After a wonderful first week in Mexico City, we were ready for something a little slower and with fewer people. Originally aiming to climb a nearby volcano (Nevado de Toluca) that turned out to be closed, we instead pivoted to the nearby Lake Avandaro. We could not have chosen better, although at first we weren’t so sure of our choice.
A mere 142 km from Mexico City and not yet fully appreciative to both the conditions of Mexico’s roads or the time to replenish living supplies that we might take for granted in the United States, yours truly thought we might be able to leave the city in the early afternoon, make a couple of quick stops, and arrive at the lake in time for the sunset. We did arrive in time for the sunset… the next day.
There are several lessons learned in those intervening 24 hours. These included:
- Take the toll road (although they are pretty expensive) or budget at least an extra hour to whatever Google Maps considers the travel time. In this case, we actually had closer to a 2-3 hour delay thanks to a multi-phase construction project through the non-toll mountain pass that led to over an hour of standstill traffic as we waited for the single lane to clear.
- Refillable 1-lb propane tanks are kind of hard to fill. Not because the hardware is bad, but most stations with propane have tanks that are too large to fit our kit.
- Sometimes it’s nice to have a nice comfort meal and not feel bad about it, especially after a long day.
- Fill our water tank before it is totally empty. We have since found that nearly all gas stations have water lines and this is a good time to fill up. Thankfully we did have some emergency water rations that got us to Valle de Bravo, the largest town on the lake.
- Plan to find our campsite well before dark/dinnertime. That way if the original plan doesn’t work, we’re not working through darkness, hunger, and fatigue as we search for a safe place to sleep in a foreign country.
It was quite the two days. And yet, despite our struggles, the days were enjoyable because every time we hit a (figurative) roadblock, we were aided by incredibly kind strangers. For example:
- When we were stuck in the construction traffic seemingly indefinitely, a construction worker and taxi driver conspired to lead us down a “shortcut” of local roads that bypassed most of the blockage. When we thought we’d lost “el colectivo (taxi) rosa” several times, he would be waiting for us at the next turn to guide us. When we finally got to thank him at the next construction stop, he had the biggest smile on his face.
- We actually have struggled filling propane the most, but nearly every mechanic/gas station employee was eager to greet me with a smile and suggest a couple of more places that might be able to help.
- I don’t think I’ve ever been so grateful to find myself in a parking lot next to a grocery store and a Pizza Hut, and they were kind enough to let us stay the night there while we enjoyed our stuffed crust.
- As we arrived in Valle de Bravo out of water and having not had any since morning, we stopped at a local car wash where the family let us use their hose to fill our tank with fresh mountain run-off, then pointed us towards the community where we would eventually spend the night.
- As we got to Lake Avandaro, we really struggled to find a place to camp - the steep terrain and numerous lakeside houses limited public parking spots. Eventually, we pulled into a park to watch the aforementioned sunset where a nice couple pointed us to the next street over and told us to look for “Chago.” We had actually stopped at this space earlier but didn’t see anyone or much in the way of parking spaces. This time, however, we heard a few people conversing in English and they were able to help us find a parking spot (with a gorgeous view of the lake) and track down Chago so that we could arrange to spend a couple of days.
And this brings us to Chago, Kevin, and Ruth, some of the kindest folks we have met so far. Chago was a gracious host, not only for us but for seemingly endless members of the community who stopped by to use his dock for fishing, boating, and dragging up an invasive floating plant, and often stayed for a meal or drink. While we stayed for only three days, during that time Chago helped us fill our water and try to fill those pesky propane tanks by bringing them to his mechanic in town (still no luck though). One afternoon, he waved us over to join some of his employees for beer and tacos with delicious salsa. Upon hearing that Vrinda was vegetarian, he disappeared for five minutes, only to return with some cooked eggs and some of the best pickled chiles and cucumbers we have ever had. While our Spanish isn’t great, he and his employees were patient enough to have a very nice conversation with us (my favorite moment was when he told us that Vrinda had a great smile, and he was amused to learn this was one of my earliest observations of her too). As we were leaving the next day, unprompted, he gave our car a full wash, something it badly needed after a week in the desert and city.
Kevin and Ruth are a Canadian couple who have been traveling in Mexico for over a decade and have stayed at Chago’s for several years. They recently began renting a small house that Chago built on the property as a kind of home base for their travels and visiting family. They not only gave us tips for our stay there (helping us navigate the local taxi system and recommending a hike with a spectacular view of the lake) but also graciously hosted us for beers one evening and gave us an incredible amount of recommendations for the rest of our travels throughout Mexico: something we were extremely grateful for having planned little beyond Mexico City. Several future posts will be in locations that we can specifically thank Kevin and Ruth for.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the kindness that we have experienced while traveling (other folks that we can highlight include a Gujarati chef in Oaxaca City who made excellent chai and gave us more recommendations, and the trout cook in Pueblos Mancomunados who became our neighbor for half a week and served us bread and hot chocolate after a particularly cold hike). We definitely get funny or suspicious looks in our “Stinkbug” sometimes, but nearly all of our interactions have been warm and friendly, something we hope we have reciprocated as best we can.
