Flowers (and fish?) in Orange County

Posted on September 11, 2023 by Bryan Keith

Continuing on the flower theme and even specifically orchids we visited Sherman Gardens a couple times near my parents’ house.

IMG_20230217_135134 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Tijuana and San Diego (and how to use the Tijuana airport from the US?)

Posted on September 1, 2023 by Bryan Keith

Tijuana’s airport is right on the US border. Here’s Ferda just across the street from the Tijuana airport with the US-Mexico border fence behind her.

IMG_20230504_173047 by bryandkeith on flickr

For years I’ve wondered why they don’t make it into a multinational (or whatever the right term is) airport like Basel or Geneva. Ferda and I found a US$98 ticket from Tijuana (TIJ) to Tuxtla Gutiérrez via Mexico City to visit Zane in Chiapas so I was excited to learn about CBX. Does that make TIJ into a two country airport? Well, yes. Does that make it useful? No!

Why not? The biggest problem with CBX is that they charge US$30/person to use this service. Then there’s the issue of getting there. We paid US$20.50 each to get (by bus) from Orange County to San Ysidro, then another 20 pesos each (US$1.12) on the Mexican side for a bus to the airport. For a bus from Orange County to CBX, however, they want US$38 each. So using CBX instead of simply walking across the border at San Ysidro would add over US$46 each to our trip — for what advantage? Avoiding one city bus in Tijuana and perhaps saving an hour. Really? Switzerland and France can figure this out, but the US and Mexico can’t? Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.

Anyway, since we weren’t taking a bus directly to CBX, it was easy to add a stop to our itinerary in San Diego (another advantage of not using CBX). First we visited Old Town San Diego which I suppose eases one into Mexico.

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Tlaxcala, ¡sí existe!

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Bryan Keith

Just before walking to the main square in the city of Tlaxcala, capital of the eponymous state, I told Ferda about how Mexicans make jokes about the tiny state of Tlaxcala not really existing except perhaps in fairy tales. How appropriate then some thirty minutes later to see for the first time the state tourism board’s motto: Tlaxcala, ¡sí existe! (Tlaxcala, yes, it exists!)

IMG_20230503_134917 by bryandkeith on flickr

The tradition that I have always associated with Tlaxcala is pulque,

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Veracruz: Tlacotalpan and Orizaba

Posted on August 12, 2023 by Bryan Keith

Before a railroad was built across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Tlacotalpan, originally settled on an island in the Papaloapan River, was a thriving inland river port. Its importance declined, but the city managed to preserve its colonial layout well enough that it was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1998.

The city is perhaps famous (?) as the place where Porfirio Díaz hung out doing woodwork for a few years between his failed attempt to overthrow Benito Juárez in 1871 and his successful ousting of Lerdo de Tejada in 1876, the start of his three decade dictatorship.

IMG_20230428_175536 by bryandkeith on flickr
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Bus adventures to/from Tabasco’s pueblo mágico Tapijulapa

Posted on August 2, 2023 by Bryan Keith

Asking around at the mercado viejo in San Cristóbal de las Casas, we learned that it was probably possible to string together a series of shared taxis and colectivos to get from San Cristóbal to Tapijulapa. Would it be worth the trouble, we wondered?

The blogging couple at wandertooth made the trip from Villahermosa and clearly said, “no, it’s not worth it,” mostly due to the difficulty of transportation between Villahermosa and Tapijulapa. They also complained about the heat. Well, luckily I ignored them ’cause we certainly enjoyed Tapijulapa. From San Cristóbal you should expect some transportation adventures, but the leg they complained about — Tapijulapa-Villahermosa — was comfortable and easy to figure out.

Our first colectivo took us to Puerto Caté, a four way intersection that Jack and I bicycled through ten years ago. On a Sunday afternoon the frequent transportation coming from Bochil in the direction of Simojovel all arrived stuffed full. Eventually it was our turn to squeeze into an overcrowded minibus. It became a bit more comfortable after some passengers got off in El Bosque.

Ferda and I spent the night in Simojovel which used to be buzzing with Chinese businessmen buying amber. I’m not sure why they stopped coming. The next morning it was still three legs to get to Tapijulapa. Here’s Ferda at our quick breakfast stop in Huitiupán:

IMG_20230424_080736 by bryandkeith on flickr

It was then a surprisingly long ride to Amatán on a pretty horrible road. I can’t imagine that passenger cars can make it through there in the rainy season. The only other passenger to go the whole way from Huitiupán to Amatán was a nurse who explained that it takes her eight hours to get from her home in Tuxtla Gutiérrez to her work in a village near Amatán. She does the round trip every week.

We probably waited two hours in Amatán for a passenger to fill the shared taxi to Tapijulapa, and then the driver felt inclined to race along excellent curvy pavement for 17km, the fifth and final leg from San Cristóbal de las Casas to Tapijulapa.

Tapijulapa is another of Mexico’s pueblos mágicos, far enough off the beaten path that it might not be so crowded on the weekends. Midweek it was easy to find a place to stay for two nights. It was “hot but not uncomfortable” according to my notes.

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