Day 2: Mexico City —> El Nevado de Toluca —> Mexico City.
Since we had the extra 36 hours before our friends arrived, I thought it would be fun to go for a hike to mix up the itinerary a bit. I checked out some websites on fun day hikes and settled on one that is ~2 hours outside of Mexico City that reminded me a bit of when we went to Crater Lake.
Marc was not really excited when I told him that our guide for our hike was picking us up at 6am this morning. But we managed to get up on time and Marc got his pastries for the ride out to our hike. Crisis averted. He also promised to return when we got back to try the chocolate cake.
Our guide, Carlos, was on time and ready to go. It was still dark for most of the ride out but as we got closer, we were able to see lots of fog over in the direction we were slated to hike at. Admittedly, I was also a tad nervous about the hike. The duration was fine, but I experienced some altitude sickness on a hike at a similar altitude during Operation Cincuenta. I wanted to be careful (see that, DAD!) and smart. Carlos gave us a couple of options, so we took the easier one that was ~3 hours of hiking and about 5 miles.
Off we went and we started at 13,500 feet to climb to a max of 14,500 feet. Doesn’t
seem like a ton of elevation gain, but at this altitude, you feel it quickly. We took our time and got to the top where we could see both lakes, although one of them was covered in fog at that particular moment. Then the fog quickly dissipated as we walked down to the lakes.
First up was Lago del Luna, the smaller of the lakes. As we approached, it started to get sunnier and sunnier so it was time to shed some layers. The lake started to show different colors, which was really pretty. We continued on to Lago del Sol, which allowed us to get a close-up of the summit of Nevado del Toluca. The fog was moving around rapidly, so we were trying to be efficient in getting photos. What was great was that we had the whole circuit to ourselves. No one else out there. Carlos said that on the weekends that this trail is packed.
We made our way to the other side of the lake and decided to eat a little before the climb out of the craters. Marc and I told Carlos about Crater Lake, which is still one of my favorite places that I have visited in my time in the PNW. He definitely wanted to learn more as we were trying to compare both locations. The fog started to roll back in as we made our way back up. It was a workout, for sure, and then I wanted to see if we could hike to a higher lookout point to get a better shot of Lago del Sol, which is obscured at the top of the official trail loop.
Fortunately Marc and Carlos were game, and we hiked up a bit more because we needed more elevation, right? The fog was pretty thick but since it wasn’t windy, we stayed up there for about 5 minutes and guess what, the fog moved out a bit. More photos. After that, we headed back to the car and started the ride back to Mexico City. Along the way we were held up by a traffic accident (no injuries) and then we saw a government car of some kind in a drainage ditch in the middle of a major highway with a bunch of police around. Hmmmm. You can’t make this stuff up. I wish we could have stuck around to find out what happened there!
All in all, Carlos was a fantastic guide and we were lucky to have him. We made it back, Marc got his afternoon pastries and we just chilled for a bit waiting for our friends to arrive.
While waiting for our friends to get settled, Marc got his 1st mezcal tasting in at the hotel bar. Honestly, it smelled absolutely revolting to me but Marc seemed to enjoy it, so that’s good. Him and Jason sampled another mezcal at dinner. I’m sure Marc will have more to say on this topic as the week progresses. Later on, we had a great meal at a local restaurant that included duck buñuelos (SO GOOD), pork tacos, chicken with mole negro, manchamanteles and escamoles (look this one up - we have precedent on this one from Operation Cincuenta). On the dessert front, Marc had a whole page on the menu dedicated to chocolate. All in all a good day.
Marc was not really excited when I told him that our guide for our hike was picking us up at 6am this morning. But we managed to get up on time and Marc got his pastries for the ride out to our hike. Crisis averted. He also promised to return when we got back to try the chocolate cake.
Our guide, Carlos, was on time and ready to go. It was still dark for most of the ride out but as we got closer, we were able to see lots of fog over in the direction we were slated to hike at. Admittedly, I was also a tad nervous about the hike. The duration was fine, but I experienced some altitude sickness on a hike at a similar altitude during Operation Cincuenta. I wanted to be careful (see that, DAD!) and smart. Carlos gave us a couple of options, so we took the easier one that was ~3 hours of hiking and about 5 miles.
Off we went and we started at 13,500 feet to climb to a max of 14,500 feet. Doesn’t
First up was Lago del Luna, the smaller of the lakes. As we approached, it started to get sunnier and sunnier so it was time to shed some layers. The lake started to show different colors, which was really pretty. We continued on to Lago del Sol, which allowed us to get a close-up of the summit of Nevado del Toluca. The fog was moving around rapidly, so we were trying to be efficient in getting photos. What was great was that we had the whole circuit to ourselves. No one else out there. Carlos said that on the weekends that this trail is packed.
We made our way to the other side of the lake and decided to eat a little before the climb out of the craters. Marc and I told Carlos about Crater Lake, which is still one of my favorite places that I have visited in my time in the PNW. He definitely wanted to learn more as we were trying to compare both locations. The fog started to roll back in as we made our way back up. It was a workout, for sure, and then I wanted to see if we could hike to a higher lookout point to get a better shot of Lago del Sol, which is obscured at the top of the official trail loop.
Fortunately Marc and Carlos were game, and we hiked up a bit more because we needed more elevation, right? The fog was pretty thick but since it wasn’t windy, we stayed up there for about 5 minutes and guess what, the fog moved out a bit. More photos. After that, we headed back to the car and started the ride back to Mexico City. Along the way we were held up by a traffic accident (no injuries) and then we saw a government car of some kind in a drainage ditch in the middle of a major highway with a bunch of police around. Hmmmm. You can’t make this stuff up. I wish we could have stuck around to find out what happened there!
All in all, Carlos was a fantastic guide and we were lucky to have him. We made it back, Marc got his afternoon pastries and we just chilled for a bit waiting for our friends to arrive.
PS - We will have a later blog post on food. Have no fear.
