This month my son and I have been doing a bit of traveling.
Our first stop was Tepotzotlán, Estado de Mexico. We took the Primera Plus bus from Moroleon to Queretaro to Tepo. Tepotzotlán means “among humpbacks” in Nahuatl referring to the surrounding hills rather than the inhabitants. The Aztec used a humpback person on top of a hill to represent the town of Tepotzotlán in a glyph. Neat huh?
But, back to the present day. The newest thing in bus travel is free Wifi and charging plugs. We couldn’t find the charging port on either bus. My son even crawled around under the seats. Nada. The Wifi was not as helpful as I had hoped either. I had imagined I could get some writing work done while traveling and that didn’t happen. The WiFi, when it was available, was limited at best. Good thing we brought some books to read.
When we arrived in Queretaro, we had to change buses. We pulled into the last stall and had to race down to the very first stall in 5 minutes. Then there were some additional security measures that we hadn’t known about.
We had to check our suitcase at the desk inside first instead of just handing it over to the driver. Then we had to go through the carry on bag inspection and the metal detector. I’m actually not sure that the metal detectors worked though.
Finally, we boarded the bus with less than 2 minutes to spare. Since we hadn’t had time to pick up something to eat there, we accepted the sandwiches and juice the bus company provides. It was rather less than delicious, but it did stop the ol’ stomach from growling.
The trip was uneventful if slightly longer than promised. Before we arrived at our destination, we ran into traffic. At first, we thought it was an accident and although we passed a demolished red sports car and a tractor-trailer on the road, we were routed around it without even braking.
The reason for the delay was the taxi strike. Uber has cut into the taxi drivers business and they aren’t happy about it. So taxi after taxi drove by us without passengers in protest.
We arrived at the bus terminal finally. Daisy came to pick us up. If you remember, Daisy is my online friend that I met in the South of the Border Sisters Facebook support group. Although we’ve been buddies for years, this was our first in-person meeting. Our visit was all that I hoped it would be and more!
We had such a great time visiting with Daisy and her family in Tepo. Can you believe that the area was settled by the Otomi between 2500 BCE and 100 CE then became part of the Teotihuacan Empire? There were some conflicts, including the assassination of the female ruler Ehuatlicuetzin (whose name means la que tiene faldas de cuero–she who has leather skirts) in 1372. Eventually, the Aztec empire extended its domain and absorbed the town. Bet you didn’t know that did you?
Anyway, Daisy’s husband cooked some meat and nopales in honor of our visit. We got to drive around town and see the sights and the family compound. Daisy told us that the area has become quite industrialized in recent years. Shipping companies and factories have taken over what was open fields. Daisy and I blah blah blahed the whole time! It’s good to have someone to talk to once in a while.
In the morning, Daisy’s husband drove us to the airport for the next stage of our trip.
Surviving Mexico 