Ixtapan de la Sal

Friday morning Mario & I got up at 610 so we could make our 910 flight to Toluca, Mexico. We got to the airport with enough time to grab some breakfast at McDonalds, then hopped on our baby plane (an Embrarer - Continental Express Jet) and headed out with no problems. When we landed in Toluca, Mario called Martin and Maricela (his parents) who were picking us up at the airport. They had just driven up. (They had left Reynosa on Wednesday and had gotten to Toluca the nite before.) Probably less than 30 minutes later, we had cleared immigration and customs and gotten outside to meet them. We loaded up in the car and headed to Ixtapan de la Sal. It took us a couple of hours I guess to get here, and we pulled up in front of Hotel y Resteraunte Maria Alejandra.where we took 2 rooms. They don't have A/C, but they don't really need it. The high was probably about 80 and it cooled off very quickly after dusk. With a fan, we were in business. The room was also extremely inexpensive at $150 pesos a person - so $300 for the room - about US$27. We got settled in the room, and then we drove down to the plaza to see the basic town and scout out lunch. We found a place in the plaza where we could have lunch for $25 a person - I think the total bill with drinks was about $160 pesos - or about $15 for the 4 of us. Martin had pollo (chicken) con mole (a chocolaty sauce), and the rest of us had meatballs (albondigas). I had spaghetti and they had rice as well. We can't eat tacos for that for 2 in Reynosa and the food was really great.. The walked through the cathedral - it was really nice, and then we headed back to the hotel to change so we could go "take the waters."

Ixtapan exists because of it's hot (about 100 degrees) natural thermal waters (agua termales) - which are salty (de la Sal) and somewhat radioactive. They are supposed to be great for whatever ails you. We went to one of the local spas called Balneario Municipal "El Bañito". The waters cost us $50 pesons a person (about 4.50) and another 6 for a closet to change clothes in. They have 4 small pools and one large one. Two of the small pools are directly fed by the spring. They in turn feed the large one which feeds to other two. Of those 2, one was the "kids" pool - thank god - and the other was the "mud" pool. They provided local mud so that you could do your own mud mask. The kids pool and the mud pool were the coolest - probably about 90 degrees, with the large pool probably 95. None of us worked our way into the mud pool - although Mario and I did spend a little time in the large pool. We all wound up in the hot pool and stayed there until they closed the place about 6. That in and of itself was interesting, as the guys that staff the place dive into the pools, pull the plugs on the bottom of them and drain them. They then scrub the whole place down with soap and bleach, and I'm sure, immediately start to refill the pools for the next day. They also offered hydro-spas for an extra fee - although those closed at 4pm - so we were too late for them. (The main waters close at 6).

We left and drove around town a bit - including an excursion to the water park to see what they had to offer. While the place was MUCH larger, their thermal water section looked very similar, although they had 1 large indoor pools in addtion to their 2 hot pools, and then they had 2 other large pools outdoors - one which was probably the size of a football field. It seemed to be about air temperature. They then also offer most of the things that are offered by your basic water pack for about US$16 a person. We talked about going back there on Saturday. (The spa pictures in the Ixtapa web page are from there - NOT where we went.)

After we got back to the hotel, we showered, and Mario and I wound up walking a couple of blocks down the street to a taco stand - well small store front really - where we were able to sit down and order tacos for dinner. They were really good. About the time we were finishing dinner, Martin and Mary walked in. We stopped on our way back to the hotel and bought a couple of drinks for later. We got back to the room and I'm sure by 9:30 I was snoring.

Today, I woke up early - about 8:30 and munched down on some cookies for breakfast washed down with some Naranjada (basically a drink made from OJ, water and sugar) that I had bought the nite before and picked up my book. About 10:30 Mary knocked on the door and asked if we were ready to go. I grabbed a quick shower, and coming out of the bathroom (you have to step down about 6 inches), did a nice cheerleader split, busted my big toe nail (think i probably bent the toe back in the process), and landed on my hip. No points awarded for that one. Luckily, I was just bruised. We headed down to the plaza where Martin and I had fresh squeezed OJ, Mario had a banana (platano) shake (with sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and milk). All three for less than a buck a piece. We then went on down to the taqueria where we all had tacos for breakfast.

Then we drove to Tonatico - a small town nearby - where Mario's grandfather used to pilgrimage every year to give thanks to the virgin. The chuch there is nice - and was decorated for a Quinceñera which they started tolling the bells for while we were looking inside. The mariachi band followed the girl to the steps of the church where they serenaded her for at least 15 minutes before we went ahead and left for El Salto - a really nice waterfall (cascada) nearby. For 15 pesos each - a little more than a dollar - we got to go down to see the waterfall (from it's top). It looked like to me it fell about 500 feet. It had a good noise, and a good energy as well, to it. There was a LONG - probably 100 yards swinging bridge (puente) over the chasm below to the bottom of the falls. Downstream you could see a smaller falls and a cave (cueva) that went back into the wall about 50 feet or so above the water. From there, the trail circled back above the falls and a much smaller - about 30 feet - swinging bridge that crossed the upper stream - about 4 feet above the water. Although this bridge was much more rickety, it was easier to cross since if you fell, you didn't have as far to go. lol.

From there we came back to the hotel where we chilled for a bit. I read some, Mario watched TV, and then we decided to go bac to El Bañito for another couple of hours of soaking. We stopped at yet another taqueria for supper before coming back to the hotel. Mario and I walked down to a different market and did a bit of shopping before coming back to the room for the evening. Tomorrow we go to the town of Taxco (known for it's silver jewelry) and then on to Acapulco and Mayan Palace Resorts where we will spend our week.