Category Archives: Travel

More from Mexico City

Mexico, Travel, , ,

Feb 25 – We left the Basilica and picked out a place to eat lunch from a row of sidewalk shops. Here the meal included noodle soup, a plate of warm tortilla, a plate of red rice, beans and a choice of chicken or pork. We ordered one of each, and I got the chicken, which was covered in molé sauce. Let’s just say that molé is an acquired taste that I have not yet acquired. Its basis is cocoa; it is dark brown, bitter, and smells like paint thinner. After a few bites, Jim noticed my distress and switched plates. The pork, in red sauce, was spicy, tender and delicious! I know I have to keep trying with the molé, as it is very popular in southern Mexico. Wish me luck!

The Metro let us off at a huge park, where lots of folks were enjoying a warm Sunday afternoon. The fountains were repurposed a wading pools for kids and teens.

On the other side of the part was the Palacio de Belles Artes, with it’s beautiful multi-colored dome shimmering in the sun. As a Sunday bonus, admission to the museum was free!

There rooms full of pots and bones and museum-y stuff, but the big attraction was the top floor, which was covered with murals by Diego Rivera and other famous artists.

I laughed to watch a mom photographing her young daughter beside a huge boob – sorry I didn’t catch that pic!

Feb 26 – Want to know what Rosario served for breakfast this morning? Chilaquiles, which is a corn tortilla covered with tomato sauce, sour cream and a little cheese, a traditional Mexican breakfast. For all the cheese we are subjected to in US Mexican restaurants, this is the first cheese we’ve seen here. Muy delicioso!

It is Monday and most things are closed, so we walked over to the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is the largest cathedral in the Americas. It has 16 side chapels which were gated and dark, and two main altars.

The statue called the Poison Jesus resides here. Do you know this story? Once there were two rich men. The first was generous and devout, going to mass every day, humbly kissing the foot of Jesus and depositing a gold coin in the alms box. The second rich man was jealous of the first. He had a cake laced with slow acting poison delivered to the generous man in the name of a grateful townsperson. The generous man ate a big slice with his morning cocoa, then walked to mass. The jealous man followed him to see when the poison would take effect. After mass, the generous man bent to kiss the foot of Jesus, and the statue turned black from foot to crown. The jealous man understood that Jesus had taken the poison from the man’s body, and he confessed and begged forgiveness, which the generous man immediately granted.

That is where the story should end, but here’s the postscript. A few years after this miracle, one of the altar candles fell over and set the altar ablaze, incinerating the statue. As the statue was a popular place to pray and request healing, the Church had a replacement statue made, of course already black…

In the afternoon we made our way back to the bus stop and returned to the Aeropuerto to catch our flight to Huatulco (Wa-TOOL-co). One hour later, we disembarked in a place as different from Mexico City as a place can be. Yes, this is the Huatulco Airport.

Let the relaxation begin!

Sunday with Our Lady of Guadalupe

Mexico, Travel, , ,

Feb 25 – After another scrumptious breakfast (with spicy scrambled eggs and papaya juice), we set out to conquer the Metro. We walked to the station, which was so surrounded by sidewalk vendors that the entrance was hard to see! We charged our card with the proper fare (easy peasy) and stepped inside to study the big map of the M3 line. A young woman immediately came over and asked if we needed help – Nice Person of Mexico! She confirmed that we were headed in the right direction, and let me know that if I was traveling alone, the Metro provides Ladies Only cars for females and kids under 12 to try to mitigate sexual harassment on the trains. Found out via Google that many countries provide this service. Sad that it is needed…

The train was crowded, but not like in Japan where they have to push you in to get the doors closed! In a blink we were at our stop, and walked upstairs into another plethora of sidewalk stalls selling food, clothing, shoes, bags and religious trinkets. We could see the Basilica straight ahead.

As we crossed the street, a parade with flags and a brass band marched by! I wonder how often this happens?

In our travels, we have visited other sites of Marian visions: Lourdes in France, Fatima in Portugal, Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the #1 most visited Christian pilgrimage site in the world, hosting over 20 million people each year. Here’s the story in case you are not familiar.

In 1531, a poor Aztec peasant named Juan Diego was visited by a Lady who instructed him to have a church built on the place where he stood.

He told the local Spanish bishop, who did not believe him. He reported this back to the Lady, who told him to go ask again. This time the bishop told him not to return unless he could bring back miraculous proof. When he told this to the Lady, she sent him up the hill to gather Spanish Castilian roses, which were not native to Mexico and definitely would not be blooming in December. He gathered the flowers in his cloak, and when he opened his cloak in front of the bishop, the Lady’s image was miraculously imprinted on the cloak.

The image of the Lady with dark skin and black hair, wearing an Aztec gown and black maternity belt and speaking the local Aztec language really wowed the natives, and millions converted to Catholicism in the next decade. The cloak, made of rough hemp, has not degraded despite being handled for 500 years.

We took a moving walkway past the cloak, which is mounted high up on the wall of the new sanctuary, where mass is said 24 hours a day.

The new sanctuary is huge, and was totally packed with worshipers kneeling and singing.

In the museum, there were lots of other images of the Lady.

We walked up the hill to the old sanctuary, where natives were chanting and dancing.

The old church was small and crowded with people just walking through.

We saw the exact spot where Juan saw the Lady. We

Unlike other Marian pilgrimage sites that welcome visitors from all over, all the signage and the masses here are in Spanish. With the exception of one Korean group, we saw few foreigners. We did see many babies and young children dressed in white, brought here to be baptized.

The walk down the hill.

The Words of the Lady inscribed above the door, “Am I not here, I who am your Mother?”

Saturday in Mexico City

Mexico, Travel, ,

Feb 24 – Our hostess, Rosario, fed us a five star breakfast, with warm fresh brown bread, cucumber juice (yummy), fresh yogurt, pancakes with warm raspberry jam, sliced banana and a huge mug of strong coffee. Fuel for the day!

Walking out in the morning, we encountered many poor men sleeping barefoot on the street, and beggars grinding street organs for spare change. No upscale buskers here. Our first excursion was to the National Palace, a magnificent structure longer than a city block that includes a cultural museum.

The Fountain of Pegasus.

Here, the artist Diego Rivera painted huge murals all around the second story, back in the 1920s. He hoped the Mexicans would unite as Communists to make their lives better.

The Spaniards branding slaves.

Not sure what the turquoise feathered guy is doing with that arm…

I listened to an English tour guide describing this one to his group. Karl Marx is at the top, like God. The pipes are filled with the blood of the Mexican workers, which turn into money for the government at the bottom. The priest kissing the prostitute on the left represents the corruption of the Church, which should be helping the people, and likens the Church to the Nazis by showing the line of crosses with a swastika included on the right.

Below, the good Communists, including Rivera’s girlfriend Frida Kahlo (with the eyebrows), are taking charge and teaching the poor children to read. Thank you, tour guide. He was the only we one we encountered today who was not guiding in Spanish.

I liked these little sculptures, and the two big ones flanking Jim.

In the afternoon, we walked through several markets, which underscored just how poor this country is. We saw lots of energetic selling, but very few were buying. A peso is worth about five cents, or 20 to the dollar. We wandered into an area where small animals, birds, puppies, hens and goats were packed together cruelly, and a man, seeing our cameras, shouted at us to leave. We left.

We are only spending a few days in the city before flying south to the beach. We have mastered the bus system, and tomorrow we will take the subway (Metro). The other travelers we met at breakfast said we are brave to try the Metro. I’ll report tomorrow!

Down Mexico Way

Mexico, Travel, ,

Feb 23, 2018 – Jim wanted to take a break from winter and warm our bones in someplace sunny. We had tried a short cruise to the Bahamas in December, and discovered that cruises were just not our cup of tea. So this morning we got on the big iron bird, and by lunchtime we were in Mexico City!

Our plan was to take a city bus from the airport to the city center, guided by our trusty phone GPS. As we exited the airport, I was dismayed to discover that the phone would not connect, no matter what I tried (yes, of course I tried turning it off then back on!). We pestered the bus driver to tell us when we reached our stop, as the stops were not announced or posted. Very nerve wracking! We got off at the right stop, and Jim found our B&B by some miracle, as there was no sign at all, upstairs in a office building. Once we got WiFi, I spent an hour troubleshooting the phone with the guy from T Mobile, doing everything including a factory reset, but no luck. Finally, I did what I should have done first, and texted Peter. He solved the problem in two minutes! Now we will be able to find our way around this big city.

Our very nice B&B Chillout Flat is in the Centro Historico, very near to the Metropolitan Cathedral.

The cathedral was built by the Spaniards by taking the bricks from the ancient Aztec Templo Mayor, leaving the temple in ruins.

Next to the ruins, several groups of natives drummed, played, chanted and danced.

Our B&B hostess recommended several tourist restaurants nearby for dinner, but Jim had a more authentic experience in mind. We ate chicken with spicy salsa verde, green beans, soup, rice and tortillas at a second floor walk up family restaurant, where we were the only foreigners in the place. A good first day!

Oviedo to Madrid to Chicago to Norfolk VA

Backpacking, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, , ,

July 2 – Had to get up early this morning to catch our train.  Our hotel graciously set out our breakfast buffet a half hour early, so we wouldn’t have to travel without our daily caffeine and jamon allotment.  We booked our train ticket to Madrid about five days ago, and were surprised to find all the second class tickets sold out, so we are riding first class in reserved seats.  This turns out to be the same as a second class seat, except you are offered a free Spanish newspaper and charged twice the price!  Four hours of high speed rail later, we are in Madrid.

To simplify our lives, Jim booked us in at a very nice hotel right at the train station, so we can easily catch the train to the airport in the morning.  We did a final day’s worth of laundry, watched some strange but English language tv, and repacked our packs to go on the airplane, stowing our hiking sticks and everything that was in the outer pockets.  We had purchased some fragile souvenirs, which I will hand carry, rather than entrust to the baggage handlers.  We are ready to go home.

July 3 – Walked back to the train station, and waited on a 20 minute line to purchase a ticket for the 10 minute ride to the airport.  The very nice man at check in informed us that he could only see one flight for us in his computer, from Madrid to Chicago, and that we would have to go to American Airlines in Chicago to print our second boarding pass for our flight to Norfolk.  Oh well.  Air travel!

We were amazed and amused to encounter a singing trans stewardess belting out “I’ve Gotta Be Me” in a husky baritone in the duty-free shop.  We slugged the free Jagermeister shot offered, and applauded enthusiastically.

Then we were up and away for our nine hour flight back to the USA.  Adios, Spain, we’ll miss you!

After getting through Customs and retrieving our bags, we tried to collect our boarding passes for Norfolk.  The not-a-people-person service rep informed us, quite harshly, that we had no reservation, and weren’t going anywhere.  Jim produced the paper booking confirmation he had been toting around for three months, and she told us that American no longer had that flight, and so had canceled our reservation.  Hadn’t they informed us?  Well no, they hadn’t, but as they also hadn’t refunded our fares, I thought we were in a pretty good position to insist that it was incumbent on American Airlines to get us home.  Seeing that we weren’t going to go away, the rep eventually relented and put us on the next flight.  Peter came and picked us up, and we were home by 11pm eastern, which was 5am the next day as far as our bodies were concerned.  A little sleep is all we need.  Until next time!

More Oviedo

Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, ,

June 30 – What a wonderful city!  We were encouraged to try the unique Asturian cuisine, so we headed to the street of tourist restaurants.  Here we dined on cream of seafood soup, Asturian beans, fried veal and chicken filets stuffed with ham and cheese (like a cordon bleu except with red sauce), and Asturian hard cider.  Very good, but that much food almost killed us.  I guess our bodies are remembering that we are no longer hiking.

We visited the Museo Bella Artes, displaying paintings of many renowned Spanish artists.  There was a room filled with El Greco that contained his renditions of the twelve Apostles.  I hate to tell you this, but he used the same model for many of them.  In some they were even wearing the same outfit!  I guess he never considered that someday they would all be displayed side by side…

Lots of Mary Magdalenes here:

This little angel, up in the corner, had more detail than the rest of the whole painting.  Look at those dimples!

Can you tell these are by the same artist?


I liked the clouds in this one:

There is a Picasso here:

And a Salvatore Dali:

Lexi and Emma – your art could hang in a museum someday!

We walked through the Parque de San Francisco.  Cool and green.  You’ll notice it is still jacket weather here – in the 50s this morning.  I could get used to this kind of summer weather!

The native dancers and pipers entertained us in the square, and buskers filled the streets with music.


One more church before we go, the Iglesia Juan Baptiste:

I kind of like the scruffy look of these apostles, don’t you?

Inside there was a columbarium with some unusual art:


Woody Allen, you are right – we love Oviedo!

Gijón to Oviedo

Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, , , , ,

June 29 – Today’s journey is just 30 minutes south by bus to Woody Allen’s favorite Spanish city, Oviedo.  This Asturias city is also part of the Camino del Norte (Camino de la Costa) and the Camino Primativo, and will be our last stop before returning to Madrid for our flight home.  

We arrived at the bus station at 10:45, and bought tickets for the 10:45 bus.  Two minutes later, we were on our way!

Our hotel is in the Old City.  The buildings are beautiful.

There are lots of statues on the street:

There is a statue of Woody Allen here, as he declared Oviedo his favorite city when he was here filming Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which I guess has a nicer ring than Vicky Cristina Oviedo.

We visited the Archeological Museum, housed in an old monestery.

This is St Anne, holding Mary, holding Jesus:

How nice to die with a dog at your feet!

Even nicer with a dog and trusty servant at your feet!

Jim tried a sample of the local cheese – very nice!

We visited the Catedral de San Salvador de Oviedo, one of the most preeminent cathedrals in Spain.  They say, “Who goes to Santiago but not to Salvador, visits the servant but not the Lord.”

The main altar tells the life of Jesus in pictorial form, for those in centuries past who could not read.

Riding into Jerusalem:



The assumption of Mary.  The scene to the left shows the wedding at Cana.  Although the story says there were six jars of water turned into wine, the retablo only shows five because…

One of the jars is here at the cathedral!

The cathedral also houses the companion piece to the Shroud of Turin; the cloth that was wrapped around Jesus’ head when he was laid in the tomb.  This is a picture of the cloth, as the actual cloth is stored to prevent deterioration and only brought out three times a year.  Analysis of the cloth indicates that Jesus’ blood type was AB.  The room is called the Camera Santa, and also houses relics of many saints and the Virgin Mary. Don’t ask how you get relics from someone who was assumed into heaven – it’s a mystery.

The Apostles surround the relics.  St James with his shell and walking stick is shown with St John:

St Thomas has eyes of blue sapphire, for those who believe but have not seen.

Santa Eulalia of Mérida is entombed here.

To be continued…

Ribadeo to Gijón

Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel,

June 27 – Our whirlwind tour of northern Spain continued this morning as we hopped back on the train in Ribadeo and continued east along the coast for a four hour ride to Gijón.  Rain threatened, making for some ominous cloud pix out the train window.

Gijón is in the province of Asturias – we are no longer in Galicia, so the train announcements are only in Spanish, instead of Spanish and Galego.  It is hailed as a unique city with its own cuisine and culture.  We are staying right outside of the Old City, which is on a peninsula jutting north into the Atlantic.

There are Roman ruins here, and a statue of Octavius Caesar.

These old doors were not made with Jim in mind.

The Iglesia San Pedro has a golden chapel that was breathtakingly beautiful in the morning light.

Old battlements face the ocean.

There is a modern sculpture here called Elogio del Horizonte, which is the symbol of the city:

We walked through the old city:

There is a new clock tower built on an old Roman base:

We visited the art museum:

There was a huge retablo upstairs that was sculpted, then pressed into copper.  Below is a small section of the scene.

Cool stuff.

We walked back along the boardwalk that bordered a very narrow beach, where some brave souls were swimming on a cool and breezy day.

At the other end of the beach is a statue called Madre del Emigrantes, showing all the emotions of a mother as her children sail away:

Beautiful city!

A Coruña to Ferrol to Ribadeo

Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel,

June 25 –  Back on the train this morning for a two hour ride east around Spain’s rocky northern coast, which landed us in Ferrol.  This little town is where, back in the day, the English would land by boat to start their Camino Ingles.  The Ingles only takes about one week to walk, so Jim thought we should see the town.  Some English hikers we met in Santiago said it was very pretty.

Sure enough, Jim found the first shell marker, and we walked the Camino through town.

This is not a beach resort, but more of a working harbor like Norfolk.  Lots of cranes and military ships.

A pretty marina too.

It is Sunday, so absolutely no shops are open, but we had a delicious Turkish doner lunch and a walk around town.  

Lots of flowers in the Praza España.

The municipal palace:

A pink church:

A spotted car and a spotted dog:

The fortress around the port:

Ferrol has the distinction of being the birthplace of the Spanish dictator Franco.  We are only here for one night, and enjoyed seeing this pretty little town.
June 26 – the breakfast buffet at our hotel was truly grand, including two kinds of eggs, exotic fresh fruit, and lots of decadent breads and pastries.  At some point very soon, we’re going to have to convince our bodies that we are no longer hiking, and return to a sensible calorie count.  Today was not that day.

Walked back to the train station and purchased tickets to our next destination, Ribadeo.  This was advertised as a quaint ride on a small gauge modern train, along the beautiful rocky northern coast.  The train was indeed modern, but the track ran alternately through mountain tunnels and deep forest, so that all we could see out the windows was either the pure black of a tunnel or densely green boughs growing so close to the tracks that they scratched the windows and roof throughout our ride.  So, no stunning pix of the coast – sorry!

The view did open up for the last hour of our three hour ride, but the day turned gray and rainy.  Glad we’re not walking!

Ribadeo is a town on the Camino El Norte.  As soon as we got off the train we saw the yellow arrows, and followed them past the chapel of Lazarus.  Inside was a statue that looks like San Roche eating an ice cream.  Hmmmm.

We’re staying in a quaint hotel with no wifi or air con.  However, the hotel has a stable of bicycles for guests to ride!  Although the skies were overcast, we took some bikes out for a spin around town, and only got a little wet.  

Some interesting wall art:

Here’s this little guy again.  I wonder who he is?

I have no explanation for these very tall folks either…

It’s true what they say – it’s like riding a bicycle:  you never forget!  Lexi and Emma, there’s a bike in Gramma’s future!

Santiago to A Coruña 

Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel

June 22 – We came to Spain for 90 days, as that is the maximum time an American can spend in the EU as a tourist, and we didn’t know exactly how long it would take us to complete our Camiño.  So now our pilgrimage is done, and we have a little time left before our flight home.  We spoke to many other pilgrims who walked different routes to Santiago, and we decided to check out some other towns in northern Spain before returning to Madrid.

Our first stop is A Coruña, just a 45 minute train ride north to the coast.  In celebration of our Camiño, Jim booked us in a classy hotel with an ocean view – a real step up from an albergue!  Here is the view out our window:

We have our own little sandy beach with clear blue water, but the weather is a bit chilly for swimming.

A Coruña is famous for having the oldest working lighthouse, built in the first century by the Romans to keep ships from crashing into the rocks of the promontory.  Today it is called Hercules Tower, and is the town’s main tourist attraction.

Views from the top of the tower:

The tower is in the center of a statuary garden crisscrossed with walkways and bike paths.

This is Hercules on the Argonaut ship:

This one is called the Family, but it reminds me of the standing stones in the Outlander books.  Trivia:  I read the first Outlander book years ago, and read the remaining 7 books (each 800-1000 pages long) in the last two months.  Don’t judge – sometimes a little historical sci-fi romance is just what you need to get your mind off your sore feet…

Here is Jim with King Carlos III.

The city has a pretty marina.

…and white fronted art galleries frequented by Pablo Picasso when he grew up here.

The municipal buildings are magnificent:

This is Maria Pita, who bravely fought off British invaders:

We are here, by chance, on this town’s biggest festival weekend, the Nativity of St John the Baptist.  There will be bonfires on the beach accompanied by the grilling of sardines, much drinking and partying tonight.  A band and a medievally dressed parade meandered through the main streets:

The main church in town is St George’s, who adorned the altar with the vanquished dragon:

Many Marys here too:

Down the street is the Iglexa do Santiago:

There were pretty Madonnas there too.

We stopped for a midday meal at a place that advertised all things octopus, including pulpo empanadas.  Now that we’re on the coast, seafood is cheap and plentiful.

We strolled through a Museo displaying old Roman artifacts 

…a reproduction of an ancient boat made of wicker and covered with animal hides:

…and an eerily beautiful cistern.

We ended the day with a walk around the Finisterrae Aquarium.

A relaxing day in a beautiful town.