**Mark your calendars! We return on July 6th and are planning a party at our house on July 18th complete with Mexican cuisine and, of course, Tequila!**
Desierto de Los Leones, México City: A Carmelite retreat (which became an ex-convent in 1801) that is located in the mountains to the southwest of Mexico City. The convent was named after the Leones family who were the monks' lawyers. It is a beautiful place to visit in the midst of the hustle and bustle of México City.
Ixtapan de la Sal, México: We went with the Yoder-Schrock family (Gretchen is a Fulbright teacher in Mexico City who is here with her husband and two children for the year) to visit the water park. The hotel that we stayed at had so many great pools and fun things to do that we never made it to the water park!
Chalma, México: On the way to Ixtapan, we stopped in this village to see El Señor de Chalma (Christ) who miraculously appeared in a cave to replace one of the local gods, Oxtéotl. The Señor now resides in Chalma's 17th century church. It was the weekend of the Pentecost and we witnessed hundreds of people who were making an annual pilgrimage to the site. Some of them had walked 24 hours (or farther) to pay homage.
Malinalco, México: After Chalma, we stopped in Malinalco. We climbed up to one of Mexico's few reasonably well-preserved Aztec temples. The view of the valley below was beautiful! We also visited the 16th century Augustinian convent.
Xalapa, Veracruz: We saw a beautiful display of orchids, visited the Anthropology Museum, the Contemporary Art Museum, the Botero Museum (famous Cuban artist), the Parque Paseo de los Lagos and enjoyed the beautiful Zocalo.
Coatepec, Veracruz: A small town of 48k people very close to Xalapa. We climbed Snake Hill, shopped for coffee and enjoyed the beautiful buildings in this colonial town.
Click here to see pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/regnor11/WeekendTripsInMay#
Coming next: Making tamales, Papantla and El Tajín
And then: My final thoughts of my year in México
The final blog: After returning to the U.S...
