Mexico Part 1

As promised (and I'm sure you are all sitting on the edge of your seat), here is the first in the set of recaps from our Mexico trip. We went to Mexico City and to the Mayan Riviera and had a blast.

Mexico has always had a special place in my heart.  My brother got me a job at a student travel company when I was 15 and I had the opportunity to travel to Mexico every summer for 6 years.  Another reason I love it is that my sister-in-law is from Mexico and it's been really cool to share her culture, especially now that we have a little nephew who is growing up with a Mexican, Russian/Ukrainian/American cultural mix.   Oh, and the last reason?  I love tequila and Mexican food.

Without any more delays I present some of the highlights of the first part of our trip - Mexico City.  Mexico City is huge and has a lot to offer and we were lucky enough to have an apartment and gracious hosts for our trip.

We got picked up from the airport and even had a birthday cake ready for the husband.

The next day we set off for Tepoztlan, a town 2 hours away from Mexico City in the state of Morelos.   The main destination was Tepozteco mountain, a 1.3 mile hike up to see a pyramid built over 1,000 years ago.  Oh, and the hike was all uphill at elevation, but we did it! We live at sea level and I didn't know how much the elevation would really affect us, but it was all worth the hike.

Me and my brother (right), and sister-in-law's brother (left)

 This tree was out of control and I had to get my clumsy self up it to go take a picture.

We took plenty of breaks to rehydrate and take pictures of the views.  Our gracious host humored us with some photos.

Not sure what was going on here...the heat was getting to me.

 Sweaty, and halfway there.

 We did it!  The views looked down onto the town below.

We explored the town of Tepoztlan.  I love how there are large parks around each church.

 We stopped in a local restaurant for lunch.  The food was fresh and delicious and extremely affordable.

 

Finally, we followed it up with some ice cream- the town's specialty is different flavored ices, kind of a mix between sorbet and ice cream.  I admired both of my views before we left to head back to the city.

We are back to hide from the heat here- just finishing the rest of a blissful long weekend and celebrating by hiding the puppy from the fireworks.  See ya'll later for more recaps and normal shenanigans!