One last night in the heat!

We only had about an hour to our next destination, an event salon and restaurant. We had stayed here with our Mexico RV Caravan group five years ago, and the woman running the place remembered us!

We had slept well in the cooler weather up in the mountains near the big hole in the ground. It had been at about 3,500', and we were headed back down to 500'.

A big hole in the ground!

We did the one hour drive south to the Sotano de Golondrinas. The direct translation of this is "Basement of the Swallows", however that's not entirely correct.

Sotano de Golondrinas is a huge hole in the ground. It's 512 meters (1,612') deep. It's the sixth deepest abyss in the world. 

A wet afternoon at Tamul Waterfall

You'd think we would have seen everything there is to see in Mexico, and we have seen a lot of the country over the years. But there are still a couple more items on the list.

Tamul Waterfall was one of the places we had wanted to bring our Mexico RV Caravan group when Covid started shutting things down in March of 2020. We finally got to cross it off the list!

There is a lot of travel on the agenda for the next five months!

There's been a lot of planning going on behind the scenes here at Travel with Kevin and Ruth!

Our flight to Madrid, Spain is only a week and a half away and there is a lot more travel planning on the agenda for the next five months.

Back to the doctor, and arrived at a great campground!

Our break in the city of Ciudad Valles went well... we got a lot accomplished. The hotel was a bit of a bust... for 780 pesos ($56 CAD, $40 USD). I know, that sounds cheap nowadays, and it is. But the mattress was lumpy, the towels were almost worn out, the shower head needed replacing, and the drain needed cleaning. On the bright side, the WiFi worked well, the air conditioning worked well, and the parking was good for Igor.

Oh, and the location was right in the center.

We were feeling a little grungy!

We know that it starts getting warm by 10am, so we set off at just after 8:30am for the 6.5 km (4 mile) one way walk to the Cascada El Aguacate (Avocado Waterfall).

We knew that we could have simply walked on the road... but we were looking for more of a hiking route than just walking alongside the road.

Happy Easter!

Easter Sunday, and that brings about the end of the busy Semana Santa period here in Mexico. Monday is just a regular work day here, although the school kids still have the day off, so some employees will take the extra day off as well.

It will be interesting to see how quickly things clear out here beside the river. 

It's busy here now!

When we arrived at this little spot by the river over a week ago, we figured it would be a nice quiet spot to spend the busy Semana Santa week. Most days, we have pretty much been the only ones here.

That all changed on Thursday!

Igor is getting an upgrade!

I belong to a group on facebook specifically for owners of the Airstream B190 motorhome. It was a lot of help last year when we were getting Igor ready for this trip. And, I've made a lot of contributions to the group myself with the upgrades and changes that we've made.

When we bought Igor, he had not been well maintained. I'm guessing he hadn't had anything done for probably ten years or more.

Off to the doctor, and exciting news for May!

Late last month I had a sinus infection. It cleared up on its own, or so I thought it did. The beginning of this month, I woke up with a sore throat one day. It turned into a few sniffles, and actually started to get better quite quickly. But the last week or so it has gone downhill and I believe it turned into some kind of chest infection.

Not so bad that it was affecting our day to day activities though. I still felt fine overall, and had no problem doing our normal walking. But the cough was bothersome and it was starting to affect our sleep, so we figured I should do something about it.

We had only paid for three nights

Yesterday we did the short walk into the town of Damian Carmona.

Damian Carmona was a famous Mexican soldier in the 1800's who fought during the French invasion. He survived a grenade attack and was awarded honors for remaining at his post, only to die from typhoid two years later at the age of 24.

Taxes done!

I spent the morning doing our Canadian tax return that is due April 30th. A fairly heavy tax bill, but as my accountant used to say, "if you're paying lots of taxes, it's because you're making lots of money."

I suppose. Well, that and... you're a resident of highly taxed Canada! 

We don't know what to call this place...

Lots of back roads to walk in this area. In fact, it looks like we can walk all the way to the El Aguacate waterfall 6.4 kms (4 miles) away. We'll have to plan an early start the day we decide to do that!

Yesterday, we just set off on a dirt road that led through the sugar cane fields.

We found a great spot to hang out

Yesterday's blog was posted vey late, so if you missed it you can read it here...

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2025/04/fun-afternoon-at-micos-waterfalls.html

The reason it was late was because we had overnighted in the parking lot at Micos Waterfalls and yesterday was Friday... also the start of Semana Santa week.

Fun afternoon at Micos Waterfalls

The Huasteca Potosina region is all about the waterfalls.

We tried to visit some of them towards the end of our last Mexico RV Caravan tour in March of 2020, but then Covid hit and we were never able to. 

After four tries, we finally got it right!

We took the back roads to get from Tamasopo to Ciudad Valles. Not a bad drive, but slow going. Took almost an hour and a half to do 65 kms (40 miles)!

Most of it was on paved farm roads that run through the sugar cane fields. The road surface was not the best, due to the heavy trucks that are used for the sugar cane... but at least it wasn't dusty like a dirt road would have been.

That was an adventurous day!

We waited until after lunch to pay our 150 pesos ($10.15 CAD, $7.20 USD) per person entrance fee to the Puente de Dios waterfall.

It sounds expensive to see a waterfall, but you also get to swim at the beautiful pool, and they've got it all set up with ropes to hang onto and they even have lifeguards and changerooms and lockers etc.

Not often you see a peacock showing off like this! And more news...

Another comfortable day, this time with some sunshine. We moved on from the waterfalls... to another waterfall! But in between, we stopped in Tamasopo to do some chores.

Igor's fuel tank was getting low, so we filled up with gas. Then it was off to the laundry. The guy said he could have it all done, sheets included, by 1:00pm, so we decided to just hang around town.

We ran out of power!

Sure enough, exactly as forecast, we woke up to clouds and cooler temperatures. What a relief.

Only problem is the clouds. We had been parked in the shade during the 40C+ temperatures for the three days before, and with those temperatures our 12 volt fridge runs non stop. It keeps things cold at that temperature, but it works pretty much non stop to do so.

The waterfalls are the reason to come to this area

This area of Mexico is called La Huasteca Potosina. It's a fairly large region that covers over 20 municipalities, and the waterfalls located in these municipalities are the main reason to come here.

And the waterfalls are quite spread out. For example, we are located near the town of Tamasopo right now, but there are other waterfalls we want to visit 40 kms north of here, 100 kms north of here, and 60 kms south of here. 

Today is our last day!

"Last day of what...?" you might ask.

Well, it's the last day of the oppressive heat wave that we've been enduring. Once again, the high today is supposed to go over 40C (104F). But tomorrow...?

Arrived in Tamasopo

We were supposed to have a two hour drive from Conca to Tamasopo. But it turned into three hours because we missed a turn, then decided that was okay and carried on to the next major turn. We ended up in a little town in the middle of nowhere and the nice paved road turned into a very rough dirt road.

We turned around and went back to the main road, but it cost us a few miles and an extra hour!

Three more days...

Despite how beautiful this place is, we've decided to move on. However, we are going to what is supposed to be another beautiful place!

We've got a two hour drive up to the town of Tamasopo, so we are hitting the road early to take advantage of the cooler morning conditions... they are calling for 43C again this afternoon.

Grandson Cameron's birthday, and saw our son on TV!

It's so hot in the afternoon, but the morning is comfortable enough. It's funny how 30C doesn't feel so bad when you know it's going to 40C!

So we set off walking at 9:30am to see some of the sights in and around the town of Concá.

March Expense report

We started the month of March in Etzatlan, Jalisco and ended it in Conca, Queretaro. Except we did do a three night detour into Mexico City as well. We had a budget of $2,200 CAD ($1.539 USD) for the month of March.

And we actually managed to get pretty close to that! It was the loss of Ruth's phone that put us over.

We ended up in an absolutely beautiful spot

While we enjoyed our weekend in the backyard of the Los 4 Pulques Hotel, it was time to move on.

And with even hotter temperatures in the forecast, we were looking for a spot where there was a swimming option. We definitely found exactly what we were looking for!

Walking across England?

Ruth seems to be able to function when it's this hot, but when it gets above 32C (90F) it just drains me, and I lose ambition to do anything. 

So what did we do yesterday? Nothing.

The readers have spoken

And quite overwhelmingly!

It was really nice to hear from so many long time readers who rarely comment. We really appreciate that, and it gives us the impetus to keep going with this blog. I still enjoy writing it, so you can expect to continue to be able to read about our adventures for a few more years yet. If it ever starts to feel like work, that's when we'll re-think things.

We have a dilemma

Dilemma - a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more equally undesirable alternatives.

This dilemma has come up several times over the last 12 years or so. Each time we think we have dealt with it, it comes back again!

Another steep hike

We're sure getting our exercise up here in the mountains! 

We set off yesterday to try to find a waterfall, but it turned out that it's on private property and they charge 100 pesos ($7 CAD, $5 USD) per person to get in. So we took another route that turned out to be pretty steep.

Wandering around town, and a hike to a canyon

We found a much better place to park, right in the town of Pinal de Amoles. It's just a parking lot, but it's only 30 pesos for 24 hours, and they even have bathrooms and water available for another 10 pesos. 

So essentially, 50 pesos ($3.50 CAD, $2.50 USD) for overnight parking if we both use the facilities. Not bad!

We woke up in the clouds

And the clouds hung around all day.

It sure is nice and refreshing up here in the mountains though. Due to the lack of sunshine, the high temperature yesterday was only 19C (66F). We actually put the heater on for a few minutes to take the chill off when we woke up.

Now this is more our style!

We set off from Peñamiller fairly early because we knew it was going to be a long steep uphill climb and wanted to do it before it got too hot outside. Of course, the more we climbed, the cooler it got.

Really fantastic views... and Igor handled the mountain roads with no problem at all!

Very cool (and little visited) archeological site

We were driving between Dolores Hidalgo and Pinal de Amoles, but it's a four hour drive on some twisty curvy roads, so I would rather break that into two days.

While perusing the map of our route, I spotted the Arroyo Seco Archeological site. Reviews said it was interesting, so we stopped in and paid the 65 pesos ($4.60 CAD, $3.25 USD) per person entrance fee for the guided tour.

Dolores Hidalgo

Dolores Hidalgo is known as the birthplace of Mexican Independence.

It's the place where Father Miguel Hidalgo uttered his famous cry for the independence of Mexico in the early hours of September 16, 1810, in front of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores parish church. After Mexico achieved independence, the town was renamed Dolores Hidalgo in his honor.

A last minute lunch with fellow world travelers!

Friday was our planned travel day to Dolores Hidalgo. It's not very far away from Guanajuato though, so we weren't in a rush to get on the road early.

So when we got a last minute invitation to lunch, it wasn't a tough decision to hang around!

One last day in Guanajuato

We spent one last day with our friend Doug, wandering the streets of Guanajuato. 

There is a lot to see in this town, and even though we've seen most of it before, it was fun having someone with us who lives here. And, we even managed to show him something new!

Solar panel job complete, and Ruth gets a new phone

I got up on the roof around 9:00am to finish up the work on the solar panels. I had already reported to you that I had installed the two new 100 watt panels, and they are working perfectly. 

However, I had tested the old panels, and it seemed that one of them was still putting out enough that it was worthwhile to keep it... so I put it up on the roof and did a couple of tests before mounting it permanently.

Views of Guanajuato

We set out mid morning to walk along the Panoramica... a road that circles through the hills above Guanajuato. If you did the whole thing, it would be about 9 kms (5.5 miles) one way.

As the name of the road implies, there are a lot of scenic views above the city.

Almost time to retire

We've actually been semi-retired since 2007 when at age 45 we sold our house in Canada and bought a motorhome. I actually used to call it pre-retired... or my own made up word "pretired".

But the problem was that we didn't have enough money! Pretty tough to retire when you have no way to support yourself.

Into central Guanajuato for Chinese food lunch!

It gets pretty hot up on Igor's roof, and there is zero shade here. So I need to force myself to get outside a little earlier in the day to finish up this solar panel project and see if I can fit that third panel up there.

Yesterday, we went down into the city to join Doug and an expat friend of his for lunch.

New solar panels working, and possibly a little bonus!

The solar panels I had bought last August were defective. The company who supplied them had me do some tests, and neither one of them were putting out the rated amps. They gave me a 50% refund, and I got to keep the panels because obviously it wouldn't have made sense to return them.

But as a result, the system wasn't working the way I designed it. 

On to Guanajuato

It was only an hour and a half drive from San Miguel de Allende to Guanajuato, so we were in no rush. Eventually, we got ourselves packed up and made a stop for fuel and groceries before leaving town.

Igor's tank was pretty empty, in fact it was probably the lowest we've had it. The 132 liter tank took 111 liters! Fuel is 23.99 pesos per liter, so it cost 2,664 pesos ($192 CAD, $134 USD) to fill him up.

Well that was a fun day!

We were heading into downtown San Miguel de Allende to meet up with Gregg and Janet. We had met this couple along with their daughter in February of 2023 in Morocco. We got along well at the time, and we figured we would meet up again at some point in the future.

In fact, I looked up the blog post from that day and I had said "Pretty sure we'll bump into each other again at some point in the future. You never know where or when though!"

Igor is getting some new solar panels!

Our bus was scheduled to depart the big and busy Mexico City Norte Bus Terminal at 10:15am. 

We were up at 6:30am so we didn't feel the need to rush. Went down and had a nice breakfast and were outside waiting for our Uber taxi at 9:00am.

Return to Coyoacan for a big sandwich!

When we were in Mexico City the very first time in 2012, our friend Adrian had taken us to the Coyoacan market where he knew of a place that makes these delicious huge sandwiches. 

Of course it's been 13 years since we were there, but we figured we would go back and try to find the same place!

So much to see in Mexico City

A company had sent me full access to walking a tour app for free, so we decided to try it out here in Mexico City. One of the tours was to an area called Polanco, which is an upscale neighborhood that has world famous brands, and pricey international restaurants. 

Not really our style to hang out in places like this, but it was a part of Mexico City that we had never been to.

Arrived in Mexico City!

Our bus was scheduled to depart San Miguel de Allende at 9:55am, and rather than wait out front for a local bus to the bus station, we played it safe and ordered an Uber. Uber is relatively cheap in Mexico, and it cost 93 pesos ($6.65 CAD, $4.60 USD) for the ten minute ride to ensure we got to the bus station with lots of time to spare.

Wandering around San Miguel de Allende

As expected, we had a peaceful nights sleep up at the botanical garden. After breakfast, we got ourselves packed up for the drive to the other side of town to the Hotel San Ramon that has an RV parking area.

There are only two RV park options in San Miguel de Allende. One is right in town located at the tennis courts. It's convenient for walking everywhere, but it's also fairly expensive. And the other is the Hotel San Ramon about 4 kms from the center of town.

Arrived in San Miguel de Allende

It was about a two and a half hour drive from Lagos de Moreno to San Miguel de Allende.

But it's not a very scenic drive until you get to the outskirts of Guanajuato. There's a lot of industrial areas, and of course we had to make our way around the big city of Leon, and the smaller city of Silao.