San Miguel de Allende y màs

sunrise in los lomas del real

Las Cascadas in Tamasopo

Hello people. Thanks for the e-mails and comments. I love to hear from you guys too. So we have had a few crazy days since last update. We are now in San Miguel de Allende in the state of Guanajuato for spanish class for one week.

After leaving Tampico we took a bus to Ciudad Valles where we took another bus to tamasopo. This is heading west away from the gulf coast. During this night bus ride we met a kid named Juan who was in Austin Texas for 3 years illegally before the immagration police caught him and took him back to mexico. He said it took him seven days of swimming and walking in the night to sneak accross the border. Crazy story.

Anyway we arrived in Tamasopo at night at found a decently priced hotel. In the morning we went to see las cascadas (waterfalls). This seems to be a semi small mexican tourist attraction. But we didn´t find the town in our Lonely Planet Mexico guide and we didn´t see any other gringos there. It was extremely beautiful. After we walked back to town and walked up a dirt road past sugar cane fields for about 5 or 6 km to another waterfall place called el puente de dios. It was even more beautiful with crystal clear water.

There we met a mexican family that lived in Chicago. We swam with them a bit and talked about our trip and then left for the walk back to town. We hitchiked back into town for lunch and that same family happened to drive by. They joined us for lunch and then offered to give us a ride to the next town called rio verde. So we piled in their car and drove about 1.5 hours to rio verde where they proceeded to invite us into their home for dinner. Then they drove us to a campsite outside of town called media luna. Here we set up our tent in the dark and met a group of 6 kids that were from san luis potosì they had hitchhiked all the way to tijuana (about a day and a half) and were on their way home.

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful landscape. Pine trees and a lake with little rivers running here and there surrounded us. The water here was also crystal clear and very warm. Probably about 75 or 80 degrees. We swam the whole day with the kids we had met. At night we decided to hitch hike with them back to san luis potosi. After walking for about 2 km we piled into the back of a truck. 8 of us in the back and a trailer with 3 horses behind us. The ride took a little over two hours and my butt hurt. It was freezing cold but still an adventure.

In san luis potosì we stayed at the house of one of the kids we met. The next day we toured the centro area of SLP. Very beautiful old churces and government buildings. Unfortunately we forgot our cameras so the images our for our memory only. This morning we woke up early and took a bus to san miguel de allende. We are staying in a beautiful house with a mexican family in this beautiful town. We start classes on monday for one week and then we are working on a farm here for two weeks.

It has been an amazing couple of days. Finding these little known places that aren´t even in the guide book has been great. People continue to be exceptionally nice and are alway willing to help. Be it a ride or for directions, whatever you need. Mexico and its people are amazing and everything is beautiful.

Time to go. Would love to hear updates from you guys too.

michael.l.dahl@gmail.com and kenneth.gillis@gmail.com

adios,

love

mike and kenny