After a week and a half of no work to avoid the dreaded swine flu we were bored out of our brains and decided to rent a car and head to Mexico's 4th highest peak, an extinct volcano called Nevado de Toluca.
We picked the car up in the evening and headed out early the next day. It didn't take long to get to Toluca but it took almost the same time again to get to the Nevado de Toluca! There were no signposts and noone we asked seemed to know where it was (well they could point to the big mountain on the horizon but they couldn't tell you a route to get there by road!)
Finally we found the right road, more by chance than anything else and just as we were getting there realised that we'd forgotten all the food we'd bought especially for the trip! We stopped off at Oxxo to stock up and then headed up the mountain. We had to pay to get into the park and then also tell them that we'd be camping and pay for that too. We didn't stop at the campsite though, and just headed up to the top. You could drive as far as a little hostel (which wasn't open) and then hike the rest of the way up. You could feel how thin the air was and the short walk to the crater lip was exhausting!
Once up there we had a little picnic whilst admiring the views of the crater and its lakes and were befriended by a little dog. We decided to walk down into the huge crater and the lakes. It wasn't easy walking down because we felt so tired and because the path was gravelly and steep. It was stunningly beautiful though and we really enjoyed walking round the crater and seeing the two lakes. The second lake was much bigger than it had first appeared and we realised that we had only been able to see a tiny section of it from where we had eaten our picnic.
Once we were about 3/4 of the way round the crater i felt something drop on my head. Paranoid that it had come from a bird I got Ed to check it out and he told me it was a blob of ice. Very odd...
Within 15 minutes it was hailing/sleeting/snowing hard and we were in a volcanic crater, dressed unsuitably and desperate to get back to the car. It was tough hiking back out of the crater and we were wet and cold by this point. When we finally got to the downhill part to the car i felt so relieved, and once we actually got in the car, switched on the heating and had some sugary drink and biscuits i felt good again. Until I rememebered that we were camping.
We got down to the camp site area and even though it was later than park closing time the entry gate people were still there. So we asked if we could leave and get our mony back for camping. They looked at us like we were crazy and asked "why?" We politely pointed out that it was snowing and we hadn't expected that, but they said no. We could pay extra to stay in the little hostel next to the camp site, but the price they were asking was stupid. I was all for just leaving and going and finsing a cheap hotel in Toluca but Ed said we'd paid and so we'd stay... So we did!
We set up the tent and tried to make a fire (pretty unsucessfully). Everything was damp and even when we did get a fire started it didn't burn well and never had big flames to keep us warm. Once the sun went down it was a little spooky at the deserted campsite and although there was moonlight from the nearly full moon we felt safer inside the tent. It was very very cold that night and even with all the clothes we had brought on and 2 blankets we were freezing and had to hold each other tight in order not to freeze. The sounds of howling dogs and other animals around the campsite were quite eerie and i'd be lying if i said i didn't feel a little scared that night and grateful to see morning.
We got going as early as we could, but it was still bitterly cold and there was ice on the ground after the freezing night we spent in our tent. Sitting in the car with the heating on was, again a great treat.
We drove on to Valle de Bravo the next day. It's a pretty little town around a lake which I'm sure must be nice when all the shops are open and everything. However we were looking to get away from people and towns rather than go to the centre of even a pretty one like Valle de Bravo.
We went to an internet cafe to find out about camping in the area and found one camp site in a posh hotel with swimming pool etc and one in the forest. I quite fancied the idea of civilised camping but I don't really need to tell you which one we ended up at do i?
We drove down to Velo de Novia, some pretty waterfalls in a woodland setting with a few families picniking and barbecuing around it. We had a little picnic lunch there ourselves and decided to come back later and camp the night there.
We went back to the town though to go to a lookout point on a big rock about the town. The views were loveley but it was swelteringly hot and this time it was the air con I was glad of when we got back in the car. We bought a few extra supplies for our night of rough camping and headed back to Velo de Novia (getting some hot quesadillas on the way) and set up the tent. There were still a few people there at this time but not many.
We were waiting for them all to go some we could have a wash in the river. i decided to go first but it seemed that I hadn't waited long enough as a whole group turned up whilst I was trying to get soapy in the river (luckily I had a swimming costume on). Ed waited till it dark and i wa the only one there to see him get naked in the river!!!
This time we did manage to get a pretty good fire started and had fun roasting little marshmallows on twigs on it. Despite the fact it was full moon night, the tree cover was quite thick and once the sun had fully set we couldn't see a metre ahead of ourselves without a torch. It wasn't scary like the Nevado de Toluca campsite but quite weird to be totally alone in a dark forest!
The next day we woke up early (before sunrise), pcaked up and headed into town looking for sopes. We didn't find any and walked for miles before having chilaquiles at a little cafe on the lakeshore.
Then it was time to head back to SLP and drop off the car.
It was a nice little adventure but I think we'll limit the amount of rough camping we do on the final trip...
