Bernal is another of Mexico’s pueblos magicos. It is a small town of about 3000 people, best known for La Peña de Bernal, which is, according to some sources, the world’s third largest monolith, after Gibraltar and Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. And Peña, for those of you who may be wondering, translates as “cliff”….nothing sexual.
We had read that you could camp in the beautiful gardens of the Flamingo Inn in Queretaro for 300 pesos per night, but when we arrived, the two spaces available for camping were taken by other overlanders that we had first met in Patzcuaro, then again in Morelia. Unsure of where we were going to spend the night, we spotted a Comfort Inn across the street with a large parking lot. We struggled with our spanish at the front desk, explaining that we would like to camp in their lot for the night, if possible. After a few minutes, the clerk began speaking english to us (yeah!), and after some back and forth discussions with his fellow staff, it was decided that we could stay there for the night, use the lobby washrooms, and there would be no charge. Bonus!
We drove into the town of Tula and there were police everywhere! Six police cars in a cluster here, eight in a cluster there….what the heck? Almost as thick as monarch butterflies! Was there something “going down”, or is Tula such a bad place that it needs such a police presence?
The road to El Rosaria Monarch Butterfly Reserve took us through many small villages. We often decide to take the libre instead of the toll roads….it takes a bit longer and the roads can sometimes be rougher, but you get to see the countryside a lot better.
We arrived in Morelia, the capital of the state of Michoacan, following iOverlander directions to a suggested camping spot for the night. As we turned onto a narrow street, the app told us our location was on the right hand side, but we looked to see a solid wall with a few doors and some windows but nothing a vehicle could fit through…this didn’t seem right.
Our plan had been to visit Uruapan, the “Avocado Capital of the World”, and we did drive through miles of lush avocado plantations to the town. When we got to our intended camping spot, the owner told us there was a private fiesta happening that evening. We were welcome to stay but it would be muy ruidoso (very noisy). He told us there was a campsite in Patzcuaro, which is where we had planned on going next anyway, and that it was only 20 minutes away, so we headed for Patzcuaro with the idea of returning the following morning to walk around Uruapan .
We woke up on the side of Tequila Volcano, having slept really well in the cool mountain air. We took our time getting packed up for the day, knowing we had only a short drive into town. The morning in Tequila was spent looking after a few chores; we filled up our water tank with agua purificada, we spent an hour in the laundromat (clean clothes!!!!), and looked for a place to park the truck and camper for the evening. We were planning on sampling some tequila, actually a lot of tequila, and we didn’t want to have to move the truck later. We asked at one hotel with courtyard parking if we could camp there, but they were going to be full for the night and didn’t have room for us. We asked about the safety of camping on the streets, and were assured that it was perfectly safe. We ended up parking the truck on a dead end street surrounded by nice homes, and headed out for the day.
After leaving Puerta Vallarta, we drove through the mountains to the Pueblo Magico, Mascota. This lively town has a pretty little plaza, beautiful stone work, lots of plaster, colour and tile roofs. It is surrounded by pine covered mountains. We found a place to park after making our way through some narrow and occasionally double-parked oneway streets. We wandered around town for an hour or so with Piper, had an ice cream, bought some tequila….it’s all about priorities.
Our plan was to drive from Punta Perula to the small town of Mascota. Mascota is a Pueblo Magico (magic village), one of several villages in Mexico that have earned the distinction due to their stunning location, their colonial architecture, or their historical significance.
We ended up staying five nights at Lo de Marcos, we just couldn’t pull ourselves away from the beach and the town. It was so easy to stay. Every day or so a man would come by with a truck full of vegetables for sale, and one day two pretty young women quickly talked Derek into buying some fresh lobster, which we cooked up that night for dinner.