to hike a ways to get to the boulders. There are approximately 80 of these large boulders that were apparently formed when volcanic lava was shot high into the air and then cooled before landing. However there are other possible explanations, so the geologists remain uncertain as to their origin.

We finally made it to the Piedras Bolas!


There are apparently several more of the boulders supported on a bed of compressed volcanic ash like this one, but you have to hike another half hour to get to them, and we had seen enough.

Starting on the long hike back. You can see part of the road we are on near the top left corner.

Too funny. The things you see in the middle of nowhere!

Made it back to the car at about 2:40pm so we were gone three hours and fifty minutes. It was a pretty strenuous hike and our legs were tired! But we still wanted to go see the ruins at Teuchitlan. These ruins are different than most in Mexico because they are built in a circular patter. There is a museum in town related to these ruins, but I had read there is a new museum closer to the ruins themselves, so we went there first.

The new museum...but it doesn't open until December!

But the new museum wasn't open yet. We spoke to one guy who said it was supposed to open LAST December, and there hasn't been much progress since then so everybody we spoke to said they'd be surprised if it did actually open next month. We ended up visiting the ruins, and then going back into town to find the museum there.

Kevin in front of one of the circular structures.

The Guachimontones ruins site.

This is what the circular structures look like BEFORE excavation!

Some of the figurines found during excavation at the ruins site. These are actually replicas, with the originals now on display in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.


We walked around the town of Teuchitlan. It's a nice town, very clean and with a pretty central plaza. We had an ice cream for 10 pesos (78 cents) each, and it cost 5 pesos each to enter the museum. The ruins site was free. A pretty cheap day!

Ruth in the central plaza of Teuchitlan.

The church itself was nothing special, but we thought it had an interesting steeple.

We were tired when we arrived back at Sherman around 5:10pm, and we were in bed asleep just after 10:00pm. I think today will be a relax day!

11 comments:

  1. Another great day of exploring and getting a good workout. Probably a good day to relax, enjoy the nice weather.

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  2. Thank you Ruth for not going any further on that trail. You made me nervous just as far as you went!
    Those boulders are amazing. What a cool place.
    The central plaza is so pretty. What a lovely day. You two are living in a beautiful part of the country. Enjoy each day.

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  3. Those boulders are crazy! The lava theory might work, since it would be harder than what looked like sandstone. I'm referring to the one that looks like it's almost suspended.
    We used to see "tidy whities" (men's white underpants) on the beaches of Puerto Rico.
    Never could quite figure out what was the reason, and had no desire to investigate.

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  4. Love the boulders... Great photos! I am loving your post on Mexico.
    Have fun & Travel safe
    Donna

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  5. Great hike, and those ruins and scenery are really neat, also liked the artifacts,tell Ruth to be careful on those cable bridges, wouldn't want anything to happen to her. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna.....

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  6. It looks like such a great place to visit. And I really like those little figurines!

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  7. It's great you get so much hiking in. Wonderful photos as always and interesting commentary.

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  8. George and Suzie...It was sure a workout. Definitely did some relaxing after that.

    Full-Timers...There was NO WAY I was going further on that unless I was harnessed up to it. The boulders were pretty neat but not as interesting as we were expecting.

    Bob...Definitely some hard rock there. Certainly wasn't sandstone. We were expecting a little more but still enjoyed wandering around.

    Donna...The boulders were huge and so round. Thanks!

    Gail...Thank you!

    Sam and Donna...We enjoyed our hike and the scenery really was beauitful and it was so peaceful. I would have loved to have gone across that bridge if I was harnessed up to it.

    Chuck and Anneke...We sure did.

    Kenny and Angela...We had a great time. The weather was wonderful but it was too hazy for any distance shots.

    Lea...The area here is very interesting. I love the nose on that last little guy.

    Paul...We were saying the other day that this year we have probably done the most hiking in Mexico since we have started visiting Mexico. We love it!

    Kevin and Ruth

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