After nearly three weeks in San Miguel de Allende, it’s nice to finally hit the road again for some place new. Today’s goal is the Pueblo Magico of Tepotzotlán (not to be confused with Tepoztlán, which lies about 50 miles farther south as the crow flies.
Why Tepotzotlán? We hear it’s a good place to base yourself for trips into Mexico City. We also hear it’s got a fairly good RV park with full hookups. In the highlands, those are few and far between, so we take them where we can get them.
We covered three whole states today: Guanajuato, Queretaro, and Mexico State (Estado de Mexico).
We talked about spending some time in Queretaro City (which is a UNESCO-designated city and a nice place to live…so we hear). But with no RV parks there and so many other places to see, we gave it a pass this time.
Lori (our resident Mexi-phile who has traveled much more extensively through the country than I have) didn’t believe me when I told her there was a Mexico State in addition to Mexico City (maybe she’ll finally believe me today?).
She also didn’t believe me a few years back that Mexico City changed its name from D.F. (Distrito Federal) to CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico).
It doesn’t happen often when I know something about Mexico that she doesn’t, so I may or may not have lorded it over her just a tiny bit.
It’s a bit unnerving following signs to the largest city in North America in a motorhome. The last thing I want to do is miss my turn and end up in gridlock for an hour with no place to do a U-turn.
Leave it to say that today was one of those days when the signage and waypoints required our complete and undivided attention.
I hadn’t exactly been looking forward to this driving day, but it ended up being relatively straightforward and uneventful, taking all of 3 hours and 45 minutes door-to-door. Not bad for crossing three states.
I didn’t, however, expect to gain a lot of elevation today, given that the RV park in San Miguel de Allende was at 7,000 feet and our destination was at 8,000. But it turned out there were three passes on our route, one reaching nearly 9,000 feet at El Rosal.
The whole of central Mexico is high elevation driving, which I’ve certainly had to adjust to over the last few months with our nearly 6 tons of home. But it’s lightyears easier than driving my 1987 Chevy conversion van across the Continental Divide.
I’ve been impressed with our Moho’s Triton V10 and engine management system at these elevation—and the Tow/Haul feature (which adjusts the transmission for heavier loads and mountain driving) has been great.
Most of today’s driving was done on wide Autopista toll roads until we arrived in Tepotzotlán. From the turn off into town, we slowly made our way through the narrow streets of the historic town.
Lori tried to route me around the Centro, but her alternate route was closed to heavy vehicles. So, through the center it was.
After 15 minutes and a lot of patience, we finally made it to Pepe’s.
Pepe’s is a unique place. Not long ago (maybe before Covid?) it was a fully-functional mid-range hotel that happened to have RV parking.
The hotel has since closed, but they still welcome RVs. We later learned that the hotel rooms have been converted to long-term rentals, and the family who runs the place lives onsite.
Still, most days, it feels like staying at an abandoned hotel—especially during rainy season.
The son of the owner was there to welcome us and give us a key to the main gate. The property is huge and completely encircled by a 3-4m high stone wall.
There are four distinct areas to park rigs, and while there were a dozen or so overland vehicles and campers, it seems we’re the only ones staying in the RV section.
Despite having the run of the place and 20 or so spots to choose from, it took a bit longer than usual to get setup. The spots on the west side were too narrow for us to pull the awning out. And most of the other spots had some sort of issues with the shore power.
We finally landed on a nice, wide, level spot with good electrical hookups hidden in some juniper bushes. I was five minutes into setting up the rig when the skies opened up. Looks like we just made it. I would not want to be driving in this.
Immediately, I started to regret our choice of spot. It was level, yes, but that meant that the water began to pool. We quickly realized our RV was sitting in the middle of a small lake. Lori was able to pull a plastic bottle out of a gutter which helped a bit, but we wondered if we might have to move.
After the rains subsided, we took a look around and realized there just wasn’t going to be a better spot. And the water seems to recede fairly quick. So, looks like we’re staying put.
After a long morning’s drive and being cooped up in the RV for a couple hours after that, we figured an outing was in order for the boys. Lori had one place marked on the map, which seemed a lot closer on the map than it actually ended up being.
After a 30-minute uphill climb, we arrived at Casa de la Bruja. We all agreed it was worth the effort.
Casa de la Bruja in Tepotzotlán is a fascinating place. It’s a multi-level restaurant with two large play areas and an unmistakable theme. And no, they didn’t decorate early for Halloween.
As if that weren’t enough, the menu is decidedly German. Yep, German. Brats, sauerkraut, and even German beer and steins. We learned later that the owner is German. Now, how she arrived in Tepotzotlán and decided to open up a place like this has got to be a very interesting story.
We’ve easily sunken into a routine in Tepotzotlán. It’s an easy place to do so. Pepe’s has proven to be a peaceful oasis not too long of a walk from town with lots of room to stretch out and run around.
Most evenings, we’ve had some measure of rainfall, but the mornings from sunrise to around 3pm have been sunny and pleasant. Lori’s even found a nice little corner to do sunrise yoga.
Nobody here but us. Hard to imagine what this place must look like when caravans come through.
The lot right below us, filled with vehicles battened down for the rainy season awaiting their owners’ return from the temperate climes of Europe, Canada, and the U.S.
And us.
The shore power pedestal hidden in the recesses of a juniper tree.
The city water spigot was even trickier to find, requiring me to perform some harrowing yoga poses I haven’t done in years.
But the fun doesn’t end there. Water pressure is pretty low here, so I’m having to fill our fresh water tank every couple of days, which means bending over backwards to reach the valve and emerging with a head full of pieces of juniper.
The sewage “hookup” was also a little tricky, basically consisting of hidden holes in the paving stones that I had to unearth.
I shudder to think what happens when the water collects around the RV. Does the flow of water continue downward into the sewage abyss? Or does it all kind of mix together until it slowly drains away? Makes me think it’s best to avoid the pool of rainwater altogether during a good downpour.
Happy boy enjoying doing his independent school work in the sunshine. Hopefully the novelty doesn’t wear off too fast.
Meanwhile, Noe doing school with mommy while I get some much-needed projects and cleaning done. Pepe’s is a perfect place to do it. I haven’t had a clean, paved pad to work on in months!
The boys are in need of haircuts… This might just be the place to get the job done.
Tepotzotlán has a nice little historic center, and it certainly gets busy on the weekends with visitors from Mexico City. The Centro is painted in a uniform yellow and green, which somehow makes it feel more historic even if most of the buildings today date from the 20th century.
Tepotzotlán’s Pueblo Magico designation is mostly owing to the impressive 16th-century UNESCO site at its core: The Old College of San Francisco Javier, now a national museum of Spanish-colonial history in Mexico.
I’ll devote an entire post to this place (well-deserved) in the future, but I’ll leave it there for now.
In the main plaza just outside the museum complex is another major attraction for local tourists: A giant crucifix sculpture once destined to crown a hilltop overlooking the city.
Apparently, it was so big and heavy that the locals struggled to get it up there. So, here it lay until that all gets sorted.
Back at the RV park, another afternoon deluge.
It seems that the ground is more saturated now, and the gutters aren’t working at all. After just ten minutes of rainfall, we’ve found ourselves surrounded by this.
My concern went from sewage water to electrocution, as ten feet of our shore power cable is currently submerged four inches below water. Theoretically, it should be completely protected by the thick rubber casing, but I’m not prepared to take any chances with a 14-year-old cord.
After a couple of hours, the waters again receded and the ground dried up. I re-routed the cord along the top of the stinky slinky (sewage hose stand) which will hopefully keep the cord out of the water for our time here.
I saw a spot on the map that intrigued me and thought we should go in for a closer look. The map led us to a narrow alleyway and a pair of large iron doors with no markings. Hmm.
A minute later, a man pulled up on a motorcycle and another man inside opened the large door. We asked him if this was Pulpo Negro. He replied, “Claro que si!” (Of course).
The place turned out to be much nicer than I thought it would be, with a good crowd for a week day.
Good beer and even better food. Not cheap, but not something you find every day here.
As always, Noe’s made friends with the resident pups. It’s definitely been one of the highlights of our journey so far for him. I like it because I don’t have to feed or clean up after them.
Lori and Riley left to pick up a load of laundry at the lavanderia, but only made it to the front gate when the heavens released their fury. Noe was dispatched to the rescue with rain jackets and umbrella—accompanied by his trusty friend.
Lori and Riley then made it another five minutes before things really picked up, forcing them to seek shelter in the foyer of a closed doctor’s office until the storm passed. Riley, of course, thought it was all fun and games.
Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to finally teach Noe Scratch Junior, a popular app for kids that teaches the fundamentals of coding and animation.
Yep, that seems about right.
To make things even more interesting, we’ve been getting a number of weather alerts on our phones about “very heavy rains” expected in the coming days across the region. Time to stock up and hunker down.
Lori and Riley did finally make it back, with dry laundry, nonetheless. Though they did have to wade through a couple inches of questionable rainwater to get to us.
