Our Getaway Home in Tepoztlán

What better way to end an orientation week than with a trip?! About 17 of us rented a house in Tepoztlán, just east of Cuernavaca. We arrived Saturday afternoon after a wild night of hotel searching. When Britney, Preston, Jordon, Charllotte and I got back to Mexico City from orientation on Friday, we ordered an Uber car to take us to a hotel we found using an app. It was a crazy low price so we asked people who lived in Mexico City if it was in a safe neighborhood. After their seal of approval, we were off to the hotel. About half way there the driver asked if we had been to the hotel before. We hadn’t and he informed us that it’s in the worst neighborhood in Mexico City. So we obviously didn’t go there. He had some other recommendations so we went to two of those but there wasn’t any room. I have a travel book so I looked up a hotel and it had complementary cockroaches so we just decided to suck it up and pay for the hotel we stayed at during orientation. Some ETAs from Ecuador were staying at the same hotel so we went out to a salsa club called Mama Rumba. I’m currently taking salsa class but it’s salsa en linea. There, I learned how to dance Cuban style salsa!

We headed out Saturday morning after my angel Bruno picked us up from the hotel. I bought him a Krispy Kreme for getting us from Mexico City. We left at a bad time though because we left Mexico City when the rest of the population was leaving. Instead of 1 hour, it took 3 to get there. However, once we arrived it was worth the drive. It was a four-bedroom U-shaped house with a courtyard in the middle. Three of the bedrooms had TRIPLE bundle beds. I didn’t even know those existed until this weekend. There was also a kitchen, living room, dining room with a huge circle table, a pool, and a living area house thing in the back with a bar and fireplace and tables and couches. It was difficult to leave on Monday!

We were pretty hungry once we got there so we walked down the ridiculously steep hill to eat downtown. There was one main strip. It’s not a very modern town, but that’s what made it so cute! First stop: micheladas. The chamoy was the best I’ve ever had (the sticky red stuff on the rim of the cup). It was nice and sweet and not to spicy. For dinner, we had some typical Mexican food; I ate a triangular thick tortilla sandwich with meat. It was a lot better than it sounds. Meg, Bruno and I stopped for ice cream on the way back at the largest ice cream shop that exists. When we got back to the house we just chilled and played games. Later at night we went to the house in back, lit a fire and played spoons. My kind of night!

Bruno and I attempted to run Sunday morning but it was a fail. The hills aren’t exactly paved and everyone and their mothers were downtown at the market. Instead, we walked briskly and headed to mass. We stopped in a café first to have a delicious vegetarian sandwich and freshly squeezed juice from the market. After we hiked back up the hill to the house we met up with Lauren, Julie and Anna to go get some lunch. The café specialized in their passion coffee. It was actually good for coffee because there was so much sugar and milk.

Bruno and I climbed up to a pyramid after lunch. Still can’t believe how many pyramids are in Mexico. It was pure stairs from more than an hour. We had a great view from the top though. We practically ran down and it took 30 minutes. I underestimated the intensity and duration of the climb. To reward ourselves we had a beer once we got to the bottom and had some pan de nata. When we returned to the house, Char had prepared our plates for dinner. We grilled steak and nopales (cactus) and had another chill night of hanging out.

Unfortunately we had to leave. Thankfully it was a long weekend so we were able to stay until Monday. In the morning, Bruno, Jordan and I packed up and headed to Cuernavaca. On the way into town we stopped and ate deer. I had deer soup and deer tostadas. It was all quite tasty. Bruno kept making Bambi references. Thanks, Bruno. When we parked we needed some dessert so we went to Krispy Kremes. Round 2: same doughnut as Saturday – filled with chocolate. We tried to go to some government building but they were closed. We went to the market on our way to the main church in the town. We had a winded explanation of the church by an up-and-coming singer. He’s trying to make it here in Mexico and the US, where he has family.

Another long trek back to the city: 3 hours. We dropped Jordan off at the train station and ate at Panda Express. Orange chicken always hits the spot. Then we headed back to Toluca to head to the doctor because my stomach had been bothering me. It turns out I have Colitis (colon inflammation). Therefore, I’m on a diet. No red meat, alcohol, legumes, spicy food, pop, or chocolate. NO CHOCOLATE. I’m going to die. And I have to take a pill and a packet filled with gel every 8 hours for 3 weeks. Not looking forward to that. At least the doctor diagnosed me, though, and I wasn’t complaining for nothing. And that’s how the weekend ended!